SS Charlemagne: The 33rd Waffen-Grenadier Division of the SS

The withdrawal of the 2nd/57th was covered by the infantry guns of the regimental company and the heavy weapons of Second-Lieutenant Philippe Colnion’s 8th Company deployed alongside the railway line, as well as a combat team from Second-Lieutenant Brunet’s 6th Company. The remains of the 2nd/57th, in some disarray, had to regroup behind the railway line to the left of Bärenwalde station, which served as the rough boundary with the 1st/58th, of which there was still no news, and the first elements of which had yet to withdraw.

Towards midday on 25 February, as Brigadier Puaud and SS-Colonel Zimmermann watched from the front line, the Russians launched a new attack. Despite the incredible ravage caused to this human tide, the wave of attackers advanced steadily and some twenty tanks emerged from Bärenwalde with the support of ground-assault aircraft. The 6th Company of the 2nd/57th, which had not yet completed its withdrawal, put up a magnificent defence, and was able to break contact thanks to the very heavy and precise fire from Captain Robert Roy’s infantry gun company, which stopped the enemy and allowed the withdrawal to take place.

A total of four enemy tanks were destroyed. The first by an NCO using a Panzerfaust, the second by a mine placed by the regiment’s engineer section, the two others by the regimental 75mm anti-tank guns that were old training pieces towed into position by a tractor taken from the Latvians. However, these guns were soon silenced and rendered useless. Officer-Cadet Vincenot, who was directing their fire, was seriously injured as a result of this violent enemy fire, and Lieutenant Flacy was wounded by a tank shell.

But the enemy started gaining ground and losses were heavy. The position became untenable and, after an hour of fighting, Captain de Bourmont was obliged to give the order to withdraw at the very moment that the first elements of the 1st/58th pulled back on the right wing.

The 2nd/57th was the first to set off to the north towards Elsenau, but its 7th and 8th Companies remained isolated north of the road and railway. Cut off, they retired fighting all the way to Elsenau. Lieutenant Artus, the regimental adjutant, was killed by a burst of fire. As a result of the last attack, an important breach had been made in the centre of the regiment’s lines several hundred metres from the railway station, dislocating the units. The withdrawal was confused and the seriously wounded had to be abandoned. The officers, without exception, stayed behind to cover the men’s withdrawal.

On a bend in the road at the bottom of a ravine, 300m along the way, elements of the 1st and 2nd Companies of the 58th had set up an anti-tank ambush, just in time to catch the first Russian tank surging through. It was destroyed with a hit from a Panzerfaust, probably fired by Lieutenant Fatin, while Sergeant Robert destroyed another by the same means.

Held back by this action, Lieutenants Fatin and Géromini with some of their men lost contact with the remainder of the 1st/58th and followed Captain de Bourmont, who, with the remainder of the 2nd/57th, withdrew to the divisional command post at Elsenau. This village was held by the Inspectorate’s small Honour Guard and Training Company, commanded by SS-Lieutenant Wilhelm Weber.

Although the remains of the 2nd/57th retiring on Elsenau had been mostly caught, scattered and bypassed by the Russian tanks advancing on the village, 400–500 men led by several officers, including Major Boudet-Gheusi, Captain Renault, Lieutenants Weber and Fatin, managed to organise a defence. The nucleus of the defence was formed by Lieutenant Weber’s company of about eighty men, which lost a quarter of its effectives but destroyed three enemy tanks. The remains of the 7th and 8th Companies of the 57th fought with equal bravery, especially in the village cemetery, where man-to-man fighting took place. The four anti-tank guns destroyed several tanks. The fighting was relentless and the Russians only made progress with difficulty. They eventually succeeded in taking the cemetery, where they killed all the injured, including a French prisoner from the 1939/40 war, who had voluntarily joined the unit. There were some on the Russian side, probably Poles, who called out rudely in excellent French for the men to surrender.

The Soviet forces engaged here in the push up to the Baltic Coast consisted of the 40th and 136th Guards Rifle Corps of the 2nd Byelorussian Front’s 19th Army, temporarily supported by the 8th Guards Mechanised Corps and 3rd Guards Cavalry Corps of the 1st Byelorussian Front’s 1st Guards Tank Army, Marshal Zhukov having loaned these formations to Marshal Rokossovsky on the condition that they would be returned intact!

During the course of this operation, the commander of the 19th Army was sacked for failing to keep pace with the armoured elements.