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

By 0300 hours the retreat was complete, except for one small combat team formed in the camp the previous evening with all available elements from the divisional headquarters and the supply column. This little company of three platoons was commanded by Major Katzian and took up a blocking position on the flanks of the axis of retreat during the night, ready to prevent the enemy infiltrating. Nothing occurred, and it withdrew at 0500 hours.

By noon, covered by the 15th SS-Latvian Division, the bulk of the Charlemagne had reached Neustettin, where it spent the night and took stock. Of the 4,500 men that had left Wildflecken, only 3,000 answered roll call. But the divisional headquarters and all the elements cut off at Elsenau had withdrawn to the north and northeast and, although not immediately available, could not be considered lost. This amounted to about 1,000 missing, including 15 officers, and 500 killed, including 8 officers. A total of thirty Iron Crosses were awarded for various feats of arms. The units regrouped and rested in the barracks of the town, which had not been evacuated by the civilian population.

Annoyed by the slow progress of the 19th Army, whose commander he sacked, Marshal Rokossovsky boosted the rate of advance on his left wing with the insertion of the 3rd Guards Tank Corps. Hampered by the narrow roads, the tanks nevertheless moved forward 40km that day and took the town of Baldenburg. The German XVIIIth Mountain Corps had been split apart by this thrust and the surviving elements of the Charlemagne had been fortunate to extricate themselves.

A report dated 0001 hours on 26 February 1945 from Staff Lieutenant-Colonel Harnack of Army Group Weichsel, probably gives the must lucid account of events:

The situation with the 2nd Army has deteriorated considerably. Following his attack on the XVIIIth Mountain Corps, the enemy has again pierced the corps’ front and has reached Baldenburg via Stegers with his tanks. At the same time he has succeeded in dislodging and forcing back to the north-west the right wing of the XVIIIth Mountain Corps (elements of the Charlemagne Brigade and the 15th SS-Division).

The penetration of the thin front of the 32nd Infantry Division by the enemy cannot be reduced by the forces available to the XVIIIth Mountain Corps. We should expect the arrival of important enemy forces and an immediate change in the deployment of the Russian armies in view of the exploitation of this penetration to effect the splitting of our army group at this point.

The enemy has been able to enlarge the breach in the XVIIIth Mountain Corps’ sector and push his tanks forward to Baldenburg. The 15th Waffen-Grenadier Division SS and the SS-Volunteer Brigade Charlemagne have thus been split into isolated combat groups, partly losing contact with their rear, and have thus practically entirely lost their combat effectiveness.

The Russians entered Hammerstein at 1700 hours on the 26th.

Chapter Three Withdrawal

26 February 1945

The Charlemagne‘s 15th rail transport, under the command of Captain Bassompierre, arrived at Neustettin at noon on the 26th with several other officers, bringing with them some of the guns of the artillery group from Bohemia-Moravia, and Second-Lieutenant Fayard’s Flak Company from Bachrain.

Unloading was still in progress when Soviet aircraft attacked Neustettin railway station. Within 4 minutes the flak had set up its guns and set a biplane on fire, which discouraged the rest. The unloading of the artillery having been completed under the orders of Second-Lieutenant Daffas, the empty train was soon occupied by retreating German units. Then at 1800 hours, German Captain Roeming’s armoured train arrived at the station.

As a result of the events of the previous day, the Charlemagne was now re-allocated to General von Tettau’s corps on the 3rd Panzer Army’s eastern wing.

27 February 1945

At about 0100 hours orders were given to embark all the artillery pieces on a train leaving for Belgard, where the Division was to regroup. The 15th SS-Latvian Division as rearguard had been forced back and an incursion by enemy tanks were feared. In fact, the alarm went off at 0300 hours and one could hear the roar of engines and tank tracks. Fortunately, under cover provided by the armoured train from behind the station, the guns were loaded on the available wagons and just as the enemy was launching his first attack at about 0700 hours, the armoured train hitched up the wagons and eventually reached Kolberg via Bublitz and Köslin.