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

The 3,000 or so men comprising the main body of the Charlemagne were now under the direct command of Brigadier Puaud, assisted by Major de Vaugelas, Captains de Perricot, de Bourmont, Schlisler, Renault and other officers. The head of this column arrived at Belgard in its turn, but because of the extent of the fighting going on in the town, made a half-turn and crossed the Persante downstream from the town.

At daybreak the column found itself in a wooded area south of Belgard where it had regrouped several days previously, and came under artillery fire. The troops dispersed and used the cover of dense fog to mask them from the enemy.

According to an eyewitness, Medical Lieutenant Dr Métais, with first light a thick wood, marsh, a stream and then a wide plain could be discerned. The edge of the woods was on either side 100m away. Brigadier Puaud was there on foot with his staff: ‘What’s happening. Its mad! Who’s leading?’

‘De Bourmont’.

Then turning towards Major de Vaugelas, the chief-of-staff, Brigadier Puaud said: ‘Take a horse. Tell him to find a wood free of the enemy straight away, to stay there and to organise the defence!’

As Major de Vaugelas left for the head of the column at the gallop, Brigadier Puaud shouted: ‘It’s mad! I already advised him to hide in woods during daylight. If this goes on, there will be a massacre!’

Soon afterwards, at about 0800 hours, the thick fog lifted within a few minutes just as the column headed for the surrounding woods. Immediately spotted by the Russians, it was taken under a violent fire from tanks that had taken up the chase with the support of heavy weapons. The panic and massacre foreseen by Brigadier Puaud then followed. The survivors tended to make their way to the nearby woods. Several succeeded, but the majority were shot down or captured.

The rearguard formed by the Reserve Regiment, some eighty to ninety men under Lieutenant Bartolomei, arrived at Belgard at about 0700 hours. Fighting was still in progress, and Lieutenant Bartolomei considered reinforcing or relieving those elements of the Charlemagne that he thought were trapped there. He then came under heavy mortar fire and became disorientated, heading back to Körlin, which he had left several hours earlier and where Captain Bassompierre’s 2nd March Battalion was now encircled. There too his company came under violent fire, for the Russians had completely invested Körlin. The detachment then withdrew along the Persante and crossed it by a footbridge. They were returning to Körlin along the left bank when, at about noon, they came across 3 officers and 150 men that had been scattered in that morning’s disaster. Together they then decided to head for the Stettin area by night marches, but all were to be captured several days later.

At about 1400 hours, several hours after the disaster in the Belgard woods, Brigadier Puaud was seen by some soldiers wounded on a horse. He told them to try and get through to the west. Brigadier Puaud was never seen again. It would seem that, wounded by a shot in the leg, he had succeeded with the help of a group of comrades in reaching Greifenberg, where he was left in an inn with other wounded that could not be moved. He disappeared there, probably eliminated by enemy soldiers.

At about 0500 hours on the 5th, another group of about 600 men led by Second-Lieutenant Leune and Medical Lieutenants Métais and Herpe, formed up and marched westwards by night for two days, managing to rejoin the Fenet Battalion at Schloss Meseritz on the morning of 7 March.

Another detachment under Lieutenant Fayard joined up with a company of Volkssturm and was captured by Russian tanks on the 7th. Several other small groups tried to regain the German lines in vain.

On the morning of the 5th, a group of about 150 isolated Frenchmen and Germans collected around three self-propelled guns at Fritzow and tried to get through to Kolberg. Caught halfway in a little village by Russian tanks, they succeeded in getting away and penetrating the enemy investment of the outskirts of Kolberg. There they were directed to the Casino, where they met up with Captain Havette and about 100 sick and wounded men from the Charlemagne.