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

At Rewahl, 10 March was meant to be a rest day, but Russian reinforcements in the form of the 7th Guards Cavalry Corps started attacking the German concentration during the day.

The breakout along the narrow beach was led by an advance party formed from members of the Fusilier Battalion of the Holstein Panzer Division and officer-cadet Regiment Buchenau. This was followed at midnight by the main body of refugees led by twenty members of the Charlemagne under the command of Lieutenant Fenet, who was accompanied by SS-Colonel Zimmermann to deal with any mines encountered in his capacity as an engineer. A covering party, including SS-Major-General Krukenberg, went along the top of the dunes, to try and prevent alerting enemy patrols and sentries, while the remainder of the battalion formed a rearguard with some members of the 4th SS-Police-Panzergrenadier Division. Another group commanded by Captain Roy escorted the convoy of those vehicles still remaining along the coastal road, leaving some 2 hours later.

However, the many hold-ups that occurred slowed down progress so much that after the penetration made by the advance party the Soviets had time to return and attack the main column with grenades and machine guns. (The Soviet troops involved were from the 79th Rifle Corps, which was later to gain fame in the storming of the Reichstag in Berlin.) The advance was hampered by the narrowness of the beach, which was only 1–10m wide between the sea on the right and the several metres high dunes covered in vegetation on the left.

Local counterattacks were made by the Fenet Battalion as it passed through. SS-Colonel Zimmermann was lightly wounded in the foot during the first encounter and continued the march wearing slippers. There were several deaths and a certain number of injured. Among those that disappeared was the medical officer, Senior Officer-Cadet Anneshaensel, who was last seen attending to the wounded.

Tasked with providing naval support, the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer and the heavy torpedo-boat T-33 started firing on the groups moving along the seashore, mistaking them for Russians, but the firing fortunately stopped when signal flares set off by the troops alerted the ships to their error.

One of the Frenchmen recalled encountering the scene of a previous Soviet attack:

We came to a small cliff where an atrocious spectacle awaited us. Hundreds of corpses of women and children on the beach; a refugee column, surprised by the Soviets. We were struck still looking at these mutilated and naked corpses. Those young girls, mothers and grandmothers had been gang-raped one or two days previously by the victors. Then their throats had been cut and their bellies slit open.

After several encounters with the enemy, the battalion succeeded in getting through thanks to its counterattacks, and met up with the German forces guarding the approaches to Dievenow, which they eventually reached at about 0800 hours. The men were then able to rest for a few hours. They were soaked to their hips, for they often had had to wade in the sea. The battalion had evaded encirclement but was the only Charlemagne unit to be able to rejoin the German lines.

At about 0500 hours the coastal road convoy had had a severe engagement with alerted motorised Russian elements. It was not until about 1000 hours, after some lengthy fighting in the woods, and with the support of German motorised troops and parachutists, the support of naval units and the cooperation of the Luftwaffe, that were they able to disengage and reach the Dievenow bridgehead.

Captain Roy’s detachment rejoined the Charlemagne Battalion at Dievenow at about 1400 hours and set off with it across Wollin Island towards Kolzow. The battalion reached Swinemünde by short stages. On the way SS-Colonel Zimmermann reported to General Aiching’s headquarters at Misdroy, where the chief-of-staff complimented him on the fine bearing of the battalion, marching in orderly ranks and singing, which contrasted so strongly with the general ambiance that the General decided exceptionally to let the battalion retain its arms instead of handing them in, as was customary.

From Swinemünde the battalion set off again for Jargelin, near Anklam, where the Division’s other individual escapees were already regrouping, arriving at about noon on 16 March.

Chapter Five Gotenhafen