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33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French)
Encyclopedia
The 33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr. 1) and Charlemagne Regiment are collective names used for units of French volunteers in the Wehrmacht
and later Waffen-SS
during World War II
. From 7,340 at its peak in 1944, the strength of the division fell to just sixty men in May 1945.
division was formed in 1944, bringing together troops serving in other French units of the German armed forces, as well as from the paramilitary Franc-Garde of the Milice
.
(Légion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolchévisme
, or LVF). The LVF was also known by its official German designation, the 638th Infantry Regiment (Infanterieregiment 638). The LVF was mainly made up of right-wing Frenchmen and French prisoners of war who preferred fighting to forced labor in Germany. The LVF fought near Moscow in November 1941 as part of the 7th Infantry Division. In 1942 the men were assigned to anti-partisan
duties in the Byelorussian SSR
(Belarus
). At the same time, another unit was formed in France, La Légion Tricolore (Tricolor Regiment) but this unit was absorbed into the LVF six months later.
The LVF's French commander, Colonel Roger Labonne, was relieved in mid-1942, and the unit was attached to various German divisions until June 1943 when Colonel Edgar Puaud
took command. The LVF fought well on the Ukraine
front against the Soviets. In June 1944, hours before the LVF's planned departure to France, it was called into action when Army Group Centre
's front crumpled under the Red Army's summer offensive. On 25 June, at the Bobr River
, elements of the LVF under Major Bridoux fought for 48 hours against a Soviet assault. Attached to the 4th SS-Police Division and supported by Stukas
and five Tiger tanks, they checked a number of attacks in what is generally regarded as the LVF's most successful operation. Forty or more Soviet tanks were destroyed in front of the French position. Testimony to the ability of the LVF came from a Soviet communique which spoke of their forces being stopped by the sacrifice of "two French divisions".
Within a month, a new recruiting drive was begun in Vichy France
. It attracted 3000 applicants, mostly members of collaborating militias and university students. This unit, the 8th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade France was led by a former Foreign Legionnaire
, Obersturmbannführer
Paul Marie Gamory-Dubourdeau. The 1st battalion of about 1000 men was attached to SS Division Horst Wessel
and sent to Galicia to fight the Soviet advance. In fierce fighting the battalion suffered heavy casualties.
In September 1944, a new unit, the Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr.1), also known as the "Französische Brigade der SS" was formed out of the remnants of the LVF and French Sturmbrigade, both of which were disbanded. Joining them were French collaborators fleeing the Allied advance in the west, as well as Frenchmen from the German Navy, the National Socialist Motor Corps
(NSKK) and Organisation Todt
, a construction unit and the Vichy French Milice
. Some sources claim that the unit also included volunteers from some French colonies and Switzerland. Brigadeführer
Gustav Krukenberg
took actual command with Puaud (now an SS Oberführer
) as nominal French commander.
The two main infantry regiments were Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 57 and 58. Veterans of the Sturmbrigade were the nucleus of Regiment 57 and the LVF formed the core of Regiment 58. The LVF also manned the artillery battalion, the headquarters company and the engineer company. The reaction of the LVF to their transfer into the SS was mixed.
In early 1945, Oberführer Puaud received assurance from Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler
that his men would not be sent to the western front, where they might fight fellow Frenchmen. He was also told that they would fight under the French flag and continue to have Catholic military chaplains. Himmler promised that France would regain its sovereignty after Germany's victory.
In February 1945, the unit was officially upgraded to a division
and renamed 33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Charlemagne". However, this division was severely undermanned with only 7340 men. The Charlemagne Division was sent to fight the Red Army
in Poland, but on 25 February it was attacked while deploying from the railhead at Hammerstein (present day Czarne
) in Pomerania by troops of the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front
. Opposing the Frenchmen were four Red Army infantry divisions and two tank brigades. The lightly armed French troops had not re-equipped prior to their departure, and they had no radios and few maps. The only bright spot for the Frenchmen was that they managed to stop the tanks with Panzerfaust
s.
On the night of 3 March, the Charlemagne survivors were sent to defend the nearby town of Körlin
with orders to "hold at all costs." At noon the next day, a strong Red Army force hit Körlin from the southwest. The French fought back desperately and were able to hold their positions throughout the day. The Division was ordered to immediately withdraw to the west, to avoid being trapped, and was broken into three battlegroups. Only the battlegroup commanded by Krukenberg survived, as they retreated to the Baltic
coast, and were evacuated by sea to Denmark and later sent to Neustrelitz
for refitting. Around 4,800 men had been lost. Oberführer Puaud was one of them.
On 23 April the Reich Chancellery
in Berlin ordered Krukenberg to proceed to the capital with his men, who were reorganized as Sturmbataillon ("assault battalion") "Charlemagne". Between 320 and 330 French troops arrived in Berlin on 24 April after a long detour to avoid Soviet advance columns (The Soviets had been attempting to cross a bridge which was eventually blown up under them). Sturmbataillon Charlemagne was attached to the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland
. The arrival of the French SS men bolstered the Nordland Division whose "Norge" and "Danmark" Panzergrenadier regiments had been decimated in the fighting. Both equaled roughly a battalion. Brigadeführer Krukenberg was appointed the commander of (Berlin) Defence Sector C on 25 April. This command included the Nordland Division, following the dismissal of its previous commander, SS-Brigadeführer Joachim Ziegler
on the same day.
The soldiers noted that the first night in Berlin was unnaturally quiet. They heard people dancing and laughing, but no sounds of fighting were audible. They walked from West to East Berlin, to a brewery near the Hermannplatz. Here the fighting began, with Hitler Youth
firing Panzerfausts at Soviet tanks belonging to advance guards near the Tempelhof Aerodrome. Soon some members of the Sturmbataillon joined the Hitler Youth in tank hunting sorties.
Supported by Tiger II
tanks and the 11th SS Panzer-Regiment 'Hermann von Salza', the Sturmbataillon took part in a counterattack on the morning of 26 April in Neukölln
, a district in southeastern Berlin near the Sonnen Allee. The counterattack ran into an ambush by Soviet troops using a captured German Panther tank, although this may have been a 'friendly-fire' incident. The regiment lost half of the available troops in Neukölln on the first day. They later defended Neukölln's Town Hall. Given that Neukölln was heavily penetrated by Soviet combat groups, Krukenberg prepared fallback positions for Sector C defenders around Hermannplatz. He moved his headquarters into the opera house. As the Nordland Division fell back towards Hermannplatz the French SS and one-hundred Hitler Youth attached to their group destroyed 14 Soviet tanks with panzerfausts, and one machine gun position by the Halensee bridge managed to hold up any Soviet advances in that area for 48 hours.
The Soviet advance into Berlin followed a pattern of massive shelling followed by assaults using battle groups of about 80 men each, with tank escorts and close artillery support. On 27 April, after a spirited but futile defence, the remnants of Nordland were pushed back into the centre government district (Zitadelle sector) in Defence sector Z. There Krukenberg's Nordland headquarters was a carriage in the Stadtmitte U-Bahn station. Fighting was very heavy and by 28 April, approximately 108 Soviet tanks had been destroyed in the southeast of Berlin within the S-Bahn. Sixty-two of those were destroyed by the efforts of the Charlemagne Sturmbataillon alone, which was now under the commanded of Henri Joseph Fenet
. Fenet and his battalion were given the area of Neukölln
, Belle Alliance Platz, Wilhelmstrasse and the Friedrichstrasse to defend.
Fenet, who was now wounded in the foot, remained with his battalion as they withdrew to the vicinity of the Reich Aviation Ministry in the centre government district under the command of SS-Brigadeführer Mohnke
. For the success of the battalion during the Battle in Berlin
Fenet was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
on 29 April 1945 by Brigadeführer Mohnke.
On 28 April, the Red Army started a full-scale offensive into the centre sector. Fighting was intense and the Sturmbataillon Charlemagne was in the center of the battle zone around the Reich Chancellery. Unterscharführer
Eugene Vaulot
, who had destroyed two tanks in Neukölln, used his Panzerfausts to claim six more Soviet tanks near the Führerbunker
. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
by Krukenberg during a candlelight ceremony on a subway platform on 29 April. Vaulot did not survive the battle.
The French Charlemagne SS were the last defenders of Hitler's Führerbunker
, remaining at the bunker until 2 May to prevent the Soviets from capturing it on May Day
.
Reduced to approximately thirty able men, most members of the Sturmbataillon had been captured or escaped Berlin on their own, or in groups. Most of those who made it to France were denounced and sent to Allied prisons and camps. For example, Hauptsturmführer
Henri Joseph Fenet
(1919 in Ceyzériat
- 2002), one of the last recipients of the Knight's Cross
, was sentenced to 20 years of forced labour, and was released from prison in 1959. Others were shot upon capture by French authorities. General Leclerc
was presented with a defiant group of 11-12 captured Charlemagne Division men. The Free French General immediately asked them why they wore a German
uniform, to which one of them replied by asking the General why he wore an American one (the Free French wore modified US army uniforms). The group of French Waffen-SS men was later executed without any form of military tribunal procedure. For their grave site see Third Reich in Ruins: Memorial Sites.
Not all the survivors of the Division were as unrepentant as post-war Nazi apologists like Fénêt. In Marcel Ophuls
' documentary The Sorrow and the Pity
Christian de la Mazière, a surviving Charlemagne Sturmbataillon volunteer, was interviewed and asked why he joined the Waffen SS, and whether he regretted having done so. He replied that he was raised in a Rightist family before the war, and read right-wing dailies full of alarming news about Communist atrocities in the Soviet Union
and Spain
, and that he fell victim to the racial intolerance prevalent at the time. He openly expressed regret for his actions and acknowledged the shortcomings of the cause for which he had fought.
Französisches Grenadier-Infanterie-Regiment 638 (Légion des Volontaires Français)
Französische SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade
Französisches SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment
Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr.1)
33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr.1)
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and later Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. From 7,340 at its peak in 1944, the strength of the division fell to just sixty men in May 1945.
Formation and history
The CharlemagneCharlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
division was formed in 1944, bringing together troops serving in other French units of the German armed forces, as well as from the paramilitary Franc-Garde of the Milice
Milice
The Milice française , generally called simply Milice, was a paramilitary force created on January 30, 1943 by the Vichy Regime, with German aid, to help fight the French Resistance. The Milice's formal leader was Prime Minister Pierre Laval, though its chief of operations, and actual leader, was...
.
LVF
The original French unit in the German army was the Legion of French Volunteers Against BolshevismLegion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism
The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism was a collaborationist French militia founded on July 8, 1941. It gathered various collaborationist parties, including Marcel Bucard's Mouvement Franciste, Marcel Déat's National Popular Rally, Jacques Doriot's French Popular Party, Eugène...
(Légion des Volontaires Français contre le Bolchévisme
Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism
The Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism was a collaborationist French militia founded on July 8, 1941. It gathered various collaborationist parties, including Marcel Bucard's Mouvement Franciste, Marcel Déat's National Popular Rally, Jacques Doriot's French Popular Party, Eugène...
, or LVF). The LVF was also known by its official German designation, the 638th Infantry Regiment (Infanterieregiment 638). The LVF was mainly made up of right-wing Frenchmen and French prisoners of war who preferred fighting to forced labor in Germany. The LVF fought near Moscow in November 1941 as part of the 7th Infantry Division. In 1942 the men were assigned to anti-partisan
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
duties in the Byelorussian SSR
Byelorussian SSR
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union. It was one of the four original founding members of the Soviet Union in 1922, together with the Ukrainian SSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...
(Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
). At the same time, another unit was formed in France, La Légion Tricolore (Tricolor Regiment) but this unit was absorbed into the LVF six months later.
The LVF's French commander, Colonel Roger Labonne, was relieved in mid-1942, and the unit was attached to various German divisions until June 1943 when Colonel Edgar Puaud
Edgar Puaud
Edgar Joseph Alexandre Puaud ,was a French army officer, who in 1945 briefly became commander ofthe Charlemagne Division, a French unit of the Waffen SS whichfought alongside the German Army against the Soviet Union....
took command. The LVF fought well on the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
front against the Soviets. In June 1944, hours before the LVF's planned departure to France, it was called into action when Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre
Army Group Centre was the name of two distinct German strategic army groups that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The first Army Group Centre was created on 22 June 1941, as one of three German Army formations assigned to the invasion of the Soviet Union...
's front crumpled under the Red Army's summer offensive. On 25 June, at the Bobr River
Bóbr
Bóbr is a river which runs through the north of the Czech Republic and the southwest of Poland, a left tributary of the Oder River, with a length of and a basin area of .The Bóbr originates in the Rýchory mountains in the southeast of the Karkonosze range, where the source is...
, elements of the LVF under Major Bridoux fought for 48 hours against a Soviet assault. Attached to the 4th SS-Police Division and supported by Stukas
Junkers Ju 87
The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka was a two-man German ground-attack aircraft...
and five Tiger tanks, they checked a number of attacks in what is generally regarded as the LVF's most successful operation. Forty or more Soviet tanks were destroyed in front of the French position. Testimony to the ability of the LVF came from a Soviet communique which spoke of their forces being stopped by the sacrifice of "two French divisions".
Within a month, a new recruiting drive was begun in Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
. It attracted 3000 applicants, mostly members of collaborating militias and university students. This unit, the 8th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade France was led by a former Foreign Legionnaire
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
, Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
Paul Marie Gamory-Dubourdeau. The 1st battalion of about 1000 men was attached to SS Division Horst Wessel
18th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel
The 18th SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Horst Wessel was formed in 1944 around a cadre from the 1 SS Infantry Brigade and included mainly Hungarian ethnic Germans or Volksdeutsche .It was used for anti-partisan duties until it was sent to the Eastern...
and sent to Galicia to fight the Soviet advance. In fierce fighting the battalion suffered heavy casualties.
Charlemagne
National Socialist Motor Corps
The National Socialist Motor Corps , also known as the National Socialist Drivers Corps, was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party that existed from 1931 to 1945. The group was a successor organization to the older National Socialist Automobile Corps, which had existed since the beginning...
(NSKK) and Organisation Todt
Organisation Todt
The Todt Organisation, was a Third Reich civil and military engineering group in Germany named after its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi figure...
, a construction unit and the Vichy French Milice
Milice
The Milice française , generally called simply Milice, was a paramilitary force created on January 30, 1943 by the Vichy Regime, with German aid, to help fight the French Resistance. The Milice's formal leader was Prime Minister Pierre Laval, though its chief of operations, and actual leader, was...
. Some sources claim that the unit also included volunteers from some French colonies and Switzerland. Brigadeführer
Brigadeführer
SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
Gustav Krukenberg
Gustav Krukenberg
Dr Gustav Krukenberg was Brigadeführer of the Charlemagne Division of the Waffen-SS and further commander of its remains and the SS Division Nordland during the Battle of Berlin in April 1945....
took actual command with Puaud (now an SS Oberführer
Oberführer
Oberführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party dating back to 1921. Translated as “Senior Leader”, an Oberführer was typically a Nazi Party member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographical region...
) as nominal French commander.
The two main infantry regiments were Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 57 and 58. Veterans of the Sturmbrigade were the nucleus of Regiment 57 and the LVF formed the core of Regiment 58. The LVF also manned the artillery battalion, the headquarters company and the engineer company. The reaction of the LVF to their transfer into the SS was mixed.
In early 1945, Oberführer Puaud received assurance from Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
that his men would not be sent to the western front, where they might fight fellow Frenchmen. He was also told that they would fight under the French flag and continue to have Catholic military chaplains. Himmler promised that France would regain its sovereignty after Germany's victory.
In February 1945, the unit was officially upgraded to a division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
and renamed 33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Charlemagne". However, this division was severely undermanned with only 7340 men. The Charlemagne Division was sent to fight the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
in Poland, but on 25 February it was attacked while deploying from the railhead at Hammerstein (present day Czarne
Czarne
Czarne is a town in Człuchów County of Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland. Population: 6,053 .-History:The town was founded on the territories that were formerly part of the Kingdom of Poland. They were acquired by the Monastic State of the Teutonic Order in 1308. Konrad von Jungingen...
) in Pomerania by troops of the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front
1st Belorussian Front
The 1st Belorussian Front was a Front of the Soviet Army during World War II...
. Opposing the Frenchmen were four Red Army infantry divisions and two tank brigades. The lightly armed French troops had not re-equipped prior to their departure, and they had no radios and few maps. The only bright spot for the Frenchmen was that they managed to stop the tanks with Panzerfaust
Panzerfaust
The Panzerfaust was an inexpensive, recoilless German anti-tank weapon of World War II. It consisted of a small, disposable preloaded launch tube firing a high explosive anti-tank warhead, operated by a single soldier...
s.
On the night of 3 March, the Charlemagne survivors were sent to defend the nearby town of Körlin
Karlino
Karlino is a town in Białogard County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. It has a population of 5,729 . Up to 1945 it was part of Germany, a town in the Province of Pomerania....
with orders to "hold at all costs." At noon the next day, a strong Red Army force hit Körlin from the southwest. The French fought back desperately and were able to hold their positions throughout the day. The Division was ordered to immediately withdraw to the west, to avoid being trapped, and was broken into three battlegroups. Only the battlegroup commanded by Krukenberg survived, as they retreated to the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
coast, and were evacuated by sea to Denmark and later sent to Neustrelitz
Neustrelitz
Neustrelitz is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Zierker See in the Mecklenburg Lake District. From 1738 until 1918 it was the capital of the duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz...
for refitting. Around 4,800 men had been lost. Oberführer Puaud was one of them.
Defence of Berlin
In early April 1945, Krukenberg now commanded only 700 men organized into a single infantry regiment with two battalions (Battalions 57 and 58) and one heavy support battalion, without equipment. He released about 400 men to serve in a construction battalion; the remainder, numbering approximately 300, had chosen to go to Berlin and conduct a delaying action against the approaching Soviet Army. The number of men in the Berlin unit is uncertain and may have been as few as 90.On 23 April the Reich Chancellery
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...
in Berlin ordered Krukenberg to proceed to the capital with his men, who were reorganized as Sturmbataillon ("assault battalion") "Charlemagne". Between 320 and 330 French troops arrived in Berlin on 24 April after a long detour to avoid Soviet advance columns (The Soviets had been attempting to cross a bridge which was eventually blown up under them). Sturmbataillon Charlemagne was attached to the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland
11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland
The 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, also known as Kampfverband Waräger, Germanische-Freiwilligen-Division, SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 11 or 11. SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland, was a Waffen SS, Panzergrenadier division recruited from foreign volunteers...
. The arrival of the French SS men bolstered the Nordland Division whose "Norge" and "Danmark" Panzergrenadier regiments had been decimated in the fighting. Both equaled roughly a battalion. Brigadeführer Krukenberg was appointed the commander of (Berlin) Defence Sector C on 25 April. This command included the Nordland Division, following the dismissal of its previous commander, SS-Brigadeführer Joachim Ziegler
Joachim Ziegler
Joachim Ziegler was a Brigadeführer and Major General in the Waffen SS during World War II and the commander of the 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland, who was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves...
on the same day.
The soldiers noted that the first night in Berlin was unnaturally quiet. They heard people dancing and laughing, but no sounds of fighting were audible. They walked from West to East Berlin, to a brewery near the Hermannplatz. Here the fighting began, with Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
firing Panzerfausts at Soviet tanks belonging to advance guards near the Tempelhof Aerodrome. Soon some members of the Sturmbataillon joined the Hitler Youth in tank hunting sorties.
Supported by Tiger II
Tiger II
Tiger II is the common name of a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B,Panzerkampfwagen – abbr: Pz. or Pz.Kfw. Ausführung – abbr: Ausf. .The full titles Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf...
tanks and the 11th SS Panzer-Regiment 'Hermann von Salza', the Sturmbataillon took part in a counterattack on the morning of 26 April in Neukölln
Neukölln
Neukölln is the eighth borough of Berlin, located in the southeastern part of the city and was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city...
, a district in southeastern Berlin near the Sonnen Allee. The counterattack ran into an ambush by Soviet troops using a captured German Panther tank, although this may have been a 'friendly-fire' incident. The regiment lost half of the available troops in Neukölln on the first day. They later defended Neukölln's Town Hall. Given that Neukölln was heavily penetrated by Soviet combat groups, Krukenberg prepared fallback positions for Sector C defenders around Hermannplatz. He moved his headquarters into the opera house. As the Nordland Division fell back towards Hermannplatz the French SS and one-hundred Hitler Youth attached to their group destroyed 14 Soviet tanks with panzerfausts, and one machine gun position by the Halensee bridge managed to hold up any Soviet advances in that area for 48 hours.
The Soviet advance into Berlin followed a pattern of massive shelling followed by assaults using battle groups of about 80 men each, with tank escorts and close artillery support. On 27 April, after a spirited but futile defence, the remnants of Nordland were pushed back into the centre government district (Zitadelle sector) in Defence sector Z. There Krukenberg's Nordland headquarters was a carriage in the Stadtmitte U-Bahn station. Fighting was very heavy and by 28 April, approximately 108 Soviet tanks had been destroyed in the southeast of Berlin within the S-Bahn. Sixty-two of those were destroyed by the efforts of the Charlemagne Sturmbataillon alone, which was now under the commanded of Henri Joseph Fenet
Henri Joseph Fenet
Henri Joseph Fenet was a soldier during World War II who was awarded both the Croix de Guerre by France, and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by Germany.-French service:...
. Fenet and his battalion were given the area of Neukölln
Neukölln
Neukölln is the eighth borough of Berlin, located in the southeastern part of the city and was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city...
, Belle Alliance Platz, Wilhelmstrasse and the Friedrichstrasse to defend.
Fenet, who was now wounded in the foot, remained with his battalion as they withdrew to the vicinity of the Reich Aviation Ministry in the centre government district under the command of SS-Brigadeführer Mohnke
Wilhelm Mohnke
SS-Brigadeführer Wilhelm Mohnke was one of the original 120 members of the SS-Staff Guard "Berlin" formed in March 1933. From those ranks, Mohnke rose to become one of Adolf Hitler's last remaining generals.Mohnke saw action with the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler in France, Poland...
. For the success of the battalion during the Battle in Berlin
Battle in Berlin
The Battle in Berlin was an end phase of the Battle of Berlin. While the Battle of Berlin encompassed the attack by three Soviet Army Groups to capture not only Berlin but the territory of Germany east of the River Elbe still under German control, the Battle in Berlin details the fighting, and...
Fenet was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
on 29 April 1945 by Brigadeführer Mohnke.
On 28 April, the Red Army started a full-scale offensive into the centre sector. Fighting was intense and the Sturmbataillon Charlemagne was in the center of the battle zone around the Reich Chancellery. Unterscharführer
Unterscharführer
Unterscharführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party used by the Schutzstaffel between 1934 and 1945. The SS rank was created after the Night of the Long Knives...
Eugene Vaulot
Eugene Vaulot
Eugène Vaulot was a Frenchman with the rank of Unterscharführer in the Waffen SS during World War II, who was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.Eugene Vaulot was born in Paris in 1923...
, who had destroyed two tanks in Neukölln, used his Panzerfausts to claim six more Soviet tanks near the Führerbunker
Führerbunker
The Führerbunker was located beneath Hitler's New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex which was constructed in two major phases, one part in 1936 and the other in 1943...
. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
by Krukenberg during a candlelight ceremony on a subway platform on 29 April. Vaulot did not survive the battle.
The French Charlemagne SS were the last defenders of Hitler's Führerbunker
Führerbunker
The Führerbunker was located beneath Hitler's New Reich Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. It was part of a subterranean bunker complex which was constructed in two major phases, one part in 1936 and the other in 1943...
, remaining at the bunker until 2 May to prevent the Soviets from capturing it on May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
.
Reduced to approximately thirty able men, most members of the Sturmbataillon had been captured or escaped Berlin on their own, or in groups. Most of those who made it to France were denounced and sent to Allied prisons and camps. For example, Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
Henri Joseph Fenet
Henri Joseph Fenet
Henri Joseph Fenet was a soldier during World War II who was awarded both the Croix de Guerre by France, and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by Germany.-French service:...
(1919 in Ceyzériat
Ceyzériat
Ceyzériat is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France.-History:Hippolyte Paul Jayr, twice minister during the July monarchy, was mayor of the commune at the end of the 19th century.-Population:...
- 2002), one of the last recipients of the Knight's Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
, was sentenced to 20 years of forced labour, and was released from prison in 1959. Others were shot upon capture by French authorities. General Leclerc
Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
Philippe François Marie, comte de Hauteclocque, then Leclerc de Hauteclocque, by a 1945 decree that incorporated his French Resistance alias Jacques-Philippe Leclerc to his name, , was a French general during World War II...
was presented with a defiant group of 11-12 captured Charlemagne Division men. The Free French General immediately asked them why they wore a German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
uniform, to which one of them replied by asking the General why he wore an American one (the Free French wore modified US army uniforms). The group of French Waffen-SS men was later executed without any form of military tribunal procedure. For their grave site see Third Reich in Ruins: Memorial Sites.
Not all the survivors of the Division were as unrepentant as post-war Nazi apologists like Fénêt. In Marcel Ophuls
Marcel Ophuls
Marcel Ophüls is a documentary film maker and former actor.He was born in Frankfurt, Germany, the son of the director Max Ophüls...
' documentary The Sorrow and the Pity
The Sorrow and the Pity
The Sorrow and the Pity is a two-part 1969 documentary film by Marcel Ophüls about the French Resistance and collaboration between the Vichy government and Nazi Germany during World War II. The film uses interviews with a German officer, collaborators, and resistance fighters from...
Christian de la Mazière, a surviving Charlemagne Sturmbataillon volunteer, was interviewed and asked why he joined the Waffen SS, and whether he regretted having done so. He replied that he was raised in a Rightist family before the war, and read right-wing dailies full of alarming news about Communist atrocities in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Spain
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, and that he fell victim to the racial intolerance prevalent at the time. He openly expressed regret for his actions and acknowledged the shortcomings of the cause for which he had fought.
Commanders
- ColonelColonelColonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Roger Labonne (August 1941 - March 1942) - MajorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
s Lacroix/Demessine (April 1942 - May 1943) - SS-Oberfuhrer Edgar PuaudEdgar PuaudEdgar Joseph Alexandre Puaud ,was a French army officer, who in 1945 briefly became commander ofthe Charlemagne Division, a French unit of the Waffen SS whichfought alongside the German Army against the Soviet Union....
(1 June 1943 - ?? August 1943) - SS-ObersturmbannfuhrerObersturmbannführerObersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
Paul Gamory-Dubourdeau ((?? August 1943 - 31 July 1944) - SS-HauptsturmfuhrerHauptsturmführerHauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
Erich Kostenbader ((1 August 1944 - ?? August 1944) - SS-Brigadefuhrer Edgar PuaudEdgar PuaudEdgar Joseph Alexandre Puaud ,was a French army officer, who in 1945 briefly became commander ofthe Charlemagne Division, a French unit of the Waffen SS whichfought alongside the German Army against the Soviet Union....
(?? August 1944 - 28 February 1945) - SS-Brigadefuhrer Gustav KrukenbergGustav KrukenbergDr Gustav Krukenberg was Brigadeführer of the Charlemagne Division of the Waffen-SS and further commander of its remains and the SS Division Nordland during the Battle of Berlin in April 1945....
(28 February 1945 - 28 February 1945) - SS-Standartenführer Walter Zimmermann (28 February 1945 - 8 May 1945)
Order of battle
- SS-Waffen-Grenadierregiment 57 (französisches Nr. 1)
- I. Bataillon
- II. Bataillon
- SS-Sturm-Bataillon 58
- SS-Waffen-Grenadierregiment 58 (französisches Nr. 2)
- I. Bataillon
- II. Bataillon
- SS-Artillerieabteilung 33 (ArtilleryArtilleryOriginally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
Battalion)
- SS-PanzerjägerPanzerjägerPanzerjäger was a branch of service of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War which were the anti-tank arm-of-service who operated anti-tank artillery, and made exclusive use of the tank destroyers which were also named Panzerjäger...
-Bataillon 33
- SS-Pionier-Kompanie 33 (EngineerEngineerAn engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
Company)
- SS-Nachrichten-Kompanie 33 (Signals Company)
- SS-Feldersatz-Kompanie 33 (Field Hospital Company)
- SS-Nachschub-Bataillon 33 (LogisticsLogisticsLogistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
Battalion)
Different names
During their existence the units were known by various names including:Französisches Grenadier-Infanterie-Regiment 638 (Légion des Volontaires Français)
Französische SS-Freiwilligen-Sturmbrigade
Französisches SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment
Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr.1)
33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS Charlemagne (französische Nr.1)
See also
- List of German divisions in WWII
- Waffen-SSWaffen-SSThe Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
- Christian de la MazièreChristian de la MazièreChristian de la Mazière was a journalist and former member of the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne . He is known for discussing his role in The Sorrow and the Pity and also wrote a book titled The Captive Dreamer...
, a former member of the Charlemagne Division interviewed in the documentary The Sorrow and the PityThe Sorrow and the PityThe Sorrow and the Pity is a two-part 1969 documentary film by Marcel Ophüls about the French Resistance and collaboration between the Vichy government and Nazi Germany during World War II. The film uses interviews with a German officer, collaborators, and resistance fighters from...