oooooh nazi stuff, Icecream... and machine guns..... volkssturm gewehr VG-2 "people's assault rifle mk2" (well there's models 1-5) the later veriants looked even shitter)
Le Mans to Berlin and a bit beyond
- Thread starter Wapping
- Start date
Friday.
Leaving my camping place, I passed by Dolgelin’s former railway station, which is now a private house. This saw lots of fighting during the battle, as of course did Dolgelin itself:
From there I followed the cycle paths across the flat flood plain:
Looking away to my right I could see the end finger of the Reitwein Spur, coming into view. The hamlet of Reitwein is right at the end of the finger, on the plain itself. This picture probably shows how steep the whole Seelow Heights ridge is:
Eventually the spire of the destroyed church at Reitwein came into view. You can see it silhouetted against the skyline and again, the steepness of the ridge:
One good thing about the slower pace of a bicycle, is that you often spot things you’d miss in a car or on a motorcycle. This is one such example. It’s an explanation of how traditional walls for buildings were made. Given that Reitwein (it is just a handful of houses) was flattened in the battle, it’s surprising that anything remains. It’s nice that someone has preserved the ancient wall and gone to the trouble of telling how it was made. Google tells me that the building was originally a distillery:
In the picture, you can see the sandy soil which forms the flood plain. This is often quite deep in places, which stops the small wheel of the Brompton bicycle in its tracks. In the battle it formed a thick gluey paste in the thaw of April, slowing the men’s advance to a crawl and bogging down tanks.
Leaving my camping place, I passed by Dolgelin’s former railway station, which is now a private house. This saw lots of fighting during the battle, as of course did Dolgelin itself:
From there I followed the cycle paths across the flat flood plain:
Looking away to my right I could see the end finger of the Reitwein Spur, coming into view. The hamlet of Reitwein is right at the end of the finger, on the plain itself. This picture probably shows how steep the whole Seelow Heights ridge is:
Eventually the spire of the destroyed church at Reitwein came into view. You can see it silhouetted against the skyline and again, the steepness of the ridge:
One good thing about the slower pace of a bicycle, is that you often spot things you’d miss in a car or on a motorcycle. This is one such example. It’s an explanation of how traditional walls for buildings were made. Given that Reitwein (it is just a handful of houses) was flattened in the battle, it’s surprising that anything remains. It’s nice that someone has preserved the ancient wall and gone to the trouble of telling how it was made. Google tells me that the building was originally a distillery:
In the picture, you can see the sandy soil which forms the flood plain. This is often quite deep in places, which stops the small wheel of the Brompton bicycle in its tracks. In the battle it formed a thick gluey paste in the thaw of April, slowing the men’s advance to a crawl and bogging down tanks.
Last edited:
I need to catch up on this thread Wapping...from the start, but looks like you are enjoying yourself 
My first stop in Reitwein was to visit the Russian military cemetery. As with all war grave sites, it is kept neat and tidy. I assume the grass cutting and general maintenance is done by a local company or the council?
The site is a decent size, with the obligatory ‘Red star’ in place on top of the memorial and laid out in a raised bed of sorts.
I am not sure why some of the Russian graves are in black marble and some separate. My guess is that these souls were transferred from another site, perhaps?
Similarly, I am not sure why some (indeed, many) record no year of birth. My guess here is that the bulk of the Red Army was made up of peasants, at best semiliterate or quite possibly, illiterate. It is quite possible that they did not know their date of birth and the Red Army did not care.
Unsurprisingly, there are 100’s of names recorded, their dates of death most often mirroring the fighting in the area:
The site is a decent size, with the obligatory ‘Red star’ in place on top of the memorial and laid out in a raised bed of sorts.
I am not sure why some of the Russian graves are in black marble and some separate. My guess is that these souls were transferred from another site, perhaps?
Similarly, I am not sure why some (indeed, many) record no year of birth. My guess here is that the bulk of the Red Army was made up of peasants, at best semiliterate or quite possibly, illiterate. It is quite possible that they did not know their date of birth and the Red Army did not care.
Unsurprisingly, there are 100’s of names recorded, their dates of death most often mirroring the fighting in the area:
The hamlet of Reiwein lies at the foot of the Retwein Spur, so to visit Zhukov’s Bunker, you have to follow a foot path up the slope:
By this stage of the war the slope was denuded of trees and would have resembled a moonscape, covered with trenches, dugout sites, artillery and mortar positions. Nature has claimed the site back again, but now and again you can see places that ‘Don’t look right’ which must have been man-made emplacements 80 years ago:
The bunker was tunnelled through the rise, with just the forward observation platform exposed:
In fact, the bunker was built for another general, whose task it had been to organise the local attack towards Seelow. If I recall correctly, Zhukov (the senior Russian Field Marshal) pulled rank and arrived unannounced to watch the battle unfold, much to the local generals’ annoyance and frustration.
The view across the flood plain is oblique from the spur’s tip and, today is obscured by trees:
But by zooming in the phone camera, you can see what Zuhkov and the other generals would have seen through their binoculars, looking across the huge battlefield to Seelow:
I’ll find the description of the opening barrage that Zhukov witnessed and the troops experience of it.
By this stage of the war the slope was denuded of trees and would have resembled a moonscape, covered with trenches, dugout sites, artillery and mortar positions. Nature has claimed the site back again, but now and again you can see places that ‘Don’t look right’ which must have been man-made emplacements 80 years ago:
The bunker was tunnelled through the rise, with just the forward observation platform exposed:
In fact, the bunker was built for another general, whose task it had been to organise the local attack towards Seelow. If I recall correctly, Zhukov (the senior Russian Field Marshal) pulled rank and arrived unannounced to watch the battle unfold, much to the local generals’ annoyance and frustration.
The view across the flood plain is oblique from the spur’s tip and, today is obscured by trees:
But by zooming in the phone camera, you can see what Zuhkov and the other generals would have seen through their binoculars, looking across the huge battlefield to Seelow:
I’ll find the description of the opening barrage that Zhukov witnessed and the troops experience of it.
Last edited:
The last place to visit in Reitwein is the ruined church, only the steeple of which has been rebuilt;
The outside walls still bear testament to the shelling:
Next to pedal to closer to the Oder river, to the vanished manor house at Kessin, the scene of intense fighting as the Russians struggled to enlarge a bridgehead in preparation to take the Reitwein village and its eponymous spur.
The outside walls still bear testament to the shelling:
Next to pedal to closer to the Oder river, to the vanished manor house at Kessin, the scene of intense fighting as the Russians struggled to enlarge a bridgehead in preparation to take the Reitwein village and its eponymous spur.
Klessin is another tiny hamlet, which was dominated by a manor house, whose misfortune it was to face exactly onto the Russian bridgehead and their route to Reitwein.
The local council has created a really very good open area, giving a full of description terrible events that unfolded here, in a matter of maybe 100 square metres. The battle to take the manor house was to last several days, the German holding force having been ordered to fight to the last man, cut off and facing a huge Russian force. It was both heroic and futile.
The local council has created a really very good open area, giving a full of description terrible events that unfolded here, in a matter of maybe 100 square metres. The battle to take the manor house was to last several days, the German holding force having been ordered to fight to the last man, cut off and facing a huge Russian force. It was both heroic and futile.
Some of the defending force was drawn from the newly raised ‘Home Guard’ units, some of whom were from miles away in Bavaria. You can see how old these ‘soldiers’ were from their obituary notices:
A contemporary Russian field sketch of the manor house and its defences:
A description of the doomed defenders’ last hours:
And the surviving radio transcripts:
And the final but inevitable breakout by the last remaining troops:
The last paragraph of the picture above is interesting (to me at least) as it mentions some of the survivors buried in Halbe. I plan on visiting the site of the appalling ‘Halbe Pocket’ on my return run to the UK. I guess that these soldiers died in the ‘Pocket’, miles away to the south of Berlin, in their attempt to retreat to the Elbe to surrender to the Americans.
The view from the front of what was the house towards the Oder. The Germans at one point moved a Hertzer tank destroyer into the house, using it to shell the Russian pontoon bridges on the river. It’s mission failed.
The remains of the house after the battle had passed over:
All in all, a place worth visiting.
A contemporary Russian field sketch of the manor house and its defences:
A description of the doomed defenders’ last hours:
And the surviving radio transcripts:
And the final but inevitable breakout by the last remaining troops:
The last paragraph of the picture above is interesting (to me at least) as it mentions some of the survivors buried in Halbe. I plan on visiting the site of the appalling ‘Halbe Pocket’ on my return run to the UK. I guess that these soldiers died in the ‘Pocket’, miles away to the south of Berlin, in their attempt to retreat to the Elbe to surrender to the Americans.
The view from the front of what was the house towards the Oder. The Germans at one point moved a Hertzer tank destroyer into the house, using it to shell the Russian pontoon bridges on the river. It’s mission failed.
The remains of the house after the battle had passed over:
All in all, a place worth visiting.
Last edited:
Before leaving Klessin, I visited the village’s little German war graves plot, part of the general cemetery:
As is common, the little ground plaques record multiple names:
With it now towards 14:30 and the temperate in the mid-30’s, it was time to pedal back to where I started from. This involved cycling along some field paths, totally unsuitable for a Brompton. This was one of the better ones;
It did though mean I was probably following the same crude paths, raised a few inches above the flood plain, that the Russians would have taken towards Seelow, the ridge of which I could see. By luck, I chanced upon one of the very few remaining buildings from the time, the evidence of battle clearly still visible:
The plain is now very much more peaceful, with the Heights up ahead:
Finally, out onto a proper road, to home:
A return trip, all by bicycle of about 32 km or 20 miles all in.
As is common, the little ground plaques record multiple names:
With it now towards 14:30 and the temperate in the mid-30’s, it was time to pedal back to where I started from. This involved cycling along some field paths, totally unsuitable for a Brompton. This was one of the better ones;
It did though mean I was probably following the same crude paths, raised a few inches above the flood plain, that the Russians would have taken towards Seelow, the ridge of which I could see. By luck, I chanced upon one of the very few remaining buildings from the time, the evidence of battle clearly still visible:
The plain is now very much more peaceful, with the Heights up ahead:
Finally, out onto a proper road, to home:
A return trip, all by bicycle of about 32 km or 20 miles all in.
Saturday, has been breakfast, followed by a few chores and doing a little clothes washing from the last few days. I will though pedal up to Seelow to visit the German cemetery in the town, my visit to which was delayed by the ‘Let me return this jar of mouldy cherry jam, please” police.
Last edited:
I’m glad I made the effort this afternoon (once the thunderstorm had passed) to pedal to the German war cemetery in Seelow. It is unlike any I had seem before. Pictures to follow.
German war cemeteries’ graves are usually marked by somber granite crosses or plaques laid into the ground.
The cemetery at Seelow is different to any I have seen before, in that the graves are in lines (nothing different about that) but each is marked by an enamel plaque bearing the deceased’s name, dates of birth and death. The cemetery area is much bigger than I first thought. The revenue leading in has graves both sides, say 150 metres in length. The open field portion is full of rows, too. I suddenly realised that these rows are double sided. Near enough each death is from the period January 1945 through April 1945, in other words the period of the Russian offensive on the Oder.
This is the memorial to the Panzergrenadier-Division "Hamburg", which fought and fell at Seelow:
There is also a small number of personal ‘military’ graves:
The cemetery at Seelow is different to any I have seen before, in that the graves are in lines (nothing different about that) but each is marked by an enamel plaque bearing the deceased’s name, dates of birth and death. The cemetery area is much bigger than I first thought. The revenue leading in has graves both sides, say 150 metres in length. The open field portion is full of rows, too. I suddenly realised that these rows are double sided. Near enough each death is from the period January 1945 through April 1945, in other words the period of the Russian offensive on the Oder.
This is the memorial to the Panzergrenadier-Division "Hamburg", which fought and fell at Seelow:
There is also a small number of personal ‘military’ graves:
Last edited:
One thing I like to do is to walk around graveyards and look at some of the dates of births and deaths.
These two struck me:
Helene Schmidt was born in November 1919, one year after the Great War finished. She would have been 20 when the Second World War commenced. That means she must have spent her formative teenage years being schooled under the Nazi regime. What kind of girl was she? A Nazi ‘maiden’ all ‘Strength through joy’ perhaps? What became of her and her family through the war and after?
Elfriede Schõnbeck’s mother gave birth to her one month after the war started. She would have been six as the war ended. What destroyed world did she grow up in?
It’s personal histories like these that interest me, as much as anything else.
These two struck me:
Helene Schmidt was born in November 1919, one year after the Great War finished. She would have been 20 when the Second World War commenced. That means she must have spent her formative teenage years being schooled under the Nazi regime. What kind of girl was she? A Nazi ‘maiden’ all ‘Strength through joy’ perhaps? What became of her and her family through the war and after?
Elfriede Schõnbeck’s mother gave birth to her one month after the war started. She would have been six as the war ended. What destroyed world did she grow up in?
It’s personal histories like these that interest me, as much as anything else.
Brilliant and entertaining report Wapping. Finally got caught up this evening. Helene Schmidt's 102 years must have been interesting. Germany trying to rebuild after WW1 hyper-inflation the rise of the Nazi's. Lord knows what she went through as a 26 year old when the Russians prevailed. Living in East Germany when the Stasi had "Files" on nearly half of the population. Then the fall of the Wall and reunification. She lived through turbulent times!!
Thank you.
I have found that the German central government has a kind of ‘War Graves Commission’ operating under law, whose duty it is to maintain war graves.
Their website has some brief details of the Seelow cemetery:
Come the end of the war (and maybe not surprisingly) the Russians cared little for German war dead, millions of whom lay in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, let alone the dead within Germany itself. Their only effort was to order the local German population to scour the surroundings to find bodies, not through any moral duty but rather because they feared disease. What the locals then did by way of burying or disposing the corpses was up to them. From the German side, the locals were struggling anyway, surviving or not in a totally shattered world.
There’s an interesting story about the ‘clean up’ in relation to the Halbe Pocket cemetery, the largest cemetery on German soil, which I’ve read about. I hope to see Halbe and the cemetery on my return journey.
I have found that the German central government has a kind of ‘War Graves Commission’ operating under law, whose duty it is to maintain war graves.
Their website has some brief details of the Seelow cemetery:
Come the end of the war (and maybe not surprisingly) the Russians cared little for German war dead, millions of whom lay in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, let alone the dead within Germany itself. Their only effort was to order the local German population to scour the surroundings to find bodies, not through any moral duty but rather because they feared disease. What the locals then did by way of burying or disposing the corpses was up to them. From the German side, the locals were struggling anyway, surviving or not in a totally shattered world.
There’s an interesting story about the ‘clean up’ in relation to the Halbe Pocket cemetery, the largest cemetery on German soil, which I’ve read about. I hope to see Halbe and the cemetery on my return journey.
Last edited:
Sunday, and it’s Father’s Day….
The owner and his wife have just left for their own holiday in Bavaria, leaving me in charge.
Party party party! Lets go! Glasto kraut style!
Similar threads
