question about battle of berlin unit

around half a year ago i read the book Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor, from what I remember it mentioned a "famous" Russian officer who fought for the germans with equal minded (other traitors) against the russians, this unit participated in the fight for berlin and the battles immidiatly around the city I hope somebody can help me finding the name and some info about this officer and the unit he was commanding

the only thing I have been able to find so fare was, Andrey Vlasov, but from what i remember its not him I am thinking of, and from what I could find he didn't take part in the Battle of berlin

I realy hope you can help me out !!!

 

I’m actually reading a book titled 'Bloody Streets' - the soviet assault on Berlin April 1945 -; in which I recall reading several references to Russian units which participated in the battle on the side of the Germans. I suggest you Google the title and see what comes up.

Oh the author of the book is A. Stephen Hamilton

 

Some further names which might ring bells

Vlasov's only combat against the Red Army took place on February 11, 1945, on the river Oder. After three days of battle against overwhelming forces, the First Division of the ROA was forced to retreat and marched southward to Prague, in German-controlled Bohemia.

On May 6, 1945, Vlasov received a request from the commander of the first ROA division, General Sergei Bunyachenko, for permission to turn his weapons against the Nazi SS forces and aid Czech resistance fighters in the Prague uprising. Vlasov at first disapproved, then reluctantly allowed Bunyachenko to proceed. Some historians maintain it was the bitterness of the ROA against the Germans which caused them to switch sides once again, while other historians believe the sole purpose of this action was to win favor from the western Allies and possibly even the Soviet side, in the light of the nearly completed military annihilation of the German Reich.

Two days later, the first division was forced to leave Prague as communist Czech partisans began arresting ROA soldiers in order to hand them over to the Soviets for execution. At this point Vlasov was offered an escape, through changing into civilian clothes and flying to neutral Spain, but he refused to leave his men.

Vlasov and the rest of his forces, trying to evade the overpowering Red Army and wishing to preserve their ranks for a future war of liberation, attempted to head west to surrender to the Allies in the closing days of the war in Europe. On May 10, 1945, Vlasov and his men reached western Allied forces and surrendered to them.

SOURCE : Andrey Vlasov - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

FWIW here is the German Order of Battle for the Battle of Berlin, of division and above units, as scanned from the Osprey Campaign Series "Battle of Berlin 1945", by Peter Antill.

This rough map will give you relative Armies positions.



Those units directly involved with the defence of Berlin are shown in more detail.

OKW RESERVE (later allocated to the LVI Panzer Corps, 9th Army)

18th Panzergrenadier Division - MajGen Josef Rauch

ARMY GROUP 'VISTULA' - ColGen Gotthard Heinrici

III SS 'Germanic' Panzer Corps - SS LtGen Felix Steiner
...(divisions later allocated to the 9th Army)
...11th SS 'Nordland' Panzergrenadier Division - SS MajGen Jurgen Ziegler / SS MajGen Dr Gustav Krukenburg
...23rd SS 'Nederland' Panzergrenadier Division - SS MajGen Wagner

...(divisions later allocated to the 3rd Panzer Army)
...27th SS ‘Langemarck' Grenadier Division
...28th SS 'Wallonien' Grenadier Division

3rd Panzer Army - Gen Hasso von Manteuffel

'Swinemunde' Corps - LtGen Ansat
...402nd & 2nd Naval Divisions
XXXII Corps - LtGen Schack
...'Voigt' & 281st Infantry Divisions
...549th Volksgrenadier Division
...Stettin Garrison
'Oder' Corps - SS LtGen von dem Bach / Gen Hörnlein
...610th & 'Klossek' Infantry Divisions
XXXXVI Panzer Corps - Gen Martin Gareis
...547th Volksgrenadier Division
...1st Naval Division

9th Army - Gen Theodor Busse
...156th Infantry Division
...541 st Volksgrenadier Division
...404th Volks Artillery Corps
...406th Volks Artillery Corps
...408th Volks Artillery Corps

CI Corps - Gen Wilhelm Berlin / LtGen Friedrich Sixt
...5th Light Infantry Division
...606th Infantry Division
...309th 'Berlin' Infantry Division
...25th Panzergrenadier Division
...'1001 Nights' Combat Group
LVI Panzer Corps - Gen Helmuth Weidling
...9th Fallschirmjager Division - Gen Bruno Braüer / Col Harry Herrmann
...20th Panzergrenadier Division - Col / MajGen Georg Scholze
...'Müncheberg' Panzer Division - MajGen Werner Mummert
...1st & 2nd 'Müncheberg' Panzergrenadier Regts
XI SS Panzer Corps - SS Gen Mathias Kleinheisterkamp
...303rd 'Doberitz' Infantry Division
...169th Infantry Division
...712th Infantry Division
...'Kurmark' Panzergrenadier Division
Frankfurt an der Oder Garrison - Col / MajGen Ernst Biehler
V SS Mountain Corps - SS Gen Friedrich Jackeln
...286th Infantry Division
...32nd SS '30. January' Volksgrenadier Division
...391st Sy Division

ARMY GROUP CENTRE - GFM Ferdinand Schörner

4th Panzer Army - Gen Fritz-Herbert Gräser
...(later transferred to the 9th Army)

V Corps - LtGen Wagner
...35th SS Police Grenadier Division
...36th SS Grenadier Division
...275th Infantry Division
...342nd Infantry Division
...21st Panzer Division

12th Army - Gen Walther Wenck

XX Corps - Gen Carl-Erik Kohler
...'Theodor Körner' RAD Division
...'Ulrich von Hutten' Infantry Division
...'Ferdinand von Schill' Infantry Division
...'Scharnhorst' Infantry Division
XXXIX Panzer Corps - LtGen Karl Arndt
...(12-21 April 1945 under OKW with the following structure)
...'Clausewitz' Panzer Division
...'Schlageter' RAD Division
...84th Infantry Division
...(21 - 26 April 1945 under 12th Army with the following structure
...'Clausewitz' Panzer Division
...84th Infantry Division
...'Hamburg' Reserve Infantry Division
...'Meyer' Infantry Division
XXXXI Panzer Corps - LtGen Holste
..'von Hake' Infantry Division
..199th Infantry Division
...'V-Weapons' Infantry Division
XXXXVIII Panzer Corps - Gen Maximillian Reichsherr von Edel"
...14th Flak Division
...'Leipzig' Battle Group
...'Halle' Battle Group

Ungrouped Formations
...'Friedrich Ludwig Jahn' RAD Division - Col Gerhard Klein / Col Franz Weller
...'Potsdam' Infantry Division - Col Erich Lorenz
There are quite a number of bottom of the barrel scrapings formations, like the '1001 Nights Combat Group', your Russians are smaller level units interspersed somewhere. With time more detail can be found.

 

Here you can find more about Russian Volunteers in the German Wehrmacht in WWII (but no mention of any unit in Berlin during 1945).

Russian Volunteers in the German Wehrmacht in WWII

 

Just reading through the German order of battle and cant help noticing the colorful names of some of the units: "Clauswitz" Panzer division, "Ferdinand von Schill" Infantry division etc. Great names for empty shells of formations.

 

In addition, U-boat crews and Baltic naval garrisons were also flown into Berlin by Bauer's Fuhrer des Fligers unit, also by a Ju352 unit, by 3/Kg200 with Bv138 (to Lake Havel) and by another baltic unit using Ju-52 floatplanes between 25-29 April 1945

 

'The Final Battle' by Cornelius Ryan is in the view of many people a superior book to that of Beever about the fall of Berlin. I have read both and definitely agree. I would highly recommend it, if you can still get a copy that is. It is a COLLINS book printed by William Clowes and sons, limited, London and Beccles.

 

Just reading through the German order of battle and cant help noticing the colorful names of some of the units: "Clauswitz" Panzer division, "Ferdinand von Schill" Infantry division etc. Great names for empty shells of formations.

Don't ask me where I read this, but I remember having read that the more elaborate the unit's heraldry, the less effective it was. Empty shells with dashing names.

Re. propaganda see the film Kolberg . IMDB says

Featured 15,000 to 20,000 actual German troops in the battle scenes, even as Germany's eastern and western fronts were collapsing. The director tried to make the shooting longer to save them from being sent to the front.