Our enemies. Walter Wenck. The meaning of wreath, Walther in the encyclopedia of the Third Reich He went down in history as the “last hope of the Fuhrer”

The third son of officer Maximilian Wenck, Walter was born in Wittenberg, Germany. In 1911 he entered the Naumburg Cadet Corps of the Prussian Army. From the spring of 1918 - to the secondary military school in Gross-Lichterfeld. He was a member of the Freikorps, in whose ranks in February 1919 he was wounded during the storming of one of the newspaper publishing houses. On May 1, 1920, he was enlisted as a private in the 5th Reichswehr Infantry Regiment, and on February 1, 1923, he was promoted to non-commissioned officer. In February 1923 he graduated from the infantry school in Munich. For some time he was an adjutant to Hans von Seeckt. Wenck entered World War II with the rank of major. On September 18, 1939, he received the Iron Cross, 2nd class, and two weeks later, on October 4, the Iron Cross, 1st class. From 1939 to 1942, Wenck was chief of operations for the 1st Panzer Division. In 1940, for the quick capture of the city of Belfort, Wenck was awarded the rank of colonel. On December 28, 1942 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and promoted (March 1, 1943) to major general. In 1942, he was an instructor at the Military Academy, chief of staff of the 57th Panzer Corps and chief of staff of the 3rd Romanian Army on the Eastern Front.FEAR 2 - Project ORIGIN - episode 17 [Final] From 1942 to 1943, Wenck served as chief of staff Army Group "Hollidt" (later reorganized into the 6th Army), assigned to the same 3rd Romanian Army. In 1943 he became chief of staff of the 6th Army. From 1943 to 1944, Wenck served as chief of staff of the 1st Panzer Army. In 1943, he withdrew his 1st Army from the Kamenets-Podolsk cauldron. In 1944 - Chief of Staff of Army Group "Southern Ukraine". From February 15, 1945, at the insistence of Heinz Guderian, Wenck commanded the German troops involved in Operation Solstice (German: Unternehmen Sonnenwende). This was one of the last tank offensive operations of the Third Reich. Approximately 1,200 German tanks attacked Soviet positions in Pomerania. However, the operation was poorly planned, the troops did not have sufficient support, and on February 18 it ended in the defeat of the attackers. In February 1945, he was seriously injured in a car accident (5 ribs were damaged). After the accident, he had to wear a corset. On April 10, 1945, with the rank of general of tank forces, Wenck commanded the 12th Army, located by that time west of Berlin. She was faced with the task of defending Berlin from the advancing Allied forces on the Western Front. But, since the troops of the Western Front moved to the east and vice versa, the German troops, which were opposite fronts, were actually pressed against each other. As a result, in the rear of Wenck's army, east of the Elbe, a large camp of German refugees appeared, fleeing the approaching Soviet troops. Wenk tried his best to provide food and accommodation for the refugees. According to various estimates, for some time the 12th Army provided food for more than a quarter of a million people every day. On April 21, Hitler ordered SS Oberstgruppenführer and SS General Felix Steiner to attack the positions of Marshal Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front. Zhukov's forces surrounded Berlin from the north, and the troops of Marshal Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front from the south. Steiner was to attack Zhukov with his army group Steiner. Having few operational tanks and about a division of infantry, he refused to do this. Instead, he retreated to escape encirclement and complete destruction.

He went down in history as “the last hope of the Fuhrer”

...On the night of April 29-30, 1945, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, chief of the OKW, received an alarming message from Adolf Hitler, in which the question was asked: “Where are the advanced units of Wenck?” We were talking about the 12th Army of General Walter Wenck, which, according to Hitler, was the only hope for salvation that Berlin and he himself could rely on. But this hope had nothing in common with reality, since General Wenck did not have tanks, and the guns at his disposal were too few. Although during the war Wenck established himself as a master at getting out of difficult situations...

...But the task of saving Berlin was impossible...

…Walter Wenck was a man of good appearance and average height who always seemed to exude a sense of self-confidence. He was born on September 18, 1900 in Wittenberg, in 1911 he entered the cadet corps in Naumberg, and in 1918 he entered the secondary military school in Groß-Lichterfeld. After serving for some time in two formations of the volunteer corps, on May 1, 1920, he was enlisted in the Reichswehr with the rank of private in the 5th Infantry Regiment, where he served until 1933. On February 1, 1923, he was promoted to the rank of non-commissioned officer.

In May 1933, Wenck (already a lieutenant) was transferred to the 3rd Motorized Reconnaissance Battalion. Having received the rank of Hauptmann, he underwent training at the General Staff and in 1936 was transferred to the headquarters of the tank corps, stationed in Berlin. On March 1, 1939, he was promoted to major and joined the 1st Panzer Division in Weimar as an operations officer. With the 1st Panzer Division, Wenck went through the Polish and Western campaigns.

During the “blitzkrieg” carried out by the Germans in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France, Wenck was wounded in the leg, but did not leave his post. On June 17, when the 1st Panzer Division reached the goal of its day's march - Montbéliard, and there was a lot of fuel left in the tanks of its tanks, Wenck made an independent decision. Unable to contact the division commander (Lieutenant General Friedrich Kirchner), he informed General Heinz Guderian (commander of the XIX Panzer Corps) that he had ordered an attack on Belfort on his own initiative.

Walter Wenck

This bold move was approved by Guderian, and the French were taken by surprise. This decision and its skilled execution did not go unnoticed - on December 1, 1940, Wenck received the rank of Oberstleutnant.

When the 1st Panzer Division crossed the border into the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Wenck was still serving as its operations officer. After a push to the outskirts of Leningrad, the 1st Panzer Division was transferred to Army Group Center to participate in the final campaign against Moscow. But, like many other tank divisions, it got stuck in the mud of muddy Russian roads and did not reach the Soviet capital. In December 1941, during a Soviet counterattack, she was surrounded, from which, however, she successfully escaped thanks to the plan developed by Wenck and returned to the German defensive lines. For his successes, Wenck was awarded the Golden Cross and two months later was admitted to the General Staff Military Academy.

On June 1, 1942, Walter Wenck was promoted to oberst (colonel), and in September he was assigned to the headquarters of the LVII Panzer Corps on the Eastern Front. At this time, the corps was in the Rostov-on-Don area and was moving east. He took part in the campaign in the Caucasus. In November, during the dramatic battle of Stalingrad, Wenck was chief of staff of the Romanian 3rd Army. The Romanians had just been crushed to smithereens by Soviet troops and put to flight. They still continued to retreat, leaving behind only haphazardly scattered scattered German units. Wenck, having driven along the roads, collected the fugitives and put them together into prefabricated formations. At rest stops, he showed them films and, when the tired soldiers got tired of watching, he sent them off to war again.

Heinz Guderian and Walter Wenck

The soldiers who joined Wenck's new army came from a wide variety of army groups, including the XLVIII Panzer Corps, emergency units of the Luftwaffe, rear units of the encircled 6th Army, as well as soldiers returning from leave in Germany from the 4th Panzer and 6th Armies . The commander of the newly created Army Group Don, Field Marshal Erich Manstein, met with Wenck in Novocherkassk and told him: “You will answer with your head if you allow the Russians to break through to Rostov in your sector. The defensive line must hold. If it is not held, we will lose not only the 6th Army in Stalingrad, but also Army Group A in the Caucasus." Wenck kept his head, and Manstein kept his army...

Oberst repulsed all Russian attempts to break through the front line in his sector. On December 28, 1942, Wenck was awarded the Knight's Cross, and a day later he was appointed chief of staff of the army of Karl-Adolf Holidt. On February 1 of the following year, Walter Wenck was promoted to major general and on March 11 became chief of staff of the 1st Panzer Army. In 1943, the 1st Army took part in the most difficult battles and in March 1944 found itself in the Kamenets-Podolsk cauldron on the Dniester River.

Once again, Walter Wenck (nicknamed “Daddy” by the troops) played a major role in breaking through the encirclement. As a result, he was expected to be promoted (the position of chief of staff of Army Group “Southern Ukraine”). On April 1, 1944, he received the rank of lieutenant general. But Wenk stayed in this position for only 4 months. Soon he was appointed head of the operational department and assistant chief of staff of the OKH. Now he transmitted his reports directly to Hitler. At the very first meeting, Wenck told the Fuhrer that the Eastern Front was like Swiss cheese - “there are only holes in it.” Although Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel was offended by such language (and such honesty?), Hitler appreciated both of them, he liked Wenck’s directness and intelligence.

Wenck (foreground) plans the German offensive

By mid-February 1945, the Russians had reached the Oder River between Schwedt and Grünberg, with their flanks still vulnerable. The General Staff developed a plan for a counterattack, which was to be carried out by the Vistula group, which was under the command of Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler. In a heated argument, Heinz Guderian, now Chief of the General Staff of the Army, convinced the Fuhrer to appoint Walter Wenck to the post of Chief of Staff of the group. This gave at least some hope for the success of the operation. Wenck's coordinated attack was initially successful. At the same time, Hitler insisted that he continue to attend nightly meetings with the Führer, which meant Wenck made 200-mile trips every day.

On February 14, 1945, on the way from the front line, Wenk, tired to the limit, replaced his unconscious driver Hermann Dorn at the wheel. Wenk fell asleep at the wheel, lost control, and the car crashed into the parapet of a bridge on the Berlin-Stettin autobahn. Dorn pulled Wenk out from under a pile of flaming rubble, pulled off his general's jacket and put out the burning clothes. Wenk's skull was damaged in several places, five ribs were broken, and there were numerous bruises on his body. Without Wenk, who was hospitalized, the counterattack failed...

Still recovering, Wenck was promoted to general of tank forces on April 10, 1945. Hitler soon created a new 12th Army and appointed General Wenck (who at that time was forced to wear a corset due to injuries) as its commander. Wenck's army had no tank units and only one anti-tank battalion. Sent initially to defend against the Americans, Wenck received orders on April 20 to turn east and strike at Soviet units. But Wenck's goal, as opposed to saving Berlin (which was already virtually surrounded by Soviet troops), was to save the 9th Army of General Theodor Busse.

Walter Wenck did not like defeats, but accepted them with dignity...

Shortly before midnight on April 22, Field Marshal Keitel arrived at Wenck's headquarters in a depressed mood. Wenk was somewhat confused when he saw him. The field marshal arrived in full dress uniform and, having formally greeted him (lightly touching his cap with his baton), excitedly pointed to the map, saying that their duty told them to save Hitler. Keitel told Wenck that the situation was completely desperate and that both armies, Busse's 9th and Wenck's 12th, must march to Berlin immediately. Wenck, realizing that it was useless to argue with Keitel, who was agitated and had lost the ability to think, agreed.

But at the same time, Walter Wenck knew that time to save the 12th Army was lost. Despite the fact that he retained his position and even managed to send advanced units towards Potsdam, he did this only to enable the encircled 9th Army to join his units. Next, Wenck hoped to hold out as long as possible in order to allow refugees fleeing the Russians to escape to the west and take advantage of the cover of his forces. At the very last moment, he intended to move west and surrender to the Americans. On April 24 and 25, Keitel again appeared at Wenck's, exhorting him to liberate Potsdam and establish contact with Berlin. It’s surprising that Wenck still managed to get almost close to Potsdam, but that’s all he was capable of, since he didn’t have any resources to complete the task.

Hitler, still hoping for salvation, made a request to Keitel about Wenck's whereabouts on the night of April 29-30. Wenck managed to hold out until May 1, when separate units of Busse's army broke through from the encirclement and joined the 12th Army. Then Wenck, gathering all his forces, together with thousands of German civilians quickly moved west, crossed the Elbe and surrendered to the Americans on May 7, 1945...

General Walter Wenck, nicknamed "Papa", "Young General"

Immediately after the war, Wenck served as a manager in a medium-sized commercial firm in Dalhausen. In the business world he was able to achieve a position as successful as he had in the army. In 1950, he joined the board of a large industrial company and in 1953 became a member of the board of directors, and in 1955 he took the place of chairman of the board. At the end of the 60s he retired, although he retained his office in Bonn. At the end of the 70s he was still alive and well...

A few more touches to the portrait of Walter Wenck from the book by Elena Syanova: “An employee of Allen Dulles’s apparatus, Colonel Garrison (a private letter dated August 3, 1967 from the retired Garrison was addressed to his friend) wrote: “General Wenck’s breakthrough to Potsdam and in general the whole situation around it man in itself was amazing, but Walter Wenck himself seemed even more amazing to us, whom I had the opportunity to observe for half an hour on May 7... While signing the papers, he looked very drunk. He answered questions, albeit clearly, but only “yes” and “no,” and when, after the first brief conversation, he left the headquarters building, then, without taking even two steps, he literally collapsed into the arms of the staff who grabbed him. “Good,” I thought. “I found the time!”

Many of them then got drunk to the point of bestiality and completely lost their “Aryan” luster. This is how they drowned out despair... They brought Venk back to the headquarters, called a doctor to see him, who listened to his pulse, looked at his pupils, shrugged his shoulders and ordered him to undress, just in case. We all gasped. Venka was wearing a corset, the kind worn for spinal injuries. When the corset was cut, the doctor spread his hands and looked at us rather disapprovingly and questioningly. Wenk's body looked as if he had been beaten several times for a long time and severely. His adjutant, however, immediately explained that his boss had been in a serious car accident two and a half months ago and since then had almost no opportunity for treatment, since he was always in the most critical places on the front, following orders. The doctor first said that the general was most likely in pain shock, but after examining him again, he discovered that Wenck was simply sleeping. I confess to you, the fortitude of this handsome guy made an impressive impression on us then, especially against the backdrop of the order and dignity in which his two armies with kilometer-long tails of refugees were at that moment.”

General Wenck formed his last units from such members of the Hitler Youth...

After the war, Walter Wenck would live another 37 years. He will never serve again. Although more than once he will experience the pressure of an order - an “eternal order” for a German soldier to get back into line. Why? “We all winced at the Jewish pogroms, at rumors about the cruel treatment of Russian prisoners of war and deportations... we winced and... followed the order. You're right, an order is not an excuse. There is no order or justification in my life now. But there is a feeling of disgust, because... - Walter Wenck wrote to Margarita Hess (letter dated June 22, 1950), - because no one accuses me. I'm not on any of the lists. Even the Russians spat on me. Why the hell did I surrender to them?! Why the hell did I give in to myself?! I remember when I was a child, in the cadet corps, our entire platoon was punished for something - everyone except me. It's hard to imagine a worse punishment. The humiliation made me sick..."

One of the indirect references to General Wenck is associated with the Soviet trophy - the legendary “Goliath”. "Goliath" is an ultra-long-wave radio station that provides communications with submarines at a distance of up to 4,000 kilometers. It was built in Germany near the city of Kalbe in 1943 to coordinate the actions of German submarines from the so-called “wolf packs”. The radio station is a mast field; cables stretched between the masts serve as antennas.

The 13th Army Corps of two-star General Guillem (9th US Army) received the command to occupy the territory of Altmark from the Hanover region through the cities of Gardelengen and Kalbe (Milde) towards the Elbe River to reach the line of communication with the advancing Soviet troops. The 47th Soviet Army is marching toward the Elbe to meet them, closing a possible path to a breakthrough to the west from the encirclement of the Berlin Wehrmacht group. The Americans are in a hurry. They would like to enter Berlin before the Soviet troops. But this task turned out to be beyond their strength. The bridges across the Elbe are blown up one after another at the first appearance of American tanks. On April 12, American tank units of the 13th Army Corps stopped on the western bank of the Elbe, 85 kilometers from Berlin. All three bridges over the Elbe in Altmark were blown up. At noon on April 16, American front-line commanders received orders to stop their advance on the Elbe and wait for the Russian allies there.

The famous German transmitter "Goliath"

In April 1945, when there were only a few days left before the end of the war, Wehrmacht troops removed able-bodied prisoners from concentration camps located in the northern districts and sent them to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin. But the Nazis did not have time to deliver the prisoners to their destination, since the Americans were moving very quickly towards the Elbe. The prisoners were dropped off near the town of Gardelegen, which is two dozen kilometers from the town of Kalbe (Milde), taken to a large field, taken into a barn and set on fire.

The Americans who entered the city found everyone already dead. At this place it was decided to create a Military Cemetery-Memorial to the victims of fascism. The plaque reads: “Here lie 1,016 Allied prisoners of war, killed by their guards. The residents of Gardelegen buried them and pledged to preserve their graves, just as the memory of the dead would be kept in the hearts of peace-loving people. The cemetery is maintained under the supervision of the 102nd Division of the US Army. Any disturbance of the peace of the dead will be punished with the heaviest punishments. Frank Keating, commander of the American army."

The Americans occupied the Goliath area at noon on April 11, 1945, and turned it into a camp for prisoners of war of German soldiers and officers, possibly due to the presence of a ditch and a high fence. After the collapse of the German front on the Oder, hundreds of thousands of Wehrmacht soldiers and officers crossed the Elbe to escape the advancing Soviet troops. The prisoner of war camp on the territory of "Goliath" filled up very quickly.

Germans in American captivity

According to reports from participants in those events, up to 85,000 people were placed in the fields between the antenna masts. Among them is General Walter Wenck, commander of the German 12th Army, with the command staff of this army. In total, 18 generals - commanders of tank, infantry, SS corps and divisions - and a large number of senior officers of the defeated German troops were in American captivity on the territory of "Goliath". There were a lot of young people aged 15-16 years old from the 12th Army in the prisoner of war camp. The treatment of German prisoners of war in the camp by American guards was harsh. The guards were soldiers of the US 102nd Division, and they saw what the Nazis did to Allied prisoners of war in Gardelegen.

At the end of May, the Americans were replaced by the British in the area of the city of Kalbe (Milde). A Scottish military unit began to guard the prisoner of war camp. And already at the end of June 1945, in accordance with the decisions of the Yalta Conference of 1945 on the zones of German occupation, Soviet troops entered the territory of Altmark and the Goliath radio station. On July 2, 1945, the territory of “Goliath” and the remains of the prisoner of war camp were received by representatives of the Soviet troops. The prisoner of war camp finally ceased to exist on July 26, 1945.

Of course, the commanders of Soviet military units immediately drew attention to the unusual structures and structures on the territory where the camp for German prisoners of war was located. This was reported on command to senior management. After the closure of the prisoner of war camp, Soviet specialists took over the territory of the radio station.

The Reich Eagle was finally defeated...

The first Soviet military commandant of the city of Kalbe (Milde) was appointed engineer-major Matvey Markovich Goldfeld, a representative of the USSR Navy Communications Directorate. Despite the trees that have grown over the years, the remains of Goliath are clearly visible in satellite images today. This is where the German part of the history of the VSD radio station “Goliath” ended.

According to international law, the German VLF radio station “Goliath” is a military trophy, that is, military property of the German fleet, surrendered to the Soviet Union during the surrender of Germany in 1945. Therefore, it is considered the property of the Russian Federation as a state that assumed all the obligations of the USSR, the winner of World War II, and can be used by Russia for both military and other purposes.

P.S. Reference: Walter Wenck (1900-1982) became a successful businessman in the post-war world and was still very active in the industrial sector at the end of the 70s. Among others whose professional and political careers took off after the end of the war, it is worth noting, first of all, the former Imperial Secretary Erhard Milch, Hasso von Manteuffel, as well as the famous Luftwaffe ace Major Erich Hartmann. After the war, Milch lived in Düsseldorf, where he worked as an industrial consultant for the aircraft manufacturing department of the Fiat company and the Thyssen steel syndicate. Manteuffel worked as an adviser in the Cologne bank of Oppenheim, in 1947 he was elected to the magistrate of the city of Neuss am Rhein, and from 53 to 57 he was even a member of the Bundestag. And finally, Hartmann came to court in the newly created German Air Force, even receiving under his command the 71st Richthofen Fighter Regiment stationed in Oldenburg. General Wenck himself died in a car accident...

Participation in wars: The Second World War.
Participation in battles: Polish campaign. French campaign. Exit from the Kamenets-Podolsk cauldron. Operation Solstice. Battle of Berlin

(Walther Wenck) One of the youngest generals of the German army in World War II. Took part in the Battle of Berlin

Walter Wenck born in Wittenberg on September 18, 1900. At the age of eleven, Wenck entered the cadet corps in Naumburg, and in 1918 he was enrolled in the secondary military school in Lichterfels.

During First World War Wenck served in the volunteer corps formations, and after graduation he was enlisted in the Reichswehr with the rank of private. In February 1923, he was awarded the rank of non-commissioned officer. After ten years of service, he became a lieutenant and in May 1933 was transferred to the 3rd Motorized Reconnaissance Battalion.

Then, having received the rank of Hauptmann, Wenck underwent training at the General Staff and in 1936 was transferred to the headquarters of the tank corps, stationed in Berlin.

In May 1939 Walter Wenck was promoted to major and accepted into service as an operations officer in the 1st Panzer Division in Weimar. With this division he went Polish and Western campaigns. Even after being wounded in the leg, he remained in service. In June 1940, Wenck's Panzer Division carried out an independent operation to capture Belfort. The operation plan was completely developed by Wenck and approved Guderian. The initiative and professional execution of the operation did not go unnoticed by the leadership, and in December 1940 Wenck was awarded the rank of Oberst-lieutenant.

At the beginning of the war with the Soviet Union, Wenck's division took part in offensive on Leningrad, and then was transferred to Army Group Center to participate in the attack on Moscow. During the Soviet counteroffensive in December 1941, the division was surrounded, from which it was able to escape only thanks to the skillful actions of Wenck. For his successes, Wenck was awarded the Golden Cross. Early next year he was sent to study at the Military Academy of the General Staff. After graduating from the academy, Wenck was promoted to Oberst, and in September 1942 he was transferred to the headquarters of the 57th Corps, with which he took part in the campaign in the Caucasus.

Wenk also participated in Battle of Stalingrad: He was appointed chief of staff of the 3rd Romanian Army. This was already during the Soviet counteroffensive near Stalingrad, in which the Romanian troops were completely defeated, and the German units within the Romanian army were disunited. Wenck tried to collect the remnants of the defeated military units and unite them into new units. And he succeeded in many ways - soon the units he formed were sent to the front. In his defense sector, he repulsed all attempts to break through the Soviet troops, which gave the opportunity to Army Group Don (former Army Group A) under the command of Field Marshal Manstein break out of the Caucasus and take charge of the operation at Stalingrad instead of the displaced Weichsa. In December 1942, Wenck was awarded the Knight's Cross and appointed Chief of Staff of the Holidt Army.

In February 1943 Wenk was promoted to major general, and in March became chief of staff of the 1st Tank Army. Taking part in the most difficult battles, the 1st Army more than once found itself under the threat of encirclement. By this time, Wenk had established himself as a master at getting out of crisis situations. So, in March 1944, the 1st Army fell into the Kamenets-Podolsk cauldron on the Dniester, but thanks to the energy of the chief of staff, it safely escaped from it. Wenk was awarded the rank of lieutenant general and transferred to chief of staff of Army Group Southern Ukraine.

Four months later Wenk appointed head of the operational department and assistant chief of staff of the OKH. Now he worked in direct contact with the Fuhrer, transmitting him reports from the Eastern Front. Hitler liked Wenck's intelligence and directness, and he forgave him even for very unpleasant comments on reports.

By mid-February 1945, Soviet troops reached the Oder. Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces Guderian developed a plan for a counterattack on the flanks of the Soviet troops, hoping to stop the enemy's advance. He was appointed chief of staff of the strike force Walter Wenck. This operation could well have been successful for the German command, since the flanks of the Soviet units were indeed vulnerable, and Wenck’s experience and initiative also gave hope for success. Wenk concentrated all his efforts on this operation and, as a result, stopped the enemy troops at the initial stage of the counterattack. But Hitler began to demand Wenk's presence at daily evening meetings. In order to get to the Fuhrer for these meetings, Walter Wenck had to travel many kilometers every evening from the operation headquarters to Headquarters. During one of these trips, the lieutenant general replaced his tired driver at the wheel, but he himself fell asleep. The car Wenk was driving lost control and crashed into the parapet of the bridge. The driver saved him by pulling him out of the car and extinguishing the clothes that were burning on him. In addition to numerous bruises and broken ribs, Wenk suffered a serious skull injury. He was sent to the hospital, and the leadership of the operation was transferred to Heinrich Himmler - a man clearly incapable of carrying out this task.

While still in the hospital, Walter Wenck in April 1945 he was promoted to the rank of general of tank forces. After leaving the hospital, although not completely cured, Wenck is appointed to the post of commander of the newly created 12th Army and is sent to the Western Front.

Unexpectedly, on April 20, Wenck received orders from Hitler to turn his troops east and strike at the Soviet troops already blockading Berlin.

General of Tank Forces Walter Wenck(although there were no tank units in his army) he understood that he would not be able to save Berlin, since he did not have any means for an offensive operation, but he could save the troops of the 9th Army, which was also surrounded. Despite the fact that he sent his troops towards Potsdam, he did this only to enable the troops of the 9th Army to break out of the encirclement, and at the very last moment he wanted to go west with them and surrender to the Americans there. In the Potsdam area, Wenck held out until May 1. By this time, separate units of the 9th Army had broken out of the encirclement and joined Wenck's 12th Army. He then quickly moved west and surrendered to American forces on May 7.

After the war Walter Wenck went into the world of business. In 1950, Wenck joined the board of directors of a large West German company, in 1953 he became a member of the board of directors, and in 1955 he became chairman of the board. Late 1960s Wenk retired from all affairs, retaining only his office in Bonn.

“If I had started a war with commanders like Wenck,” Hitler said in April 1945, “I would have won it.” One of the youngest Wehrmacht generals, Walter Wenck, is in the portrait gallery of Elena Syanova.

The project was prepared for the “Price of Victory” program of the radio station “Echo of Moscow”.

My generation, who studied at school in the 70s, came across the name of General Wenck in a history textbook in the section “Storm of Berlin. Victory". Remember: Hitler is sitting in his bunker, shaken by the blows of Soviet howitzers, bricks are already falling on his head, and he is still waiting for some mythical General Wenck, who is about to burst into Berlin surrounded by the Russians, rescue his Fuhrer and, in general, turn the tables situation.

“I still have Wenk, I still have Wenk,” Hitler repeats as an incantation, tearing at the greasy map with shaking hands. Many of these pictures, illustrating the existence of the Third Reich, are as close to its true existence as clown acts are to real life. But Hitler in the bunker, relying on Wenck as the savior himself - this is the image left to us in the wiretaps that Himmler’s spy representative, SS General Berger, managed to install in some rooms of the second level.

Walter Wenck was the Fuhrer's last hope for salvation

And here’s another picture: “Hitler, his face red with anger, his fists raised, stood in front of me, shaking his whole body with rage. After the next outburst, he began to run back and forth on the carpet, while he screamed so much that his eyes popped out of their sockets, the veins in his temples turned blue and swollen.” This is the famous description of the scene in the Reich Chancellery in early February 1945, left in his famous “Notes of a Soldier” by General Guderian.

Walter Wenck

Hitler and Guderian fought, as they say, to the death and, by the way, because of Wenck. Guderian demanded that a young general be appointed (essentially instead of Himmler) to command the upcoming counteroffensive on February 15. Hitler was frightened and enraged by Himmler's obvious inadequacy as a commander, but he recognized it and eventually surrendered. The counter-offensive has begun. On February 16 and 17 it developed successfully.

Hitler: “I would have won the war with commanders like Wenck”

After the victory, American experts carefully analyzed the German military operations of 1945 and concluded that Wenck’s leadership seriously threatened to turn the tide by delaying the advance of the Red Army. This opinion was later ridiculed by Soviet generals. However, now that we know about the actions taken by the American intelligence service to conclude a separate peace with Germany, we understand that the price of even the local success of the Germans was very high.

On the 18th, Wenk was in a serious car accident. However, after three weeks in the hospital, he received a new order: with the forces of the 12th Army, which did not have a single tank, to hold back the Americans, at the same time ensure a breakthrough of the 9th Army, and then, deploying both armies, of which only one name remained, to break through to Berlin . This order was given on April 25, and on the 28th Wenck was already in Potsdam and even established contact with the bunker. So, as you see, Hitler’s hopes for salvation are by no means psychotic. “General Wenck’s breakthrough to Potsdam and, in general, the whole situation around this guy is truly amazing,” wrote Colonel Garrison, a member of Allen Dulles’ staff.

Heinz Guderian and Walter Wenck

Walter Wenck belonged to a new generation of career German officers who did not go through the First World War, were not broken by its defeats and were not embittered. Maybe that's why he fought differently. Consider, for example, the capture of the French city of Belfort by his division in 1940. It’s just that there was still a lot of fuel left in the tanks of his tanks, and the young lieutenant colonel, without orders, immediately captured another city, key in the entire operation. “Wenck made his own decision,” Guderian delicately writes about this.

To be honest, this incident changed for me my entire understanding of the German lieutenant colonels during the Blitzkrieg on Europe. Wenck fought near Moscow, near Leningrad, in the Caucasus, in Stalingrad, rapidly moving up the career ladder. It was he who made the famous comparison of the Eastern Front at the end of 1944 to Swiss cheese, which had only holes. The enraged Hitler tolerated this statement from Wenck and even smiled, and then lashed out at Keitel, for which he was apparently given the authorship. “If I had started a war with commanders like Wenck,” Hitler said in April 1945, “I would have won it.”

After the war, Walter Wenck was expected to become the leader of the Bundeswehr

After the war, Wenck, along with Generals Heusenger and Speidel, was predicted to become the leader of the Bundeswehr, but so that you understand something, I’ll simply quote an excerpt from his letter addressed to Hess’s sister Margaret in 1949: “We all winced at the Jewish pogroms, at the rumors about cruel treatment of prisoners of war, deportations, they frowned and followed the order. You're right, an order is not an excuse. There is no excuse or order in my life anymore. But there is a feeling of disgust from the fact that no one blames me. Even the Russians spat on me. Why the hell did I surrender to them? Why the hell did I give in to myself? I remember when I was a child, in the cadet corps, our entire platoon was punished for something. Everyone but me. The humiliation made me sick.”

After the war, Walter Wenck lived another 37 years. 37 years. With a feeling of disgust and nausea. But that is another story.

Walter Wenck(German: Walther Wenck; September 18, 1900, Wittenberg, German Empire - May 1, 1982, Bad Rothenfeld, Germany) - one of the youngest generals of the German Army in World War II. He took part in the Battle of Berlin. At the end of the war, he surrendered with his army to the United States, in order not to fall into Soviet captivity.

Biography

For some time he was Hans von Seeckt's adjutant.

The Second World War

Wenck entered World War II with the rank of major. On September 18, 1939, he received the Iron Cross, 2nd class, and two weeks later, on October 4, the Iron Cross, 1st class.

From 1939 to 1942, Wenck was chief of operations for the 1st Panzer Division. In 1940, for the quick capture of the city of Belfort, Wenck was awarded the rank of colonel. On December 28, 1942, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and promoted (March 1, 1943) to major general. In 1942, he was an instructor at the Military Academy, chief of staff of the 57th Tank Corps and chief of staff of the 3rd Romanian Army on the Eastern Front.

From 1942 to 1943, Wenck served as chief of staff of the Army Group Hollidt (later reorganized into the 6th Army), assigned to the same 3rd Romanian Army. In 1943 he became chief of staff of the 6th Army. From 1943 to 1944, Wenck served as chief of staff of the 1st Panzer Army. In 1943, he withdrew his 1st Army from the Kamenets-Podolsk cauldron. In 1944 - chief of staff of Army Group "Southern Ukraine".

From 15 February 1945, at the insistence of Heinz Guderian, Wenck commanded the German forces involved in Operation Solstice (German: Unternehmen Sonnenwende). This was one of the last tank offensive operations of the Third Reich. Approximately 1,200 German tanks attacked Soviet positions in Pomerania. However, the operation was poorly planned, the troops did not have sufficient support, and on February 18 it ended in the defeat of the attackers.

In February 1945, he was seriously injured in a car accident (5 ribs were damaged). After the accident he had to wear a corset.

Western Front

On April 10, 1945, with the rank of general of tank forces, Wenck commanded the 12th Army, which by that time was located west of Berlin. She was faced with the task of defending Berlin from the advancing Allied forces on the Western Front. But, since the troops of the Western Front moved to the east and vice versa, the German troops, which were opposite fronts, were actually pressed against each other. As a result, in the rear of Wenck's army, east of the Elbe, a large camp of German refugees appeared, fleeing the approaching Soviet troops. Wenk tried his best to provide food and accommodation for the refugees. According to various estimates, for some time the 12th Army provided food for more than a quarter of a million people every day.

Berlin's last hope

On April 21, Hitler ordered SS Obergruppenführer and SS General Felix Steiner to attack the positions of Marshal Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front. Zhukov's forces surrounded Berlin from the north, and the troops of Marshal Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front from the south. Steiner was to attack Zhukov with his army group Steiner. Having few operational tanks and about a division of infantry, he refused to do this. Instead, he retreated to escape encirclement and complete destruction.

On April 22, due to the retreat of Steiner's troops, General Wenck's 12th Army became Hitler's last hope to save Berlin. Wenck was ordered to deploy his troops to the east and link up with the 9th Army of Infantry General Theodor Busse. According to the plan, they were supposed to surround Soviet units from the west and south. Meanwhile, the 41st Panzer Corps, under the command of General Holste, was to attack from the north. Unfortunately for the Germans in Berlin, the majority of Holste's troops consisted of remnants of Steiner's units.