BERLIN 1945 - Défendre Berlin !

In the "Witnesses for History" collection, and following the success of "We, the Barbarians," Peter Mooney shares the memories of three veterans who fought in Berlin until the very end of World War II in Europe. Georg Diers wrote his memoirs based on the diary entries he kept at the time, up until his captivity after 1945. He recounts his career as an infantryman in the "Nordland" Infantry Regiment, then as a Panzerkommandant in the 503rd SS Heavy Tank Battalion in Pomerania and all the way to Berlin in 1945. He succeeded in destroying numerous Soviet tanks and was also one of the last to see Hitler in the Chancellery gardens. Oskar Schäfer was a panzer lieutenant in the same heavy tank battalion as Diers and also fought in Berlin. Although he managed to escape from his burning panzer, he escaped with terrible burns that left their mark on his body and mind. The latest collection of testimonies is that of Henri Fenet, a former cadet and officer in the French army, involved in several collaborationist organizations after the dissolution of the Vichy Armistice Army and a former officer in the Waffen-SS. Henri Fenet ended the war with the rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer (Waffen-Hauptsturmführer) while serving in SS-Grenadier-Regiment 57 of the 33rd Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Charlemagne". He only learned at the end of the conflict that he had been awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 29 April 1945, while he was commander of the French assault battalion (Sturmbataillon) in Berlin.