During World War II, Leipzig was repeatedly attacked by British as well as American air raids. Meanwhile, the 69th occupied Heiligenstadt. . On 17 April, the Polish Second Army breached Germa… Nevertheless, they followed orders. The 2nd Infantry Division was to continue directly eastward toward Leipzig, while the 69th was ordered to follow the 9th Armored and then enter the city from the south and southwest. Among his other works are the quintessential reminiscences of a young officer in combat, Company Commander, and A Time for Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge. They were in or near this battle. On March 19, the supreme commander invited Bradley to accompany him to Cannes, on the French Riviera, for a few days of rest and relaxation. The veteran 2nd Armored Division again led Simpson’s thrust; by April 12, Ninth Army had crossed the Elbe at Magdeburg, only 50 miles from Berlin. As it seemed the impasse would never be resolved, Trefousse extended one last option. eMedals INC. is pleased to offer flexible layaway services to all clients. Send me an email at: historyhustle@gmail.com When Poncet and two other German officers met them, Trefousse pointed out the hopelessness of the situation but Poncet responded that he was under a direct order from Hitler not to surrender. He ordered the 9th Armored Division to move 13 miles southeast, around the city and to the banks of the Mulde River. The allied offensives achieved little and were soon forced back, but Napoleon's outnumbered forces were unable to break the allied lines, resulting in a hard-fought stalemate. These pictures included an image of Raymond J. Bowman’s death by sniper fire. THE BATTLE FOR LEIPZIG AFTER THE BATTLE, Number 130 By mid-April, 1945, the capital of Saxony in eastern Germany was one of the last big cities that hadn’t yet fallen to the Allied armies invading Hitler's Germany from East and West. Montgomery was ordered to advance in the north, protecting the left flank of the XII Army Group. Word reached Trefousse that only Poncet would be allowed out of the monument and that the rest of the Germans would temporarily remain inside under guard. A monocle in his right eye gave him an appearance that made me want to congratulate Hollywood on its movie interpretations of high-ranking Nazis.”. Part of Marshal Ivan Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front, the Poles operated in the centre of the front, flanked on the right by the 5th Guards Army and on the left by the 7th Mechanized Corps. As one regiment crossed the Saale after dark on a railroad bridge that was damaged though still standing, other infantry units crept close enough to the German antiaircraft guns to radio coordinates to their own artillery and bring accurate fire on the positions, finally destroying many of the enemy weapons. It remains an imposing monument, not only to the victory over Napoleon, but also to one of the last battles of World War II. Trefousse went to Lt. Col. Knight for permission to grant the 48-hour leave. His small force occupied a nearly impregnable position. In October 1813, the combined allied armies of Russia, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, Saxony, and Württemberg met and defeated the French Grand Armee under Napoleon Bonaparte at the German city of Leipzig, forcing him to retreat and hastening his eventual abdication and exile to the island of Elba. Hoping to spare Leipzig from destruction, Grolmann was particularly concerned about damage to the city’s electrical and water supplies if the bridges over the Weisse Elster River were destroyed to slow the Americans. I was reading this because I have a Nazi flag captured by the 302d FA Btln. This decision, however, was true to form—the right choice given the exigencies of the military situation. A soldier of the 1st US Army, among debris inside the Monument to the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig, Germany April 1945. After General Dwight D. Eisenhower decided against advancing on Berlin, American troops captured Leipzig, Germany’s fifth largest city. Colonel Hans von Poncet wanted to fight on. The 2nd encountered some resistance along the Weisse Elster River, but the bridges remained intact. The soldier became known as the ‘last man to die’ in WWII after the image appeared in Life magazine’s Victory issue. As Simpson sought permission to continue toward the German capital, he was taken aback by Bradley’s response. On April 18, 1945, Capa captured images of a fight to secure a bridge in Leipzig, Germany. For the offensive, Hodges fielded two corps: to the left was the VII under Maj. Gen. J. Lawton Collins consisting of the 1st and 104th Infantry Divisions and the 3rd Armored Division, and on the right was V Corps under Maj. Gen. Clarence Huebner and including the 2nd and 69th Infantry and 9th Armored Divisions. The following morning, Zweibel again assaulted the center of Leipzig, firing at city hall and the surrounding buildings from a range of only 150 yards. On March 25, just two days after the first of Montgomery’s troops set foot on the east bank of the Rhine, seven divisions of the U.S First Army under Lt. Gen. Courtney Hodges struck eastward from Remagen, spearheaded by Maj. Gen. Maurice Rose’s 3rd Armored Division. Part of Marshal Ivan Konev's 1st Ukrainian Front, the Poles operated in the centre of the front, flanked on the right by the 5th Guards Army and on the left by the 7th Mechanized Corps. ISBN 978-3-87943-480-0. Gen. of Police Wilhelm von Grolmann. There was also talk of diehard Nazis, many of them battle-hardened men of the SS, moving into the Harz Mountains and establishing a national redoubt from which to carry on a guerrilla war that might last for years. As Zweibel’s armor neared Napoleon Platz, the tankers were greeted with a hail of small-arms fire and rounds from panzerfaust antitank weapons. “You are not to advance any farther than Berlin. The flag is signed and in very good condition. Great article. Sherman Tanks vs. Tiger Tanks: Which Was Best at the Bulge. His mind made up, Eisenhower rankled the British once again by removing Maj. Gen. William Simpson’s Ninth Army from Montgomery’s command and returning it to Bradley and XII Army Group for upcoming operations. Foot Battery (4 x 6pdr cannons, 2 x 5,7-inch howitzers) . “Does he know I’m just a captain? The battle of Leipzig broke every record at the time, both for its geographical spread and for the number of men (and hence casualties) involved in the conflict. Huebner’s V Corps was led by the 69th and 2nd Divisions, under Maj. Gens. The most severe attack was launched by the Royal Air Force in the early hours of December 4, 1943 and claimed more than 1,800 lives. For reasons that were never made perfectly clear, perhaps to preserve their fighting spirit, Eisenhower chose to withhold his decision not to advance on Berlin from virtually all of his senior commanders except Bradley. • Hans von Ahlfen (1977). Ist gut! German police commander Wilhelm von Grolmann wanted to surrender. On April 25, 1945, 1st Lt. Albert Kotzebue of the 69th’s 273rd Infantry Regiment and three soldiers of an intelligence and reconnaissance unit crossed the Elbe in a small boat and met soldiers of a Red Army Guards rifle regiment belonging to the 1st Ukrainian Front. In the annals of military history magazines, this is one of those moments. There was already some fighting in Leipzig. Reports indicate that 374 heavy flak weapons were in the area, 104 of them around the city of Leuna and 174 around Leipzig. When the two generals met at Wiesbaden, Simpson was carrying his detailed plan for the advance on Berlin. German police commander Wilhelm von Grolmann wanted to surrender. Leipzig was also unusual in its duration: a cavalry clash on 14 October being followed by four days of battle from the 16th to the 19th. The Battle of Leipzig (1945) – The Last American Battle in Germany during World War II The Battle of Leipzig (1945) is another forgotten WW2 battle during the Allied conquest of Western Germany near the end of the Second World War in Europe. Leipzig had long been revered for its historical significance and as a center of German culture, higher education, trade, and industry. In his response to Eisenhower, Stalin confirmed that American commander’s course of action “coincided entirely with the plan of the Soviet high command.” Almost as an afterthought, he added, “In the Soviet high command plans, secondary forces will therefore be allotted to Berlin.”. In the last months of World War II, the Polish Second Army, under General Karol Świerczewski, took part in the Soviet drive on Berlin. By Stephen Millar [III, IV, and VI Corps, III Cavalry Corps and 27th Infantry Division] 113 battalions, 44 squadrons and 27 batteries. Earlier, the region was, in 1813, the theatre of the “Völkerschlacht” (literally 'battle of nations/peoples', but also known in the English-speaking world simply as 'Battle of Leipzig') between the armies of Napoleon of France and a coalition of Prussian, Russian, Austrian and Swedish forces. Territory seized by Eisenhower’s command and slated for postwar occupation by the Soviets would be vacated at the appropriate time. Could you, therefore, tell me your intentions and let me know how far the proposals outlined in this message conform to your probable action. The pockmarked, damaged monument was secured, but not before some confusion ensued as to the disposition of the newly acquired prisoners. The [[Emperor of the French|French Emperor]] [[Napoleon I]] attempted to militarily coerce Tsar [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]] of [[Imperial Russia|Russia]] into rejoining his unpopular [[Continental System]] by [[Napoleon's invasion of Russia|invading Russia]] with about 650,000 troops, collectively known as the ''[[Grande Armée]]'', and eventually occupied [[Moscow]] in late 1812, after the bloody yet indecisive [[Battle of Bo… Seconds after the photographer had taken a portrait of a fresh-faced sergeant poised with a heavy machine gun on a Leipzig balcony, the soldier slumped to the floor. . Early in the war, the German 88mm antiaircraft gun had proven deadly against ground targets, and the flat terrain surrounding Leipzig offered excellent fields of fire. After two days of fighting against the German LXVII Corps, the best of their patchwork Eleventh Army, the 69th Division had advanced from Kassel and crossed the Werra River. Der Kampf um Schlesien 1944/1945. It changed the world more than any other single event in history. He had been authorized to discuss purely military issues with the commanders of Allied troops, and Stalin was the commander in chief of all Red Army forces. As the news was passed up the American chain of command from Huebner to Hodges, Grolmann got Poncet on the telephone and was told curtly, just prior to the click of a hangup, that Poncet had no intention of surrendering. Before deciding firmly on my plans, it is, I think, most important they should be coordinated as closely as possible with yours both as to direction and timing. the broad-front strategy, skirted protocol a bit and cabled Soviet Premier Josef Stalin directly. The Leipzig region was the arena of the 1813 Battle of Leipzig between Napoleonic France and an allied coalition of Prussia, Russia, Austria, and Sweden. Eisenhower asked Bradley what he thought about a final, all-out push for Berlin. But there it is.”. My next task will be to divide the remaining enemy forces by joining with your forces…. It was one of the last WW2 battles the Americans fought in Europe. Bradley responded that the effort would cost 100,000 casualties and added wryly that it was “a pretty stiff price to pay for a prestige objective, especially when we’ve got to fall back and let the other fellow take over.”. Poncet couldn’t have cared less; he was determined to fight and fortified numerous buildings around the city hall and later withdrew into the Battle of the Nations Monument with about 150 men, some of whom were later described by the Americans as SS troops. However, Leipzig was not completely subdued. Heavy artillery shells did little damage to the sturdy walls of the monument, and the Germans inside were holding 17 American prisoners. Because there were Americans inside, General Reinhardt decided against using flamethrowers to burn the Germans out.
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