Hi. ...MagnusStultus wrote:But as demonstrated earlier their own commanding officer claimed to have only brought 90 men in total to Berlin.Art wrote:Well, French SS in Berlin were just several hundred men, virtually a drop in the ocean. It would be strange if they receive a disproportional space in Soviet docs. And I don't remember that they ever used such words as "epic acts of valor" or like in regard to Axis soldier. However, the fact was that 8 GA/1 GTA offensive in central Berlin got stuck with serious losses which indicates a stubborn resistance from a German side. I cannot judge what was a French contribution in all that.
What I am claiming is that the epic acts of valor/extending the siege by two days/knocking out a fleet of T34s that their survivors claimed to have done just never happened and that the 90 men brought to Berlin may have as individuals fought bravely (although lack of German witnesses to that puts that into doubt) but they made no difference and had they made a difference the Soviets would have learned they did from capturing everything on the German side by battles end (including their commanding officer).
Considering the other evidence for how the Frenchmen of what became Charlemagne performed as soldiers (i.e. their horrible prior experience and German complaints about them as soldiers) their claims to have made any kind of significant contribution at Berlin are at best unconfirmed boasts.
Why are you taking the "90" number as Gospel when quoting material from earlier posts in this thread?
Yes, I too had said that one should go by Krukenberg's version on the Charlemagne numbers in Berlin. Under normal circumstances the CO is the best person to rely on for the numbers of a unit.
However as discussed earlier on this thread, Krukenberg had compelling reasons to downplay the numbers under those special circumstances.
And the deployment history of this unit in its known offensive and defensive roles, in the distinctly assigned sectors, don't sound right for a 90 member team.
Even then, of course, 350 is an insignificant number amongst 45000 odd Wehrmacht troops in Berlin.
But no one is claiming that the Charlemagne men changed history or performed any such grandiose feats in Berlin.
For the simple reason that NO German unit performed any epoch making grandiose feats in those 10 days! The Germans were finally and totally defeated there.
The only contention is whether the Charlemagne fought bravely and with fanatical commitment till the end in their last battle.
The answer is.. Yes
Cheers
Sandeep