Pictures of female fighters in the Battle of Berlin?

[Rivet]

I thought an interesting thread may be one devoted to pictures of female fighters in the Battle of Berlin. Do you have any to share? Thanks.

[Marta]

German woman who died in an armored personnel carrier. Berlin 1945.

[Annelie]

Wonder who,how and why she ended up in the carrier.
From the shoes she is wearing she doesn't look like she is part
of military. Perhaps some clerical worker etc?

[will_b]

The picture already posted is the only thing I could have presented myself, she could have got in there by any means imaginable, perhaps a person of importance, or perhaps she was in there to try keep save in a given situation.

On a side note, were there really many female fighters? Sure there must have been some, but even in the terribly desperate and hopeless situation they were in, I still can't imagine females fighting, or being allowed to fight by the male soldiers.

[Annelie]

I have never heard of any female fighter ever in the battle of Berlin.
Would have remembered that. I would think its highly unlikely because
if there had been it would have been brought up at the forums.

Not even sure if there was any Russian
females around then?

[Rivet]

Interesting, albeit grisly, photograph of the woman in the armored vehicle. It does make you wonder why she was there.

As to female fighters in the Battle of Berlin, I have read a number of references to BdM girls and others young women fighting along side or with the Volkssturm in the final days. Most I've read seem to suggest said participation was unofficial, while others suggest the opposite. One such text is Hitler Youth, 1922-1945, by. Jean-Denis G. G. Lepage:

"The Volkssturm also included girls of the BdM and women from the NS Frauenshaft (Nazi Women League) who provided rear-echelon support such as logistics and medical care. In March 1945, some girls and women were issued weapons and participated actively in the hopeless defenses of their towns ..."

[will_b]

I've only seen Russian females after the battle as traffic controllers ect. Not to say Russian females weren't frequently in combat, on the ground and in the air.

Would German females more likely have roles such as anti-air defence? (In terms of combat)

[Marta]

On streets of Berlin

[Marcus Wendel]

Please remember to include the source of the photos you post.

/Marcus

[BillHermann]

Interesting, albeit grisly, photograph of the woman in the armored vehicle. It does make you wonder why she was there.

As to female fighters in the Battle of Berlin, I have read a number of references to BdM girls and others young women fighting along side or with the Volkssturm in the final days. Most I've read seem to suggest said participation was unofficial, while others suggest the opposite. One such text is Hitler Youth, 1922-1945, by. Jean-Denis G. G. Lepage:

"The Volkssturm also included girls of the BdM and women from the NS Frauenshaft (Nazi Women League) who provided rear-echelon support such as logistics and medical care. In March 1945, some girls and women were issued weapons and participated actively in the hopeless defenses of their towns ..."

I'm not sure why it would be hard to understand or wonder why she was there.

Most probably not a combat soldier but definitely caught up on the fighting. Berlin was complete mess, chaotic. Many people could not leave, many were not able. There were many government and military offices with female staff not to mention wives, girlfriends, lovers, sisters and daughters. Near the end it became chaotic and there were many breakout attempts which some were successful. This was one of the larger ones, in the final days they tried to organize small detachments, some with vehicles others on foot to make it out of the city. Some of these groups had women in them.

It is also historical fact that Soviet female military members were present during the battle of Berlin carrying out different roles.

[Rivet]

No doubt there were Soviet female fighters. I should have clarified in the original post that I mean pictures of women fighters on the Axis side.

[Annelie]

Did not understand that the female auxiliary workers were considered "female fighters".

As Beck says in his book "Under The Bombs"
page 165

With some intrepidation and concern 150,000 women were enrolled as auxiliaries in the army.
Most of them were used to manage the searchlights for the antiaircraft batteries. Special instructions
were given that they were to be protected from capture if at all possible. Yet they were not be
armed even to protect themselves from capture. And women were not to be enrolled in the Volkssturm. Even
in these late, desparate days the party continued to regard women as persons whose sex ought to have been
separated them from the hardships of war. Party leaders found great difficulty in dealing with their role.
Although they wanted to picture them as "hard" for "hard times," they also wanted to picture them as
primarily the mothers of the future race, to protect them from being entfraulich, from losing their womanly
character.

[Rivet]

Tangentially, I found some interesting tidbits under the section "The End of the War" on this page of the BdM history site. There is a period photograph as well, but its not captioned, so I don't know where it was taken.

Anyway, just passing it along in case others find it of interest.

[Stephan]

Wonder who,how and why she ended up in the carrier.
From the shoes she is wearing she doesn't look like she is part
of military. Perhaps some clerical worker etc?

Do you see if she has a military uniform? My screen isnt good enough.
If yes, it should be proof enough for our needs as here for now. Whatever she was doing in there, it was no pure coincidence "just happening to pass by, wrong place wrong time".

The civilian shoes arent no proof here. Too long trousers can easily be shortened. Or even a too big jacket. But too big military shoes are worse than useless. And good shoes are a common scarcity. It is the usually the first thing to be stolen from soldiers who fell. As can often be seen of pics on dead on battlefields.

Thus - women were often forced to serve in their civilian shoes, even doing duties in dirt.
There is for example a well know photo serie of german women fire soldiers. At least, they do a real, tough training. Their upper body clothes are suitable, but most of them has - yes, their private, womanly low shoes...

[Stephan]

I know Hollywood films are no proof, but there is a scene in one of them, interesting for us here.
Im not sure on the title, probably that about Hitlers last days, as told by his secreterary. "The going down"??
You know, the film where the pretty secreterary afterwards manage to flee, clothed in helmet and uniform, trying to pretend she is a man. One young Hitlerjungend-recruit understands she is a women so he runs to her, and they take each other hands, and together they go off... The soviet soldiers around allows them to go away. If they dont care about single unarmed but uniformed soldiers, or they even do understands how it is, and thus - lets them go, is not clear, but they are allowed to leave in peace.

OK. In the same film there is a minor scene with an AA gun manned by a Hitlerjungend youth and a blonde BDM girl, admiring him and being more or less his girlfriend. When they understand everything is over and the captivity is next, they together do takes their own lives.

Hollywood? Very possibly, but even Hollywood did not seldom took their scenes from real life. At least they did about this secreterary.