Pilot information and Berlin Airfield April 1945

[TuntematonSotilas]

Oh I apologize. It was possibly a mistake to make a comment. Because I might be the wrong person for this kind of forum, sorry. This is because I consciously and intentionally reject the scientific method, but I only prefer the empiric method. So, I'm not able to provide citations. The only citation that I'm sharing without any hesitation is accorded to Mark Twain who is said to have said – you see the problem? - … « A lie can travel half around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. » ... But I'm only repeating what other people said about Mark Twain. And citations actually only help lies to spread faster and when a lie is being repeated often enough, a lie will eventually be given the status of being deemed to be the truth. This is how history is being made.

Me personally, I was quoting someone for the last time in 1993 when I was quitting a well-paid dream-job as a professional Truth-Distributer. Because I was eventually unable to stand selling obvious lies as the truth and making you Larry like millions of other people believe what truth might be when it wasn't. I was actually living and working for many years in Berlin, before and after November 1989 when the Wall was falling. I know both East and West Berlin, and the unified Berlin, too. I was a Correspondent for one known international news-agency, reporting about these events, 20 years ago in Germany. And unfortunately, an event didn't simply take place because it just happened, but because someone, an Official, officially said that it happened. Then it was deemed to be the official truth, only then, everything else was just speculation even when it was the truth. No matter what nonsense the Official said.
Being on site and having priviledged access to many events and to German persons who are usually out of reach for the public – I acquired much more insider knowledge about Germany than most other foreigners usually do. Worse, I graduated from university with a thesis about ambiguous German language, well hidden messages in the actual wording. I studied how to read German between the lines and to find out the deeper meaning behind simple words.

But I was not allowed to write and to distribute in my News what I knew from what I personally saw or heard as an ear-witness. It was mandatory to write what officially was stated, supported by quoting any German Official, avoiding unconfirmed sources. My opinion from my personal experience, what I saw myself with my eyes, that didn't count. The truth was what Minister ABC was saying, or what Mrs Chairwoman XYZ was stating.
My private discussion with the Secretary who had actually been preparing the Minister's statement and who had to modify the wording 5 times to make it sound better to the public … the unknown secretary doesn't count and the Secretary doesn't ever want to be mentioned either. Who wants to get in trouble for gossipping?

There is one major thing that I've learned from my years in Germany … during their national evolution, German people have developped a special talent and became World-Champions in History Laundering. They are unbeatable when it comes to laundering, disguising and hiding the somewhat darker moments of their past, especially when one of their several dictatorships in history just had failed. The Germans are Champions in transforming the Wolf into a Lamb. At all levels of the society. I personally met West-German Top-Politicians who I had met before as East-German Officials. No names and no further comment!

Conclusion – I never believe any cited statement, unless I have cross-checked it against my own experience for plausibility. And I never ever believe any statement from any Nazi, even when I was born after the war only so I never was a witness during the Third Reich. I'm always filtering every statement of a Nazi for the few grains of truth in it, and for the hidden message between the lines.
Funny thing, when living in Berlin, 6th floor, I had a view from my living-room overlooking the Tiergarten, and I was able to see both the Siegessäule and Brandenburger Tor. Was strolling often enough through the green lung, the Tiergarten, and walking as well along the Strasse des 17. Juni, which used to be called Ost-West-Achse. Funny as well, my true passion is aviation. And I got invited by a Pilot who was flying for traffic observation, to accompany him in a single-engined Cessna, and yes, we were overflying at low altitude the Tiergarten of Berlin, and the Ost-West-Achse. I personally know how it looks like from both the ground and from the air, and what pilots also saw in 1945, despite of the war events and damages.

Funny in this context as well, after leaving Berlin and completely quitting journalism in 1993, unable to stand the lies, I became an Allround-Professional in aviation indeed. Gained some experience in flight-operation management, aircraft handling, ramp management, air traffic control, airport planning. Was witnessing many crazy and amazing things. I have seen how it looks when a Boeing-737 is coming to a complete stand only 900 metres behind the runway threshold. Sounds unbelievable, but is possible, just to give one example. I have personally witnessed what amazing, breath-taking flight-manoeuvres can be flown which sound impossible and unbelievable according to the operational Manuals and the ICAO-regulations. With both, modern aircraft but with historical aircraft as well. I fell in love with Aunt Ju, the Ju-52, was flying as a passenger, spending dozens of hours in and around a Ju-52, talking for hours with the pilots, standing myself at the runway edge when Aunt Ju was taking-off just a couple of metres from me. And, tho to a lesser extend, I was also flying as a passenger in a Fieseler Storch. And I have felt with my body, how it feels when a Fieseler Storch is landing almost on the spot thanks to its STOL qualities. Like a stork.
You see, I am not talking about citations. I am talking about what is possible and what not, talking about real experiences. The citation for what I'm saying regarding Berlin-Tiergarten in 1945 … this is actually myself.

I cannot say what really had happened. I wasn't born yet, so I'm not a witness. But I can verify the plausibility of statements, testimonies, of people who were present on site in 1945. I cannot say whether something has happened indeed. I can only say whether it is plausible or not. And most of the time, I'm finding a grain of truth in an ocean of German lies, and that's my starting-point. For instance, the accounts of Hanna Reitsch are overloaded with lies. Almost nothing of the publicly known about her last flight from Berlin is true. A Masterpiece of verbal manipulation. But, embedded in her lies, there is plenty of precious information which only must be translated in relation to the reality on-site. But the naivity of the American Investigators in 1945 makes me shiver, how stupid these men were, getting fooled by a woman, typically male. Nevertheless, we will never find the final proof. Sometimes, it is just one tiny information that is missing, but which is esential for the understanding of the whole event. We will never know for sure.

Now that I'm retired, I'm only collecting pieces like this photograph to hopefully complete the puzzle one day, maybe never. But look, this one picture is telling much more than all the citations. There is soooooooooooooo much information, at first sight you might not believe how much. All the tiny, secret details. This pic is a jewel. … There are more pics.
Unfortunately, you were asking me only for citations. But you didn't tell me what made you believe that the Fieseler Storch could have encountered trouble when landing at Tiergarten. I don't see any other difficulty than the war itself. It's surely very stressful to make an approach when being exposed to anti-aircraft fire, of course. And not being allowed to make any mistake as a pilot, not even being allowed to go-around and to be an easy prey during the missed-approach procedure.

I apoligize if I was boring you.

[Larry D.]

Thanks for your comments, T.S. We have quite a few members here who live to debate and seem to have loads of time for the sport. Sadly, I am not one of them. But I do hope one or more of them comes along to engage you in some back and forth on this. Personally, I'll stay with the old tried and true (for most of us) scientific method.

Cheers,

Larry

P.S. I was born before World War II.

[TuntematonSotilas]

Look Larry, this is what I was talking about in my first comment : Albrecht Speer's artificial trees along the Ost-West-Achse. The Charlottenburger Chaussee had been enlarged to 52 metres in 1938/39, to be completed as a 50th-birthday present on 19 April 1939. In fact, approximately 55 metres were treeless, the runway as such was approximately 35 metres plus two side-walks as some paved shoulder to the right and to the left. Take the picture at night, a Fw-200 Condor was easily able to taxi along the runway without any modification. For landing or any other flight-operation, of course, the Speer-illumination had to be removed. And that was actually done.

A landing Fw-200 would have had approximately 12 metres from each wing-tip to the trees. That is marginal and not safe according to ICAO Annex-14, but sufficient for war-time operation. And with a touch-down point beyond the then Siegesallee respectively Kleiner Stern, the available landing-distance was always sufficient, the take-off distance as well. Important was just to keep in mind the obstacle situation which required some special approach and departure procedures.

Just as some Food for Thoughts, just a mind-game ... In Soviet history-books, the Soviet Heros were fighting with all intensity for the Reichstag. Capturing the Reichstag was of highly symbolical value for the Soviets, and that was the visible expression of their victory. The Reichstag fell in the evening of 30 April 1945. The Soviets officially say that resistance remained in the basement, aha-aha-aha.

Unofficial German accounts are somewhat different. The building of the Reichstag wasn't anything else but a ruin, already burnt-out in 1933. The Nazis disliked the German parliament. German defence of the Reichstag-building was relatively weak, compared to the defence of the Ost-West-Achse and the defence of the trees of an urban park with no people and no important office, the Tiergarten. The Germans defended their trees in the park until the very last moment. The entire vegetation was eventually destroyed, the Tiergarten a desert with almost no trees after the war as a result of these fights. Still on 1 May 1945, the entire Ost-West-Achse was still in German hands, not yet crossed by any Soviet soldier.
The Grosser Stern with the Siegessäule on the Ost-West-Achse, a dead monument, fell in the morning of 2 May 1945, almost simultaneously with the Reichskanzlei plus Bunker, 2.5 km away.

But only as Food for Thoughts, pretending nothing ... does anyone see any reason why the Germans were desperately defending a long and straight street across an urban park, and with trees right and left but no buildings, when the entire city was already lost with the exception of the Reichskanzlei and the Flak-Bunker Zoo which was also defending the Ost-West-Achse, 36 hours after the Reichstag fell on 30 April 1945 ? Officially, the Ost-West-Achse,, 2 km long, wasn't ever that important, but it had been defended until the very end. How many unknown soldiers, Polish, German, Soviet, died in these last 36 hours in this last battle? Fighting desperately for one long and unimportant street across an urban park. And no photograph for Stalin. Makes me just wonder ...

Cheers

P.S. Unless I'm completely wrong, there was an aeronautical radar-station just a few metres from Grosser Stern and Siegessäule. And wreck of a Stork, too.

[TuntematonSotilas]

And to give you an idea of how the Ost-West-Achse looked like when the fight was over. Just a totally unimportant concrete strip ...

Cheers

[TuntematonSotilas]

Fritz Koal ( http://www.starduststudios.com/fritz_koal.htm ) who was serving as a Pilot on Bf-109 with the II. JG 27 until 30 April 1945, his last rank was Feldwebel, describes in his non-published and no-money-making memoir for friends and family « Mein Fliegerleben » (in German only, Copyrights with Fritz Koal, reproduction only with his explicit permission) that JG 27 (27th Fighter Wing) was at Schwerin-Görries Airbase in April 1945 until they were practicing « disarmement » and surrendering near the Danish border on the 30th. And they received several times orders, in April, to operate overhead downtown Berlin and to « fight the airspace free ».

He particularly mentions 28 April 1945 when himself and the remaining rest of the second group departed from Schwerin-Görries at 7:40 PM (that was less than one hour before sunset) with order to « keep the airspace overhead the Ost-West-Achse free for landings with Fieseler Störchen » (plural) to get some VIP out from Berlin. « Hanna Reitsch was in charge of this operation. » He mentions « Hermann Göring and others » to be flown-out and adds ironically that he didn't know anything yet at that time about the « French Leave of the Reichsmarschall », by car already. « We, the II. JG 27, secured the airspace above with our still available craft. » According to his account, his mission was apparently successful and there was no serious incident that night. He doesn't report anything of being involved in any air-combat. Indicating me that landings apparently were possible tho through artillery shelling, and the Feldwebel indeed mentions one departure from the Ost-West-Achse.

I am currently working on the verification for plausibility of several other but similar accounts of other totally unknown German soldiers who were never selling a money-making book nor hiding war-crimes, but who just were surviving the war, and because it was war. Simple, unknown people who were happy to be alive, and who do not want to find entry into history-books. Who do or did not want to be quoted either, and who were just telling to their family how they survived. Small puzzle-pieces, apparently not relevant at all, but hundreds of these irrelevant accounts show proof that the official versions of the Nazis are lies and fiction. However, it's the Top-Nazis themselves who are being believed and who were writing history as primary sources. One of these unknown soldiers was talking about his last flight to the Ost-West-Achse in a Bücker-181 to pick-up a certain Major Maier as he was told his passenger's name would be. As late as on 1 May 1945, at an hour when Chief-Pilot Hans Baur was still holding position with Martin Bormann in the bunker - criticized by Hitler's nurse on 23 November 1945 when questioned by the Americans, because this caused an « unbelievably large number of dead to mourn » - but with Bormann and Baur having no urgent need for a sally yet. As Hans Baur writes in his memoir, still wanting to wait for another 24 hours because the Tiergarten was still in German hands, and this despite of being released from their duties, by Hitler himself during his farewell.
But realizing that flying into Berlin with such a vulnerable aircraft and with only 100hp would be suicide anyway, and not willing to sacrify himself anymore for any Major Maier, the young guy piloting the Bücker-181 opted for desertion, simply diverting his Berlin-flight home-bound heading 240 to his family after being airborne from Schwerin-Görries like the Bf-109 three days before, and thus saving his own life.

In a report on the surrender of Berlin, published in 1965 in the German magazin Der Spiegel (24/1965), artillery officer Hans-Oscar Wöhlermann tells about the fierce defence of the Siegessäule against the Soviet and Polish troops advancing from the Charlottenburger Tor in the West, still at 10 PM on 1 May 1945 « Da die Kerle nicht daran dachten, eine Feuerpause einzulegen … » (Since the guys didn't even think of a ceasefire …). Photographs show the strong German defence-line with barricades and tanks at Lessingstrasse at river Spree, thus defending the Siegessäule via Altonaer Strasse from the north-west. The Soviets were reaching Bellevueallee in the southern Tiergarten only in the afternoon of May 1st. The Bücker-181 still could have landed on the Ost-West-Achse, under fire of course, and flying Bormann and Baur out as Baur always had pretended to have been able to, if the young Bücker-pilot wouldn't have opted for his own survival ...

The Tiergarten-Airfield was a special Baby, having two fathers, Hitler's Chief-Pilot Hans Baur and Robert Ritter von Greim, and one mother, Hanna Reitsch. This baby was top-secret, and you won't find any reliable written documents. It started already in January 1945, when Hitler was moving into the bunker. Already that early, a non-directional radio-beacon near Kleiner Stern was working as a nav-aid and how funny, apparently even survived the battle for the Tiergarten. The ATC command-post was installed in the tunnel system under the Siegessäule, and the Germans were using for their final approach a primitive kind of controlled radar-approach with their « Peilstrahl », somehow similar to what today is known as GCA, but already a kind of precision approach at night under instrument meteorological conditions.

It was Hanna Reitsch herself, as she is mentioning in her memoir, who was busy in February 1945 with calibrating the procedures to the Ost-West-Achse. Although she is largely down-playing the significance of her calibration flights and telling, as a smoke-candle to create confusion, navigational nonsense about IFR-procedures. She as a famous Test-Pilot should have known better that her compass-alone-in-IMC version is far from air-navigational reality. And according to Adolf Schlicht and John R. Angolia in « Die deutsche Wehrmacht, Uniformierung und Ausrüstung 1933-1945, Band 3 : Luftwaffe. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, page 258 », exclusively Officers from the Reichsluftfahrtministerium wearing civil clothes were involved as the ground-crew during the calibration of the Ost-West-Achse. Calibration took place. Details about the calibration itself? Negativ! Of course nothing. But being a woman, Angel Hanna's comedy of played naivity was convincing men after the war. As well, Hanna Reitsch was also making a low-altitude training-flight with a Fieseler Storch into the then sieged Wroclaw in February '45, overflying apparently just for fun and against Hitler's personal order the fighting Soviet troops on the ground. As well in February '45, Hanna Reitsch was exploring the area around Kitzbühel for additional landing-strips on gras for, as she tells, possible « Medevac-flights » in the future . She and Ritter von Greim just happened to get captured by the Americans in Kitzbühel, didn't they?

A Berlin chronic of local events ( http://www.luise-berlin.de/bms/bmstxt00/0009kala.htm ) reports that on 23 March 1945 the Luftflottenkommando 6 was giving order that the Ost-West-Achse was to be used as a landing-strip, there is a rumour that even the Kurfürstendamm had been taken into consideration but it was never actually done. It just happened by chance that Robert Ritter von Greim was the Commander of the Luftflottenkomando 6 in March 1945, and his girl-friend Hanna flew the calibrator aircraft one month earlier. And both were physically present in Berlin when Feldwebel Koal was securing the airspace above with his Messerschmitt. But history-books are quoting and consistently repeating the funny fairy-tale told by Top-Nazi Hans Baur, how he was personally and all spontaneously trying to improvise a landing-strip not earlier than on 26 April '45, and spontaneously starting that day with cutting trees, when he was astonished, hearing to his big surprise the engine-noise of a Fieseler Storch, and Angel Hanna was flying-in, absolutely spontaneously.

Historians were wondering and never able to find any answer to the question why the hell Hitler ordered on 24 April 1945 Ritter von Greim to come to the Bunker in person, and to bring his girl-friend with him and into difficulties, and eventually Hitler was so emotionally touched when Ritter von Greim made it to come through with the help of this good Angel Hanna. The word « Angel » had been used by Ritter von Greim himself as Hitler's nurse was quoting him, it's not my sarcastic idea. A pretty dangerous, unnecessary mission for an important Officer in the final phase of the war. The promotion to Generalfeldmarschall and appointing him Head of the Luftwaffe could have been done much safer and two days earlier with Ritter von Greim being physically in Munich, from where he and Hanna Reitsch had to leave for Berlin whilst the German Luftwaffe didn't have a Head at that time and was at risk of losing Ritter von Greim during that mission, too. And there is no written proof and there never won't be any. Only heart-breaking accounts of Angel Hanna, who was just singing songs and telling nice stories to the children of Göring, how heart-breaking ...

The Feldwebel Koal mentions Hanna Reitsch as being in charge of his operation on the 28th.
The pic shows the Bf-109 of II. 27 JG, operating later in Berlin, as on 28 April 1945 after 8 PM. The other picture shows the Ost-West-Achse in the upper-left corner, as seen by the USAF in July 1944.

[TuntematonSotilas]

Oberfeldwebel Böhm from the II. T. G. 3 (II. Transportgruppe / 3. Geschwader, 6. Staffel)
successfully managed to land a Ju-52 on the Ost-West-Achse in Berlin, and then to take-off again, during a MedEvac operation in the night from 28 – 29 April 1945. This is being reported as a small note by Unteroffizier Johannes Lachmund, then 21 y/o, in his personal Diary which he was writing from his first to his last day of service. Lachmund was a young Ju-52 pilot himself, since 1 February 1944 as pilot-in-command, however, his craft got distroyed on the ground during an air raid some days before this operation to Berlin, so he was just participating as an armed guard.

They were departing from Güstrow to Berlin on that night, with a total of 5 transport-aircraft Ju-52, the 5 remaining ones after the air raid. As the order was given, a special mission to evacuate people from Berlin, among them their now Big Boss Ritter von Greim. As Lachmund reports, 3 of these 5 aircraft had to return after missed-approaches, simply because the visibility was extremly reduced due to intense smoke from the nearby fires everywhere on the ground. One Ju-52 was shot-down by the Soviets during approach, with a total loss. And Oberfeldwebel Böhm was the only pilot of these 5 transport-aircraft who succeeded to touch-down on the Ost-West-Achse.
Lachmund mentions discussions via telephone from the ATC command-post at the Siegessäule between Ofw Böhm and the Bunker in the Reichskanzlei. There was apparently some dispute over the passengers to be flown-out. Because Hanna Reitsch wanted to fly-out the Ritter von Greim herself with an Arado Ar-96, and not leaving Berlin as a passenger on this Ju-52 flight.

Eventually, they were boarding only a few other wounded passengers but not the VIP, and not using the full capacity of the Ju-52 either. Because of the damages to the runway caused by artillery shells, they only had a TORA of 400 metres and even those had to be repaired. This is why Ofw Böhm preferred to keep the take-off weight as low as possible and thus reducing his take-off run to the minimum.

For further readings : Johannes Lachmund : « Fliegen (Mein Traumberuf – bis zu den bitteren Erlebnissen des Krieges) », Verlagshaus Monsenstein und Vannerdat OHG Münster, ADZ 024, 2009
Pictures : Courtesy : Johannes Lachmund, All Rights reserved with the Author

[projectgreywolf]

The detail is impressive and amazing.
Thanks for posting
Gerrard

[TuntematonSotilas]

In the German news-magazine « Der Spiegel » Nr. 22/1965, author Erich Kuby writes in his report « Die Russen in Berlin 1945 », page 98, regarding the events of 26 April 1945 that …

The entire night from 25 to 26 April 1945, there was no single Soviet aircraft in the clear sky over Berlin. Even during the day of the 26th, there were surprisingly no fighters, but only some few Soviet bombers were dropping their loads over the Eastern outskirts of Berlin. This encouraged the German Luftwaffe to begin an airlift with transport-aircraft to the Ost-West-Achse, on that day. The « Spiegel » writes that General Weidling said when looking back at the events : « Der 26. April. - der Tag der Hoffnung! Immer wieder rief Krebs an, und jedes Mal gab er irgendeine erfreuliche Nachricht durch. » (The 26th of April - that was the day of hope! Krebs ((General Hans Krebs)) was calling again and again, and each time he was transmitting any joyful news.)

As the « Spiegel » further reports in 22/1965, the first two Ju-52 were both landing without any difficulty on the Ost-West-Achse near Siegessäule at 10 AM on 26 April 1945. Albrecht Speer is mentioned in the article to have regretted the removal of the lanterns along the street which had been designed by him, but people were euphoric in view of the successful landings.
The Ju-52 were bringing anti-tank ammunition into Berlin, and were boarding wounded from nearby hospitals on the outbound flights. However at take-off, one of the Ju-52 was slightly touching a building with its left wing-tip, when being just airborne, and eventually crashed.

The description of the crash in the Spiegel-report, however, raises some questions. Something is wrong and doesn't match at all. One or the other, either there was a different cause for the crash, a technical failure or being shot-down by the Soviets and the Ju-52 just happened to collide with any building whilst crashing down anyway. Or the Ju-52 was taking-off from a different runway when it crashed, but not from the generally believed Ost-West-Achse.
But since the description of the accident, just airborne and slightly touching a building with its left wing-tip, is so very precise and almost too precise to be an error, I notice that the exact crash-site is missing in the report.
When investigating the location, there wasn't ever and there still isn't any building along the Ost-West-Achse that the Ju-52 could have slightly touched just airborne, as reported. It is and it was an urban park with trees, a Ju-52 could only have crashed into the Siegessäule or into the Brandenburger Tor after take-off when climing straight-ahead with a low climb-rate, but not have touched any building with the wing. The only building inside the Tiergarten and near but not immediately at the Ost-West-Achse was and still is the Park Administration. I was making an inquiery, and the response from Berlin was that the building of the Office never had any higher nor domed roof in the past. So, the aircraft would have collided first with trees, if ever there, but not with a building.

This discrepancy about the crash in the Spiegel-report strongly supports my personal hypothetis of so far officially unconfirmed multiple runways that were actually in use. Landings preferably on the Ost-West-Achse, take-offs but not only take-offs from other streets. According to my theory, the Ju-52 which crashed on the 26th could have taken-off either, and more likely, from runway 11 Bellevueallee heading southeast, or possibly even from runway 29 Altonaer Strasse, heading northwest. Both streets were suitable for aircraft operations, especially take-offs, even for aircraft-sizes up to Ju-52, however marginal. And Altonaer Strasse is transitioning northwest-bound from the Tiergarten-park into a residential area called Hansaviertel, thus there are the required buildings to be touched with the left wing. And at the southern end of Bellevueallee there is Tiergartenstrasse. During the war, Tiergartenstrasse was full of multi-storeyed urban villas and suffered the heaviest damages in Berlin, almost to ground Zero from fierce fighting for the officially non-existing airfield in the park. Almost erased from the map so that Tiergartenstrasse never had been re-built, but the northern street-side got integrated into the park. Ironically, at Tiergartenstrasse 4 almost at the intersection with Bellevueallee was the horrible villa which became known for the Action T4, where euthanasia tests were carried out and several mass-murder technologies were secretly developped. Maybe the Ju-52 was colliding just with this building? And fearing the SS, it was never outspoken by the Berliners, and eventually forgotten. We'll never know.

The aerial view from the top of the Siegessäule in 1947 gives an idea of the crossing runways. Please note the obstacle situation at the end of Bellevueallee in the upper right corner. There are indeed buildings that could have slightly been touched with the left wing-tip. And it is a matter of fact that no Ju-52 ever crashed into the Brandenburger Tor nor Unter den Linden after take-off, but definitely somewhere else.

The wreck of the Ju-52 in the other picture was actually at southern Bellevueallee and NOT at the Ost-West-Achse but it is NOT the crash mentioned in the « Spiegel » either. According to the take-off run and the flight-path during initial climb, the crashed aircraft in the picture cannot have collided with any building during take-off. Impossible. Because the wreck is still well inside the park. However, and what remains un-noticed at first sight, there is a simple but tricky approach-light for military airfields to be seen, fixed and calibrated on the remaining trunk of a cut tree. Even the power cable coming up from the ground can be seen. Left of the engine of the Ju-52. This is not an anti-aircraft search-light, but this is for the visual guidance of landing aircraft. In which the light-source was well protected for camouflage and the approaching pilot was only seeing a small light-beam. Theoretically, and for the enemy, they were approaching an airfield in the dark, only from the aircraft on the glide-path or on the runway, some little light was to be seen. A challenge for the pilot. But this was also one reason why it became so damned difficult to approach Berlin-Tiergarten in reduced visibility due to smoke and especially at night during the final days of the war. For their touch-down, the « Peilstrahl » didn't help anymore.

And this indicates that Bellevueallee had been prepared for landings as well. The height of the approach-light above ground indicates that the threshold 29 Bellevueallee had been displaced inside the Tiergarten in order to safely overfly the obstacles constituted by the villas at Tiergartenstrasse and the fountain Rolandbrunnen at Kemperplatz, then Skagerrakplatz, during final approach. Because airfield approach-lights are respecting the terrain in order to give the pilot a precise chaine of lights, visible as if the obstacle wouldn't be there. And that's why approach-lights are often installed on poles and not just on the ground. Landings with Fieseler Storch were at least technically possible on Bellevueallee, and just 300 metres away from the Reichskanzlei via Lennéstrasse. And this possibly already at early times when the Ost-West-Achse itself was still open to the public and the Berlin street-traffic still circulating there.

Even Hanna Reitsch herself described indirectly and certainly non-intentionally that she was actually taking-off with her Arado Ar-96 from most likely runway 29 Altonaer Strasse during her last flight from Berlin, and not from the Ost-West-Achse itself. As Hanna Reitsch stated on 8 October 1945 during her interrogation … « The take-off was made under hailing Russian fire and as the plane rose to roof-top level it was picked up by countless searchlights and at once breaketed in a barrage of shelling. » ...
There is no roof-top level at the Ost-West-Achse where a departing aircraft could rise to. And overhead the roofs of Unter den Linden, she already would have been damned high and constantly climbing further. There is only tree-top level near Siegessäule from where she started her take-off run. And there were no Russian soldiers either, neither left nor right in the Tiergarten-park at the day and the hour when she departed. The Germans were holding the Ost-West-Achse until 7 AM on 2 May 1945. And she was climbing with maximum climb-rate, too, as she was telling. And tree-top level is a different aeronautical term than roof-top level and not only Aviators know to distinguish one from the other.
Hanna Reitsch was obviously taking-off from RWY 29 Altonaer Strasse, which is long and wide enough for an Ar-96 and from there she was able to rise to roof-top level just overhead the – as reported in unconfirmed accounts (Wikipedia) – totally surprised Soviet soldiers who were indeed fighting at Lessingufer for a crossing over Spree river at Altonaer Strasse at the time of Hanna's take-off.
This would also correspond with the armourmed vehicle Sd.Kfz-251 that had been found abandonned near Altonaer Strasse at Siegessäule (small but visible in the picture with the Peiler earlier in this thread, left of the antenna) where this type of vehicle didn't make any sense in the final battle for Berlin. But surely as a VIP taxi for Hanna and her boyfriend from the Reichskanzlei to the Siegessäule, as we know from several accounts including her own ones. Because the protection shelter for the Arado was close to the command-post. From where she was eventually departing with the Ar-96. Just not from the Ost-West-Achse itself, only from another runway. She was largely dramatizing her account with almost having touched the Quadriga on top of the Brandenburger Tor. No way! This was just to impress her readers. Drama sells.

The Spiegel-article in 22/1965 also mentions that a company of Naval Reservists had been flown-in to Berlin from Rechlin via the Gatow-Airfield on the same day, 26 April 1945. The Naval Reservists came marching from Gatow via the bridge over the Havel to the garden of the Foreign Office. According to the chronic of the Luftwaffenmuseum at Gatow, the almost undestroyed airfield fell during the 26th to the Soviets. In the evening of that day, the Soviet ring around the city was completely closed. This does neither confirm nor exclude the possibility that later during the day when Gatow was about to fall into Soviet hands, some aircraft with Naval Reservists might have diverted to the Ost-West-Achse, successfully or not, even with a Fw-200 Condor as it was mentioned in the beginning of this thread. According to the memoirs of Hitler's Chief Pilot Hans Baur, himself, being an experienced transport-pilot, was personally busy with the airlift and physically present on the Ost-West-Achse between 6 and 7 PM of the 26th when Hanna Reitsch arrived. Though he is only admitting to have been busy with the initial preparations of some planned landings, but which were already being celebrated for their success at 10 AM in the morning that same day. We just don't know the exact number of aircraft that actually had landed. Probably many, since the Soviet fighters surprisingly didn't show-up in the sky over Berlin that day, as reported by the « Spiegel ». And, as more or less well-known, Hanna Reitsch was landing her Storch with Ritter von Greim in front of the Brandenburger Tor, on the eastern side in a stunning manoeuvre on Pariser Platz (independent accounts both Hans Bauer and nurse Erna Flegel) but not on the long and wide and safe Ost-West-Achse on the western side of Brandenburger Tor as it is often being believed. Which indicates that the Ost-West-Achse was temporarily not available between 6 and 7 PM, or merely blocked with parking transport-aircraft to be unloaded. Soviet AA shells were certainly the same on each side of the Brandenburger Tor, and small-weapon fire was even worse the more she was flying to the east where the Soviets approached from the Lustgarten. And Hans Baur wrote that he was walking on the Ost-West-Achse when he heard Hanna's engine noise, overflying him.

As the picture shows, the Fi-156 Storch had been designed by Fieseler with the aim to make it capable to land on the extension-street of the Ost-West-Achse, the famous Unter den Linden. The picture shows one of the prototypes of the Storch D-IGLI, still before WWII during a public demonstration of its STOL-qualities. It's actually much less spectacular than we have been made believe. At least in peace-times. Wanna bet that the unknown test-pilot during the public display Unter den Linden in March 1939 was either Hanna's good friend Otto Skorzeny, or even herself?

[TuntematonSotilas]

There is a pretty rare book, written by Wolfgang Venghaus who participated, apparently with the SS-Sicherheitspolizei-Bataillon 3 in the German defence during the battle for Berlin. His self-published book is considered to be one of the most precious eye-witness reports because it provides heaps of details. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get it completely, only in extracts. Those of you who are interested in finding combat details and names etc might find what they're looking for. If they get the book. In German only. According to Wolfgang Venghaus ...

...After having waited for a couple of days, his bataillon was transported by train via Neustrelitz to the Rechlin airfield during the night from 27 to 28 April 1945. They were ca. 400 men to be flown-in to Berlin by Ju-52 aircraft, 27 craft as it was said, which were already standing-by. The interior of the craft-cabin had been removed, and they were sitting on the cabin-floor, including their arms and equipment. One craft after the other was taking-off, destination Ost-West-Achse. Himself was sitting with approx 30 other comrads in the last aircraft that was taking-off, heading Berlin. Approaching from the East and overflying the Brandenburger Tor, they were landing on the Ost-West-Achse not far from the Siegessäule, with one wing severely hit during the approach. The Ost-West-Achse was marked with small edge-lights to the right and to the left for not getting missed. However, after arrival they had to realize that tho they had been taken-off as the last aircraft from Rechlin, they were apparently the only ones who made it until Berlin with their Ju-52. He unfortunately has never learned whether the others were missing the approach, or landing at Gatow, or were shot-down. So, instead of 400 soldiers, they were hardly 40. As he was told, the inbound Ju-52 was later leaving again with wounded. Eventually, they were making their way from the Siegessäule across the Tiergarten to the Reichskanzlei and reported, as their order had been, with Brigadegeneral Mohnke at the Bunker. There they learned about the fate of Fegelein. Then, the unit comprising 30 to 40 comrades and himself was enlarged with some Marines, as he believes certainly from the Marinebatallion Stralsund. On the 28th of April, they were marching to the Anhalter Bahnhof station were they took position...

From : Wolfgang Venghaus : Berlin 1945 – Die Zeit vom 16. April bis zum 2. Mai, Eigenverlag, page 213

Hanna Reitsch indirectly vouches the account given by Wolfgang Venghaus with her testimony, given on 8 October 1945 to the American Investigators and which was not yet accessible to the public when Venghaus wrote-down his own memoirs. In the official report about the conversation between Hanna and the Chief Interrogator, Captain Robert F. Work is writing …
« … It had been previously arranged with operations at Rechlin that an aircraft was to come in the next day to take Greim and Reitsch out of Berlin. Now that they decided to stay it was impossible to get the information out. Rechlin, in the meantime, was sending plane after plane, each shot down in turn by the Russians. Finally on the 27th a JU 52, loaded with SS guards and ammunition, managed to land on the East-West traffic axis... »
The two accounts are matching. It is only that the MedEvac Ju-52 to pick-up herself and Ritter von Greim came on 28 April 1945, flown and landed by Oberfeldwebel Böhm, as witnessed by Unteroffizier Lachmund in his Diary (compare earlier post in this thread). On the 27th it was SS that landed on the Ost-West-Achse, fresh men for the battle, with Wolfgang Venghaus among them. There were more aircraft-movements on the Ost-West-Achse than the investigators initially believed, and the official German testimonies were often verbal smoke-candles.

On the 26th, a minimum of two confirmed Ju-52 was coming-thru. Total number remains unknown.
On the 27th, one Ju-52 out of 27 was coming-thru.
On the 28th, one Ju-52 out of 5 was coming-thru.
On the 28th, some Bf-109 were securing the airspace above for an operation « VIP-Evac » with several Fi-156 Storch, with no reported incident with Soviet fighters. No details about landings on the Ost-West-Achse.
And one Arado Ar-96 was also coming-thru, apparently on the 28th.

[TuntematonSotilas]

Without mentioning further details, of course not, the « Panzerbär » from 28 April 1945 confirms the account given by Wolfgang Venghaus about the landing of a Ju-52 with SS on the night from 27 to 28 April 1945. In the second and third column of page 4, there is an encouraging article for the fighting troops « Dichtung und Wahrheit » (Fiction and Truth) which is an attempt of fighting demoralizing gossips that the battle for Berlin could be lost. In the third column, the newspaper writes that ... the truth would be that just today (which was the night from 27-28th of April) combat-experienced units of German Navy and Waffen-SS again (either exaggerated or it was not for the first time) had arrived in the Berlin area and got already engaged.
The propaganda-article doesn't tell either how many combat-experienced fighters actually had arrived, whether 400 as planned, or just 40 as Wolfgang Venghaus wrote. In any case, Waffen-SS wouldn't have arrived by land anymore on that night. The Soviets wouldn't have allowed that.

« Wahr dagegen ist, dass erst heute wieder kampferprobte Einheiten der Kriegsmarine und der Waffen-SS im Berliner Raum angekommen und eingesetzt sind. »

The next day, on 29 April 1945 when the « Panzerbär » was issued for the very last time, flight-operations to the Ost-West-Achse were topic of the lead paragraphs and the head. Unfortunately, the poor quality of the copy makes it difficult to exactly identify each single word. But the quality is nevertheless sufficient to clearly identify » Bei Tag und Nacht neue Eingreifkräfte herangeführt » (At day and night new combat forces brought up) « Die Ost-West-Achse lag unter schwerem Feuer. » (The Ost-West-Achse was under heavy fire.) ... « Trotz stärkster ??? und Flakabwehr wurden bei Tag und Nacht ??? gelandet und Munition abgeworfen. » (Despite of heaviest ??? and AA fire, ??? have landed and ammunition was dropped during day and night.)
This matches with the account given by Unteroffizier Johannes Lachmund who witnessed Oberfeldwebel Böhm having landed a Ju-52 on that night, 28 - 29th of April.

There is still something more about the German Luftwaffe (our figher and ???) giving support, but too hard to identify. If anyone has got a better copy than this one, I'd appreciate your input.
When the «Panzerbär » was mentioning « our fighter-aircraft » on 29 April 1945, this matches with the accound by Feldwebel Fritz Koal who was operating on a Bf-109 with his II. 27 JG fighter wing, overhead the Ost-West-Achse on the evening of the 28th.

So, please judge yourself. What is reality? What is propaganda? Me thinks, somewhere in-between. Some truth embedded in heaps of propaganda? Just my 2 Cents.

[TuntematonSotilas]

One pretty interesting account about flight operations at Berlin-Tiergarten Airfield had been written down in his memoirs by no one less than Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel in his prison-cell in Nuremberg whilst awaiting his execution on 16 October 1946. Translated by David Irving. Wiliam Kimber & Co., London, 1965, page 249/250. All Rights reserved.

« ...Right up to 29th April, Holste reported to me every day that every enemy endeavour to take Rathenow had been beaten off. After that I am not aware what happened.

Late that afternoon I returned to camp at Neu-Roofen, and once again laid on a flight to Berlin for the coming night. As Jodl had already briefed the Führer by telephone on the developing situation, I decided to eschew telephoning him myself in view of my planned flight to Berlin. Unfortunately, the Reich Chancellery again forbade me to land at Gatow as it was already under intermittent enemy gunfire. For this reason Heerstrasse, the highway between the Charlottenburg Gate – where the Technical Institute was – and the Brandenburg Gate had been equipped as a runway for aircraft to land, and from dusk onward an airlift of Junkers transport planes had been arranged to bring in every kind of munitions ordered by the Reich Chancellery and the commandant of Berlin, as well as two companies of SS troops who had volunteered for action in the city. For this reason, my arrival was scheduled for after midnight, so I could still take off again before dawn. From midnight on we waited at Rheinsberg airfield for clearance to take off; but we were instead categorically forbidden to make the flight, as fires had broken out in Berlin and were causing such a smoke haze over the Tiergarten area that it was impossible to land.
Not even a personal telephone call from me availed anything. I was informed that because of the haze several aircraft had already crashed, and the “runway” was blocked. When I again argued the point with the Reich Chancellery upon my return to camp, suggesting I fly in at dawn, I was told the Führer himself had forbidden me to do so, because the previous evening Colonel-General von Greim had been badly injured as his plane came in to land just before dusk. Afterward, I had a long and detailed telephone conversation with General Krebs... »

They were even giving Airport Slots « scheduled for after midnight, and wait » for Berlin-Tiergarten. Just like in our days now at JFK or FRA.
There is some little confusion concerning the exact date. Keitel mentions « Right up to the 29th, Holste reported » and a little later he writes « Late that afternoon … » and he is starting with the story about his flight to Berlin without mentioning any exact date for his attempted flight. However, since Keitel is mentioning « the previous evening Colonel-Genreral von Greim had been badly injured » it is most likely that Keitel attempted to fly to Berlin on the night from 27 to 28 April 1945. This also becomes logical when considering that Gatow Airfield fell in the evening of the 26th, for the first time, and entirely on the 27th. And Keitel mentions that Gatow was under heavy fire and landings became impossible there.
The entire account is backing the other accounts which I had mentioned earlier in this thread. As well, Keitel is confirming the major reason for the little success of the whole operation with several crashes and many missed-approaches – poor, hazy visibility due to smoke caused by fires on the ground.
But, and it's just a hidden message in his account. They were operating the airlift « from dusk to dawn » and Keitel had been waiting for after midnight to give priority to SS and ammunition. It was after midnight already, when he was forbidden to depart from Rheinsberg for Berlin-Tiergarten because fires broke out. There is no information about visibility at 9 PM and 10 PM when there still were less fires. And there were discussions about giving it a try at dawn. Were they possibly expecting any improved visibility to take a flight at dawn into consideration? No one knows how many Ju-52 actually managed to land when visibility still was sufficient. Not all of the approaching aircraft failed to land. Some made it as we know from other accounts. But ther's no written statistics.

As well, Generalfeldmarschall Keitel mention at page 262 that late on the 29th … « Toward midnight Field-Marshal von Greim, the new commander-in-chief of the German air force, arrived at Dobbin, his right ankle heavily bandaged. He had taken off from Berlin with his chief pilot, Hanna Reitsch, on the 28th and had landed safely at Rechlin; from there he had driven out to report on events in the Reich Chancellery. He had spent several days there with the Führer. He told me about Göring’s dismissal and the reason for it ... » which isn't anything else but a confirmation of what is generally known as the famous flight out from Berlin. In my opinion, having been sentenced to death anyway, and completing his memoirs only 3 days before his execution, Keitel didn't have any motivation to tell us nonsens about his own but eventually unseccessful, attempted flight to the Ost-West-Achse.

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi,

Just one correction to Simon's statement: "23 April, Templehoff-Berlin lost to Soviet forces".

A fighter pilot transferred from Gatow to Tempelhof between 06:40 and 07:15 on 22 April 1945. He flew a mission from Tempelhof 09:45 to 10:30 on 22 April 1945. He then transferred from Tempelhof to Gatow between 08:00 and 08:35 on 24 April 1945.

Cheers,
Andrew A.

Air War Publications - http://www.airwarpublications.com

[murx]

Here is a list of German WWII "Fliegerhorste" ("aviator's aeries") , the link below is a list of available links to the locations with details

http://www.fliegerhorste.de/where.htm

http://www.fliegerhorste.de/links.htm

[Motch]

Can someone actually post the pics of a Ju 52 wreck in Berlin?!
Also.. TS writes "The aerial view from the top of the Siegessäule in 1947 gives an idea of the crossing runways".. well, looking at the picture that is attached, I see a diagonal road that probably could have been used to taxi aircraft, but it in no way looks wide enough to be used as a runway.

I show the East West Ave having a width of roughly 110 ft while a Ju 52's wingspan is roughly 97 ft. Kinda tight to land an aircraft that size into it, let alone pull a 270 degree turn to get yourself lined back up for a takeoff.

This is an interesting discussion. What's amazing enough is that you would think that the pilot(s) who pulled off landing and taking off from this runway would have talked about it and actually wrote about it after the war?!
TS does mention "Oberfeldwebel Böhm from the II./TG 3 (II. Transportgruppe / 3. Geschwader, 6. Staffel)" as having been one of the pilots. Anyone know if he survived the war and if so, what he did afterwards?

Thanks
Motch

[TuntematonSotilas]

Motch, since you're asking for a pic - you're welcome, here we go. (Martin Pegg: Luftwaffe Transport Units 1943 - 1945, page 177)
Glad that you're writing "roughly 110 ft while ... roughly 97 ft", but roughly only, thanks. If you'd travel to Berlin and take a long long long measuring-tape, you would quickly correct your statement to a width of roughly 170 to 180 ft. I can guarantee you that this is not a problem for any Ju-52 pilot.
As well, what do you mean with a 270 degree turn? You certainly mean a 180? If you would know Berlin, you'd know that this wasn't any problem either. The first U-turn after landing was comfortably made whilst rolling around Siegessäule. The second U-turn to line-up prior take-off was comfortably made in front of Brandenburger Tor what is today called Platz des 18 März.
Motch, we are not talking about any narrow street in any city. We are talking about a long and wide avenue which was longer and wider than possibly all official runways at airports world-wide in 1945. Length and width had not been any problem. The problems were AA-fire and smoke during approach, a marginal obstacle-clearance, and artillery shelling if ever on the ground. This is why the operation eventually failed, not because of any width or length.
TS