The TRAGIC FATE of German Deserters during the Battle of Berlin

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]This Berlin complex right here was one of the  last Nazi holdouts of WW2. In this building many German deserters and alleged deserters were  executed by the authorities. This here is the tragic story of the terrifying fate of the Germans  deserters, World War II, in Berlin, keep watching.

[00:00:28]In the last months of World War II in Europe the  downfall of the Third Reich was imminent and most people knew it. For ordinary Germans, obeying out  of fear was often the only logical choice. Even the smallest hint of resistance to the regime’s  insistence on fighting to the bitter end could cost someone their life. On 3 April, SS chief  Heinrich Himmler ordered that in any house where a white flag appeared, all male occupants were  to be executed. The idea stemmed from a Party proposal that even suggested burning down any  house displaying a white flag. A few days later, on 12 April, the Wehrmacht High Command issued  a new directive, signed by Keitel, Himmler, and Bormann, demanding that every town be defended  to the last man. Any Allied promise of safety in return for surrender was to be ignored completely.  Many became victims of the so-called flying courts martial—mobile units dispensing instant death  sentences. Their mission was to hunt down deserters. For the first time, German soldiers  faced not only firing squads but public hangings.

[00:01:44]These punishments had previously been used mainly  against Jews and Slavs. Across the Wehrmacht, commanders were resorting to harsher measures  as they struggled to prevent their armies from collapsing. One notorious example was  General Ferdinand Schörner who became known for his brutal tactics and fierce loyalty  to Hitler, he was nicknamed "Bloody Ferdinand" and made sure countless of German soldiers whose  loyality was questioned would be put to death.

[00:02:17]On April 16, 1945, the Soviet army launched its  final assault on Berlin. The German capital was encircled. To the north was the 2nd Belorussian  Front under the command of Marshal Rokossovsky.

[00:02:32]East of Berlin stood the 1st Belorussian  Front under Marshal Zhukov, while the 1st Ukrainian Front under Marshal Konev sealed off  the south. Instead of achieving a quick victory, it took several days and cost tens of thousands  of lives on both sides before the German defenses at the Seelow Heights were broken. On April  21, Soviet units entered Berlin from the east and fought their way toward the city center. The  German defense consisted of a mix of SS troops, militia, and regular soldiers, as well as  Volkssturm units, totaling about 90,000 men.

[00:03:11]In the district of Prenzlauer Berg is a large  former industrial complex known today as the Kulturbrauerei. This brewery was founded  in 1842 and has since expanded. In 1938, the complex became part of the German military  industry. During the Second World War, forced laborers (mainly from the Soviet Union)  worked here. During the Battle of Berlin, the staff of "Befehlsabschnitts H" (part of  "Festung Berlin") had their headquarters in a deep basement on this complex. The brewery  was also the site of execution of German deserters and civilians in the last days  of the war. This was not the only place where deserters and alleged deserters met  their fate. It happened everywhere in the city. These executions were carried out  by the Feldgendarmerie and SS groups.

[00:04:05]“No records were kept of the roadside executions  carried out, but anecdotal evidence suggests that on the XI SS Corps sector, many,  including a number of Hitler Youth, were hanged from trees on the flimsiest of proof.  This was nothing short of murder. Soviet sources claim that 25,000 German soldiers and officers  were summarily executed for cowardice in 1945.

[00:04:29]This figure is almost certainly too high, but  it was unlikely to have been lower than 10,000.”

[00:04:37]One German soldier who had surrendered to the  Red Army told his Soviet interrogator that ‘about 40,000 deserters were hiding in Berlin even before  the Russian advance. Now this number is rapidly increasing.’ He claimed that the German police  and the Gestapo could not control the situation.

[00:04:56]In various districts of Berlin, soldiers—and  sometimes even civilians—who attempted to flee were publicly hanged from lampposts  or trees. They were often forced to wear signs reading “Ich bin ein Verräter” (“I am  a traitor”). The purpose was intimidation: others had to see what would happen if they  tried to escape. Eyewitness accounts, including civilian diaries, frequently mention bodies left  hanging in streets or near bridges as warnings.

[00:05:26]At anti-tank barricades placed at key crossroads,  the Feldgendarmerie checked identification papers, prepared to arrest and execute anyone suspected of  desertion. Meanwhile, in basements, a steady flow of German officers and soldiers began appearing in  civilian clothing. A woman writing in her diary on the morning of Monday, April 23, observed that  desertion no longer seemed shameful as women tended not to value sacrifice... they were more  practical and preferred their men alive. People nearby told her that a man accused of desertion  had been executed at the far end of the tunnel.

[00:06:05]He had reportedly been hanged so that  his feet barely cleared the ground, and some boys had cruelly entertained themselves  by spinning his body around. How many deserters and alleged deserters were executed by the Nazi  authorities in Berlin (1945) is hard to say, because many records have been lost in the fog of  war or executions were not recorded at all. It is safe to say that hundreds of Germans and perhaps  even 1,000 befell this fate in the Reichs capital.

[00:06:37]As the battle for Berlin dragged on the  outnumbered defenders were unable to stop the nearly one million Soviet soldiers. In the  early morning of April 29, the German Ministry of the Interior fell, and on April 30, the  Gestapo headquarters was captured. The battle for the Reichstag that followed was one of the  final engagements in Berlin. During the fighting, two soldiers raised the Soviet flag on  the roof of the Reichstag. On April 30, Hitler took his life. On May 2, the  last 10,000 remaining German soldiers, under the command of General Helmuth Weidling,  surrendered. Yet, Nazi Germany had not yet fallen.

[00:07:18]A new Nazi government had taken office  in Flensburg under Karl Dönitz. It is a bizarre story and if you want to learn more  on this, click here. Thanks for watching.