Walther Wenck was the youngest General of the branch in the German Army and a staff Officer during World War Two.
He was born on the 18th September 1900 in Wittenberg. In 1919 he joined the Paramilitary group Freikorps and in 1920 joined the Army of the Weimar Republic. During 1939 until 1942, Wench was Chief of Operations for the 1st Panzer Division. In 1942 he was an instructor at the War Academy, chief of staff for the LVII Corps, and then the 3rd Romanian Army on the Eastern Front.
In 1944 he was made chief of staff of Army Group South Ukraine, it was here that he first got the attention of Adolf Hitler with his report on conditions on the Eastern Front saying “As you see my Fuhrer, the Eastern Front in like Swiss cheese, full of holes”. He was reprimanded for using informal language but Hitler commended the “liveliness” of his report!
On the 10th April 1945, Wenck was appointed commander of the German Twelfth Army in the west of Berlin to guard against the advancing American and British forces. However, as the allies made gains in the Western and Eastern fronts towards Berlin, the German’s lines were backed toward each other. As a result, Wenck’s army’s area of control to his rear and East of the Elbe River had become a vast refugee camp for German civilians fleeing the Soviets in the East. Wenck took great pains to provide food and shelter for the refugees and at one stage the Twelfth Army was feeding more than a quarter of a million people every day.
On 22nd April 1945 and the Battle of Berlin raged, SS-General Felix Steiner retreated leaving Wenck’s Twelfth Army as Hitler’s last hope of saving Berlin. Wenck was ordered to disengage the Allied forces to his west and attack east, linking up with the Ninth Army to battle the Soviets encircling Berlin. Wenck’s forces met heavy Soviet resistance outside Potsdam and neither the 9th or 12th armies were able to progress towards Berlin. However, Wenck’s eastward attack toward Berlin had also been aimed specifically at providing the population and garrison at Berlin with an escape route to areas occupied by Western Allied forces.
On the night of April 28th Wenck reported to the German Supreme Army Command that his Army had been forced back and that no attack on Berlin was possible. Instead, Wenck moved his forces towards the forest of Halbe and linked up with the remnants of the Ninth Army. “Comrades, you’ve got to go in once more” Wenck said, “It’s not about Berlin anymore, it’s not about the Reich anymore”. Their task was to save the people from the fighting and advancing Soviets. Wenck’s actions successfully evacuated tens of thousands of troops and civilians across the Elbe River to safety and surrender to Western forces, with Wenck himself being the last one who crossed the river.
The Blood of History 