Sixty four years ago bombs were raining down on the very spot you’re standing on. As early as September 1944, with Soviet troops on the banks of the Wisla River, Hitler declared the city a closed fortress: Festung Breslau. Two defensive rings were constructed around the city - with some fortifications 20km outside the centre - supplies stockpiled and troops mobilised. A garrison of some 80,000 men was hurriedly raised in what was projected to become the key defensive element on ‘The Eastern Wall’. In reality however the troops, under the command of Gauleiter Karl Henke, were a mixed bag of elite soldiers, retreating regiments, Hitler Youth, police officers and WWI veterans. Throughout the course of conflict the city had been an industrial haven. Out of reach from allied bombers, it was a logical centre for munitions factories. Yet when the first air strike did come, in September 1944, the defending troops were ludicrously ill-equipped. As countdown to the impending siege began Henke noted he had two tanks and weaponry either outdated or captured from previous campaigns in Poland, Russia and Yugoslavia. Civilians and slave labour were called up to build fortifications, and vast stretches of the city were demolished so bricks could be used to strengthen defences. In a growing sign of desperation even the University Library found itself stripped of thousands of books, all destined for the barricades. The residential area between the Szczytnicki and Grunwaldzki bridges was levelled in order to build an improvised airstrip that would, in theory, be Breslau’s connection to the outside world. The enormous project cost an estimated 13,000 civilian lives when the Soviet army shelled the area. The cruel irony being that only one aeroplane ever left the area - predictably it was the plane that whisked Henke to safety. Promises of regular relief drops proved wishful thinking with most supplies dropped by the Luftwaffe and Red Cross falling into Soviet hands. As the Russians drew ever closer the decision was finally made to evacuate the civilian population. With transport links all but smashed a disastrous and sluggish evacuation was launched on January 19, 1945. Temperatures as low as –30 and heavy bombardment accounted for the death of an estimated 90,000 people. Not for the first time, the stubborn refusal of Nazi high command to allow retreat until it was too late had ended with the needless loss of countless lives. On February 16, 1945 months of waiting finally came to an end. The Red Army launched a ferocious attack on the city, throwing hundreds of tanks into the fray. But hopes for a quick victory proved optimistic, and the battle soon turned into a brutal slaughter, with both sides sustaining heavy casualties. In the first three days alone the Soviets lost well over 70 tanks as fighting descended into savage street fighting. In his excellent book, Microcosm, author Norman Davies suggests that as a last resort measure chemical weapons produced in Silesia were used to repel Soviet troops in the early stages of combat. With the noose tightening, Nazi HQ relocated to the university library, while fighting continued to rage in the sewers and houses on the fringes of the city. Even with the end in sight, the Nazis fought bitterly to the last man, crushing an ill-fated uprising by the remaining civilians. A full five days after the Battle for Berlin had ended, Breslau finally capitulated on May 6. The day before, Henke, the very man who had ordered the immediate execution of anyone caught fleeing the city, escaped by aeroplane apparently destined for the Czech Republic. He was never captured. For the survivors the end of war unleashed a new enemy. It’s estimated that approximately two million German women were raped by Red Army soldiers, and Breslau proved no exception as marauding packs of drunk troops sought to celebrate victory. With all hospitals destroyed, and the city waterworks a pile of rubble, epidemics raged unchecked as the city descended further into a hellish chaos. Historical figures suggest that in total the battle for Breslau cost the lives of 170,000 civilians, 6,000 German troops, and 7,000 Russian. About 70% of the city lay in total ruin (about 75% directly attributed to Nazi efforts to fortify the city), 10km of sewers had been dynamited and nearly 70% of electricity cut off. Although several bunkers still lie scattered around the city (Park Zachodni, Park Połudnowie etc) there is no official memorial as such for the thousands of innocent victims of war. Two Soviet cemeteries stand on the outskirts of old town: one for officers on ul. Karkonoska, and one for the rank and file on Skowronia Góra. A German cemetery can be found 15km east of Wroclaw in the direction of Jelcz-Jaskowice.
[...]
