Walther Wenck Walther Wenck ( 18 September 1900 – 1 May 1982 ) was the youngest general in the German Army during World War II . At the end of the war , he commanded the German Twelfth Army . Wenck ordered his army to surrender to forces of the United States in order to avoid capture by the Soviet s . Before surrendering , Wenck played an important , if unsuccessful , part in the Battle of Berlin , and through his efforts aided thousands of German refugees in escaping the Red Army . He was known during the war as " The Boy General " . Early life . Wenck was born in Wittenberg , Germany . Prior to joining the Army ( " Reichswehr " ) of the Weimar Republic in 1920 , he was a member of the Free Corps ( " Freikorps " ) in 1919 . World War II . From 1939 to 1942 , Wenck was Chief of Operations for the 1st Panzer Division . In 1942 , he was an instructor for the War Academy , Chief of Staff for the LVII Corps , and Chief of Staff for the Third Romanian Army on the Eastern Front . Wenck stayed on the Eastern Front and , from 1942 to 1943 , he was Chief of Staff of " Army Detachment Hollidt " which was subordinated to the Third Romanian Army . In 1943 , he was Chief of Staff of the Sixth Army . From 1943 to 1944 , Wenck was Chief of Staff of the First Panzer Army . In 1944 , he was Chief of Staff of Army Group South Ukraine . From 1944 to 1945 , Wenck was Quartermaster General I . From 15 February 1945 , at the insistence of General Heinz Guderian , Wenck commanded the German forces involved in Operation Solstice ( " Unternehmen Sonnenwende " ) on the Eastern Front . This lasted only two days , as General Wenck was seriously injured in a car accident on February 17 . Western Front . On 10 April 1945 , as General of Panzer Troops , Wenck was made the commander of the German Twelfth Army located to the west of Berlin . The Twelfth Army was positioned to defend against the advancing American and British forces on the Western Front . But , as both the Western Front moved eastwards and the Eastern Front moved westwards , the German armies making up both fronts backed towards each other . As a result , the area of control of Wenck ' s army to his rear and east of the Elbe River had become a vast refugee camp for German civilians fleeing the path of the approaching Soviet forces . Wenck took great pains to provide food and lodging for these refugees . At one stage , the Twelfth Army was estimated to be feeding more than a quarter million people every day . Berlin ' s last hope . On 21 April , Adolf Hitler ordered SS - General Felix Steiner to attack the forces of Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov ' s 1st Belorussian Front . Zhukov ' s forces were encircling Berlin from the north . The forces of Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev ' s 1st Ukrainian Front were encircling Berlin from the south . Steiner was to attack Zhukov with his Army Detachment Steiner . With few operational tanks and roughly a division ' s worth of infantry , Steiner declined to attack . Instead , he requested that his " army " be allowed to retreat to avoid its own encirclement and annihilation . On 22 April , as Steiner and Army Detachment Steiner retreated , Wenck ' s Twelfth Army became Hitler ' s last hope to save Berlin . Wenck was ordered to disengage the Americans to his west and , attacking to the east , link up with the Ninth Army of Colonel General ( " Generaloberst " ) Theodor Busse . Together , they would attack the Soviets encircling Berlin from the west and from the south . Meanwhile , the XLI Panzer Corps under General Rudolf Holste would attack the Soviets from the north . Unfortunately for the Germans in Berlin , much of Holste ' s forces consisted of transfers from Steiner ' s depleted units . Wenck ' s army , only recently formed , did make a sudden turn around and , in the general confusion , surprised the Russians surrounding the German capital with an unexpected attack . Wenck ' s forces attacked towards Berlin in good form and made some initial progress , but they were halted outside of Potsdam by strong Soviet resistance . Neither Busse or Holste made much progress towards Berlin . By the end of the day on 27 April , the Soviet forces encircling Berlin linked up and the forces inside Berlin were completely cut off from the rest of Germany . On 28 April , German General and Chief of Staff Hans Krebs , made his last telephone call from the Führerbunker . He called Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel at the new Supreme Command Headquarters in Fürstenberg . Krebs told Keitel that , if relief did not arrive within 48 hours , all would be lost . Keitel promised to exert the utmost pressure on Generals Wenck and Busse . During the night of 28 April , Wenck reported to the German Supreme Army Command in Fuerstenberg that his Twelfth Army had been forced back along the entire front . This was particularly true of XX Corps which had been able to establish temporary contact with the Potsdam garrison . According to Wenck , no attack on Berlin was now possible . This was even more so as support from Busse ' s Ninth Army could no longer be expected . Late in the evening of 29 April , Krebs contacted General Alfred Jodl ( Supreme Army Command ) by radio : " Request immediate report . Firstly of the whereabouts of Wenck ' s spearheads . Secondly of time intended to attack . Thirdly of the location of the Ninth Army . Fourthly of the precise place in which the Ninth Army will break through . Fifthly of the whereabouts of General Rudolf Holste ' s spearhead . " In the early morning of 30 April , Jodl replied to Krebs : " Firstly , Wenck ' s spearhead bogged down south of Schwielow Lake . Secondly , Twelfth Army therefore unable to continue attack on Berlin . Thirdly , bulk of Ninth Army surrounded . Fourthly , Holste ' s Corps on the defensive . " As his attempt to reach Berlin started to look impossible , Wenck developed a plan to move his army towards the Forest of Halbe . There he planned to link up with the remnants of the Ninth Army , Hellmuth Reymann ' s " Army Group Spree , " and the Potsdam garrison . Wenck also wanted to provide an escape route for as many citizens of Berlin as possible . Arriving at the furthest point of his attack , Wenck radioed the message : " Hurry up , we are waiting for you . " Despite the attacks on his escape path , Wenck brought his own army , remnants of the Ninth Army , and many civilian refugees safely across the Elbe and into territory occupied by the U . S . Army . Estimates vary , but it is likely the corridor his forces opened enabled up to 250 , 000 refugees , including up to 25 , 000 men of the Ninth Army , to escape towards the west just ahead of the advancing Soviets . Escape route . According to Antony Beevor , Wenck ' s eastward attack toward Berlin was aimed specifically at providing the population and garrison of Berlin with an escape route to areas occupied by United States armed forces : Captive , prisoner and death . Wenck was captured and put in a prisoner of war camp . He was released in 1947 . In 1982 , Wenck died in another car accident in Bad Rothenfelde .