33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne

The **Waffen Grenadier Brigade of the SS Charlemagne** (German: *Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade der SS "Charlemagne"*) was a Waffen-SS unit formed in September 1944 from French collaborationists, many of whom were already serving in various other German units. Named after the 9th-century Frankish emperor, it superseded the existing Legion of French Volunteers Against Bolshevism formed in 1941 within the German Army (*Wehrmacht*) and the SS-Volunteer *Sturmbrigade* France (*SS-Freiwilligen Sturmbrigade "Frankreich"*) formed in July 1943, both of which were disbanded the same month. The division also included French recruits from other German military and paramilitary formations and *Miliciens* who had fled ahead of the Allied Liberation of France (June–November 1944).

After training, the Charlemagne Brigade was reclassified as a division as the **33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French)** (*33. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Charlemagne" (französische Nr. 1)*). It had 7,340 men at the time of its deployment to the Eastern Front in February 1945. It fought against Soviet forces in Pomerania where it was almost annihilated during the East Pomeranian Offensive within a month. Around 300 members of the unit participated in the Battle in Berlin in April–May 1945 and were among the last Axis forces to surrender.

## Operational history[edit]

### Pomerania, February–April 1945[edit]

View of Kolberg (Kołobrzeg) in Pomerania after its capture by Soviet forces in March 1945
The division was sent to fight the Red Army in Poland, but on 25 February it was attacked at Hammerstein (present-day Czarne) in Pomerania, by troops of the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front. The Soviet forces split the French force into three pockets. One group with Puaud was destroyed by Soviet artillery and a second group tried fighting its way back westward, but by 17 March all had been captured or killed in action. A third group commanded by Krukenberg survived. It was evacuated from the coast by the German Navy to Denmark and later sent to Neustrelitz for refitting.

By early April 1945, Krukenberg commanded only about 700 men organized into a single infantry regiment with two battalions (Battalions 57 and 58) and one heavy support battalion without equipment. He released about 400 men to serve in a construction battalion; the remainder, numbering about 350, had chosen to go to Berlin. On 23 April the Reich Chancellery in Berlin ordered Krukenberg to proceed to the capital with his men, who were reorganized as Assault Battalion (*Sturmbataillon*) Charlemagne. As the men assembled at the Marktplatz of Alt-Strelitz, a black Mercedes approached fast. As the car went past the column of men, Krukenberg and several other officers quickly stood at attention, recognising *Reichsführer-SS* Heinrich Himmler, who had just come from a private meeting with Count Folke Bernadotte at the Swedish consulate in Lübeck to offer surrender terms to the Western Allies. The SS men were disappointed that Himmler did not stop and instead sped on past.

Between 320 and 330 French troops arrived in Berlin on 24 April after a long detour to avoid advance columns of the Red Army.

The Soviet advance into Berlin followed a pattern of massive shelling followed by assaults using house-clearing battle groups of about 80 men in each, with tank escorts and close artillery support. On 27 April, the remnants of Nordland were pushed back into the central government district (Zitadelle sector) in Defence sector Z. There, Krukenberg's Nordland headquarters was a carriage in the Stadtmitte U-Bahn station. Fighting was very heavy and by 28 April 108 Soviet tanks had been destroyed in the southeast of Berlin within the *S-Bahn*. The French squads under Fenet's command accounted for "about half" of the tanks. Fenet and his battalion were given the area of Neukölln, Belle Alliance Platz, Wilhelmstrasse and the Friedrichstrasse to defend. On 28 April, the Red Army started a full-scale offensive into the central sector. Charlemagne was in the center of the battle zone around the Reich Chancellery. French SS man Eugène Vaulot, who had destroyed two tanks in Neukölln, claimed to have destroyed six more near the *Führerbunker*. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by Krukenberg on 29 April. Vaulot was killed three days later by a Red Army sniper. Second Lieutenant Roger Albert-Brunet destroyed four Soviet tanks by *Panzerfaust* on 29 April 1945. He was awarded the Iron Cross 1st class by Krukenberg. During the fighting, Fenet was wounded in the foot. The Soviets forces drove what was left of the battalion back to the vicinity of the Reich Aviation Ministry in the central government district under the command of SS-*Brigadeführer* Wilhelm Mohnke. For the combat actions of the battalion during the Battle in Berlin, Mohnke awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross to Fenet on 29 April 1945.

After Hitler's suicide on 30 April, the unit's men were part of the last defenders in the area of the bunker complex. By the evening of 30 April, the French SS men serving under Fenet had destroyed another 21 Soviet tanks. On the night of 1 May, Krukenberg told the men that were left to split up into small groups and attempt to break-out. Reduced to approximately thirty troops, most French SS men surrendered near the Potsdammer rail station to the Red Army. Krukenberg made it to Dahlem where he hid out in an apartment for a week before surrendering to Red Army troops.

Having escaped out of Berlin, Fenet with a small remainder of his unit surrendered to British forces at Bad Kleinen and Wismar. Some of the Frenchmen, such as Fenet, were turned over to the Soviet Army. Twelve who had been turned over to French authorities by the US Army received the death penalty for treason and were executed. Fenet was allowed to be treated for his foot wound at hospital. Most of the rest who made it to France were apprehended and sent to Allied prisons and camps. Fenet was arrested upon his return to France. In 1949, Fenet was convicted of being a collaborator and sentenced to 20 years of prison, but was released from prison in 1959.

## Commanders[edit]

* SS-*Oberführer* Edgar Puaud ( August 1944 – February 1945)
* SS-*Brigadeführer* Gustav Krukenberg (February 1945 – May 1945)

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