By C'Rod Mom’s been busy writing so I’m on my own again. Many of you have heard about the Fall of Berlin. German resistance was fierce. At first they repelled the Soviet Army, but eventually succumbed to the shear mass of Soviet forces. Many Germans had no choice but to fight. Well, that’s not quite true. They could fight and face death or face death at the hands of the Kettenhunde. These were not just some imaginary demons from Hell; these were real people capable of doing the Devil's work.
Near the end, as Hitler hid safely in his bunker, Berlin was ruled by Hitler’s Kettenhunde – I believe “chain dogs” is the literal translation. Their name comes from the gorget they wore around their necks that looked like the metal collars worn by dogs. These were fiercely loyal and fanatic followers of the Fuhrer. Eventually they became part of the SS. They made sure every able bodied German remained loyal and fought to the bitter end. The alternative? An expeditious execution.
Berlin, 1945:
“…boys who were found hiding were hanged as traitors by the SS as a warning that, 'he who was not brave enough to fight had to die.' When trees were not available, people were strung up on lamp posts. They were hanging everywhere, military and civilian, men and women, ordinary citizens who had been executed by a small group of fanatics.”
- Dorothea von Schwanenfluegel (Eyewitness to History, 2002)
As Mom and her Mother discovered, the Kettenhunde’s reputation for killing was so terrifying that most soldiers wouldn’t even consider abandoning their post and surrendering despite the fact that Germany had already lost the war. Mom and her Mother found a wounded German soldier sitting on the front steps of their apartment house. This was shortly before the war ended. He was holding his bleeding leg. They took him inside to help him.
While Mom’s Mother held a knife over the candle, the soldier was given schnapps to drink. There was nothing else to ease his pain. When he was quite drunk, Mom climbed on top of him to hold him down. Her Mother then proceeded to dig out the bullet with the knife. Afterwards, the wound was cleansed with chamomile tea. A blanket was ripped apart and used as a bandage.
They told the soldier to stay with them since the war was almost over. They would have given him some civilian clothes and hidden him. He refused the offer. His fear of the Kettenhunde was too great to risk deserting. He would rather risk getting killed by the Russians than face the SS. He said that if the Kettenhunde found him, they would shoot him. So after about 1 1/2 days he left them never to be heard from again.
Another time Mom and her Mother tried to persuade someone to desert was when the German Army was pulling back as the Russians reached the outskirts of Berlin. Mom explains,
“We told the tank commander to take off too. Just leave everything! The Russians were already in Berlin, but they were all afraid of the SS's Kettenhunde. There were no questions asked if they saw you without a weapon. They would just shoot you.”
