With Our Backs to Berlin

^{12. The Klessin position as seen from the German lines at Point 54.2. Thick trees cover the site of the Schloss in the centre, with the new houses on the Wuhden road to the left.}

^{Horst Zobel on a battlefield tour with the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1993.}

^{13. Stalin II tanks under fire on the Moltke Bridge, turrets closed, as seen from the Diplomatic Quarter on 29 April 1945. The demolition hole is indicated by the missing parapet. Two SU-100s and a T-34/85 have their guns trained on the far bank, and a dog sledge for evacuating wounded can be seen centre left.}

^{14. The overgrown site of Schloss Klessin today.}

^{15. The Wuhden memorial to those who fell on the Reitwein Spur.}

^{16. Gerhard Tillery on home leave in 1944.}

^{17. Hinnerk Otterstedt’s grave in Sachsendorf.}

^{18. Harry Zvi Glaser in 1945.}

^{19. 40,000 soldiers and civilians died in the attempted breakout at Halbe.}

^{20. Harry Zvi Glaser in conversation with President Clinton at the White House after being presented with the ‘Order of Glory’ by President Yeltsin during a state visit.}

^{21. The Zoo Flak-tower from across the Landwehr Canal during dismantling. Crowned with four twin 128mm gun mountings and twelve multi-barrelled 20mm or 37mm ‘pom-poms’, this bunker formed the core of the defence while sheltering up to 30,000 civilians.}

^{22. Harry Schweizer in Hitler Youth uniform.}

^{23. Soviet anti-tank guns in action in Berlin.}

^{24. SS-Sergeant Major Willi Rogmann wearing his Close Combat Clasp in Gold.}

^{25. A wrecked Soviet T-34 facing the Reichstag on Moltkestrasse.}

^{26. Adolf Hitler and Youth Leader Artur Axmann congratulating Hitler Youths on their awards for bravery on 20 March 1945.}

^{27. Soviet tanks push through the rubble.}

^{28. Rudi Averdieck as a sergeant with the Iron Cross Second Class in 1944.}

^{29. Rudi Averdieck in France, 28 May 1940.}

^{30. Wrecked Soviet armour on Charlottenburger Strasse.}

^{31. Soviet troops with a panje wagon and a Stalin II converging on the rear of the Reichstag to sign their names on the walls.}

^{32. The author with Willi Rogmann in Berlin in 1994.}

^{33. The staged hoisting of ‘Red Banner No. 5’ of the 150th Rifle Division by Sergeants M.A. Yegorov and M.V. Kantaria on the rear parapet of the Reichstag on the afternoon of 2 May 1945. (Imperial War Museum)}

List of Drawings

The Oderbruch Battlefield

The Saar-Moselle Triangle: Schloss Thorn & The Orscholz Switch

The Second Battalion, Grenadier Regiment 1234, at Rathstock and Tillery’s Escape after the Soviet Attack of 2 March 1945

The Second Battalion, Grenadier Regiment 1234, at Solikante

The Original Deployment of Grenadier Regiment 1234 and Tillery’s Retreat from Solikante to Gottesgabe

Tillery in Wilmersdorf

The Deployment of the 2nd Battalion, Fahnenjunker-Grenadier Regiment 1242, on 7 March 1945

The Deployment of the 2nd Battalion, Panzer-Regiment ‘Muncheberg’ on the 21–23 March 1945

The Defence of Seelow

Breaching the Stein-Stellung – Routes of Tams, Wittor & Averdieck

Rogmann’s Main Area of Activity

Rogmann’s Mortars in East Berlin

The Reichstag Battle

Copyright

First published in 2001 by Sutton Publishing

This edition first published in 2005

Reprinted 2006, 2007

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2013

All rights reserved

© Tony Le Tissier, 2001, 2005, 2013

The right of Tony Le Tissier to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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