Slaughter at Halbe: Hitler's Ninth Army in the Spreewald Pocket, April 1945 [Hardcover]

Tony Le Tissier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2005

Operation 'Berlin', the Soviet offensive launched on 16 April 1945 by Marshals Zhukov and Koniev, isolated the German 9th Army and tens of thousands of refugees in the Spreewald 'pocket', south-east of Berlin. Stalin ordered its encirclement and destruction and his subordinates, eager to win the race to the Reichstag, pushed General Busse's 9th Army into a tiny area east of the village of Halbe.

Meanwhile General Wenck's 12th Army, ordered to disengage with the American forces on the Elbe and come to the relief of Berlin, launched an attack from the southwest in a desperate bid to rescue the 9th. To escape the Spreewald pocket the remnants of 9th Army had to pass through Halbe, where barricades constructed by both sides formed formidable obstacles and the converging Soviet forces subjected the area to heavy artillery fire. By the time the 9th Army eventually escaped the Soviet pincers and linked up with the 12th Army, it had suffered over 40,000 killed and 60,000 taken prisoner.

Teenaged refugees recount their experiences alongside Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS veterans attempting to maintain military discipline amid the chaos and carnage of headlong retreat. While army commanders strive to extricate their decimated units, demoralised soldiers change into civilian clothing and take to the woods. Relating the story day by day, Tony Le Tissier shows the impact of total war upon soldier and civilian alike, illuminating the unfolding of great and terrible events with the recollections of participants.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lt-Col Tony Le Tissier MBE served with the British Army's Corps of Royal Military Police until 1977. British governor of the Spandau Allied Prison in Berlin from 1981 to 1987, Tony is the author of Battle of Britain, Berlin Then and Now, Farewell to Spandau, Zhukov at the Oder, Race for the Reichstag, With Our Backs to Berlin and Death Was Our Companion. He lives n Frome.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: The History Press (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750936894
• ISBN-13: 978-0750936897
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #930,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling story of the end of 9th Army., September 3, 2005

By 

C. Harte (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Slaughter at Halbe: Hitler's Ninth Army in the Spreewald Pocket, April 1945 (Hardcover)

This book, like Tony Le Tissier's "With our Backs to Berlin", is another excellent overview of the final, chaotic days of Hitler's Third Reich. Mr. Le Tissier does a superb job of using first-person accounts to tell the story of the brutal and horrible fighting that took place on the approaches to Berlin in the last weeks of the War. It's amazing how he found so many survivors, both military and civilian, to tell this little known history of the fighting in the Halbe Pocket. There are very few detailed accounts of the last days of the war on the Eastern Front, and as he has in the past, Le Tissier does not disappoint with this book. If you want to read a chilling, but true account of what it must have been like to fight for your life against an embittered enemy, this book will prove hard to put down. I strongly recommend it for any serious student of the war on the Eastern Front.

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To the last Gast of Effort, June 3, 2006

By 

F. A Castellon "Prime" (Silver Spring, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slaughter at Halbe: Hitler's Ninth Army in the Spreewald Pocket, April 1945 (Hardcover)

The last Battles of WWII and that of the depleted German Army are getting more and more attention these days which is a good thing. It is always good to know information about the other side of the coin and we get that with Tony Le Tissier "Slaughter at the Halbe" book. This is an excellent, well written book from the same author which brough us "With our Backs to Berlin" Mr. Tissier is an excellent writer and brings in lots of facts and eye witness accounts in this book.

This is the battle fought by the 9th Armee in order to get to the Allied lines and not get captured by the Russian. Of course Hitler wanted this Armee to come and rescue Berlin in the final week of the war but its Commander, Gen. Busse thought of a better way to use his remaining strenght, to save as many lives as possible by deliviring them to the Allied side across the river Elbe which separated the Allied armies from the Russians. But before they could get to "freedom" they had to go through one of the most grueling and death filled journeys in the whole war. One of the main battles was over the city of Halbe in which so many German soldiers and civialians died. This whole book tells of that battle. How tanks got blown up and caught in cross fires, how some soldiers refused to fight and others did the imposible to get to this "freedom". To those who reached it, it was a bitter pill to swallow but at least it wasn't the Russians.

To understand the whole overview of the importance of the 9th armee one should read "The fall of Berlin" by A. Beevor as it also speaks to some of the events in this book but gives you the overall situation of the final days of the war according to the Fuher Bunker. But concerning the series of events that 9th armee and its personel went through this is an excellent book and one of which one can jump off to other subject about WWII. If one needs to know about what happened to the losing side read "A terrible Revenge" by A. de Zayas as this will give you the rest and least thought of subject of WWII, the German people and there fate

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, October 16, 2006

By 

Ozark Trail Outrider (Jenks, OK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Slaughter at Halbe: Hitler's Ninth Army in the Spreewald Pocket, April 1945 (Hardcover)

Le Tissier continues to amaze and horrify his readers with the descriptions of Germany's death spasms in the East. This particular volume details the efforts of Germany's 9th Army to escape from it's encirclement and find saftey beyond the Elbe River in what would become the American Sector of control.

The reckless ferocity of the German bid to escape is only matched by the dogged and may I say "murderous" determination of the Soviets to destroy the Germans.

While no one can deny that the Germans certainly reaped what they sowed, one is also confused at the effort the Soviets put forward to destroy German military and civilian elements that were basically attempting to leave Soviet control. One asks this question, because the Soviets suffered tremendous losses themselves in attempting to completely annihilate the German 9th Army. With Berlin already falling to Soviet domination, one must wonder what the Soviets hoped to gain by destroying the German 9th Army.

Le Tissier's only flaw in my opinion is that the really never tells us why the Soviets, and Koniev in particular found it necessary to destroy an army that at that stage of the war posed no threat to Soviet stratgic aims.

Thus the reader is left to conclude that Soviet lives were lost simply to add more prestige to Koniev's military accomplishments with the destruction of yet another German Army.

For the Germans, the story of Halbe is one of unending tragegy. Le Tissier for all his effort can only convey the briefest glimpse of the hell these people endured.

This is not cheerful reading, but for any student of the Second World War, your studies remain incomplete until you have read Halbe.