Pertempuran Halbe

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Berkas:FinalOffensiveMap.gifOfensif akhir Soviet di sekitar Berlin.
Pertempuran Halbe
Konflik Perang Dunia II
Tanggal April 1945
Tempat Halbe, Jerman
Hasil Soviet menang
Pihak yang terlibat
Jerman Uni Soviet
Komandan
Theodor Busse Ivan Koniev
Kekuatan
80.000 prajurit tidak diketahui
Korban
30.000 prajurit terbunuh
10.000 warga sipil
20.000 prajurit terbunuh
Perang Jerman-Soviet
Barbarossa – Silberfuchs – Smolensk – Uman – Kiev ke-1 – Typhoon – Rostov ke-1 – LeningradMoskwa – Sevastopol – Rzhev-Vyazma ke-1 – Kharkov ke-2 – Voronezh ke-1 – Stalingrad – Velikiye Luki – Uranus – Rzhev-Sychevka ke-2 – Saturnus – Kharkov ke-3 – Kursk – Belgorod – Kharkov ke-4 – Korsun – NarvaKantong Hube – Brody –Bagration – Kiev ke-2 – Debrecen – Vistula-Oder – Balaton – BerlinHalbe – Praha

Pertempuran Halbe terjadi pada akhir bulan April 1945 di hutan Spree di dekat desa Halbe, sebelah tenggara Berlin.

Jenderal Theodor Busse yang memimpin 80.000 tentara dari AD ke-9 Jerman yang terkepung mencoba untuk bergabung dengan AD ke-12 Jerman yang dipimpin oleh Jenderal Walther Wenck dengan tujuan mundur ke arah barat dan menyerah kepada tentara AS.

Daftar isi

[sunting] Pendahuluan

Pada tanggal 16 April Soviet memulai Pertempuran Berlin dengan serangan tiga Front Soviet di sepanjang Garis Oder-Neisse. Pada tanggal 21 April mereka telah menembus garis depan Jerman di dua tempat dan mulai mengepung Berlin. AD ke-9 Jerman berada di antara dua gerak putar pasukan Soviet yang menuju ke Berlin. Gerak putar selatan yang terdiri dari Front Ukraina ke-1 (1UF) di bawah komando Ivan Konev telah menembus wilayah terjauh dan telah memotong wilayah di belakang garis depan AD ke-9 Jerman.

Komando untuk Korps ke-5 Jerman yang terjebak bersama AD ke-9 di utara Forst, dipindah dari AD Panzer ke-4 Jerman (bagian dari Grup AD Tengah) ke AD ke-9 (bagian dari Grup AD Vistula di bawah pimpinan Jenderal Gotthard Heinrici). Korps ini masih mempertahankan Cottbus. Pada saat sebagian besar Grup AD Tengah dipaksa bergerak ke barat daya di sepanjang garis komunikasinya ke Cekoslowakia, sisi selatan AD Panzer ke-4 berhasil menyerang balik 1UF di utara, Hitler memberi perintah yang menunjukkan pemahaman militernya sudah hilang. Dia memerintahkan AD ke-9 untuk mempertahankan Cottbus dan mempersiapkan garis depan yang menghadap barat untuk menyerang pasukan Soviet yang bergerak ke utara. Ini menyebabkan mereka bisa membentuk gerak putar utara yang akan bertemu dengan AD Panzer ke-4 dari selatan dan mengepung 1UF sebelum menghancurkannya. Kemudian mereka akan membantu AD Panzer ke-3 untuk menyerang ke selatan dan bersiap untuk menjadi sisi selatan dari gerak putar yang akan mengepung Front Belorusia ke-1 (1BF) yang akan dihancurkan oleh Korps ke-3 SS di bawah pimpinan Letjen SS Felix Steiner yang bergerak dari utara Berlin. Kemudian Steiner menjelaskan bahwa dia tidak mempunyai divisi untuk melakukan hal tersebut. Heinrici menjelaskan kepada staf Hitler bahwa kecuali AD ke-9 mundur dengan segera maka mereka akan terkepung oleh Soviet. Dia menekankan bahwa sudah terlambat untuk bergerak ke barat laut (Berlin) dan harus mundur ke barat. Heinrici kemudian berkata bahwa jika Hitler tidak mengijinkannya bergerak ke barat maka dia ingin mengundurkan diri.

Pada tanggal 22 April pada saat rapat sore Hitler marah besar saat menyadari bahwa rencananya yang dirancang kemarin tidak akan terwujud. Dia menyatakan bahwa Jerman sudah kalah perang, dia menyalahkan para Jenderal dan mengumumkan bahwa dia akan tinggal di Berlin sampai saat akhir dan kemudian bunuh diri. Jenderal Alfred Jodl yang mencoba untuk meredakan amarah Hitler berspekulasi bahwa AD ke-12 yang menghadapi Amerika bisa bergerak ke Berlin karena tentara Amerika yang sudah mencapai sungai Elbe sepertinya tidak akan bergerak ke timur. Hitler dengan segera memahami pemikiran ini dan dalam beberapa jam Jenderal Walther Wenck diperintahkan untuk menghentikan pertempuran melawan Amerika dan menggerakkan AD ke-12 ke timur laut untuk membantu Berlin. Kemudian disadari bahwa jika AD ke-9 bergerak ke barat maka mereka bisa bergabung dengan AD ke-12. Pada malam harinya Heinrici diperintahkan untuk bergerak. Jauh di luar ruang peta Fuhrerbunker, Soviet mulai memenangkan perang.

Meskipun dalam pikiran Hitler AD ke-12 dan AD ke-9 akan membantu mereka, tidak ada bukti bahwa Jenderal Heinrici, Busse atau Wenck berpikir bahwa hal ini mungkin. Tetapi persetujuan Hitler untuk membolehkan AD ke-9 untuk bergabung dengan AD ke-12 telah membuka jendela bagi sejumlah tentara Jerman untuk mundur ke barat dan menyerah kepada Amerika, persis seperti yang diinginkan oleh Wenck dan Busse. Ini dipermudah lagi setelah pada tengah malam tanggal 25 April Busse diberi wewenang "untuk memutuskan sendiri arah serangan yang terbaik"[1]

Keseluruhan terdapat 80.000 tentara di kantong tersebut, sebagian besar adalah anggota AD ke-9 (termasuk Korps ke-5 yang disinggung di atas), tetapi ada juga Korps Panzer SS ke-11, Korps Gunung SS ke-5, dan Garisun Frankfurt.[2]


[sunting] Pertempuran

Pertempuran dimulai pada tanggal 24 April dimana Korps ke-20 yang dipimpin Jenderal Wenck menyerang ke arah timur. Malam itu Divisi Theordor menyerang Korps Mekanis Pengawal ke-5 yang dipimpin Jenderal I. P. Yermakov di dekat Truenbrietzen. Hari berikutnya Divisi Scharnhorst mulai menghadapi Soviet di sekitar Beelitz. Pada saat Divisi Hutten mencoba untuk mencapai Potsdam dan membuka koridor ke Berlin, elemen lain dari AD ke-12, seperti yang disetujui Wenck dan Busse, bergerak ke timur untuk bergabung dengan AD ke-9 yang bergerak ke barat seperti - kata Busse pada Wenck - "katerpilar"[3].

AD ke-9 mempunyai sisa 31 tank termasuk 10 tank King Tiger milik Batalyon Panzer Berat SS 502 yang digunakan Busse untuk memimpin katerpilar. Masalahnya adalah pertempuran di bagian belakang sama hebatnya dengan di bagian depan karena pasukan Soviet mengikuti dan pasukan Jerman berusaha mengusir mereka.

The pocket into which the IX army had been pushed by troops of the 1BF and 1UF and was a region of lakes and forest in the Spree Forest south-east of Fürstenwalde. The Soviets having broken through and surrounded their primary objective of Berlin turned to mopping up those forces pushed into the pocket. On the afternoon of the April 25th the 3rd Army, the 33rd Army, the 69th Army and the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps (which specialised in forest fighting), following orders issued by General Georgy Zhukov the commander of the 1BF, attacked the pocket from the north east. Konev knew that to break out to the west the IX Army would have to cross the Berlin–Dresden autobahn south of a chain of lakes starting at Teupitz and running north-east. On the same day as Zukof's attack in the north-east, he sent the 3rd Guards Army to support the 28th Army already to close the likely breakout route over the Berlin-Dresden autobahn.

The next morning the German vanguard of the caterpillar found a weak point between the two armies and many Germans were able to cross the autobahn before the Soviets managed to plug the gap. The fighting was very heavy and included incessant air attacks by the 2nd Air Army as well as air-bursting shells which rained wood splinters through the area like hail in a gale. During the whole battle the Soviet air force flew 2,459 attack missions and 1,683 bombing sorties[4]. The Germans found that they could not use their armour as well as they had hoped, because it was vulnerable to destruction on the roads and could not grip on the sandy soil of the pine forest. The German vanguard managed to reach and cross the Mark-Zossen road (straasse 96) where it was spotted by a Luftwaffe plane. Hitler was furious when he realised that Busse was attempting to break out west and not aid him in Berlin. His command sent several messages demanding that the army turn towards Berlin, but received no answer.

During the night and the next day (April 27th) the German renewed their attack along two axes south from the village of Halbe towards Baruth, and in the north from Teupitz. This attack failed at mass breakout although, like the day before, some groups did manage to slip through Soviet lines.

The front lines were not continuous because the forest meant that visibility was down to metres, so the danger of ambush and sudden assault was a problem for both sides. Smoke from burning sections of the forest, set alight by shell fire, helped the German and hindered the Soviets because it shielded the Germans from aerial reconnaissance and attack. This was cold comfort for any wounded German soldier who could not move fast enough to avoid the flames. It also hindered many German groups because without a compass and no sun it was very difficult to judge which direction to move. The sandy soil precluded the digging of foxholes and there was no time to construct anything more elaborate, so there was little or no protection from wooden splinters thrown up by artillery and tank HE shells which the Soviet forces deliberately aimed to explode at tree top height. Many of the German casualties suffered wounds similar to those seen on Admiral Villeneuve's flag ship the Bucentaure after she had been raked by HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar 136 years earlier. Similar casualties had been suffered by the American Army when it was attacked by Germans using artillery in a similar way during the Battle of Hurtgen Forest on the Western Front six months earlier.

On the night of April 28th the Germans tried another mass breakout from around Halbe. They managed to break through the 50th Guards Rifle Division and created a corridor from Halbe to the west but they paid a very high price. During the 28th and 29th the Soviets reinforced the flanks and attacked from the south poring in Katyusha rockets and shells concentrating on the area around the Halbe.

By this time the Germans were spread over a wide area. The rearguard was at Storkow and the vanguard had linked up with the XII Army at Beelitz. There were large groups around Halbe. The Soviet battle plan was to split the caterpillar into segments and then destroy each segment individually. The German battle plan was to continue moving west as fast as possible keeping the corridor open.

The situation in Halbe was desperate for the Germans, orders being issued to recognisable formations which were by now all mixed up. There was considerable tension between SS and Wehrmacht soldiers with both accusing the other of helping their own comrades while ignoring the plight of the other. In Halbe itself some of the civilians took pity on very young solders ("kindersoldaten") and allowed them to change out of their uniforms into civilian clothes. In one documented case an SS man appeared at the door of a cellar intending to shoot a Panzerfaust into a cellar with about 40 civilians and young Wehrmacht soldiers in it, only to be shot dead by one of the soldiers [5].

During the following days the fighting became more and more confused. If the Germans came into contact with Soviet forces and overran a Soviet position, the Soviets counter-attacked not only with ground forces but with artillery and aircraft. Losses on both sides were very high. By the time the fighting was over which was around the end of April, about 25,000 German soldiers had managed to escape to join up with the XII Army on the eastern side of Strasse 2 the road running north south through Beelitz. Although this was the end of the battle it was not the end of the breakout. The XII and XI army remnants then fought a fighting retreat westwards towards the Elbe so that they could surrender to the Americans.

During the battle of Halbe casualties on both sides were very high. There are about 30,000 Germans buried in the cemetery at Halbe. About 20,000 Red Army died trying to stop the breakout most are buried at a cemetery next to the Mark-Zossen road. These are the known dead, but the remains of more who died in the battle are found every year so the total of those who died will never be known. Nobody knowns how many civilians died but it could have been as high as 10,000.[6].

"The most astonishing part of the story is not the numbers who died or were forced to surrender but the 25,000 soldiers and several thousand civilians who succeeded it getting through three lines of Soviet troops."[7]

[sunting] Catatan

  1. ^  Beevor bibliografi Page 330
  2. ^  Beevor bibliografi Page 329
  3. ^  Beevor bibliografi Page 330
  4. ^  Beevor bibliografi Page 334
  5. ^  Beevor bibliografi Page 334
  6. ^  Beevor bibliografi Page 337
  7. ^  Beevor bibliografi Page 337

[sunting] Bibliografi

[sunting] Pranala luar