Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling Biography

Birth of Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling

Appointed Colonel (Oberst) of the 56th Artillery Regiment

Commands his Corps during the Battle of France

While on the Eastern Front, Weidling is appointed to Commander of the 86th Infantry Division

While on the Eastern Front, Weidling is appointed to Commander of the 86th Infantry Division

Promoted to the rank of Major General (Generalmajor)

Promoted to the rank of Major General (Generalmajor)

Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General (Generalleutnant)

Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General (Generalleutnant)

Appointed Commanding General of the XLI Panzer Corps

Appointed Commanding General of the XLI Panzer Corps

Weidling prepared to take part in the Battle of the Seelow Heights, which was part of the broader Battle of the Oder-Neisse. Weidlings LVI Panzer Corps was in the centre, flanked by the CI Army Corps to his left and the XI SS Panzer Corps to his right. All three corps were part of General Theodor Busses 9th Army, which was defending the heights above the River Oder

This record states: By 19 April, Schorners Army Group Centre was collapsing, and the position of Army Group Vistula was becoming untenable.

This record states: Heinrici was forced to pull back what was left of his forces, including Weidlings LVI Panzer Corps.

This record states: The defensive line on the Seelow Heights was the last major defensive line outside of Berlin.

This record states: To escape envelopment and total annihilation, Weidling pulled his corps back with the rest of Army Group Vistula.

This record states: With the loss of this position, the road to Berlin lay wide open to the Soviet advance.

The German defences are mainly led by Helmuth Weidling and consisted of several depleted, badly equipped, and disorganised Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS divisions, as well as many Volkssturm and Hitler Youth members

The German defences are mainly led by Helmuth Weidling and consisted of several depleted, badly equipped, and disorganised Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS divisions, as well as many Volkssturm and Hitler Youth members

Hitler ordered that Weidling be executed by firing squad on receiving a report that he had fled in the face of advancing Soviet forces, which was in defiance of standing orders to the contrary. As such, Weidlings actions required a death sentence. Weidling had not fled, and the sentence was called off when he dramatically appeared at the Fuhrerbunker to clear up the misunderstanding

Each sector was commanded by a colonel or a general, but most of the colonels and generals had no combat experience. The forces available to Weidling for the citys defence included roughly 45,000 soldiers in several severely depleted German Army and Waffen-SS divisions.

These depleted divisions were supplemented by the Berlin police force, boys in the Hitler Youth, and about 40,000 elderly men of the Home Guard (Volkssturm)

Weidling was ordered by Hitler to defend the city of Berlin. Specifically, he was ordered not to surrender, but to fight to the last man. Weidling organised the defences into eight sectors designated "A" through to "H".

Hitler appoints Weidling as the Commander of the Berlin Defence Area. Weidling replaces Lieutenant General (Generalleutnant) Helmuth Reymann, Colonel (Oberst) Ernst Kaether, and Hitler himself

Hitler appoints Weidling as the Commander of the Berlin Defence Area. Weidling replaces Lieutenant General (Generalleutnant) Helmuth Reymann, Colonel (Oberst) Ernst Kaether, and Hitler himself

I have no intentions of wandering around in the woods. I am staying here and I will fall at the head of my troops. You, for your part, will carry on with your defence.".

In the depths of the Bendlerblock, Weidlings staff did not know whether it was day or nigh. Helmuth Weidling is appointed Commander of the Berlin Defence Area

Weidling chose as his base of operations the old army headquarters on the Bendlerstrasse, the "Bendlerblock." This location had well-equipped air-raid shelters and was close to the Reich Chancellery.

Weidling presented Hitler with a detailed proposal for a breakout from Berlin. When Weidling finished, Hitler shook his head and said: "Your proposal is perfectly all right. But what is the point of it all?

General der Artillerie Helmuth Weidling is appointed commander of the Berlin Defence Area

Helmuth Weidling is appointed Commander of the Berlin Defence Area

Helmuth Weidling is appointed Commander of the Berlin Defence Area

By the end of the day on 27 April, Weidling and the forces under his command in Berlin found themselves completely cut off from the rest of Germany

On 29 April, the Soviet Information Bureau announced that troops of the 1st Belorussian Front continued to clear the streets of Berlin, occupied the northwest sector of Charlottenburg as far as Bismarck Street, the west half of Moabit, and the east part of Schoeneberg. Russian troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front occupied Friedenau and Grunewald in northwest Berlin

After Hitler and Brauns suicides, Weidling reached the Fuhrerbunker and was met by Goebbels, Bormann and Krebs. They took him to Hitler's room, where the couple had committed suicide.

Late in the morning of 30 April, with the Soviets less than 500 metres from the bunker, Hitler had a meeting with Weidling, who informed him that the Berlin garrison would probably run out of ammunition that night.

They told him that their bodies had been burned and buried in a shell crater in the Reich Chancellery garden above.

Weidling asked Hitler for permission to break out, a request he had made unsuccessfully before. Hitler did not answer at first, and Weidling went back to his headquarters in the Bendlerblock, where at about 13:00, he received Hitler's permission to try a breakout that night.

Weidling was forced to swear that he would not repeat this news to anybody. The only person in the outside world who was to be informed was Joseph Stalin. An attempt would be made that night to arrange an armistice, and General Krebs would inform the Soviet commander so that he could inform the Kremlin

The meeting between Krebs, who had been sent by Goebbels, and Soviet general Vasily Chuikov ended with no agreement. According to Hitler's personal secretary Traudl Junge, Krebs returned to the bunker complex looking "worn out, exhausted". The surrender of Berlin was thus delayed until Goebbels committed suicide, after which it was left up to Weidling to negotiate with the Soviets

The Soviet forces took Weidling into custody as a prisoner of war and flew him to the Soviet Union

General Weidling finally surrenders with his staff at 06:00 hours, he was taken to see General Vasily Chuikov at 08:23, Weidling agrees to order the citys defenders to surrender to the Soviets

The Soviet forces took Weidling into custody as a prisoner of war and flew him to the Soviet Union. General Weidling had his Chief of Staff, von Dufving, arrange a meeting with General Chuikov. Weidling told the Soviets about the suicides of Hitler and Goebbels, and Chuikov demanded complete capitulation

A Soviet military tribunal sentences Weidling to 25 years of imprisonment for not surrendering Berlin sooner

Death of Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling