WWII German Army Wehrmacht Soldbuch – Schutze Fritz Keppler – Panzer Division Müncheberg – MIA Battle of Berlin 1945 – Rare

Description

Here we have a very interesting Soldbuch for the Battle of Berlin 1945 collector. 

Fredrich Keppler was born in 1927, in Steinheim an der Murr. His civilian job was a Car Mechanic.

Enlisted in the German Army in November of 1944, Keppler was trained on the 5cm Anti Tank Gun.

In March of 1945, he was assigned to 3 / schwere Heeres Panzerjäger-Abteilung 682 (mot).

Interestingly the Third Battery, was called into action later that month:

“On 31.03.1945 an order is issued for the tactical subordination of the remaining elements of schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 682 (mot.) They are to be shipped from Bergen training ground. This Abteilung consists of the Stab, the Stabskompanie and 2. and 3.(Panzerjäger)Kompanie (1.Kompanie was already with the division as Panzerjäger-Kompanie “Müncheberg”) Both Panzerjägerkompanien were equipped with twelve 88mm schw.PaK43 (mot.)“

On 07.April 1945 schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 682 (mot.) is officially tactically subordinated to Panzer-Division “Müncheberg”.

Battle of Berlin

he division was pushed back into Berlin itself by the advancing Soviet forces. The remnants of the Müncheberg were positioned in the north-eastern sector of Berlin, north of the River Spree. By this stage, the division retained roughly a dozen tanks and about thirty halftracks.

On 25 April, General Helmuth Weidling, the recently appointed commander of the defence of Berlin, ordered Mummert to take command of the LVI Panzer Corps, command of the Müncheberg being handed over to Colonel Hans-Oscar Wöhlermann, the artillery commander (ArKo) for the city. On 26 April Müncheberg, along with Nordland, was ordered to attack towards Tempelhof Airport and Neukolln. With its last ten panzers, the Müncheberg initially made progress, but several local Soviet counter-attacks soon halted the advance.

Around noon on 26 April Wöhlermann was released from command and Mummert was reinstated as commander of the division. The following is from the diary of an officer with the Müncheberg Division and describes the evening of 26 April.

Scarlet night. Heavy artillery fire. Uncanny silence. We get shot at from many houses. Foreign workers, no doubt. From the Air Ministry comes news that General Erich Bärenfänger has been relieved of his post of commander of the Berlin garrison. One hour later we hear that General Weidling is our new commander. General Mummert takes charge of the Tank Corps…

On 27 April, very early in the morning, Hitler ordered the flooding of the Berlin underground to slow the advancing Red Army. Hitler’s order resulted in the drowning of many German soldiers and civilians who had taken refuge in the tunnels. The diary of the officer with the Müncheberg Division went on to describe the flooding.

New command post: Anhalter subway station. Platforms and control rooms look like an armed camp. Women and children huddle in niches and corners. Others sit about in deck chairs. They all listen for the sounds of battle… Suddenly water starts to pour into the station. Screams, sobs, curses. People fighting around the ladders that run through the air shafts up to the streets. Masses of gurgling water rush over the stairs. Children and wounded are abandoned and trampled to death. The water rises three feet or more and then slowly goes down. The panic lasts for hours. Many are drowned. Reason: On somebody’s orders, engineers have blasted the locks of the canal between Schoeneburg and Mockern Bridges to flood the tunnels against the advancing Russians. Meanwhile heavy fighting has been going on above ground level. Change of position to Potsdamer Platz subway station in the late afternoon. Command post on the first floor, as tunnels still under water. Direct hits on the roof. Heavy losses among wounded and civilians. Smoke pours in through the shell holes. Outside, stacks of Panzerfausts go up in the air. Another direct hit, one flight below street level. A horrible sight: Men, soldiers, women, and children are literally glued to the wall.

As the division fought in Wilmersdorf, the encirclement of Berlin was completed and the remnants of the Müncheberg were trapped. The diary of the officer with the Müncheberg Division also described the “flying courts-martial” prevalent at this time:

Flying courts-martial unusually prominent today. Most of them very young SS officers. Hardly a decoration among them. Blind and fanatical. The hope of relief and the fear of these courts bring men back to the fighting. General Mummert refuses to allow any further courts-martial in the sector under his command… He is determined to shoot down personally any courts-martial that appears… We cannot hold the Potsdamer Platz and move through the subway tunnel to Nollendorferplatz. In the tunnel next to ours, the Russians are advancing in the opposite direction.

On 30 April, Hitler committed suicide. The Müncheberg, 18th Panzergrenadier Division along with a few Tiger IIs from SS Heavy Panzer Battalion 103 were engaged in heavy fighting near the Westkreuz and Halensee train stations and on the Kurfurstendamm. By 1 May the division had been pushed back to the Tiergarten and was fighting to defend the Zoo Flak Tower, the shelter of thousands of civilians. The Müncheberg’s last operating panzer, a Tiger 1, was abandoned on the Unter den Linden straße a hundred metres from the Brandenburg Gate.

The division, together with the remnants of 18th Panzergrenadier, attempted to escape Berlin to the west, to surrender to the Americans. On 3 May the divisions had reached a crossing over the Havel River in Spandau, under fire by the Red Army. Those who made it across the bridge found that they were surrounded by the Soviet forces; on the same day, the division ceased to exist.

Equipment : Issued with a P.38 Pistol and 16 Rounds. Iron rations.

Extras: RAD Paperwork, Wehrmacht Drivers Licence, Delivery Notes with Orders for the 3rd and 1st Company.

Although with the Grouping is the Letter returning the Soldbuch to father of Keppler from Berlin Dahlem. Stating clearly that they have no further information on the fate of their son.

Further research shows that Keppler has not been recorded for and is likely still missing/no records on him sadly.

This unique set will also be used by in the project on Berlin 1945 Book.