On the "Oder Line" under the German Ninth Army were two Waffen-SS corps headquarters, which had very few actual Waffen-SS units under their command. XI SS Panzer Corps was responsible for the key Seelow Heights sector just to the east of Berlin. Farther south, the V SS Mountain Corps headquarters controlled the sector around the Frankfurt-am-Oder garrison. It had three Waffen-SS divisions, including the 30 Januar Panzergrenadier Division, which had been formed earlier in the year out of instructors and administrative staff from the Waffen-SS training schools. The 35th and 36th SS Panzergrenadier divisions were also assigned to the corps, even though they were little more than squads of policemen, with little military experience or heavy equipment. The 36th Division was a particularly unsavoury unit of former criminals under the command of Dr Oskar Dirlewanger, who had led several massacre squads in Russia. This meant the corps commander, Jackeln, who had formed one of the early Einstazgruppen in Russia, was in like-minded company. The corps also had the 502nd SS Heavy Tank Battalion attached with 31 Tiger II heavy tanks.

The last reserves

Behind the lines Hitler ordered the mobilization of every able-bodied man, including pensioners and boys as young as 14 and 15. The old men were drafted into Volkssturm (People's Army) battalions, and the youngsters were assigned to Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) regiments. With German morale crumbling, the Führer ordered draconian methods to be used to maintain discipline. Gestapo, SD, military police and Waffen-SS squads were deployed behind every army sector to stop desertions. These mobile squads had the power to execute any soldier or civilian deserting his post or expressing any sign of defeatism.

The Berlin "Defence Zone"

Within the Berlin "Defence Zone", the security of the central sector of the city, known as the Zitadelle sector, around the Reichstag and the Führer Bunker under the Reich Chancellery was the responsibility of the Berlin regiment of the Leibstandarte Division. It was under the command of one-legged Wilhelm Mohnke, who had the dubious honour of being the last Waffen-SS officer promoted to general by Hitler. This was an élite unit containing some 1200 veterans of the Leibstandarte, and it boasted a large quantity of weapons, including several Tiger II tanks of the 503rd SS Heavy Tank Battalion. Another 2000 hard-core Nazi militia men were drafted into the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Brigade to help man the defences of the Zitadelle.

The line-up for the battle for Berlin was awesome. Almost a million Germans, many of them old men and boys, equipped with some 850 tanks and 500 artillery pieces, mostly anti-aircraft or flak guns re-roled as anti-tank weapons, were confronted by 1.6 million hardened Red Army veterans, with 6300 tanks and 15,000 artillery pieces.

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