Escape from Berlin

The Incredible Journey of the Latvian 15th SS Janums Battle Group April 1945

Author: Vincent Hunt

Hardcover

Abandoning positions south-east of Berlin as the Red Army approaches in 1945, a courageous Latvian Colonel leads the 900 men of his battle group on a dramatic escape through swamps and forests to surrender to the Americans.

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Summary

Description

The dramatic escape of the Latvian 15th SS Janums Battle Group south of Berlin to surrender to the Americans on the Elbe saved 900 men from a pointless death slowing the Red Army assault on Berlin in 1945. Unable to return to a homeland occupied by the Soviet Union, many veterans came to the UK to work, and stayed. Their stories add to the sharp observations and vivid descriptions of Battle Group adjutant Edvins Bumanis, who kept a detailed diary of what happened. This lay unpublished in the archive of the War Museum in Riga for many years until it was passed to the author as part of his research into the 15th Division. Translated into English for this book, Hunt retraces the footsteps of the Latvians through forests and across swamps and his journey opens up new aspects of German experience at the end of the Second World War and later. The research for the book uncovered a long-forgotten US Army film of the Janums Battle Group on their final march into captivity as well as gathering new stories from senior officers and men from locations along the route. Along with stills from the film and rare archive photographs of the Latvians at a medals ceremony in Germany, these memories build into a comprehensive chronological catalogue of what happened, through the words of men who were there. For example, one elderly veteran in the UK who was wounded in a Panzerfaust explosion on the Berlin ring road recalls the moment 75 years later, while a detailed description of the surrender comes in the words of the officer who negotiated it and later emigrated to Australia. Fourteen maps and 78 pictures illustrate the journey of the Janums Battle Group through the suburbs of Berlin and the swamps, forests and villages of Brandenburg as they evade German patrols and Red Army advance units alike in their march to safety and survival. 45 colour photos, 33 b/w photos, 14 b/w photos, 1 table

About the Author

Vincent Hunt is a documentary journalist and award-winning BBC producer. Crossing Latvia interviewing people who suffered at the hands of the KGB or fought against their system of totalitarian control he sets the political and social context of what Communism actually meant in this Baltic state: interrogation, surveillance, deportation and often death. This is his second book about Latvia’s recent history, following on from Blood in the Forest - the end of the Second World War in the Courland Pocket (Helion 2017) which detailed the six desperate battles by German and Latvian forces to halt the Red Army advance into Latvia. His work explores pan-generational trauma, forgiveness and legacy, with the journey to see the landscape now an important part of understanding sorrow, loss and memorial for those left behind. His first book Fire and Ice (The History Press, 2014) was a journey across Arctic Norway meeting people affected by the Nazi scorched earth retreat of 1944 and the forced evacuation of the region. Along the way he discovered the shocking stories of 13,700 Soviet prisoners worked to death in sub-zero conditions or murdered by their Nazi captors.