4 February morning 1945, Rosengarten station, Frankfurt/Oder, the weather was scattered cloud in grey sky with persistent snow. After spending a night at the station, the crews entered the Panthers G and started road march. At the same time, Army Group Vistula ordered Ia Major von Hopffgarten to Podelzig and reported to Division “Raegener z.b.V.” after the name of commander Generalleutnant Adolf Raegener (1) for further assignment. At 10:30, V SS-Gebirgs-Korps also ordered Oberst Langkeit to dispatch a battle group with Brandenburg Panther battalion and a light field howitzer battery to Podelzig to eliminate the Russian bridgehead near Reitwein (2).

Generalleutnant Adolf Raegener

4 February near noon 1945, the bulk of Brandenburg Panther Abteilung moved from Rosengarten station through Lebus into assembly area near Podelzig. Several Panthers were unloaded in Lebus and moved to Podelzig. The battalion had only 28 Panthers at hand. The remaining 17 Panthers and the 2nd company were on the road from the army arsenal in Altengrabow to Fürstenwald on the Oder (2).

It happened here: Brandenburg Panther battalion marched from Rosengarten station through Lebus to Podelzig.

Reference:

1. Raegener, Adolf/World War II Gravstone

2. Ockert, Wolfgang; Urbanke, Axel. Die Panther-Abteilung "Brandenburg" 1945, p113. Bad Zwischenahn: Luftfahrverlag-Start, 2015.

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