Caption:
The
Reichstag in summer 1945, with a Schwerer Ladungsträger Borgward B IV
Ausfuhrung C Sonderkraftfahrzeug 301 ("Heavy Explosive Carrier Borgward
B IV Model C Special Ordnance Vehicle 301") with six
Raketenpanzerbuchse ("Rocket Tank Rifle") 54/1, a rocket commonly known
as the Panzerschreck (literally "armor fright" or "tank fright"), in
the lower left. These Panzerjager Wanze ("Tank Destroyer Bug") were the
last supply of vehicles available, and fifty-six were converted from
remotely piloted vehicles that dropped explosives on fixed positions or
munitions supply vehicles. Captured universal carriers and Kubelwagens
were also equipped with Panzerschrecks. The Borgwards and Kubelwagens
were attached to scratch units to take on Soviet tanks. The 3.3
kilogram (7.3 pound) warhead had a 180-meter range and could pierce
200mm (7.8 inches) of armor. All six rockets were fired at once; a hit,
though rare, would disable any Allied tank. The area around the
Reichstag was left uncleared for years, and this particular Borgward
was left rusting in place until at least 1948. Note the two women
walking near the Reichstag; the area was a popular meeting place for
black marketeers. They would meet behind the Reichstag between the
building and the Spree River. Berliners would trade shoes, binoculars,
furniture, and any tangible goods for food. Foreign money and
cigarettes were a common currency. Some police raids arrested 2,000
people at a time, but as ration supply fell, more and more Berliners
traded goods for food. Scrappers stripped the Reichstag of metal,
including many centuries-old metal artworks, because scrap could be
sold for enough currency or could be used to rebuild. Vehicles like the
Borgward were too heavy to be completely dismantled and took years to
be broken up. Red Army Lieutenant Vladimir Gelfand (March 1, 1923 -
November 25, 1983) recorded in his diary, "I hitch-hiked to Berlin. I
got out at the market near the Reichstag and stayed on the fringes, so
as to more easily avoid any patrols. I purchased a few trifles (a
fountain pen, batteries) and soon I had spent all my money. Then I
decided to sell the watch I had bought from the Rilewskis to a fellow
officer, with whom I had travelled from the regimental headquarters,
since he was due to go home. I sold it to him for the same price as I
had bought it, and with that I had one and half thousand marks in my
pocket." Gelfand avoided Red Army patrols to purchase from the
Alexanderplatz's black market. "The crowd was dispersed several times,
and several times soldiers with 'MP' armbands came and looked me over -
even their commander, and officer. But they simply couldn't find
anything wrong. Meanwhile, I had already succeeded in purchasing a
shirt, a leather jacket, three pairs of men's socks and some gloves."
Many of the black market customers, at least at the beginning, were Red
Army soldiers, who were allowed to send home a few pounds of items
every month. Undoubtedly, the desperate and underfed Berliners were
exploited by the occupiers, of whom the Americans had supplies of food
and cash, but the French, British and Soviets had more than the
civilians and could steal or barter at an advantage. The black markets
operated throughout the Berlin blockade.
