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.
