The Road of a German Territorial Battalion from Königs Wusterhausen to Budapest
Abstract
The history of minor German units involved in the Battle of Budapest is poorly known, largely due to the lack of primary sources. Of the small units encircled or formed in the capital, the activities of small units such as the 78th Railway Engineer Battalion or the 85th Air Force Infantry Battalion during the siege are also hardly known. The history of some of these units, apart from their roles in the Battle of Budapest, is in itself extremely interesting. One such story is that of the German 318th Territorial Battalion, which was created essentially for home service, but was tried out in every ‘post’ from guarding particularly important objects to partisan hunting and front-line service to relief troop and blocking troop duty, in addition to its original combat role. The formations route led from Königs Wusterhausen, through the headquarters in Zossen-Wünsdorf, the Führerbunker in Vinnica and the fighting along the Dnieper, via the Iasi-Chisinau disaster, to the Hungarian capital.
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