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SS Obergruppenführer Felix Steiner was in command of the impressively sounding "III SS Germanisches Panzerkorps". By late April, as Soviet armies were encircling Berlin, Steiner was situated near the town of Eberswalde, about twenty-five miles northeast of the capital. This put him in an ideal spot to attack the right flank of the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front, at least according to the situation maps in the Führerbunker.
As you see in the film, Hitler already had a loose grip on reality at this point. He believed that what he called "Army Detachment Steiner" (which would be the III SS Panzerkorps and the remains of other units in the area) could break the Russian advance and save Berlin. Hitler took inspiration from Frederick the Great: "Whoever throws his last battalion into the struggle will be the winner." Steiner received orders to attack straight from the Führerbunker late on April 21. He and his staff were threatened with execution is they failed. Compared to Hitler's delusional vision, the true situation was vastly different.
When Steiner received the attack order, he was justifiably shocked. His III SS Germanisches Panzerkorps by now consisted of barely three battalions and a few tanks. Besides this, they were exhausted, lacking supplies, and still engaged in heavy fighting. Steiner rang General Krebs to try and explain the true situation, but Krebs was practically standing next to Hitler when he took the call, and had no option but to reaffirm Steiner's order.
The famous scene in the movie is set during the midday situation meeting on April 22. All that morning Hitler had demanded to know if Steiner had gotten his counterattack underway. By now, Soviet forces had broken the outer defenses of Berlin. When he was informed that Steiner was unable to counterattack, Hitler flew into a rage. He had already accused the Army of failing him, and now the SS had failed him too. As his anger subsided into sadness, Hitler told his assembled generals that anyone who wished to leave was free to do so, but he would die in Berlin.
To sum up: Steiner's mission was nothing less that the rescue of Berlin and the salvation of Nazi Germany. Hitler was living in a fantasy world at this point, so it's hard to say whether he truly believed that Steiner could carry out the assault. In any case, it was impossible. Nothing was saving Germany at this point.
I hope this was helpful. "Downfall" is one of my favorite World War II movies.
Source: Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor.
Who relayed the details of this encounter?
u/BigBennP addressed that here. Mostly from Traudi Junge (Hitler's secretary), but the gist of the rant was related by Jodl to Goering's chief of staff
I've heard the claim that Hitler was "moving around divisions that didn't exist", is the basis for such a statement simply cases such as this where he was vastly overestimating the strength of his forces? Or was he actually just imagining whole divisions that had never existed in the first place, or had been totally wiped out?
This. For reference, most German panzer divisions had anywhere from 150-300 tanks they could field (averaging in the low 200's) on the day they invaded Russia, June 22nd 1941, with a full complement of motorized infantry and all of their support staff/logistical supply train. Something like 20,000 guys more or less.
Steiner was down to literally less than 20 tanks and mayyyybe a few thousand men. Don't get me wrong, 20 Pz. IV's/V's and the accompanying artillery and infantry isn't anything I'd want to tackle, but they were little more than a speed bump for the Red Army during the Battle of Berlin.
My understanding is that part of this comes from standard Wehrmacht practice during the war, ie that something like a division remained a division despite whatever losses it suffered, and that new recruits tended to be formed into new divisions rather than replenishing depleted ones. So that even at a much earlier point in the war the Germans would have lots and lots of divisions that were half strength.
You're absolutely correct, that was part of the problem too, I just forgot to mention it. So yea, a ~20k paper strength division might get whittled down to ~12k and operate at that strength, but Steiner had only a fraction of that, even.
Great answer. Regarding Hitler's delusional state, it's known that he used Amphetamines / Methampetamines and so did some SS units, what do we know about the degree to which he was doped up on Amphetamines specifically during this period ?
This is actually a really good question: He kicked out his personal "physician" Dr. Morell on April 20th (with a few other people), but Morell left the drugs, and they were administered to hitler by his valet and another doctor.
That being said, I wonder if they just gave him everything he wanted, or pulled back on the drugs.
Steiner had more then three battalions under his command. He was given the 4th SS Polizei, 5th Jäger, and 25th Panzergrenadier Divisions for the attack. The latter two were committed to the defense, and couldn't be pulled off the line to turn and attack south until relieved. By the 25th, it was a moot point, the Soviets had encircled Berlin.
Earl Zeimke, From Stalingrad to Berlin
Even if it was possible, Hitler can’t rebuild the entire german army to push back the Soviets and the allies
This answer was very helpful, thanks!
Not to discourage other responses, but u/Aleksx000 answered almost the exact same question here