Battle Group "1000 +1 Nights" (1001 Nacht) was an emergency unit formed, literally, from every available source. Nevertheless, it was one of the last elite units of the German army and attached to the CI Army Corps (101st SS) of the 9th Army, it performed exceptionally well in the battle on the Zeelow Heights before Berlin.
The Group began to be assembled in March 1945. Its nucleus was three companies guarding V-2 rocket installations belonging to the Luftwaffe. This force was joined by the 560th SS Tank Destroyer Squadron with three "artillery" Hetzer tank hunters. This squadron was manned by trainers and consequently had the most experienced crews on the Oder front.
Organization
The new unit was further reinforced with a motorcycle company, an SS paratrooper company (available in April), a reconnaissance section with wheeled armored vehicles, an anti-tank gun company, and a StuG III assault gun artillery. In total, the Group deployed about 500 men and 43 armored vehicles, excluding the wheeled vehicles. An experienced panzer officer, Major (later Lt. Colonel) Gustave Adolf Blancbois was placed in command. . Blancbois named the Complex "1000 +1 Nights", for an unknown reason. He formed three subgroups with the names "Suleika", "Harem" and "Sultan".
The subgroup "Suleika" it had Hetzers and StuG IIIs and then the paratrooper company of the 600th SS Battalion. The subgroup "Harem" had the motorcycle company, a company of armored vehicles Sd.Kfz. 231 and the anti-tank ulama. Finally the subgroup "Sultan" it had three companies of infantry ("hunters"). Although small, numerically, the Group was considered an elite force and the commander of the 9th Army, General Busse, decided to use it as a "fire" force intended to carry out counterattacks and support threatened sectors.
In battle
The baptism of fire for the Group took place on March 27 during the German counterattack near the town of Gensmar which was however repulsed and "1000+1 Nights" suffered losses. The disposition of the SS paratrooper company partly made up for them. On April 16, 1945, the great Soviet attack against the German positions on the Zeelov Heights took place.
The Group was placed under the command of the 25th Grenadier Panzer Division in support of the hard-pressed 606th Infantry Division at Vrietsen. There the Group distinguished itself by fighting heroically against the Soviet 47th Army and the Soviet 9th Guards Tank Corps causing them significant losses. Nevertheless, the battle had a predetermined outcome from the beginning and finally the Germans "broke" from the terrifying numerical superiority of their opponents.
The Group retreated from the heights with 18 tank hunters and only 50 men. Blanchboys disbanded the unit near Muichenberg. Elements of the Group joined the retreating 9th Army and surrounded themselves in the Halbe enclave . A few of his men, including Blancbois, managed to break through the Soviet cordon and cross the Elbe, surrendering to the Americans.
