KG_Panzerschreck
01-11-2005, 01:27 AM
i copied and pasted these off of several sites, dont remeber them now. :?
Firsthand Accounts
Interview with an Afrikakorps Panzer Veteran
by Jeff Scott
This interview was conducted by Jeff Scott on Tuesday November 10th, 1998. Jeff interviewed Hans (his real name) who is the father of an internet friend of his. Hans comes to the United States once a year and drives all across the Country. Jeff was able to arrange a meeting when he came through Nashville. They spoke for several hours. Hans speaks good English, but there were a few times when he was at a loss for an English word. Because of this, please excuse any misspelled words below, as sometimes Jeff wasn't sure what Hans was saying, and other times he wasn't sure of the spelling (such as with locations and certain German words Jeff was unfamiliar with).
Jeff: What year did you join the army?
Hans: 1941
Jeff: How old were you when you entered the army?
Hans: I was seventeen when I volunteered.
Jeff: How did you get into the Panzer arm of the army?
Hans:I wanted to drive a tank. I was part of a replacement panzer unit. I was sent to a panzer driver's school, where I got my panzer driver license. I was then sent to a "Tropical" (warfare?) school north of Berlin, to prepare for my being sent to Afrika.
Jeff: Where did you go from there?
Hans: We (crew and tanks) were sent to Naples. Our tanks were to be shipped to Afrika, and we were going to be flying over (He said all previous groups went on ships with tanks). We were to fly over in a flight of JU-52's (he said they always flew in flights of 21...) The pilots were very nervous, they did not like the run. They basically threw us in the planes and took off. We flew only about 200 feet above the water. On the way we were "shadowed" by two British fighters. The pilots told us to man the machine gun. We did and tried to shoot down the fighter, but shooting out of a plane is much different from shooting on the ground. In flight everything looks much closer then it really is. They harassed us a bit, but didn't shoot down any of us. We were relieved when the airport came into sight. We were in for a nasty shock however as while we were making our landing approach, bombs started going off all around us! The pilot made some crazy maneuvers and aborted the landing. There was flak going off all around us and we thought that we would be killed before we even landed. We circled the airport and eventually landed. All planes landed safely, even though some were damaged. It turns out that there was a flight of 18 British bombers above us when we tried to land. I guess they thought they could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. We were lucky to be alive.
Jeff: What unit were you attached to?
Hans: 21st Panzer Division. I was a part of Panzer Regiment 5.
Jeff: What type of Panzers were you driving?
Hans: I drove both Panzer Mark III's and IV's.
Jeff: Which type did you like better?
Hans: I much preferred the Mark III. It was very fast, having a Maybach 12 Cylinder engine. (He then went on to tell me about how great the Maybach engines were.) I didn't like that it only had a 5-centimeter gun. We were really outgunned, but speed partially made up for it.
Jeff: What did you think about the Mark IV?
Hans: Well, it had a much better gun, 7.5-centimeter. But it was quite a bit heavier, and had the same engine as the Mark III. Therefore it wasn't nearly as fast. It had a new gearbox system, 10 forward gears and 4 reverse. Not everyone could drive it. It was kind of a half-automatic.
Jeff: Did you encounter any Australian troops?
Hans: No, only British. British 8th army.
Jeff: What did you think of them?
Hans: Hard. Good fighters. They had good strong tanks. Very slow however. We liked their food
Jeff: Did you see a lot of action?
Hans: Yes. Almost continuously. It wasn't too bad however. We would fight from sunup to sundown. When it started getting dark, except for a few times, all fighting stopped. Much better then in Russia. (Brother in Russia wrote him about the hell that was going on)
Jeff: Did you have any interactions with Italian troops?
Hans: Yes. I had not known any Italians before, and fought with both the Ariete and Treste units (I don't know the spelling).
Jeff: What did you think of them?
Hans: The men were good. Their officers were poor, and their equipment was horrible. Their tanks were useless. The men however were good fighters.
Jeff: How did your capture come about?
Hans: We had been pushed back to Tunis, where we waited. We were later told of our surrender
Jeff: What did you think of your captors?
Hans: They were fair. They told us that our U-boats had been too successful. There was very little food and no water. We were given tea made from salt water. It was horrible, I can still taste it too this day. An officer told us that there wasn't enough food for us, they weren't trying to starve us. He told us to send some men to look at their food supplies, that he wasn't lying.
Jeff: Why did you escape?
Hans: No food. We wanted to surrender to the Americans. I didn't want to end up in England. I had always heard about how huge America was and I wanted to see it. Myself and 2 friends escaped one night and made our way to a food cache (emergency food rations in a cave they knew about). When we got there we found nothing but an alcohol drink made from pears (expensive Swiss stuff he told me). That's all we had to eat or drink for over a week. We were watching the road nearby for any sign of Americans. When we started seeing them driving past we went down and sat by the road until we were picked up.
Jeff: What did you think of the Americans?
Hans: They were kind. They had everything. After I had been captured, I realized that Germany had lost the war. We saw a train arrive that had carload after carload of toilet paper and tent pegs. I knew that an army that would bring all that, would not forget their guns! They had good cigarettes too! Camels
Jeff: How did you get to America?
Hans: We went on a Liberty ship. It took 5 weeks to get to New York. The captain was kind and let us stay on deck when we went through Gibraltar. They told us not to try and swim for it. We saw 2 Italians on another ship jump overboard and were quickly swept away by the currents. None of us tried it. There were more then 50 ships in our convoy. We later learned that German submarines were sitting underneath us with their torpedo doors open, waiting to fire. The BDU sent message to them not to fire that there were POW's on the ships. There were tankers in the middle of the convoy. The outer ring was of ships carrying POW's. We were being used to protect their tankers.
Jeff: Did that make you angry?
Hans: No. I knew that German military would have done same thing.
Jeff: Where did you go from there?
Hans: We docked in New York, and were put on Pullman cars after being processed. We were hungry on the train trip. They only brought small amounts of food at mealtime. We were told if they gave us a lot of food that it would make us sick. They promised us more food later.
Jeff: Did your family know where you were?
Hans: No. It was a year before they knew I was alive.
Jeff: What Prisoner of War Camp did you go to?
Hans: First we went to Camp Raston(or Ruston?) in Louisiana. There was nothing there. They gave us tools and we made some buildings and sports fields. They had nothing for us to do. We did no work, just played soccer and such. There was lots of food but not much equipment. We had to use flour to line our soccer fields because we had no chalk.
Jeff: I notice in your photo album that the men are still wearing their uniforms, even with badges and medals on them? That is really a surprise!
Hans: Well they didn't have any clothes for us! So they let us keep our uniforms. That man (pointing to album) was a sergeant in charge of 4 barracks, about 600 men. (Sergeant in photo is wearing Iron Cross 2nd class ribbon, Iron Cross 1st class, and silver would badge.)
Jeff: What did you think of the camp?
Hans: It was boring, but there was a lot of food. I was there about 6 months. Some of the men still gave the nazi salute. I thought this very bad taste. We were a guest in this country. I know if a Russian had saluted "Mother Russia" he would have been shot.
Jeff: Where did you go next?
Hans: Next I was sent to Camp Como in Mississippi. It was hot. Most of the men picked cotton, very hard work.
Jeff: What did you do?
Hans: I worked on a Singer (sewing machine). We repaired uniforms and let out pants and such. The officers did not work. They were expected to escape. We would collect American money we found in the clothing we were repairing and give it to anyone that wanted to escape. One man escaped and was caught by a farmer. The officer had been living in farmer's barn, and drinking milk out of his cow. The farmer knew was something was going on because his cow started being dry when he tried to milk her. Another man was caught crossing a bridge over the Mississippi river. We got tired of such foolishness and stopped saving them money. We were at Como for about 8 months.
Jeff: What next?
Hans: We went to a temporary work camp in Idaho. We picked huge amounts of potatoes, sugar beets, and onions. We lived in tents for 2 months.
Jeff: What was your work day like?
Hans: Actually pretty easy. We were only required to pick a certain amount of food a day. We were always done by 2:00. The farmer would then bribe us with cigarettes or chocolate and we would do more work. But sometimes we just sat under the trees. It was good.
Jeff: Then where did you go?
Hans: Next I went to Utah. An airbase named Hillfield in Ogden. They asked me what I had done and I told them panzer driver. They said "Good, now you are a snow plow driver". I was in charge of cleaning off the runway. Later they made me stop, a new rule had come about saying no German could be on the airway. I had picked up a decent amount of English during my time so far. So them made me an interpreter. It was boring. I told a friend I wanted to work and an American overheard me and said "I have a job you can do." "Can you drive?" "I'm your man" I replied. He sent me to get me eyes checked then to get checked out on a truck. I started driving a lunch truck. A woman and myself went to parts of the base that were too far away for them to come and eat. I would take their money and she would serve them. I also delivered bakery goods. I liked this because I told the cooks that I was required to test the food to make sure it was acceptable. I ate three chocolate eclairs a day! Later they let me deliver the bakery goods alone. I had to get a regular drivers license.(Which I have seen, real Utah drivers license stating Hans was a Prisoner of War but was allowed to drive on all streets in Utah.)
Jeff: When did you finally get back to Germany?
Hans: 1946. I didn't want to go home. I loved the United States.(Apparently the Americanization worked well on him. He still loves the US.)
Jeff: I then asked Hans some various other questions that I had thought up and others had requested me to ask. What did you think of Rommel?
Hans: We loved him. We thought as long as he was our commander we couldn't lose. We were very discouraged when he left. He also kept the SS out of Afrika! Did you know that? (No, I had never heard that.) Rommel hated Himmler and the SS. He refused to have any under his command. Hitler worked out a deal where every once in a while SS "observers" would come to Afrika, but there were no real units there.
Jeff: Have you seen Private Ryan, do you have any favorite war movies? (I love his answer here!)
Hans: No, I haven't seen private ryan. I don't really watch war movies. I have no need to. I was there. I did see Bridge at Remagen. I liked it.
Jeff: What do you think of current day Berlin?
Hans: Very different from my youth. I was born in Berlin you see. It tore me up seeing my home destroyed the way it was.
Jeff: Do you go to Veteran reunions?
Hans: No. I see some of my friends from that time now and again. But I don't go to reunions. It would take too much time away from my sports. (This was the same answer he gave when I asked him why he didn't have a computer) I love my tennis and skiing too much. (He also goes wind surfing still. Don't laugh, I've seen photos of that too!)
Jeff: Did you have any idea of all the interest in WWII Germany?
Hans: None. It has been so long since I talked with anyone about the war. I have enjoyed it however. (I then proceded to show him Jason's site and he was very impressed.)
Jeff: What did you learn from all your experiences?
Hans: (Long pause, then speaking very softly) It was a horrible time for me and all of Germany. We (Germans) have no one to blame except ourselves. I lost all three of my brothers. My home was destroyed and invaded. I know that the best place I could have been was in those camps thousands of miles away. I survived. What else can I say. So many did not. I'm simply thankful to be alive.
Interview with an Afrikakorps Infantry Veteran
by Martin Schenkel
This interview was done on January 23rd, 1999 by Martin Schenkel with a German Veteran known as Oberschütze Siebenbrot. He served in North Africa during WWII in the Wehrmacht Heer. In this interview, Siebenbrot first explains his wartime experiences and then responds to a number of questions asked by Martin.
I was drafted in February, 1941, at the age of 19, and did my basic training in Göttingen. In July, we were sent to the Truppenübungslager Munster, to complete the training. They then asked me if I was interested in going to Africa, to serve in the Afrika Korps. I agreed, and was sent to Potsdam, where (although we didn't know it at the time) we would be assembled in a Sonderverband (special unit). The unit was originally named Sonderverband 288. We later found out, that we would be going to Iraq, to occupy the oil fields. The Sonderverband, was not organized like a typical battalion which usually had 3 or 4 companies. We had 7 companies. The first company was composed of foreigners, who had grown up in the middle east, and in total, were able to speak 20 different Arab dialects. The second company were GebirgsJäger. The third, which I was in, was infantry. The fourth was reconnaissance. The fifth was an assalut gun company, with light and heavy mortar elements. The sixth was a FlaK company, and the seventh, was an AT-rifle company. There was also a water-testing unit, as well as a printing troop, we had everything, and we were also motorised.
My task was to be a runner, who sent orders and notices back and forth, but I was also used in the infantryman role. Because it was a small unit, and heavy casualties were predicted, we were trained in all the roles of the companies, so that when there were casualties, any man could fill the spot. For example, I as an infantryman, was only trained in the use of rifles, machinguns, and other small arms unique to the infantry. In this unit, we were also trained to use the light and heavy mortars, anti-tank rifles, and the FlaK guns. By the end of the training in September, every man in the Sonderverband was trained in the use of all the hand-held weapons, and sometimes more. We were then loaded on trains, and sent on our way. The trains were now and then held up by partisans in Yugoslavia, and when it got to Belgrad, we heard over the radio, that the British had occupied the southern parts of Iraq, namely Basra, which is where the Sonderverband was headed. We continued to Greece, and ended up south of athens, in the Atika peninsula. Quarters were quickly arranged, as the command no longer knew what to do with us. We stayed there for most of the winter, and continued to train. Because the unit was equiped and trained for the tropics, it was decided to send us to Africa. We re-embarked on trains, and headed back through Yugoslavia, to Trieste and then Naples. We were then ordered to Letche, on the Adriatic, to get ready to go to North-Africa, either by ship, or airplane.
In March, 1942, our company was loaded into small aircraft to fly to Africa. They were old primitve Italian aircraft, with canvas covering which already had several holes. The entrances were open, and had machineguns for air defense. The poor airplane was overlaoded, and couldn't get off the ground. We were moved to the front of the aircraft, and the plane finally made into the air. To avoid British fighters, the plane flew 200 feet above the sea, and arrived safely in Derna. We were very quickly unloaded, as the pilot was getting very anxious to get going, because British airplanes would soon arrive. The plane was loaded with wounded, and a few minutes later, the fighters arrived. British intelligence and recon was very good, and they knew when planes or ships were arriving. The unit then spent some time re-organizing, and getting ready to participate in the offensive. At the same time, the unit was renamed Kampfgruppe Menton.
It was in early June, that we had our first contact with the enemy. The engineers first had to clear a path in the minefields. The path was very small, just barely wide enough for two way traffic. We were then sent to El Adem. The British couldn't hold, they retreated, and the town was quickly caputred. The unit then moved towards Bir Hacheim, but stiff resistance from French Legionaires, commanded by general Koenig, held up the advance. The French were very well entreched just outside Bir Hacheim, and wouldn't budge. After 10 or 12 days, the French finally gave way. Our company though, wasn't involved untill the last few days. On the last day, the French were encircled, but during the night, they managed to break-out and escape. After Bir Hacheim was captured, the British launched a counter-attack. We were hit pretty hard, had to quickly retreat, and somehow managed to avoid being cut-off and captured. The British counter-attacks then failed, and Rommel was able to push them back to the Egyptian border. The Sonderverband ended up near Bardia-Sollum. By that time, Tobruk had been surrounded, and was under siege. We were sent back to south of Tobruk, and watched the battle while in reserve. Then it was back to Egypt, and we arrived south of Mersa Matruh, while the British were still more than 100km behind us. On one perticular night, after we had dug our foxholes and were resting, we heard engine noises, and realized that it was the British, who were drinving past our positions. It was night, so nothing could be done, nor was our strength enough to take on so many British.
It was at this time, in September, that I started to suffer from arthritis. I was sent back to Tobruk, which had in the meantime been captured. On the way, we were attacked by planes. We quickly jumped out of the trucks, and scrambled for cover. During this attack, I narrowly escaped injury. The truck was only lightly damaged, so we could continue. I arrived in Tobruk at about noon, and it was very busy and a lot of traffic, as many wounded were being brought from the front, and there were many amputations. At around 8 that evening, a doctor finally got around to examaning me, and decided that because the arthritis wouldn't heal properly in the heat, I was to be sent back to Naples, from Derna, via hospital ship. Next to me on the ship, was an east indian, who was trying to talk to me, I didn't understand much enlish yet, but figured out the the indian had been injured while being attacked by tanks. Even if you were the enemy, you were taken care of if you were injured. I spent a month in Naples, and when I was able to walk properly, he was sent back to Germany for rehablilitation. After another month in southern-Germany (near the Bodensee), I reported back to my unit's HQ/collection point, in Küstrin. I then got two weeks leave, and went home, and when I reported again, I was sent to work on a potato farm for a few weeks. After that, in December, we were sent to Grafenwöhr, were there was a big training facility. There we joined the GebirgsJäger Regiment 756, and this time, I was attached to a rifle platoon, as an infantryman. On christmas eve, the unit was loaded on trains, and went throught the Brenner pass to Italy, and then on to Palermo, in Sicily.
In early January 1943, we boarded a small liner, and arrived in Bizerta. The regiment re-organized in Mateur, and then was sent to the front. We were then ordered to capture a hill. We captured it, and there, for the first time, I was close enough, in combat, to be able to see the whites of their eyes. In North-Africa, hand-to-hand combat very rarely took place, and I never once experienced it. During this attack on the hill, it was the only time I used a hand-granade. Each man was issued one hand-granade. The Morrocan troops, whom we were attacking, were very well camouflaged, and by the time I tossed my granade, they had already retreated. The combat in the days following, went back and forth, and after a while, we were sent to a quiet part of the front, on the coast, and rested, and laid booby traps. We then went on a 60 km night march, to attack French positions in a valley the next morning. With about 30 men left in our platoon, we ran down the hill, screaming and shouting. The French were totally surprised and surrendered immediately. The platoon took about 120 prisoners. The fighting in Africa, I would like to say, was always fair, and both sides respected each other, unlike in Russia. No prisoners were shot or badly mistreated. In one particular case, after heavy fighting, many wounded were lying around the battlefield, so a temorary cease-fire was arranged. Both sides went out to collect their wounded. Neither side ever violated the cease-fire. In another instance, close to the end in Tunisia (April), on a beautifull day, our company which was down to ten men, was dug in a hill. Two men were in each hole, and the holes were about 10 feet apart. Suddenly a British tank came along. We had absolutley no anti-tank weapons of any kind. Apparently, one of the men in the foxhole next to us, caught the attention of the tank, and it fired into the foxhole, and the men were injured, and shouting for help. A medic came with a streatcher to our foxhole, and tied a white band around my arm. We leaped out of the foxhole towards the wounded men, in full view of the tank, which wasn't more than 25 m away. One of the men was dead, and we took the other one away. Throughout this, the tank never fired on us.
But the end was inevitable. Outnumbered 5 or 6 to 1, and with very few heavy weapons left, the Axis suurendered on 8 May to the Allies in Tunisia. We marched over a hill to some British tanks, who gave us cigarettes, and we gave them choclate, and they were very friendly. We were sent to a makeshift POW camp near Bone. In the camps we didn't get too much to eat, so we had to try to get an egg, or some cous-cous from the locals. We then took a ship to Oran. By that time many men had lice, so we were disinfected. The same day, we were loaded onto a couple American ships that were heading back to the US. We arrived in New York on 30 May, 1943. On the voyage though, many had gotten lice again, so we were then disinfected once more.
On June 3, we arrived, via train, in the POW camp in Hunstville, Texas. The camp was divide into 3 areas, and each area held 1200 men. Next to the camp, a sports field had been built. Each prisoner was entideld to eat what a regular soldier eats. We were given enough food, and there were few complaints. At first, there wasn't any real work for us, so we just did small jobs in the camp, like mowing lawns etc., and a few volunteered for the camp fire brigade. We were also allowed to learn several languages (english, french, and spanish), and to read and write, and to study many different topics like math and so on, all organized by the prisoners. There was also a monthly newspaper, put together by the prisoners. There was a chapel, an orchestra, a theater, and once a month there would be a big show, with the band playing, some would sing, and there would be a play or two. In this camp, we ate corn for the first time, as in Germany it was used for feeding chickens. One prisoner came up with the following poem:
Mais fürdert in allen lendern
Bei Hünern die legerei.
Bei uns braucht's nicht zu versuchen,
Wir legen ja doch kein Ei.
Corn furthers in all countries
With chickens the laying of eggs.
Don't bother to try that with us,
We never will lay an egg.
Finally they figured that we should work a little. So they put to work in the cotton fields. Through our stuborness, we decided to stick together, and picked only up to a certain amount of cotton in a day. When you are a POW, you're not supposed to be put to work in an industry. We were used to getting two days holiday for Pfingsten, so on the first of those two days, we decided not to work. The Americans closed much of the camp down, including the kitchen. On the second day, the POW's decided to go back to work. Next, a local rice farm needed help for the harvest, so some of us were sent to work there. Each morning, the farmer would come to pick us up, and drive us home at the end of the day. I had learned quite a bit of english, so I was the interpreter for our group of ten or so men. This particular farmer was really nice. The camp food wasn't always the best, and each day the farmer's wife would serve us a different dish of rice. We really enjoyed that.
Early in 1944, I was sent to another camp, Huntsville, Alabama. Here I saw a bit of injustice. The Americans were trying to force non-comissioned officers to work. By the Geneva convention, officers are not supposed to work. The officers refused, and as a result, got little food, so we threw them some food over the fence. Then, after a quick stay in Georgia, some of us were sent to Florida, south of Miami. At first I worked at a big army depot. There was a big repair shop, where old army trucks were being repaired, and then sent to Russia. POW's weren't supposed to work in industry, so we maintained buildings, cut grass etc. Eventually, we loaded trucks on railcars. Next I moved on to a maintenance shop at Miami airport, and I started working in the paint shop, which prior to the war had been my trade. At this camp, I met some guys who had somehow put together a radio, and we could listen to news coming out of Havana (one of the guys spoke spanish), as well as local stations. At that time, Cuba was some what friendly to the Germans, so the German news we heard from Havana, was much different than from the American stations. I think that the American news was much closer to the truth. I stayed in Miami untill the end of the war.
In April 1946, we were sent back to New York, were we boarded a ship to Antwerp. Now under British control, we then ended up in a camp south of Brussels. In this camp, the food was extremly bad, and many POW's died. However, those of us who had come from the USA, had been well fed, so we were able to survive. The camps were exactly like described in a book by James Bach, The Other Losses. There was a high barbed-wire fence. You were lucky if you were able to get a tent, there were few blankets, and the food was hardly believable. We were there only for 6 weeks, but you could see that the guys had lost a lot of weight. Then, for some reason, instead of being sent home, we were shipped to England. There we were greeted by an English major or colonel, who was really impressive; he said straight out "...you are here to help rebuild the country, in retaliation for destroying much of it..." At least that guy was fair, he told us straight out what was going on. We spent a year in England. At first we worked on a farm, then we dug ditches for water, gas, sewer lines for new houses, and we were also a while in a brickworks. It was then 1947, and we were about to go home, But first, we had to be de-nazified. There were three classes: Nazi, mitläufer (just going along with it), and anti-nazi. The anti-nazis were sent home first. I was a mitlaufer. Last to leave were the supposed nazis. They were considered Nazis, because mabye they were nasty to the interogators. I arrived home, with an old British army uniform, with patches on it indicating that I was a POW.
Now the question and answer part:
Martin: What enemy units were you in contact with?
Siebenbrot: In Africa, we were at first in contact with French troops, but then after that, primarily British troops. The war in Africa was a war of movement, so you were never in the same position long, nor did you face the same enemy unit for long either.
Martin: What kind of an inpact did the Britsh Long Range Desert Force have?
Siebenbrot: They had success, but not all the time. They did a commando raid on Rommel's HQ, but they fared pretty badly. They operated far behind our lines, and they usually came up from the south, and acted mostly as recon. But sometimes, against small units, they would attack, or feign attacks, and quickly disapear. They didn't have much effect on morale, we were not afraid of them. I have also never heard of them doing any significant damage, as they were usually just used for recon. You knew about them, but we didn't hear about them much.
Martin: Have you ever met an interpreter by the name of Trefz?
Siebenbrot: No.
Martin: Have you ever had personal contact with Rommel?
Siebenbrot: Yes. We were in a rest position, in the desert, and it was my turn to be the look-out. In the distance, I could see a group of cars coming, and as they got closer, I could see that they were German. I had my rifle with me, and was wearing nothing except a cap, and shorts. I waved, and ran up to them, and I could see that it was Rommel himself, along with his entourage. I had to report the situation, what unit we were, and I pointed out to them where there was a minefield nearby, as they were going in that direction., and Rommel replies "Ja, we know, we know.". Then he asked me: "Wo kommst du her?" (Where do you come from?) I told him " Ich komme aus Niedersachen, Lüneburg." "Oooooooh... Lüneburg," he says, "Ja, ich war mal in Goslar..." (I was once in Goslar). He didn't have much time, and they drove on.
Martin: What was your CO like?
Siebenbrot: Our company commander was Oberleutnant Schröder. Our company had three platoons. The first platoon was commanded by Leutnant Buchholz. The second platoon was Leutnant Krusendorf, and the third was Leutnant Bronandt. This was while I was with the Sonderverband. I will be frank, we didn't like the company CO very much. He was too much by the book. If you can imagine it: You've been fighting, with little sleep, and then when you're in rest position, they come along and want you to clean your rifle. Then they make you feel bad if you have one spec of dust on it, but in those types of conditions, you can't help it. I understand that while in rest status, the troops need to be kept busy. But after being in combat, and when your on the move, you go 2 or 3 days without sleep, why not just let the troops sleep?
Martin: What do you think about the quality of the enemy soldiers and their equipment?
Siebenbrot: The English tanks, were inferior. They weren't quite as fast, and their firepower wasn't sufficient. The English though, were superior in the artillery. First of all they had more. But overall, in Africa, we were always outnumbered. Also, our supply was low, and approximately 40% of the supply ships were sunk. The British airforce was also superior. They had more planes, and more fuel. We had very few bombers, mostly just fighters. But, we had the 88. It was far superior to anything the British had. I think it could fire nine kilometers away. The british tanks couldn't fire that far, so we could destroy many before they were even able to shoot. As for the troops, I say they (the British) were equal. There may have been a few units that weren't so good, but in general, they were equal. And they were well equiped. But their commanders were somewhat hesitant to attack, and it seems sometimes they didn't know what was going on.
Martin: What was it like being under Rommel's command?
Siebenbrot: It was great. I think that every man in the Afrika Korps, admired Rommel. And if he would come around and say: "Ok guys, we want to take Bardia" everybody was willing to go. He would always ask more from the soldiers than was expected of them. He was very demanding, but we would give it to him gladly. We respected him because he was fair. No prisoners were mistreated. Also, he kept the SS out of Africa. He refused to have any SS units under his command. He was also admired very much by the 8th Army.
Martin: What did Rommel think of the troops he was commanding?
Siebenbrot: He was very satisfied with his troops. He had some misgivings about the Italians, however in hindsight, they had a lot of tough luck. They didn't have the armour, they weren't properly fed either. An Italian friend of mine, who was in the Italian army, said the food was atrocious. Their army was also classed, unlike the German army (at least in Africa), where an officer would basically get the same food as a private. Not so in the Italian army. And consequently, the Italian moral was not as good as in the German army, which is understandable. One should not always put the Italians down, in my opinion.
Martin: (almost redundant now but...) What did you think about the Italians?
Siebenbrot: Like I talked about before, but they were good guys. On one occasion we ran out of water. Our canteens could only hold 3/4 of a liter, while the Italian had big ones, at least 2 or 3 liters. So a group of Italians happened to come by, and offered us some water. We were extremly gratefull. But their equipment wasn't very good, their tanks were horrible, so they couldn't stand up to anything. And they had no trucks. You try marching aroung in the desert, and fighting. So they usually only moved at night. We also at times had no trucks, but very few Italian units were motorized. You have to keep that in consideration.
Martin: Have you ever heard of Hans von Luck?
Siebenbrot: No.
Martin: What was your basic training like?
Siebenbrot: The training was not too bad. Personally, I didn't like the army. The treatment was pretty rough. When you get punished for something you haven't done, it's tough to take. The actual training wasn't bad, I could take it. But when the officers treat you unfairly, then it's not very good. But this is just my opinion.
Martin: Have you ever been back to Africa after the war?
Siebenbrot: No. When we immigrated to Canada, it was a little far off. But I did attend two meetings of the Afrika Korps, after the war. Once in Iserlohn, and once near Hannover. At each occasion, Rommel's widow and son visited. In Hannover, I met a German general, General von Letto-Vorbeck, that had served in Africa during WWI (WWII??)
Martin: What do you think of your experiences from the war?
Siebenbrot: Well, I lost 8 or 9 of the best years of my life. When you went back home, you did all the things that you would've done at 17 or 18 or 19, six or so years later. Especially now, since we lost the war, you feel cheated out of those years, and many wonder what the use was. What did we fight for?
Martin: What was life like in the desert?
Siebenbrot: The desert is just sand. Some deserts, like in North-America, have bushes or shrubs, but in northern Lybia and Egypt, there are almost none. Those that do exist, are small, and most are brown. During the day, the temperature goes up to 40 degrees Celcius. Throughout my stay in Africa, I experienced only one time that it rained. But when it rains, boy oh boy, does it rain. The water runs off in what are called wadis. They're like a canyon, buy only a few meters deep. They were very usefull for cover, even for vehicles. In the desert, you wouldn't carry too much, just your equipment, one change of socks and underwear, and thats it. When I was wounded the first time and sent back to Italy, I didn't have a stich of clothing that was German, except for my cap. In Africa, you would scrounge or loot captured or abandoned trucks, get clothes from there. So hardly anybody wore an official uniform. Even some of our equipment wasn't German. Many trucks we had were captured ones that could be fixed up. In general, our supply was poor. You had to make do with what you had.
Martin: What was a typical day like?
Siebenbrot: If it was a rest day, you would do nothing. If possible, you would wash your cloths. The nights are very cold in the desert. You need at least 3 or 4 blankets. If your not resting, your constantly on the move. Here and there, wherever your needed. And every now and then, you'd come upon an enemy column. I remenber one occasion, we ran into a small group of British trucks. We weren't a big group either, but we managed to get the uper hand, and shot up the trucks. We ran up to the trucks, and we took what we could. Food, water, anything you could use. I remember for one particular week, we lived entirely on english food. Our field kitchen wasn't able to keep up with us. Each soldier carried a 'Eiserne Reserve' (hard biscuit) with them, and it was only to be eaten on orders, if there was no more food. The British had a choclate version, and they were very good. On another occasion, we were driving along, and we could see enemy tanks coming in the distance. The lieutenant ordered to get the machinegun ready, and get into positions. The tanks come closer, and closer, and finally they started shooting. Then the lieutenant yelled to get the hell out of here. So we ran like crazy, and saw some of our trucks that had stayed behind. They seemed to have the same orders to retreat, and I was just barely able to jump onto one of them, when it took off. In the desert, a unit is rarely in action together. elements are spread around, and used were they are needed.
Martin: Under what higher HQ was your unit in?
Siebenbrot: We were attached to the 90th Light Division. We weren't a generic unit, but an independant unit attached to the division for most of the war in the desert.
Memoirs of a Panzergrenadier Veteran
by Björn Jervas
The following was translated and compilied by Björn Jervas, whose Grandfather, Willy Tiedemann, served in the Wehrmacht Heer during WWII. The following memoir was written from a series of audio tapes that were recorded by Willy before his death a number of years ago. Some place names may be incorrectly spelled, and various minor corrections and additions have been added by Jason Pipes, as indicated by information in parentheses. The following is an interesting mix of biography, memoir and diary entires based on Willy's experiences during World War II. It serves as a powerful testiment to the entire range of experiences and emotions of a German Soldat, from the monumental to the mundane, and from the joyous to the terribly upsetting.
Pre-war
I started my career as a policeman, my unit was 1. Landespolizei-Hundertschaft, Harburg. In September 1935, the whole unit was turned over to the Wehrmacht, we never volunteerd. In October 35 we were designated III Bataillon/Infanterie-Regiment 69, and our first batallion commander was Oberstleutnant Spengler. After this, we had years of practice.
In October 38, my unit marched into the Sudetenland, and we also invaded Czechozlovakia later. In August 39, my unit was in Sudetenland, practicing as (a) motorized unit. There were rumours of a war against Poland, but we did not believe it. On 20.8.39 we were moved eastwards, Küstrin-Landsberg. We arrived (at) Hasseln on 26.8.39, and camouflaged our vechicles. Nothing more happened. On 31.8.39 we were moved to Sclochau, were we met other units. Something was going on!
The Polish Campaign
(On) 1.9.39, at 0445 O'clock, our artillery started barraging the Polish town of Konitz. Konitz was ready for surrender by 0800. We drove into the fields of Tuscla. The first Polish resistance we had, was when we arrived Grajebo. We had actually moved "back" into Germany, before crossing the Polish border once more (Willy's unit was a part of the 20.Inf.Div.(mot.), which began the campaign against Poland on the western side of the Polish Corridor and after crossing through it, actually entered into East Prussia, thus entering "back" into Germany. - JP). On the 10.9.39 we crossed river Narew, and got in position at Zambro. Near by was "Festung Lomska", with 2 polish infantry and one artillery regiments. We were supposed to participate in a siege of this unit. It was so much fog that day, that the Polish managed to withdraw without our knowledge, but soon we engaged them. Polish and German MG's at Zambro shot wildly at anything moving, and it was a disaster! Our Bataillon lost 120 men, my Kompanie, the 9th had 32 KIA's. We took more than 400 POW's, and two field cannons.
Shortly after, we were sent towards Brest-Litowsk. We were supposed to attack this "festung", supported by railway-artillery, but the Polish surrendered after their officers had escaped. We were met by a terrible sight: more than 300 Volksdeutsche had been held as captives in the "festung", and they had been very badly treated! We occupied the town of Brest-Litowsk, the civilians wandered around in the streets, mostly very drunk...
We met the Russian forces in Brest-Litowsk. The commander of 10.Panzer-Division, Guderian, participated in the parade together with the Soviets. Our regiment was now a reserve unit for the forthcoming offensive against Warsaw, but no action took place.
On 6.10.39 we were moved, through Schneidemühl and Berlin to our barracks in Hamburg-Wentdorf. After some time, on 25.11.39, we moved westwards, and stayed in Paderborn. More exercises!
The Western Campaign
(On) 10.5.40 we were in position close to the Dutch border by Maastricht. We crossed the border, close to Lignic. No enemy contact. When we arrived Lafontaine, in France, we were met by escaping French and Morroccan forces. On 21.5.40 our Bataillon took 4300 PoWs, and we were turned towards Arras. Lots of prisoners were held at Bulogne. In the Calais-area, not far from Dunkirk, we attacked Oscapell - the British HQ. It was fierce fighting! At Lesegn-Chemaign the British tried an armoured counter-attack, but were beaten. On 31.5.40 we attacked Dunkirk and St. Omar.
(On) 4.6.41 we drove through Arras, Vieraux to Vedun. Just spread enemy activity (??). At Longrais, the French attacked, and our Bataillon had 20 casualties. We thought the war was over by now, but we were ordered to move on. The enemy resistance got harder, and the 9th Kompanie had 7 KIA's, the french about 60. Even if France had capitulated, the forces continued to fight! These were mostly soldiers from the Maginot Line.
One night, I was ordered to lead a patrol of a reinforced platoon. Suddenly we heard horses in front of us, and we opened fire! Without resistance, 100 men w/ 80 horses and one PAK surrendered. They told us that more French were to come, so we laid down in ambush. Just after 30 minutes, we heard horses - and it became silent! We sneaked in the direction where we had heard the noise, just like indians! We started firing, and really much so the french would believe we were many more than we really were. It worked!! We caught 1 colonel, 9 officers, 500 men and 400 horses! This unit had planned to attack our Bataillon the next morning!
From 21.6.40 we were not in combat anymore. We moved to St.Revienne at Nivea, to En Vrien close to Paris, as occupation forces.
Christmas 1940 was celebrated in Ahrendsee in Germany, before we went back to France. During Easter 41 we moved to Kosten, later Grossborn in Pommern, where we practiced for 7 weeks. On 12.6.41 we (were) in East Prussia close to the Soviet border. Could it really come to war again? I had a bad feeling.
(At some point after the French Campaign, he seems to have switched units because he now makes mention of his unit as the 20.Panzer-Division, which was not an extention of his earlier unit, the 20.Infanterie-Division (mot.) - JP)
The Eastern Campaign
On 22.6.41 my Bataillon crossed the Soviet border by Punsk. Very little resistance, we shot down 6 enemy aircraft, Ratas and Polkaripovs. (On) 25.6.41 we attacked Wilna, while Jagdgeschwader Mölders cleared the skies (of) enemy aircraft. On 28.6.41 we were in Minsk, with the mission of protecting bridges in the area. Very hot temperature, dust and swamps. We crossed Berezina, and were assigned to 4.Panzer-Armee led by Kluge.
On 7.7.41 we met really hard resistance at the Stalin line by Duna. For the first time we used the Nebelwerfer, with good effect. At Starojezelo we had great losses…
(On) 9.7.41 we moved towards Witebsk, very hard Russian resistance! We had to get out of our vechicles because of enemy artillery. Our Bataillon was stopped completely, and we had to jump around like rabbits to save our vechicles. Had to march from now on. On 10.7.41 we see that the Soviets are putting Vitebsk (on) fire. The city was not totally conquered before 13.7.41, after the use of Nebelwerfers.
Soon after, my division, the 20.Panzer-Division moved towards Smolensk. We reached north of the city on the 23.7.41. We were told we were the German unit who had reached most far into (the) Soviet (Union)!
On 28.7.41 we were reserve for (the) 12.Panzer-Division. We rested until 7.8.41, and were assigned to "Panzergruppe Hoth" , who apart from us, consisted of 20. and 18.Panzer-Grenadier-Division (actually, both were still motorizied infantry divisions at this point, they both became Panzer-Grenadier units in 1943 - JP) and 12.Panzer-Division. On 19.8.41 we moved northwards, Smolensk - Vitebsk - Opotska - Nikolajewo - Nowgorod towards Leningrad, and we stopped about 20km from Leningrad, in the Neva area, with the task to form a bridge-head. Hard fighting, 6.Kompanie had 6 dead, and 7 wounded. The enemy attacks with tanks and aircraft.
On 1.9.41 we meet the hardest resistance so far. My Kompanie has 11 casualties. We sit in wet trenches, and are constantly under heavy fire from artillery, tanks and mortars. Later this day, my Kompanie loses 26 men. A Stuka attack on russian artillery positions gives us a short break.
On the 9.9.41 we were moved to Sclüsselburg, and went into position. Had to build bunkers during night-time.
16.9.41. We are in our fox-holes, great losses. Our troops are in (a) very bad mood, and we feel like we are waiting to be executed.
18.9.41. Suddenly we see the 8.Panzer-Division moving through our area. Attack?
21.9.41. Today it is Sunday, but what a Sunday! No difference. Why can't the Soviets surrender, we have been told they were almost finished! Later this day, 9 Russian aircraft attack, and my Kompanie (has) 3 dead. Are we all to die here in foreign soil?
22.9.41. 8.Panzer-Division is ready to attack, and my Bataillon shall join them. The enemy fires from everywhere, who is really under siege? The Russians counterattack at Neva.
24.9.41. Positions unchanged. Counterattack! As reinforcment, we get one Stukageschwader and one Schlachtfliegergeschwader - they are attacking the Soviets now!
The Russians get supplies over the frozen Lake Lagoda, and this can not be stopped before the 18.Infanterie-Division (mot.) is moved further north, or if the Finns arrive. Where are the Finns? This night I think about Napoleon in 1812. What if the Winter comes?
25.9.41. Heavy Soviet artillery, tank attacks.
26.9.41. Soviet air attacks. German planes drives them away.
27.9.41. At 1800 12 Soviet bombers attack. Several casualties!
28.9.41. More and more air attacks, and heavy artillery. The Russians must have very good observers! We have now been here for 5 weeks!
29.9.41. Rumors of Fallschirmjäger and Infantry units taking over!
3.10.41. Indeed! Our Bataillon is releaved by Fallschirmjäger! We hear on (the) radio that Adolf Hitler promises the war will be over before the Winter!
5.10.41. No more rest. The whole Korp is about to attack soon!
8.10.41. Big Soviet armor attack, but we manage to stop them once again. Very cold, and constant rain.
9.10.41. In the night we wake up from some very loud detonations. Our forces use, for the first time, a projectile of 50 kg TNT, which we call "Peterchens Mondfahrt".
13.10.41. We are told to move to Djuba tomorrow. Where after that? This is hardly fun anymore, more than half of my Kompaine are dead ny now. The first snow is falling!
25.10.41. Today's surprise! I am ordered to go to Riga, to pick up food and equipment. It could be dangerous, because of partisans, but I'd do anything to get out of here!
7.11.41. I'm back. My Bataillon is in the Volchow-Tichwin area, to secure the right flank towards Budogotch. We are to support tank units that shall meet the Finns in Tichwin. Our forces reach Tichwin, but the russians stop the Finns from arriving. Difficult situation now!
17.11.41. My Bataillon, the first (I), has huge losses! 71 dead, and these were badly stumbled (I think he means badly treated - JP) by the Russians, they took all the uniforms, and left them naked in the snow. New Russian air attacks, temparature is below 31C.
19.12.41 We are ordered to retreat from Tichwin. During the night we reach Volchowa by Nowgorod. Tempature is below 52C!
We celebrate christmas in Luga. The russians are getting stronger, and have better clothes and equipment, but we only getting weaker. What a christmas...
29.12.41. We are deployed to Volchow together with an newly arrived I.D from France. The Russians have managed to form a bridge-head at Chodowo. Temperature is below 45C, and in my company we have 50-60 soldiers with severe wounds because of the temperature. Again back to the foxholes and bunkers.
In March 42 we are moved to a position west of Nowgorod, we are participating in the siege of 7 russian divisions. This lasted for some time, and the russians often tried to break out, in vain!
In May comes the spring. It is mud, mud and mud only. We have difficulties in getting supplies. The Russians despair! Our Nachtjäger are shooting down most of the aircraft that are dropping food and equipment to their forces. We are guarding the so-called "Erika-path".
It's getting warmer, and now we have millions and millions of mosquitos that pester us. Many get the "Volchow-fever", a kind of malaria, and so do I. When I recover, I get an unexpected leave, and can go to Germany.
I'm back on the 21st of July 42. By then the battles at Volchow were ended, we took more than 36,000 PoW's. How many dead? We certainly had heavy losses during the 4-month siege! We are now moved to Voltoskido, southeast of Lake Ilmen.
On 21.8.42 we get new orders, first to move to Staraja Russa, later northeast of Volchow. By now we knew we had to endure another winter in Russia.
In our new positions it was quite calm. We did good fortifications! In the beginning of November 42 (something) happened that changed my destiny: An order from Heeres-Personalamt, Berlin, said that all former policemen were to join a Feldgendarmerie-Ersatz-Abteilung. I was finally to get an officer education, being a Hauptfeldwebel by now. I was happy to get away from the frontline, the school was in Lodz, Poland. I stayed in Lodz for two months, and got orders to lead a transport of 65 Feld-Gendarmen to Kaukasus. The train was set up in Warsaw.
We spent 5 weeks on the train, sometimes we had to wait hours and days for more important trains to pass. Horrible trip!
In Changhoy, at the Crimea, we stopped. Now we heard of the 6th Division in Stalingrad... (I believe he means 6.Armee, which was finally lost in the Stalingrad Pocket in early February 1943 - JP)
(In) the place we were to go (to), in (the) Kaukasus, the situation had changed. The Germans were retreating, so we couldn't go of course. I got orders to go to Simropol, Crimea, and meet the commanding general, Mackenklot. My unit got divided, and (we) were sent to different places. I could choose, and (I) chose Jalta. What a beauty! It was like dreaming, sun, palms and flowers! The beauty really thrilled me!
I worked at Ortskommandantur Simais, south in Crimea. I led a unit of Tartar HIPO's, (These were the Crimean Tartars, local ethnic men in the Crimea region who came forward to volunteer for service in the German Wehrmacht specifically to help fight the Soviets, with whom the Crimean Tartars had been stuggling for freedom for many years. Approximately 10 Bataillonen and 14 Kompanien of Crimean Tartars were formed in the Crimea region during WWII. Their service in the HIPO, or Hilfspolizie, was as auxiliary police units in which they helped hunt down partisans - JP) and were told to guard them as well. One of our tasks, was to give a daily meal to the civilians. If the war was like this, I surely could endure for some time!
In the beginning of March 43 I had to meet in Schabroze with my men, and to join the Feldgendarmerie Unit I originally was designed too. They had arrived from (the) Kaukasus. This meant an end to my good life... I got promoted to Leutnant in Sept 43, and joined my new unit in Poltava. Now there was a rapidly moving retreat to Polomi. Hell breaks loose again!
From 2100 O'clock the Soviets attacked with bomber airplanes, and heavy artillery, agaist the railway station at Polomi. 18 freight trains were destroyed, and we had numerous killed. I sat in an earth hole, like so many times before, but had lost contact with my unit. Not so strange, they were in Mariopol, and I teamed up with them again.
I recieved a reinforced platoon (zug), and were ordered to stop the russians. Fierce fighting, we fought for our lives, and NOT to end up as PoW's in Siberia. (On) 11.9.43. we arrived in Bertjansk, and started to evacuate the civilian population. Of course we burned everyting that the Russian forces could use. My unit was divided into several groups, so we didn't see each other too much. Suddenly the town was attacked by russian T 34 tanks, and we had to get away. We managed so!
In Nogjajsk the situation was desperate! We had to move, but it was all just mud. We literally had to carry our PzKv! We gathered in Povrovka. At the end of September, we were officially deployed to Heeresgruppe Süd, and moved to Vititsa. Got an unexpected order that I had to participate for 6 weeks more in front line service, as Kompanie commander!! They must have forgotten that I had fought in the first lines with 20.Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment before I joined the Feldgendarmerie! (Here I believe he is actually refering to the division he originally fought with in Poland, the 20.Infanterie-Division (mot.) which was later upgraded to a Panzer-Grenadier-Division in 1943. It would seem obvious that to the Soldat in the frontlines, the symantic differance between a motorizied infantry division and an armored infantry division was bascially pointless. - JP)
On 5.10.43 we were deployed to an Infanterie-Regiment, but this was destroyed before we could join. Ended up in 231.Infanterie-Division, (the) commanding general was Block. At first, we were the reserve unit.
Suddenly we got orders to throw out 800 Russian commando soldiers who had dug in near a tank trench. We were to attack at 1300. Our mission: Clear a village close by, and attack the main force. Our artillery gave us cover. As we arrived to the village, the Russians opened fire from everywhere. We could not stay, and managed to get out. I got wounded by a shrapnel, and had to give up my command.
At last my company managed to eliminate the Russians, with good help from a unit (of) "Do-werfers" (some sort of rocket launcher - JP). But just for 1 hour, the Russians counterattacked, and forced my Kompanie out again. When we tried to re-capture the positions, our Do-werfers laid their fire on our unit, and the whole Kompanie was destroyed!! What a luck I had to survive! (Imagine being caught in a mistaken barrage of friendly Nebelwerfer rockets... the thought of it simply horrible! - JP)
On 6.11.43 I was in a bunker, totally bandaged. The Russians got stronger day by day. Got a new Kompanie yesterday, and we move in our trenches again. The Russians are only 60m from us! It is horrible, we can only move at night time.
24.11.43. Soon we will get some rest. The last enemy artillery attack lased for 80 minutes. How is it possible that someone can survive such detonations? This night a Pionier-Kompanie is to clear out a Russian trench, so that they can destroy a Russian HQ bunker.
25.11.43. Just after midnight hell breaks loose! The Russians attack! Twice were they down in our positions, and we had to fight man against man. Only by the help of handgrenades were we able to throw them out! We held our positions!
A new unit took over, and we got out. Just two hours after that, the Russians overrran the trences finally.
We are constantly moving! At 0500: Alarm! We are ordered to attack a Russian bridge-head. We are transported about 12km, and go into position to wait for the promised reinforcment units. (which never arrive). Russian JABO's constantly harrass us!
26.11.43. We can not attack, but are ordered to hold an important area. The Russians use rockets against us all the time, the "Stalin organ". My Kompanie looses 8 men, and there are only 34 men left! We are told to keep a frontline of 800m! We all believe the Russians will attack soon, we have no flank security.
The Russains have 3000 men total, my batallion 150. We have only one MG42, and one PAK placed between 1. and 2.Kompanie. Behind us are two self-propelled FLAK's as reserve. We have good positions.
26.11.43 at night time we are expecting the Russians, but it is unnaturally quiet. Get 16 men as reinforcement. Have to check all sentries constantly, that they are awake! At 0530 comes an enemy artillery attack, but quiet again. Suddenly we all see the Russians, who don't come at us, but at the 1.Kompanie. We are posisioned in a square, and my right flank has contact with 1.Kompanie's left flank. Here we had the PAK, but it was destroyed almost immediately during the Russian artillery fire.
At 0630 I see Russian infantry moving slowly. I estimate 8-900 men. Our two Kompanie have 120 men now, and since we have no radio, I order one man to get to the HQ behind, and to get the two FLAK's brought up. I couldn't believe my own ears when he returned, and said that the HQ with FLAK's had left the area!!!
The Russians advanced, and 1.Kompanie opened fire. The Russians answered with rifle and MG fire, and 1.Kompanie could not hold them up. The Kompanie commander was killed, and the rest came to us. The Russians moved, surprisingly, to where the HQ had neen, and we had a short break. I ordered my Kompanie to move rapidly, and we came to a small hill. Now we were seen by Ivan, and they opened a murderous fire. One by one my soldiers were killed. After 3 hours we had no ammo left. What now? I had only half of my force intact now.
Suddenly I felt a hard blow in my left arm, and my tunic got red. No pain. I can't remember what I thought!
Me, and 8-10 men moved slowly backwards, and I felt a new, and harder blow, and was thrown to the ground. A Gefreiter who had a knee injury, thought I was dead, and crawled towards me to get my ID tag or Soldbuch. He believed he was the only who had survived and didn't want to get shot as a deserter. As he saw I was alive, he dragged me 50-60m into a corn field, allthough I begged him not to.
The Russians came, and gun-butted our wounded comrades to death!
What now? We crawled, after some hours, across the corn field, and suddenly we saw a German soldier! Actually it was three Artillerie-men, who had lost their unit! And they had two horses and a wagon! God be praised.
We rode on the wagon, but after about 1km I suddenly heard loud motors, and a explosion. I fainted. As I woke up, I realized a Russian JABO had attacked. The three artillery men, and their horses were dead, only the unknown Gefreiter and me survived.
After a long, and extremely painful journey at night, me exhausted from pain and the loss of blood, we met German forces again. I got several operations, and was finally to be sent to Odessa. Later Lemberg, finally Germany. I spent more than 2 years in the hospital to recover.
The Bataillon commander, who betrayed us, got the German cross in Gold for hard resistance against the enemy, I got EK 1, but survived the war. He didn't, and I shall not mention his name.
Was it true heroism or insanity that made me do such things? I thought about it during the rest of the war. It was surely not heroism.
War is so cruel, that nobody can understand. I spent 10 years in the Wehrmacht, almost 5 years at the front line. Most of my friends and comrades now rest in foreign soil!
Memoirs of a Luftwaffe Nachrichten Veteran
{continued in the next post}
Firsthand Accounts
Interview with an Afrikakorps Panzer Veteran
by Jeff Scott
This interview was conducted by Jeff Scott on Tuesday November 10th, 1998. Jeff interviewed Hans (his real name) who is the father of an internet friend of his. Hans comes to the United States once a year and drives all across the Country. Jeff was able to arrange a meeting when he came through Nashville. They spoke for several hours. Hans speaks good English, but there were a few times when he was at a loss for an English word. Because of this, please excuse any misspelled words below, as sometimes Jeff wasn't sure what Hans was saying, and other times he wasn't sure of the spelling (such as with locations and certain German words Jeff was unfamiliar with).
Jeff: What year did you join the army?
Hans: 1941
Jeff: How old were you when you entered the army?
Hans: I was seventeen when I volunteered.
Jeff: How did you get into the Panzer arm of the army?
Hans:I wanted to drive a tank. I was part of a replacement panzer unit. I was sent to a panzer driver's school, where I got my panzer driver license. I was then sent to a "Tropical" (warfare?) school north of Berlin, to prepare for my being sent to Afrika.
Jeff: Where did you go from there?
Hans: We (crew and tanks) were sent to Naples. Our tanks were to be shipped to Afrika, and we were going to be flying over (He said all previous groups went on ships with tanks). We were to fly over in a flight of JU-52's (he said they always flew in flights of 21...) The pilots were very nervous, they did not like the run. They basically threw us in the planes and took off. We flew only about 200 feet above the water. On the way we were "shadowed" by two British fighters. The pilots told us to man the machine gun. We did and tried to shoot down the fighter, but shooting out of a plane is much different from shooting on the ground. In flight everything looks much closer then it really is. They harassed us a bit, but didn't shoot down any of us. We were relieved when the airport came into sight. We were in for a nasty shock however as while we were making our landing approach, bombs started going off all around us! The pilot made some crazy maneuvers and aborted the landing. There was flak going off all around us and we thought that we would be killed before we even landed. We circled the airport and eventually landed. All planes landed safely, even though some were damaged. It turns out that there was a flight of 18 British bombers above us when we tried to land. I guess they thought they could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. We were lucky to be alive.
Jeff: What unit were you attached to?
Hans: 21st Panzer Division. I was a part of Panzer Regiment 5.
Jeff: What type of Panzers were you driving?
Hans: I drove both Panzer Mark III's and IV's.
Jeff: Which type did you like better?
Hans: I much preferred the Mark III. It was very fast, having a Maybach 12 Cylinder engine. (He then went on to tell me about how great the Maybach engines were.) I didn't like that it only had a 5-centimeter gun. We were really outgunned, but speed partially made up for it.
Jeff: What did you think about the Mark IV?
Hans: Well, it had a much better gun, 7.5-centimeter. But it was quite a bit heavier, and had the same engine as the Mark III. Therefore it wasn't nearly as fast. It had a new gearbox system, 10 forward gears and 4 reverse. Not everyone could drive it. It was kind of a half-automatic.
Jeff: Did you encounter any Australian troops?
Hans: No, only British. British 8th army.
Jeff: What did you think of them?
Hans: Hard. Good fighters. They had good strong tanks. Very slow however. We liked their food
Jeff: Did you see a lot of action?
Hans: Yes. Almost continuously. It wasn't too bad however. We would fight from sunup to sundown. When it started getting dark, except for a few times, all fighting stopped. Much better then in Russia. (Brother in Russia wrote him about the hell that was going on)
Jeff: Did you have any interactions with Italian troops?
Hans: Yes. I had not known any Italians before, and fought with both the Ariete and Treste units (I don't know the spelling).
Jeff: What did you think of them?
Hans: The men were good. Their officers were poor, and their equipment was horrible. Their tanks were useless. The men however were good fighters.
Jeff: How did your capture come about?
Hans: We had been pushed back to Tunis, where we waited. We were later told of our surrender
Jeff: What did you think of your captors?
Hans: They were fair. They told us that our U-boats had been too successful. There was very little food and no water. We were given tea made from salt water. It was horrible, I can still taste it too this day. An officer told us that there wasn't enough food for us, they weren't trying to starve us. He told us to send some men to look at their food supplies, that he wasn't lying.
Jeff: Why did you escape?
Hans: No food. We wanted to surrender to the Americans. I didn't want to end up in England. I had always heard about how huge America was and I wanted to see it. Myself and 2 friends escaped one night and made our way to a food cache (emergency food rations in a cave they knew about). When we got there we found nothing but an alcohol drink made from pears (expensive Swiss stuff he told me). That's all we had to eat or drink for over a week. We were watching the road nearby for any sign of Americans. When we started seeing them driving past we went down and sat by the road until we were picked up.
Jeff: What did you think of the Americans?
Hans: They were kind. They had everything. After I had been captured, I realized that Germany had lost the war. We saw a train arrive that had carload after carload of toilet paper and tent pegs. I knew that an army that would bring all that, would not forget their guns! They had good cigarettes too! Camels
Jeff: How did you get to America?
Hans: We went on a Liberty ship. It took 5 weeks to get to New York. The captain was kind and let us stay on deck when we went through Gibraltar. They told us not to try and swim for it. We saw 2 Italians on another ship jump overboard and were quickly swept away by the currents. None of us tried it. There were more then 50 ships in our convoy. We later learned that German submarines were sitting underneath us with their torpedo doors open, waiting to fire. The BDU sent message to them not to fire that there were POW's on the ships. There were tankers in the middle of the convoy. The outer ring was of ships carrying POW's. We were being used to protect their tankers.
Jeff: Did that make you angry?
Hans: No. I knew that German military would have done same thing.
Jeff: Where did you go from there?
Hans: We docked in New York, and were put on Pullman cars after being processed. We were hungry on the train trip. They only brought small amounts of food at mealtime. We were told if they gave us a lot of food that it would make us sick. They promised us more food later.
Jeff: Did your family know where you were?
Hans: No. It was a year before they knew I was alive.
Jeff: What Prisoner of War Camp did you go to?
Hans: First we went to Camp Raston(or Ruston?) in Louisiana. There was nothing there. They gave us tools and we made some buildings and sports fields. They had nothing for us to do. We did no work, just played soccer and such. There was lots of food but not much equipment. We had to use flour to line our soccer fields because we had no chalk.
Jeff: I notice in your photo album that the men are still wearing their uniforms, even with badges and medals on them? That is really a surprise!
Hans: Well they didn't have any clothes for us! So they let us keep our uniforms. That man (pointing to album) was a sergeant in charge of 4 barracks, about 600 men. (Sergeant in photo is wearing Iron Cross 2nd class ribbon, Iron Cross 1st class, and silver would badge.)
Jeff: What did you think of the camp?
Hans: It was boring, but there was a lot of food. I was there about 6 months. Some of the men still gave the nazi salute. I thought this very bad taste. We were a guest in this country. I know if a Russian had saluted "Mother Russia" he would have been shot.
Jeff: Where did you go next?
Hans: Next I was sent to Camp Como in Mississippi. It was hot. Most of the men picked cotton, very hard work.
Jeff: What did you do?
Hans: I worked on a Singer (sewing machine). We repaired uniforms and let out pants and such. The officers did not work. They were expected to escape. We would collect American money we found in the clothing we were repairing and give it to anyone that wanted to escape. One man escaped and was caught by a farmer. The officer had been living in farmer's barn, and drinking milk out of his cow. The farmer knew was something was going on because his cow started being dry when he tried to milk her. Another man was caught crossing a bridge over the Mississippi river. We got tired of such foolishness and stopped saving them money. We were at Como for about 8 months.
Jeff: What next?
Hans: We went to a temporary work camp in Idaho. We picked huge amounts of potatoes, sugar beets, and onions. We lived in tents for 2 months.
Jeff: What was your work day like?
Hans: Actually pretty easy. We were only required to pick a certain amount of food a day. We were always done by 2:00. The farmer would then bribe us with cigarettes or chocolate and we would do more work. But sometimes we just sat under the trees. It was good.
Jeff: Then where did you go?
Hans: Next I went to Utah. An airbase named Hillfield in Ogden. They asked me what I had done and I told them panzer driver. They said "Good, now you are a snow plow driver". I was in charge of cleaning off the runway. Later they made me stop, a new rule had come about saying no German could be on the airway. I had picked up a decent amount of English during my time so far. So them made me an interpreter. It was boring. I told a friend I wanted to work and an American overheard me and said "I have a job you can do." "Can you drive?" "I'm your man" I replied. He sent me to get me eyes checked then to get checked out on a truck. I started driving a lunch truck. A woman and myself went to parts of the base that were too far away for them to come and eat. I would take their money and she would serve them. I also delivered bakery goods. I liked this because I told the cooks that I was required to test the food to make sure it was acceptable. I ate three chocolate eclairs a day! Later they let me deliver the bakery goods alone. I had to get a regular drivers license.(Which I have seen, real Utah drivers license stating Hans was a Prisoner of War but was allowed to drive on all streets in Utah.)
Jeff: When did you finally get back to Germany?
Hans: 1946. I didn't want to go home. I loved the United States.(Apparently the Americanization worked well on him. He still loves the US.)
Jeff: I then asked Hans some various other questions that I had thought up and others had requested me to ask. What did you think of Rommel?
Hans: We loved him. We thought as long as he was our commander we couldn't lose. We were very discouraged when he left. He also kept the SS out of Afrika! Did you know that? (No, I had never heard that.) Rommel hated Himmler and the SS. He refused to have any under his command. Hitler worked out a deal where every once in a while SS "observers" would come to Afrika, but there were no real units there.
Jeff: Have you seen Private Ryan, do you have any favorite war movies? (I love his answer here!)
Hans: No, I haven't seen private ryan. I don't really watch war movies. I have no need to. I was there. I did see Bridge at Remagen. I liked it.
Jeff: What do you think of current day Berlin?
Hans: Very different from my youth. I was born in Berlin you see. It tore me up seeing my home destroyed the way it was.
Jeff: Do you go to Veteran reunions?
Hans: No. I see some of my friends from that time now and again. But I don't go to reunions. It would take too much time away from my sports. (This was the same answer he gave when I asked him why he didn't have a computer) I love my tennis and skiing too much. (He also goes wind surfing still. Don't laugh, I've seen photos of that too!)
Jeff: Did you have any idea of all the interest in WWII Germany?
Hans: None. It has been so long since I talked with anyone about the war. I have enjoyed it however. (I then proceded to show him Jason's site and he was very impressed.)
Jeff: What did you learn from all your experiences?
Hans: (Long pause, then speaking very softly) It was a horrible time for me and all of Germany. We (Germans) have no one to blame except ourselves. I lost all three of my brothers. My home was destroyed and invaded. I know that the best place I could have been was in those camps thousands of miles away. I survived. What else can I say. So many did not. I'm simply thankful to be alive.
Interview with an Afrikakorps Infantry Veteran
by Martin Schenkel
This interview was done on January 23rd, 1999 by Martin Schenkel with a German Veteran known as Oberschütze Siebenbrot. He served in North Africa during WWII in the Wehrmacht Heer. In this interview, Siebenbrot first explains his wartime experiences and then responds to a number of questions asked by Martin.
I was drafted in February, 1941, at the age of 19, and did my basic training in Göttingen. In July, we were sent to the Truppenübungslager Munster, to complete the training. They then asked me if I was interested in going to Africa, to serve in the Afrika Korps. I agreed, and was sent to Potsdam, where (although we didn't know it at the time) we would be assembled in a Sonderverband (special unit). The unit was originally named Sonderverband 288. We later found out, that we would be going to Iraq, to occupy the oil fields. The Sonderverband, was not organized like a typical battalion which usually had 3 or 4 companies. We had 7 companies. The first company was composed of foreigners, who had grown up in the middle east, and in total, were able to speak 20 different Arab dialects. The second company were GebirgsJäger. The third, which I was in, was infantry. The fourth was reconnaissance. The fifth was an assalut gun company, with light and heavy mortar elements. The sixth was a FlaK company, and the seventh, was an AT-rifle company. There was also a water-testing unit, as well as a printing troop, we had everything, and we were also motorised.
My task was to be a runner, who sent orders and notices back and forth, but I was also used in the infantryman role. Because it was a small unit, and heavy casualties were predicted, we were trained in all the roles of the companies, so that when there were casualties, any man could fill the spot. For example, I as an infantryman, was only trained in the use of rifles, machinguns, and other small arms unique to the infantry. In this unit, we were also trained to use the light and heavy mortars, anti-tank rifles, and the FlaK guns. By the end of the training in September, every man in the Sonderverband was trained in the use of all the hand-held weapons, and sometimes more. We were then loaded on trains, and sent on our way. The trains were now and then held up by partisans in Yugoslavia, and when it got to Belgrad, we heard over the radio, that the British had occupied the southern parts of Iraq, namely Basra, which is where the Sonderverband was headed. We continued to Greece, and ended up south of athens, in the Atika peninsula. Quarters were quickly arranged, as the command no longer knew what to do with us. We stayed there for most of the winter, and continued to train. Because the unit was equiped and trained for the tropics, it was decided to send us to Africa. We re-embarked on trains, and headed back through Yugoslavia, to Trieste and then Naples. We were then ordered to Letche, on the Adriatic, to get ready to go to North-Africa, either by ship, or airplane.
In March, 1942, our company was loaded into small aircraft to fly to Africa. They were old primitve Italian aircraft, with canvas covering which already had several holes. The entrances were open, and had machineguns for air defense. The poor airplane was overlaoded, and couldn't get off the ground. We were moved to the front of the aircraft, and the plane finally made into the air. To avoid British fighters, the plane flew 200 feet above the sea, and arrived safely in Derna. We were very quickly unloaded, as the pilot was getting very anxious to get going, because British airplanes would soon arrive. The plane was loaded with wounded, and a few minutes later, the fighters arrived. British intelligence and recon was very good, and they knew when planes or ships were arriving. The unit then spent some time re-organizing, and getting ready to participate in the offensive. At the same time, the unit was renamed Kampfgruppe Menton.
It was in early June, that we had our first contact with the enemy. The engineers first had to clear a path in the minefields. The path was very small, just barely wide enough for two way traffic. We were then sent to El Adem. The British couldn't hold, they retreated, and the town was quickly caputred. The unit then moved towards Bir Hacheim, but stiff resistance from French Legionaires, commanded by general Koenig, held up the advance. The French were very well entreched just outside Bir Hacheim, and wouldn't budge. After 10 or 12 days, the French finally gave way. Our company though, wasn't involved untill the last few days. On the last day, the French were encircled, but during the night, they managed to break-out and escape. After Bir Hacheim was captured, the British launched a counter-attack. We were hit pretty hard, had to quickly retreat, and somehow managed to avoid being cut-off and captured. The British counter-attacks then failed, and Rommel was able to push them back to the Egyptian border. The Sonderverband ended up near Bardia-Sollum. By that time, Tobruk had been surrounded, and was under siege. We were sent back to south of Tobruk, and watched the battle while in reserve. Then it was back to Egypt, and we arrived south of Mersa Matruh, while the British were still more than 100km behind us. On one perticular night, after we had dug our foxholes and were resting, we heard engine noises, and realized that it was the British, who were drinving past our positions. It was night, so nothing could be done, nor was our strength enough to take on so many British.
It was at this time, in September, that I started to suffer from arthritis. I was sent back to Tobruk, which had in the meantime been captured. On the way, we were attacked by planes. We quickly jumped out of the trucks, and scrambled for cover. During this attack, I narrowly escaped injury. The truck was only lightly damaged, so we could continue. I arrived in Tobruk at about noon, and it was very busy and a lot of traffic, as many wounded were being brought from the front, and there were many amputations. At around 8 that evening, a doctor finally got around to examaning me, and decided that because the arthritis wouldn't heal properly in the heat, I was to be sent back to Naples, from Derna, via hospital ship. Next to me on the ship, was an east indian, who was trying to talk to me, I didn't understand much enlish yet, but figured out the the indian had been injured while being attacked by tanks. Even if you were the enemy, you were taken care of if you were injured. I spent a month in Naples, and when I was able to walk properly, he was sent back to Germany for rehablilitation. After another month in southern-Germany (near the Bodensee), I reported back to my unit's HQ/collection point, in Küstrin. I then got two weeks leave, and went home, and when I reported again, I was sent to work on a potato farm for a few weeks. After that, in December, we were sent to Grafenwöhr, were there was a big training facility. There we joined the GebirgsJäger Regiment 756, and this time, I was attached to a rifle platoon, as an infantryman. On christmas eve, the unit was loaded on trains, and went throught the Brenner pass to Italy, and then on to Palermo, in Sicily.
In early January 1943, we boarded a small liner, and arrived in Bizerta. The regiment re-organized in Mateur, and then was sent to the front. We were then ordered to capture a hill. We captured it, and there, for the first time, I was close enough, in combat, to be able to see the whites of their eyes. In North-Africa, hand-to-hand combat very rarely took place, and I never once experienced it. During this attack on the hill, it was the only time I used a hand-granade. Each man was issued one hand-granade. The Morrocan troops, whom we were attacking, were very well camouflaged, and by the time I tossed my granade, they had already retreated. The combat in the days following, went back and forth, and after a while, we were sent to a quiet part of the front, on the coast, and rested, and laid booby traps. We then went on a 60 km night march, to attack French positions in a valley the next morning. With about 30 men left in our platoon, we ran down the hill, screaming and shouting. The French were totally surprised and surrendered immediately. The platoon took about 120 prisoners. The fighting in Africa, I would like to say, was always fair, and both sides respected each other, unlike in Russia. No prisoners were shot or badly mistreated. In one particular case, after heavy fighting, many wounded were lying around the battlefield, so a temorary cease-fire was arranged. Both sides went out to collect their wounded. Neither side ever violated the cease-fire. In another instance, close to the end in Tunisia (April), on a beautifull day, our company which was down to ten men, was dug in a hill. Two men were in each hole, and the holes were about 10 feet apart. Suddenly a British tank came along. We had absolutley no anti-tank weapons of any kind. Apparently, one of the men in the foxhole next to us, caught the attention of the tank, and it fired into the foxhole, and the men were injured, and shouting for help. A medic came with a streatcher to our foxhole, and tied a white band around my arm. We leaped out of the foxhole towards the wounded men, in full view of the tank, which wasn't more than 25 m away. One of the men was dead, and we took the other one away. Throughout this, the tank never fired on us.
But the end was inevitable. Outnumbered 5 or 6 to 1, and with very few heavy weapons left, the Axis suurendered on 8 May to the Allies in Tunisia. We marched over a hill to some British tanks, who gave us cigarettes, and we gave them choclate, and they were very friendly. We were sent to a makeshift POW camp near Bone. In the camps we didn't get too much to eat, so we had to try to get an egg, or some cous-cous from the locals. We then took a ship to Oran. By that time many men had lice, so we were disinfected. The same day, we were loaded onto a couple American ships that were heading back to the US. We arrived in New York on 30 May, 1943. On the voyage though, many had gotten lice again, so we were then disinfected once more.
On June 3, we arrived, via train, in the POW camp in Hunstville, Texas. The camp was divide into 3 areas, and each area held 1200 men. Next to the camp, a sports field had been built. Each prisoner was entideld to eat what a regular soldier eats. We were given enough food, and there were few complaints. At first, there wasn't any real work for us, so we just did small jobs in the camp, like mowing lawns etc., and a few volunteered for the camp fire brigade. We were also allowed to learn several languages (english, french, and spanish), and to read and write, and to study many different topics like math and so on, all organized by the prisoners. There was also a monthly newspaper, put together by the prisoners. There was a chapel, an orchestra, a theater, and once a month there would be a big show, with the band playing, some would sing, and there would be a play or two. In this camp, we ate corn for the first time, as in Germany it was used for feeding chickens. One prisoner came up with the following poem:
Mais fürdert in allen lendern
Bei Hünern die legerei.
Bei uns braucht's nicht zu versuchen,
Wir legen ja doch kein Ei.
Corn furthers in all countries
With chickens the laying of eggs.
Don't bother to try that with us,
We never will lay an egg.
Finally they figured that we should work a little. So they put to work in the cotton fields. Through our stuborness, we decided to stick together, and picked only up to a certain amount of cotton in a day. When you are a POW, you're not supposed to be put to work in an industry. We were used to getting two days holiday for Pfingsten, so on the first of those two days, we decided not to work. The Americans closed much of the camp down, including the kitchen. On the second day, the POW's decided to go back to work. Next, a local rice farm needed help for the harvest, so some of us were sent to work there. Each morning, the farmer would come to pick us up, and drive us home at the end of the day. I had learned quite a bit of english, so I was the interpreter for our group of ten or so men. This particular farmer was really nice. The camp food wasn't always the best, and each day the farmer's wife would serve us a different dish of rice. We really enjoyed that.
Early in 1944, I was sent to another camp, Huntsville, Alabama. Here I saw a bit of injustice. The Americans were trying to force non-comissioned officers to work. By the Geneva convention, officers are not supposed to work. The officers refused, and as a result, got little food, so we threw them some food over the fence. Then, after a quick stay in Georgia, some of us were sent to Florida, south of Miami. At first I worked at a big army depot. There was a big repair shop, where old army trucks were being repaired, and then sent to Russia. POW's weren't supposed to work in industry, so we maintained buildings, cut grass etc. Eventually, we loaded trucks on railcars. Next I moved on to a maintenance shop at Miami airport, and I started working in the paint shop, which prior to the war had been my trade. At this camp, I met some guys who had somehow put together a radio, and we could listen to news coming out of Havana (one of the guys spoke spanish), as well as local stations. At that time, Cuba was some what friendly to the Germans, so the German news we heard from Havana, was much different than from the American stations. I think that the American news was much closer to the truth. I stayed in Miami untill the end of the war.
In April 1946, we were sent back to New York, were we boarded a ship to Antwerp. Now under British control, we then ended up in a camp south of Brussels. In this camp, the food was extremly bad, and many POW's died. However, those of us who had come from the USA, had been well fed, so we were able to survive. The camps were exactly like described in a book by James Bach, The Other Losses. There was a high barbed-wire fence. You were lucky if you were able to get a tent, there were few blankets, and the food was hardly believable. We were there only for 6 weeks, but you could see that the guys had lost a lot of weight. Then, for some reason, instead of being sent home, we were shipped to England. There we were greeted by an English major or colonel, who was really impressive; he said straight out "...you are here to help rebuild the country, in retaliation for destroying much of it..." At least that guy was fair, he told us straight out what was going on. We spent a year in England. At first we worked on a farm, then we dug ditches for water, gas, sewer lines for new houses, and we were also a while in a brickworks. It was then 1947, and we were about to go home, But first, we had to be de-nazified. There were three classes: Nazi, mitläufer (just going along with it), and anti-nazi. The anti-nazis were sent home first. I was a mitlaufer. Last to leave were the supposed nazis. They were considered Nazis, because mabye they were nasty to the interogators. I arrived home, with an old British army uniform, with patches on it indicating that I was a POW.
Now the question and answer part:
Martin: What enemy units were you in contact with?
Siebenbrot: In Africa, we were at first in contact with French troops, but then after that, primarily British troops. The war in Africa was a war of movement, so you were never in the same position long, nor did you face the same enemy unit for long either.
Martin: What kind of an inpact did the Britsh Long Range Desert Force have?
Siebenbrot: They had success, but not all the time. They did a commando raid on Rommel's HQ, but they fared pretty badly. They operated far behind our lines, and they usually came up from the south, and acted mostly as recon. But sometimes, against small units, they would attack, or feign attacks, and quickly disapear. They didn't have much effect on morale, we were not afraid of them. I have also never heard of them doing any significant damage, as they were usually just used for recon. You knew about them, but we didn't hear about them much.
Martin: Have you ever met an interpreter by the name of Trefz?
Siebenbrot: No.
Martin: Have you ever had personal contact with Rommel?
Siebenbrot: Yes. We were in a rest position, in the desert, and it was my turn to be the look-out. In the distance, I could see a group of cars coming, and as they got closer, I could see that they were German. I had my rifle with me, and was wearing nothing except a cap, and shorts. I waved, and ran up to them, and I could see that it was Rommel himself, along with his entourage. I had to report the situation, what unit we were, and I pointed out to them where there was a minefield nearby, as they were going in that direction., and Rommel replies "Ja, we know, we know.". Then he asked me: "Wo kommst du her?" (Where do you come from?) I told him " Ich komme aus Niedersachen, Lüneburg." "Oooooooh... Lüneburg," he says, "Ja, ich war mal in Goslar..." (I was once in Goslar). He didn't have much time, and they drove on.
Martin: What was your CO like?
Siebenbrot: Our company commander was Oberleutnant Schröder. Our company had three platoons. The first platoon was commanded by Leutnant Buchholz. The second platoon was Leutnant Krusendorf, and the third was Leutnant Bronandt. This was while I was with the Sonderverband. I will be frank, we didn't like the company CO very much. He was too much by the book. If you can imagine it: You've been fighting, with little sleep, and then when you're in rest position, they come along and want you to clean your rifle. Then they make you feel bad if you have one spec of dust on it, but in those types of conditions, you can't help it. I understand that while in rest status, the troops need to be kept busy. But after being in combat, and when your on the move, you go 2 or 3 days without sleep, why not just let the troops sleep?
Martin: What do you think about the quality of the enemy soldiers and their equipment?
Siebenbrot: The English tanks, were inferior. They weren't quite as fast, and their firepower wasn't sufficient. The English though, were superior in the artillery. First of all they had more. But overall, in Africa, we were always outnumbered. Also, our supply was low, and approximately 40% of the supply ships were sunk. The British airforce was also superior. They had more planes, and more fuel. We had very few bombers, mostly just fighters. But, we had the 88. It was far superior to anything the British had. I think it could fire nine kilometers away. The british tanks couldn't fire that far, so we could destroy many before they were even able to shoot. As for the troops, I say they (the British) were equal. There may have been a few units that weren't so good, but in general, they were equal. And they were well equiped. But their commanders were somewhat hesitant to attack, and it seems sometimes they didn't know what was going on.
Martin: What was it like being under Rommel's command?
Siebenbrot: It was great. I think that every man in the Afrika Korps, admired Rommel. And if he would come around and say: "Ok guys, we want to take Bardia" everybody was willing to go. He would always ask more from the soldiers than was expected of them. He was very demanding, but we would give it to him gladly. We respected him because he was fair. No prisoners were mistreated. Also, he kept the SS out of Africa. He refused to have any SS units under his command. He was also admired very much by the 8th Army.
Martin: What did Rommel think of the troops he was commanding?
Siebenbrot: He was very satisfied with his troops. He had some misgivings about the Italians, however in hindsight, they had a lot of tough luck. They didn't have the armour, they weren't properly fed either. An Italian friend of mine, who was in the Italian army, said the food was atrocious. Their army was also classed, unlike the German army (at least in Africa), where an officer would basically get the same food as a private. Not so in the Italian army. And consequently, the Italian moral was not as good as in the German army, which is understandable. One should not always put the Italians down, in my opinion.
Martin: (almost redundant now but...) What did you think about the Italians?
Siebenbrot: Like I talked about before, but they were good guys. On one occasion we ran out of water. Our canteens could only hold 3/4 of a liter, while the Italian had big ones, at least 2 or 3 liters. So a group of Italians happened to come by, and offered us some water. We were extremly gratefull. But their equipment wasn't very good, their tanks were horrible, so they couldn't stand up to anything. And they had no trucks. You try marching aroung in the desert, and fighting. So they usually only moved at night. We also at times had no trucks, but very few Italian units were motorized. You have to keep that in consideration.
Martin: Have you ever heard of Hans von Luck?
Siebenbrot: No.
Martin: What was your basic training like?
Siebenbrot: The training was not too bad. Personally, I didn't like the army. The treatment was pretty rough. When you get punished for something you haven't done, it's tough to take. The actual training wasn't bad, I could take it. But when the officers treat you unfairly, then it's not very good. But this is just my opinion.
Martin: Have you ever been back to Africa after the war?
Siebenbrot: No. When we immigrated to Canada, it was a little far off. But I did attend two meetings of the Afrika Korps, after the war. Once in Iserlohn, and once near Hannover. At each occasion, Rommel's widow and son visited. In Hannover, I met a German general, General von Letto-Vorbeck, that had served in Africa during WWI (WWII??)
Martin: What do you think of your experiences from the war?
Siebenbrot: Well, I lost 8 or 9 of the best years of my life. When you went back home, you did all the things that you would've done at 17 or 18 or 19, six or so years later. Especially now, since we lost the war, you feel cheated out of those years, and many wonder what the use was. What did we fight for?
Martin: What was life like in the desert?
Siebenbrot: The desert is just sand. Some deserts, like in North-America, have bushes or shrubs, but in northern Lybia and Egypt, there are almost none. Those that do exist, are small, and most are brown. During the day, the temperature goes up to 40 degrees Celcius. Throughout my stay in Africa, I experienced only one time that it rained. But when it rains, boy oh boy, does it rain. The water runs off in what are called wadis. They're like a canyon, buy only a few meters deep. They were very usefull for cover, even for vehicles. In the desert, you wouldn't carry too much, just your equipment, one change of socks and underwear, and thats it. When I was wounded the first time and sent back to Italy, I didn't have a stich of clothing that was German, except for my cap. In Africa, you would scrounge or loot captured or abandoned trucks, get clothes from there. So hardly anybody wore an official uniform. Even some of our equipment wasn't German. Many trucks we had were captured ones that could be fixed up. In general, our supply was poor. You had to make do with what you had.
Martin: What was a typical day like?
Siebenbrot: If it was a rest day, you would do nothing. If possible, you would wash your cloths. The nights are very cold in the desert. You need at least 3 or 4 blankets. If your not resting, your constantly on the move. Here and there, wherever your needed. And every now and then, you'd come upon an enemy column. I remenber one occasion, we ran into a small group of British trucks. We weren't a big group either, but we managed to get the uper hand, and shot up the trucks. We ran up to the trucks, and we took what we could. Food, water, anything you could use. I remember for one particular week, we lived entirely on english food. Our field kitchen wasn't able to keep up with us. Each soldier carried a 'Eiserne Reserve' (hard biscuit) with them, and it was only to be eaten on orders, if there was no more food. The British had a choclate version, and they were very good. On another occasion, we were driving along, and we could see enemy tanks coming in the distance. The lieutenant ordered to get the machinegun ready, and get into positions. The tanks come closer, and closer, and finally they started shooting. Then the lieutenant yelled to get the hell out of here. So we ran like crazy, and saw some of our trucks that had stayed behind. They seemed to have the same orders to retreat, and I was just barely able to jump onto one of them, when it took off. In the desert, a unit is rarely in action together. elements are spread around, and used were they are needed.
Martin: Under what higher HQ was your unit in?
Siebenbrot: We were attached to the 90th Light Division. We weren't a generic unit, but an independant unit attached to the division for most of the war in the desert.
Memoirs of a Panzergrenadier Veteran
by Björn Jervas
The following was translated and compilied by Björn Jervas, whose Grandfather, Willy Tiedemann, served in the Wehrmacht Heer during WWII. The following memoir was written from a series of audio tapes that were recorded by Willy before his death a number of years ago. Some place names may be incorrectly spelled, and various minor corrections and additions have been added by Jason Pipes, as indicated by information in parentheses. The following is an interesting mix of biography, memoir and diary entires based on Willy's experiences during World War II. It serves as a powerful testiment to the entire range of experiences and emotions of a German Soldat, from the monumental to the mundane, and from the joyous to the terribly upsetting.
Pre-war
I started my career as a policeman, my unit was 1. Landespolizei-Hundertschaft, Harburg. In September 1935, the whole unit was turned over to the Wehrmacht, we never volunteerd. In October 35 we were designated III Bataillon/Infanterie-Regiment 69, and our first batallion commander was Oberstleutnant Spengler. After this, we had years of practice.
In October 38, my unit marched into the Sudetenland, and we also invaded Czechozlovakia later. In August 39, my unit was in Sudetenland, practicing as (a) motorized unit. There were rumours of a war against Poland, but we did not believe it. On 20.8.39 we were moved eastwards, Küstrin-Landsberg. We arrived (at) Hasseln on 26.8.39, and camouflaged our vechicles. Nothing more happened. On 31.8.39 we were moved to Sclochau, were we met other units. Something was going on!
The Polish Campaign
(On) 1.9.39, at 0445 O'clock, our artillery started barraging the Polish town of Konitz. Konitz was ready for surrender by 0800. We drove into the fields of Tuscla. The first Polish resistance we had, was when we arrived Grajebo. We had actually moved "back" into Germany, before crossing the Polish border once more (Willy's unit was a part of the 20.Inf.Div.(mot.), which began the campaign against Poland on the western side of the Polish Corridor and after crossing through it, actually entered into East Prussia, thus entering "back" into Germany. - JP). On the 10.9.39 we crossed river Narew, and got in position at Zambro. Near by was "Festung Lomska", with 2 polish infantry and one artillery regiments. We were supposed to participate in a siege of this unit. It was so much fog that day, that the Polish managed to withdraw without our knowledge, but soon we engaged them. Polish and German MG's at Zambro shot wildly at anything moving, and it was a disaster! Our Bataillon lost 120 men, my Kompanie, the 9th had 32 KIA's. We took more than 400 POW's, and two field cannons.
Shortly after, we were sent towards Brest-Litowsk. We were supposed to attack this "festung", supported by railway-artillery, but the Polish surrendered after their officers had escaped. We were met by a terrible sight: more than 300 Volksdeutsche had been held as captives in the "festung", and they had been very badly treated! We occupied the town of Brest-Litowsk, the civilians wandered around in the streets, mostly very drunk...
We met the Russian forces in Brest-Litowsk. The commander of 10.Panzer-Division, Guderian, participated in the parade together with the Soviets. Our regiment was now a reserve unit for the forthcoming offensive against Warsaw, but no action took place.
On 6.10.39 we were moved, through Schneidemühl and Berlin to our barracks in Hamburg-Wentdorf. After some time, on 25.11.39, we moved westwards, and stayed in Paderborn. More exercises!
The Western Campaign
(On) 10.5.40 we were in position close to the Dutch border by Maastricht. We crossed the border, close to Lignic. No enemy contact. When we arrived Lafontaine, in France, we were met by escaping French and Morroccan forces. On 21.5.40 our Bataillon took 4300 PoWs, and we were turned towards Arras. Lots of prisoners were held at Bulogne. In the Calais-area, not far from Dunkirk, we attacked Oscapell - the British HQ. It was fierce fighting! At Lesegn-Chemaign the British tried an armoured counter-attack, but were beaten. On 31.5.40 we attacked Dunkirk and St. Omar.
(On) 4.6.41 we drove through Arras, Vieraux to Vedun. Just spread enemy activity (??). At Longrais, the French attacked, and our Bataillon had 20 casualties. We thought the war was over by now, but we were ordered to move on. The enemy resistance got harder, and the 9th Kompanie had 7 KIA's, the french about 60. Even if France had capitulated, the forces continued to fight! These were mostly soldiers from the Maginot Line.
One night, I was ordered to lead a patrol of a reinforced platoon. Suddenly we heard horses in front of us, and we opened fire! Without resistance, 100 men w/ 80 horses and one PAK surrendered. They told us that more French were to come, so we laid down in ambush. Just after 30 minutes, we heard horses - and it became silent! We sneaked in the direction where we had heard the noise, just like indians! We started firing, and really much so the french would believe we were many more than we really were. It worked!! We caught 1 colonel, 9 officers, 500 men and 400 horses! This unit had planned to attack our Bataillon the next morning!
From 21.6.40 we were not in combat anymore. We moved to St.Revienne at Nivea, to En Vrien close to Paris, as occupation forces.
Christmas 1940 was celebrated in Ahrendsee in Germany, before we went back to France. During Easter 41 we moved to Kosten, later Grossborn in Pommern, where we practiced for 7 weeks. On 12.6.41 we (were) in East Prussia close to the Soviet border. Could it really come to war again? I had a bad feeling.
(At some point after the French Campaign, he seems to have switched units because he now makes mention of his unit as the 20.Panzer-Division, which was not an extention of his earlier unit, the 20.Infanterie-Division (mot.) - JP)
The Eastern Campaign
On 22.6.41 my Bataillon crossed the Soviet border by Punsk. Very little resistance, we shot down 6 enemy aircraft, Ratas and Polkaripovs. (On) 25.6.41 we attacked Wilna, while Jagdgeschwader Mölders cleared the skies (of) enemy aircraft. On 28.6.41 we were in Minsk, with the mission of protecting bridges in the area. Very hot temperature, dust and swamps. We crossed Berezina, and were assigned to 4.Panzer-Armee led by Kluge.
On 7.7.41 we met really hard resistance at the Stalin line by Duna. For the first time we used the Nebelwerfer, with good effect. At Starojezelo we had great losses…
(On) 9.7.41 we moved towards Witebsk, very hard Russian resistance! We had to get out of our vechicles because of enemy artillery. Our Bataillon was stopped completely, and we had to jump around like rabbits to save our vechicles. Had to march from now on. On 10.7.41 we see that the Soviets are putting Vitebsk (on) fire. The city was not totally conquered before 13.7.41, after the use of Nebelwerfers.
Soon after, my division, the 20.Panzer-Division moved towards Smolensk. We reached north of the city on the 23.7.41. We were told we were the German unit who had reached most far into (the) Soviet (Union)!
On 28.7.41 we were reserve for (the) 12.Panzer-Division. We rested until 7.8.41, and were assigned to "Panzergruppe Hoth" , who apart from us, consisted of 20. and 18.Panzer-Grenadier-Division (actually, both were still motorizied infantry divisions at this point, they both became Panzer-Grenadier units in 1943 - JP) and 12.Panzer-Division. On 19.8.41 we moved northwards, Smolensk - Vitebsk - Opotska - Nikolajewo - Nowgorod towards Leningrad, and we stopped about 20km from Leningrad, in the Neva area, with the task to form a bridge-head. Hard fighting, 6.Kompanie had 6 dead, and 7 wounded. The enemy attacks with tanks and aircraft.
On 1.9.41 we meet the hardest resistance so far. My Kompanie has 11 casualties. We sit in wet trenches, and are constantly under heavy fire from artillery, tanks and mortars. Later this day, my Kompanie loses 26 men. A Stuka attack on russian artillery positions gives us a short break.
On the 9.9.41 we were moved to Sclüsselburg, and went into position. Had to build bunkers during night-time.
16.9.41. We are in our fox-holes, great losses. Our troops are in (a) very bad mood, and we feel like we are waiting to be executed.
18.9.41. Suddenly we see the 8.Panzer-Division moving through our area. Attack?
21.9.41. Today it is Sunday, but what a Sunday! No difference. Why can't the Soviets surrender, we have been told they were almost finished! Later this day, 9 Russian aircraft attack, and my Kompanie (has) 3 dead. Are we all to die here in foreign soil?
22.9.41. 8.Panzer-Division is ready to attack, and my Bataillon shall join them. The enemy fires from everywhere, who is really under siege? The Russians counterattack at Neva.
24.9.41. Positions unchanged. Counterattack! As reinforcment, we get one Stukageschwader and one Schlachtfliegergeschwader - they are attacking the Soviets now!
The Russians get supplies over the frozen Lake Lagoda, and this can not be stopped before the 18.Infanterie-Division (mot.) is moved further north, or if the Finns arrive. Where are the Finns? This night I think about Napoleon in 1812. What if the Winter comes?
25.9.41. Heavy Soviet artillery, tank attacks.
26.9.41. Soviet air attacks. German planes drives them away.
27.9.41. At 1800 12 Soviet bombers attack. Several casualties!
28.9.41. More and more air attacks, and heavy artillery. The Russians must have very good observers! We have now been here for 5 weeks!
29.9.41. Rumors of Fallschirmjäger and Infantry units taking over!
3.10.41. Indeed! Our Bataillon is releaved by Fallschirmjäger! We hear on (the) radio that Adolf Hitler promises the war will be over before the Winter!
5.10.41. No more rest. The whole Korp is about to attack soon!
8.10.41. Big Soviet armor attack, but we manage to stop them once again. Very cold, and constant rain.
9.10.41. In the night we wake up from some very loud detonations. Our forces use, for the first time, a projectile of 50 kg TNT, which we call "Peterchens Mondfahrt".
13.10.41. We are told to move to Djuba tomorrow. Where after that? This is hardly fun anymore, more than half of my Kompaine are dead ny now. The first snow is falling!
25.10.41. Today's surprise! I am ordered to go to Riga, to pick up food and equipment. It could be dangerous, because of partisans, but I'd do anything to get out of here!
7.11.41. I'm back. My Bataillon is in the Volchow-Tichwin area, to secure the right flank towards Budogotch. We are to support tank units that shall meet the Finns in Tichwin. Our forces reach Tichwin, but the russians stop the Finns from arriving. Difficult situation now!
17.11.41. My Bataillon, the first (I), has huge losses! 71 dead, and these were badly stumbled (I think he means badly treated - JP) by the Russians, they took all the uniforms, and left them naked in the snow. New Russian air attacks, temparature is below 31C.
19.12.41 We are ordered to retreat from Tichwin. During the night we reach Volchowa by Nowgorod. Tempature is below 52C!
We celebrate christmas in Luga. The russians are getting stronger, and have better clothes and equipment, but we only getting weaker. What a christmas...
29.12.41. We are deployed to Volchow together with an newly arrived I.D from France. The Russians have managed to form a bridge-head at Chodowo. Temperature is below 45C, and in my company we have 50-60 soldiers with severe wounds because of the temperature. Again back to the foxholes and bunkers.
In March 42 we are moved to a position west of Nowgorod, we are participating in the siege of 7 russian divisions. This lasted for some time, and the russians often tried to break out, in vain!
In May comes the spring. It is mud, mud and mud only. We have difficulties in getting supplies. The Russians despair! Our Nachtjäger are shooting down most of the aircraft that are dropping food and equipment to their forces. We are guarding the so-called "Erika-path".
It's getting warmer, and now we have millions and millions of mosquitos that pester us. Many get the "Volchow-fever", a kind of malaria, and so do I. When I recover, I get an unexpected leave, and can go to Germany.
I'm back on the 21st of July 42. By then the battles at Volchow were ended, we took more than 36,000 PoW's. How many dead? We certainly had heavy losses during the 4-month siege! We are now moved to Voltoskido, southeast of Lake Ilmen.
On 21.8.42 we get new orders, first to move to Staraja Russa, later northeast of Volchow. By now we knew we had to endure another winter in Russia.
In our new positions it was quite calm. We did good fortifications! In the beginning of November 42 (something) happened that changed my destiny: An order from Heeres-Personalamt, Berlin, said that all former policemen were to join a Feldgendarmerie-Ersatz-Abteilung. I was finally to get an officer education, being a Hauptfeldwebel by now. I was happy to get away from the frontline, the school was in Lodz, Poland. I stayed in Lodz for two months, and got orders to lead a transport of 65 Feld-Gendarmen to Kaukasus. The train was set up in Warsaw.
We spent 5 weeks on the train, sometimes we had to wait hours and days for more important trains to pass. Horrible trip!
In Changhoy, at the Crimea, we stopped. Now we heard of the 6th Division in Stalingrad... (I believe he means 6.Armee, which was finally lost in the Stalingrad Pocket in early February 1943 - JP)
(In) the place we were to go (to), in (the) Kaukasus, the situation had changed. The Germans were retreating, so we couldn't go of course. I got orders to go to Simropol, Crimea, and meet the commanding general, Mackenklot. My unit got divided, and (we) were sent to different places. I could choose, and (I) chose Jalta. What a beauty! It was like dreaming, sun, palms and flowers! The beauty really thrilled me!
I worked at Ortskommandantur Simais, south in Crimea. I led a unit of Tartar HIPO's, (These were the Crimean Tartars, local ethnic men in the Crimea region who came forward to volunteer for service in the German Wehrmacht specifically to help fight the Soviets, with whom the Crimean Tartars had been stuggling for freedom for many years. Approximately 10 Bataillonen and 14 Kompanien of Crimean Tartars were formed in the Crimea region during WWII. Their service in the HIPO, or Hilfspolizie, was as auxiliary police units in which they helped hunt down partisans - JP) and were told to guard them as well. One of our tasks, was to give a daily meal to the civilians. If the war was like this, I surely could endure for some time!
In the beginning of March 43 I had to meet in Schabroze with my men, and to join the Feldgendarmerie Unit I originally was designed too. They had arrived from (the) Kaukasus. This meant an end to my good life... I got promoted to Leutnant in Sept 43, and joined my new unit in Poltava. Now there was a rapidly moving retreat to Polomi. Hell breaks loose again!
From 2100 O'clock the Soviets attacked with bomber airplanes, and heavy artillery, agaist the railway station at Polomi. 18 freight trains were destroyed, and we had numerous killed. I sat in an earth hole, like so many times before, but had lost contact with my unit. Not so strange, they were in Mariopol, and I teamed up with them again.
I recieved a reinforced platoon (zug), and were ordered to stop the russians. Fierce fighting, we fought for our lives, and NOT to end up as PoW's in Siberia. (On) 11.9.43. we arrived in Bertjansk, and started to evacuate the civilian population. Of course we burned everyting that the Russian forces could use. My unit was divided into several groups, so we didn't see each other too much. Suddenly the town was attacked by russian T 34 tanks, and we had to get away. We managed so!
In Nogjajsk the situation was desperate! We had to move, but it was all just mud. We literally had to carry our PzKv! We gathered in Povrovka. At the end of September, we were officially deployed to Heeresgruppe Süd, and moved to Vititsa. Got an unexpected order that I had to participate for 6 weeks more in front line service, as Kompanie commander!! They must have forgotten that I had fought in the first lines with 20.Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment before I joined the Feldgendarmerie! (Here I believe he is actually refering to the division he originally fought with in Poland, the 20.Infanterie-Division (mot.) which was later upgraded to a Panzer-Grenadier-Division in 1943. It would seem obvious that to the Soldat in the frontlines, the symantic differance between a motorizied infantry division and an armored infantry division was bascially pointless. - JP)
On 5.10.43 we were deployed to an Infanterie-Regiment, but this was destroyed before we could join. Ended up in 231.Infanterie-Division, (the) commanding general was Block. At first, we were the reserve unit.
Suddenly we got orders to throw out 800 Russian commando soldiers who had dug in near a tank trench. We were to attack at 1300. Our mission: Clear a village close by, and attack the main force. Our artillery gave us cover. As we arrived to the village, the Russians opened fire from everywhere. We could not stay, and managed to get out. I got wounded by a shrapnel, and had to give up my command.
At last my company managed to eliminate the Russians, with good help from a unit (of) "Do-werfers" (some sort of rocket launcher - JP). But just for 1 hour, the Russians counterattacked, and forced my Kompanie out again. When we tried to re-capture the positions, our Do-werfers laid their fire on our unit, and the whole Kompanie was destroyed!! What a luck I had to survive! (Imagine being caught in a mistaken barrage of friendly Nebelwerfer rockets... the thought of it simply horrible! - JP)
On 6.11.43 I was in a bunker, totally bandaged. The Russians got stronger day by day. Got a new Kompanie yesterday, and we move in our trenches again. The Russians are only 60m from us! It is horrible, we can only move at night time.
24.11.43. Soon we will get some rest. The last enemy artillery attack lased for 80 minutes. How is it possible that someone can survive such detonations? This night a Pionier-Kompanie is to clear out a Russian trench, so that they can destroy a Russian HQ bunker.
25.11.43. Just after midnight hell breaks loose! The Russians attack! Twice were they down in our positions, and we had to fight man against man. Only by the help of handgrenades were we able to throw them out! We held our positions!
A new unit took over, and we got out. Just two hours after that, the Russians overrran the trences finally.
We are constantly moving! At 0500: Alarm! We are ordered to attack a Russian bridge-head. We are transported about 12km, and go into position to wait for the promised reinforcment units. (which never arrive). Russian JABO's constantly harrass us!
26.11.43. We can not attack, but are ordered to hold an important area. The Russians use rockets against us all the time, the "Stalin organ". My Kompanie looses 8 men, and there are only 34 men left! We are told to keep a frontline of 800m! We all believe the Russians will attack soon, we have no flank security.
The Russains have 3000 men total, my batallion 150. We have only one MG42, and one PAK placed between 1. and 2.Kompanie. Behind us are two self-propelled FLAK's as reserve. We have good positions.
26.11.43 at night time we are expecting the Russians, but it is unnaturally quiet. Get 16 men as reinforcement. Have to check all sentries constantly, that they are awake! At 0530 comes an enemy artillery attack, but quiet again. Suddenly we all see the Russians, who don't come at us, but at the 1.Kompanie. We are posisioned in a square, and my right flank has contact with 1.Kompanie's left flank. Here we had the PAK, but it was destroyed almost immediately during the Russian artillery fire.
At 0630 I see Russian infantry moving slowly. I estimate 8-900 men. Our two Kompanie have 120 men now, and since we have no radio, I order one man to get to the HQ behind, and to get the two FLAK's brought up. I couldn't believe my own ears when he returned, and said that the HQ with FLAK's had left the area!!!
The Russians advanced, and 1.Kompanie opened fire. The Russians answered with rifle and MG fire, and 1.Kompanie could not hold them up. The Kompanie commander was killed, and the rest came to us. The Russians moved, surprisingly, to where the HQ had neen, and we had a short break. I ordered my Kompanie to move rapidly, and we came to a small hill. Now we were seen by Ivan, and they opened a murderous fire. One by one my soldiers were killed. After 3 hours we had no ammo left. What now? I had only half of my force intact now.
Suddenly I felt a hard blow in my left arm, and my tunic got red. No pain. I can't remember what I thought!
Me, and 8-10 men moved slowly backwards, and I felt a new, and harder blow, and was thrown to the ground. A Gefreiter who had a knee injury, thought I was dead, and crawled towards me to get my ID tag or Soldbuch. He believed he was the only who had survived and didn't want to get shot as a deserter. As he saw I was alive, he dragged me 50-60m into a corn field, allthough I begged him not to.
The Russians came, and gun-butted our wounded comrades to death!
What now? We crawled, after some hours, across the corn field, and suddenly we saw a German soldier! Actually it was three Artillerie-men, who had lost their unit! And they had two horses and a wagon! God be praised.
We rode on the wagon, but after about 1km I suddenly heard loud motors, and a explosion. I fainted. As I woke up, I realized a Russian JABO had attacked. The three artillery men, and their horses were dead, only the unknown Gefreiter and me survived.
After a long, and extremely painful journey at night, me exhausted from pain and the loss of blood, we met German forces again. I got several operations, and was finally to be sent to Odessa. Later Lemberg, finally Germany. I spent more than 2 years in the hospital to recover.
The Bataillon commander, who betrayed us, got the German cross in Gold for hard resistance against the enemy, I got EK 1, but survived the war. He didn't, and I shall not mention his name.
Was it true heroism or insanity that made me do such things? I thought about it during the rest of the war. It was surely not heroism.
War is so cruel, that nobody can understand. I spent 10 years in the Wehrmacht, almost 5 years at the front line. Most of my friends and comrades now rest in foreign soil!
Memoirs of a Luftwaffe Nachrichten Veteran
{continued in the next post}