Diary of a German Soldier (161 results) I highly recommend the Book "Forgotten Soldier". Mr Snow added: 'The invasion launched by Hitler against Stalin 80 years ago this month was the start of the most terrible clash in human history. The global media reports pushed both sides onward. around us. What is also remarkable is how the Soviet military command was able to secretly deploy an army of 1 million soldiers along these flanks in the weeks leading up to the operation. The film is the second German movie to portray the Battle of Stalingrad. December 1 . This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The fighting in Stalingrad, lasting from August 1942 to February 1943, and ending with the surrender of Hitlers army, changed the course of World War II and world history. . 87th Artillery Regiment of the 113th Infantry Division, no. September 1942. They snapped at the gates of Moscow from October 1941 to January 1942, in vicious fighting that nevertheless set the stage for Soviet counter-offensives. Lots of wounded are being brought by. The interviews were recorded in Stalingrad, during the final stage of the battle and its immediate aftermath. His journal provides a firsthand account of what the German 6th Army was experiencing and how they were coping . In what way was it a battle that changed world history? and December of 1942 and the first half of January 1943. An excerpt from a letter of soldier Otto Zechtig, 1st Company of the 1st Battalion of the 227th Infantry Regiment of the 100th Light Infantry Division, no. by Odessa2 21 Aug 2003, 19:09, Post Military church records [Kirchenbcher]. . Our regiment has lost many men from [he katyushi, which belch out terrible fire. Splendid news-north of Stalingrad our troops have reached theVolga and captured part of the city. It includes the source in the post and a link to an imgur post with the translated diary in. . These letters and diaries are lively and direct
This news brought hope to the soldiers hearts. . We havent eaten or slept in three days. The prevailing notion in scholarship is that Stalin was politically bankrupt when the war began duped by the Germans, on the defensive, and deeply unpopular. Leutnant Friedrich Sander lost faith in the German war machine after cracking during the brutal Operation Barbarossa - the German invasion of the Soviet Union, which began in June 1941. Credit: Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad, My Aunt Had a Dinner Party, and Then Took Her Guests to Kill 180 Jews, Germany Marks Munich Massacre With Memorial, but Still Avoids Taking Responsibility, How a neo-Nazi Group Recruited Her Majestys Soldiers. Have we really lost so many men? Part of Senior Lance Corporal Arno Bitzs letter, 87th Artillery Regiment of the 113th Infantry Division, no. October 3. hellish place once and for all. While the German army was penetrating deeply into Russia, he believed that victory was not far away and dreamed of returning home with medals. Haaretz.com, the online English edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, gives you breaking news, analyses and opinions about Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. Our regiment is attacking the Barrikady settlement. . 28329 D, to his
The Russians lauded the everyday heroism of their troops, while the Germans cast the Soviet soldiers as subhuman beings who fought cruelly and without any respect for life even their own. The soldiers on record dont know what will come next, and when and how the war will end. Diary entries of Field Gendarmerie Sergeant Helmut Megenburg: . The story of the Eastern Front through the eyes of one young German. The victory came at a high cost; about two-fifths of the American planes were shot down. December 25.The Russian radio has announced the defeat of Manstein. Fanatics. Founded in 1999. He expects victory of us. German soldiers and officers drink water at Stalingrad. Red Army soldiers describe how they fought their way into the city center, blowing up basements and entire buildings filled with Germans after at least some of them refused to lay down their arms. . Hosted by David Thompson. A haunting sense of loss and defeat marks the recollections on the German side, whereas Russian storytelling about Stalingrad is imbued with a spirit of national pride and sacrifice. He wrote: 'In total more than 20 corpses lay around the destroyed tank. . The operation to surround and liquidate
November 21. We have lost many men; every time you move you have to jump over bodies. . The following entries in the diary of William Hoffman, a German soldier who perished at Stalingrad, reveal the decline in German confidence as the battle progressed. Damn this Stalingrad! .. The horses have already been eaten. . Fierce fighting is going on. BERLIN: A guilt-ridden account of an ordinary German soldier's experiences in World War two is countering a recent trend among historians to portray Germans as victims of the war. Credit: Das Bundesarchiv / Wikimedia Commons. Yesterday we got vodka. In September 1942, German lieutenant colonel Friedrich Roske declared himself "the master of the centre of Stalingrad" after his troops had smashed their way into the heart of the city. Everyone expects us home for Christmas. 'The diaries are so powerful, so vivid and so rich that interviews with historians, presenters and re-enactment are all unnecessary. December 26. . While it would be more than another year before the Red Army liberated the death camps in Poland, the Battle of Stalingrad disrupted the Nazi death machine. . In three weeks we have occupied about five and a half square miles. On November 8, Hitler, announced that the German Sixth Army had taken Sta-, lingrad, but in fact, on November 19 and 20, the Soviets. Stalingrad, and the final desperate battles inside Germany at the end of the war. The economy, culture and society were fully mobilized by governments. This could not fail to influence our decision. His secret journals have been found 80 years later and are to be turned into a documentary by History Hit, the streaming network set up by historian Dan Snow. Being German, I am of course also susceptible to Stalingrads towering place in German collective memory. Thats what everyone is saying. At a communist youth meeting held in her memory a few days later, several young women spoke, vowing to fight the Germans just as Lyolya had. Stalingrad is hell on earthVerdun,
. At 11 o'clock, Russian tanks and Katyusha attack us. He can hardly speak. After five months of unrelenting battle, the retreat of the Nazis became the turning point of World War II.. . We attack on a daily basis. They also wanted to create an archival record for posterity. We stay in our cellar; you cant go out into the street. From time to time mines explode around us. by Whisper 21 Aug 2003, 22:23, Post The weather is getting
Germans fire the 105 mm howitzer leFH 18 in the area of the grain elevator. 'We will live through the war in the east as he lived it.'. The 83-year-old remembers exactly how he opened the letter, reading with amazement that his father's remains had finally been found. , updated . All
Diary of a German Soldier William Hoffman 4.50 4 ratings2 reviews The following entries in the diary of William Hoffman, a German soldier who perished at Stalingrad, reveal the decline in German confidence as the battle progressed. I would eat a cat; they say its meat is also tasty. for a long time. Can it be that it is not true about Manstein? Gossler doesn't want to stay still, he has gone insane. . Russian snipers hit anyone who shows himself carelessly from behind shelter. January 5. But, the Germansseverely underestimated their opponent and the weather they would face on their journey to Moscow. And when will Hitler take any decisive steps to free our armies from encirclement? Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941 with the aim of invading the Soviet Union to secure future German interests. I found this post in the history subreddit on, you guessed it, reddit. . 140 of us, but by September 1, after two weeks of battle, only 16 remained. The number of soldiers cemeteries is growing .. . everything we did. In fact for some people, its essential that they become inhuman and numb to the daily horror that surrounds them, to block out the madness that threatens to engulf all the time. . A big turning point for Leutnant Sander came on October 2 when many tanks were destroyed in a minefield near Wjasma, between Smolensk and Moscow. Russian soldiers stood at the entrance to the basement of the. Many of the interviewed soldiers at Stalingrad agreed that the nurses performed exceptionally. Life in the Third Reich & Weimar Republic, Kriegsmarine surface ships and Kriegsmarine in general, Luftwaffe air units and Luftwaffe in general, German Strategy & General German Military Discussion, NSDAP, other party organizations & Government, The Dieter Zinke Axis Biographical Research Section, The Ron Klages Panzer & other vehicles Section, Panzer & other vehicles - Photo threads, Axis Documents, Feldpost numbers, Postcards & Other Paper Items, The United Kingdom & its Empire and Commonwealth 1919-45, The Allies and the Neutral States in general, German Colonies and Overseas Expeditions, The end of the Ottoman Empire 1908-1923, Translation help: Breaking the Sound Barrier, http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.as ld&rLink=0. . . The military history YouTube channel The Armchair Historian opens their episode on the Battle of Stalingrad with the line "The average lifespan of a soldier in Stalingrad was just 24 hours.". printed on the simplest paper and released as a paperback not meant to be kept
number of soldiers cemeteries is growing .. already cut up four dogs, yet my comrades cant eat their fill. Why is that? by Whisper 21 Aug 2003, 19:07, Post At the crossroads of Krasnopiterskaya and KomosomolskayaStreets we accupied a three storey building on the corner. Up to then, the German army had seen victory after victory and Hoffman felt confident they could conquer Stalingrad and then the rest of Russia. . toward our generals boiled up in me. . I found this book an insightful account of the mind of s sniper and the battle for Stalingrad. July 29 1942. . A bored and cold German soldier plays a game of "eenie-meenie-miny-moe", aiming at a group of children, most too young to even comprehend the danger. Yesterday we got vodka. We are advancing towards Stalingrad along the railway line. You can scarcely breathe in the daytime: there is nowhere and no one to remove the bodies, so they are left there to rot. Part of Heinrich Malchus letter, a soldier, no. [Quoting Zaitsev]: Or another time you see young girls, children hanging from trees in the park. This is simply unbelievable. The letters penned by the German soldiers as the Battle of Stalingrad raged on around them were infused with candor. by Oleg Grigoryev 21 Aug 2003, 22:48, Return to Holocaust & 20th Century War Crimes. Seventy-one year ago, February 2, 1943, the The Battle of Stalingrad, finally ended. . Spirits were so high that Leutnant Sander even took a bottle of champagne with him to toast his division's first attack. . The Battle of Stalingrad was amongst the bloodiest battles ever fought in the history of . 6 Dec. November 19. All Rights Reserved In some sense, the counter-offensive copied the stunningly successful German Blitzkrieg model of 1941. .. The entry was written at the end of July, a month before Stalingrad. 4 pages, ebook First published January 1, 1942 Book details & editions About the author William Hoffman Why Do Some People Look Totally Different In Pictures Than In Real Life? December 23.Still no orders. The YouTube channel is a generally reputable source but this fact made me skeptical. Are the Russians really thinking of holding out in the city itself? convinced that they cant stop us. Ive had my fill. 27800, dated November 20, 1942 to his parents: . . From the testimony of captured Captain Kurt Mandelhelm,
. proceeds. Poor fellow, hes got three children. Among the last Wehrmacht soldiers to leave Stalingrad by air were a group of 18 wounded and sick Croat legionnaires, including Lt. Barievi, who were flown out by Luftwaffe pilots and were landed on the last serviceable German airfield at Staljingradskaja near the 369th's artillery section positions on the night of 22 to 23 January 1943. . 'A wounded Russian was also lying there, still with his rifle in his hand. Fighting is going on inside the elevator. The most important condition for a soldier to join the party was not doctrinal knowledge, say, the ability to recite party textbooks, but proof that the soldier had killed Germans. If only the days and nights would pass more quickly . An unlucky number. Hitler, they were certain, would meet Napoleons end. 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