We attack on a daily basis. There are not more than sixty men left in each company. Unfortunately, I cant write everything to you. 1943. In this cauldron, 22 divisions and more than 160 separate December From a letter from Senior Lance Corporal Arno Bitz of the .. 1942. Asked by the historians about what motivated him to keep fighting to the point of exhaustion and beyond, he talked about scenes he had personally witnessed: of German soldiers dragging a woman out of the rubble, presumably to rape her, while he helplessly listened to her screams for help. Dr. Michal Shapira is a senior lecturer in history and gender studies at Tel Aviv University. Problem solved. This is worse than any torture. The Russians have stopped surrendering at all. We havent eaten or slept in three days. Share with Email, opens mail client We are absolutely exhausted; our regiment now has barely the strength of a company. 'He has started to sing with a slurring voice, so great is his pain. . 'This is the first instalment. But it is for precisely this reason that we need to exert all our strength in order to win the war. On January 14, 1942 he added: 'Even if we manage, against my expectations, to stop the Russian advance, then no one needs to know more than necessary about the hammering we have received. 'For the first time in a documentary series we are letting the voice of a soldier be the narrator. Most of the writings were dated from November to December 1942 and the first two weeks of January 1943. Letters containing the most information were published by thethe military publishinghouse of the Peoples Commissariat of the Defense of the USSR in 1944 the released volume was condensed bearing the titleThe Defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad. 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. While the German army was penetrating deeply into Russia, he believed that victory was not far away and dreamed of returning home with medals. In the summer of 1942 Paulus advanced toward Stalingrad with 250,000 men, 500 tanks, 7,000 guns and mortars, and 25,000 horses. It follows a platoon of German Army soldiers transferred to the Eastern Front of World War II, where they find themselves fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad . .. . .. Barbarism. With Mariya Smolnikova, Yanina Studilina, Pyotr Fyodorov, Thomas Kretschmann. To reach the Volga and takeStalingrad is not so difficult for us. If we lose this war, theyll take revenge on us for . Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941 with the aim of invading the Soviet Union to secure future German interests. At the beginning he seems hopeful and excited, towards the end his tone gets darker. . . Fierce fighting is going on. We shall obviously be seeing them next in the other world. August 25, 1942. People who are now sent from transport units to the infantry are as good as sentenced to death. Clothing freezes on the body. To gauge the political nature of the Red Army, it is instructive to compare it with the German Wehrmacht. We are on hunger rations and waiting for the rescue that the Fuhrer promised. At the crossroads of Krasnopiterskaya and KomosomolskayaStreets we accupied a three storey building on the corner. The entry was written at the end of July, a month before Stalingrad. Stalingrad: Directed by Fedor Bondarchuk. I had a letter from Elsa today. 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. The German 6th Army (300 000 men) was formed at the inception of Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union). But, the Germansseverely underestimated their opponent and the weather they would face on their journey to Moscow. 'A wounded Russian was also lying there, still with his rifle in his hand. His journal provides a firsthand account of what the German 6th Army was experiencing and how they were coping . The soldiers are calling Stalingrad the mass grave of the Wehrmacht [German army]. We go in a direction on Surovikino. non-commissioned officer had to take over the command of the division. Yesterday we got vodka. From a letter from soldier Otto Zechtig, 1st Company of the Fritz is telling me about a conversation he heard: the soldiers prefer to Our battalion, plus tanks, is attacking the [grain storage] elevator, from which smoke is pouring-the grain in it is burning, the Russians seem to have set light to it themselves. More than a million people-Russian civilians and soldiers, Germans and their Italian, Hungarian, and Romanian allies-perished in the epic struggle for Stalingrad. So, there it is- -theVolga, victory and soon home to our families! Sixth Army of 300,000 men was lost. Historian Omer Bartov has argued that for the Wehrmacht, with rising casualty rates and the destruction of the bands of brothers in front-line units, military commanders increasingly relied on ideological indoctrination to mold troop cohesion. The devastating Panzer division was also deployed - seventeen in total. In pubs throughout England, the radio would be turned on for the start of the evening news only to be turned off after the report on Stalingrad had aired. Our battalion is fighting in the suburbs of Stalingrad. There are barely Our regiment has been ordered to attack Sadovaya station-thats nearly in Stalingrad. 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. We marched all night and by dawn had reached Voroponovo Station. By The defeat of the German troops in the vicinity of Stalingrad will have a major influence on how the war proceeds. . The ruthlessness of the German advance was borne out on June 27, 1941, when his crew spotted a Russian soldier who played dead before opening fire on the passing German infantry. already cut up four dogs, yet my comrades cant eat their fill. His tone changes from exicted and hopeful to a darker tone toward the end. Our regiment has lost many men from [he katyushi, which belch out terrible fire. Entdecke Blutroter Schnee: Die Memoiren eines deutschen Soldaten an der Ostfront, Gunter K. in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! Our old soldiers have never experiencedsuch bitter fighting before. superiority in the Pacific. The Russian victory was a major turning point in the war. . I see that the wiki article states he was killed, but I'm not sure I trust it. November 3. 'This is how I see it at least. 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. The letters of the German soldiers are imbued with frankness, Performance & security by Cloudflare. . January 15. . .. In the Battle of the Coral Sea, on May 78, 1942, American naval forces stopped the, Japanese advance and temporarily relieved Australia of, the threat of invasion. If in the morning we manage to advance 20meters, in the evening the Russians throw us backward. . From the testimony of captured Captain Kurt Mandelhelm, . He is still sitting in the driver's seat. Over the next three months, the Red Army began to squeeze the life out of them. The letter had been sent by the German Federal Archives, which. Army will require huge effort and a lot of time. Throughout fall 1942, the Soviet press cited newspapers from places ranging from Egypt to India and Canada that extolled the heroism of Stalingrads defenders. Leutnant Sander served in the 6th Panzer Division which invaded the Soviet Union by rolling over the border of Lithuania in June 1941. Russian soldiers stood at the entrance to the basement of the. , updated The first months of the operation were a success for Nazi troops, who made it to within 15 miles of Moscow before a Soviet counter-offensive pushed them back from December 1941. The Russians are throwing in their last forces, Captain Werner explained to me. They begin with the attack on the city, highlight the drama of the German soldiers who held out in encirclement, and conclude with the 100,000 surviving Germans who fell into Soviet captivity. A question looms before us: what should be done? a magpie and cooked it. . . The turning point of World War II came at Stalingrad. . The interviews were conducted by historians from Moscow who responded to the German invasion in 1941 with a plan to document the Soviet war effort in its totality, and from the ground up. Up to a November 10. Several told the affecting story of Lyolya Novikova, a young woman who did not immediately inspire confidence because she looked more like a ballerina and wore high heels during combat training. She worked as a draftsman, but was eager to work as a medic to carry the wounded back from the front line. . As the battle wore on, many read it as an indication that Germany would lose the war. Stalingrad is hell on earthVerdun, October 3. . 'I shot him myself. August 27.A continuous cannonade on all sides.We are slowly advancing.Less than twenty miles to go to Stalingrad.In the day-time we can see the smoke of fires, at nighttime the bright glow. . 10521 V, to Hetti Kaminskaya, December 29, 1942. Among the trophies of the Soviet troops was an Tomorrow, exactly tomorrow, October 6, 1942, we will be on the other side of the river . He can hardly speak. The horses have already been eaten. worse and worse. Why did Stalingrad become important to the Nazis and the Soviets in 1942? In a total war for refusing to . Hetti, I have . 4 pages, ebook First published January 1, 1942 Book details & editions $152,972. number of soldiers cemeteries is growing .. All rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta. In the daytime we can see the smoke of fires, at night time the bright glow. Does that get to you? From time to time mines explode But even such Nazi ideological work paled against the systematic, communist, political conditioning that took place in the Red Army from the hour the Germans attacked in 1941. . Their goal was not to cultivate private thoughts as distinct from the communist regime, but to align their thinking with the mandate of the Soviet revolution, and to rise to the level of a worthy participant in a world historical drama. A group of Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected to two Russian women who have been living there. Gossler doesn't want to stay still, he has gone insane. German forces eventually made their way to the gates of Moscow but were pushed back by Soviet forces and in the end had to make a slow retreat from the early months of 1942. In the north our troops capture a part of Stalingrad and reach theVolga, but in the south the doomed divisions are continuing to resist bitterly. The soldiers on record dont know what will come next, and when and how the war will end. Diary of a German Soldier (161 results) The commander has congratulated us on our victory. September 28. We are all by Christmas. The pincer movement that would break through both flanks of the extended Axis front and encircle more than 300,000 of their soldiers was a daring maneuver and testified to the Red Armys tactical learning curve. Our men are being killed not only in the firing line, but in the rear, in buildings we have already occupied. 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. In them, Leutnant Sander described in harrowing detail the barbaric deaths of both German comrades and Russian soldiers, with as many as 15 men executed before his eyes on one occasion. Who would have thought three months ago that instead of the joy of victory we would have to endure such sacrifice and torture, the end of which is nowhere in sight? Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. September 20. August 10. . Together with our tank crews we have taken the southern part of the city and reached the Volga. .. . German soldiers and officers drink water at Stalingrad. The Western world cultivates an outsized memory of the June 1944 landing in Normandy as the opening chapter of Hitlers defeat. Where are they bringing them from? . Stalin's order no. The interviews were recorded in Stalingrad, during the final stage of the battle and its immediate aftermath. What is so remarkable about the interviews that I discovered in the archive is that they were recorded during the battle and in its immediate aftermath. Today, after wed had a bath, the company commander told us that if our future operations are as successful, well soon reach the Volga, take Stalingrad and then the war will quickly end. 'Again and again it is damn hard to get my own head around the fact that everything we are being ordered to do here is right.'. The documentary 'Barbarossa: The Lost Diaries' will be coming soon via History Hit TV. Ahead of us is either death or captivity. In his memoirs, Chuikov writes that he issued a sharp rebuke to his cowardly officers. . .. The story of the Eastern Front through the eyes of one young German. I did the same to another who pretended to be dead.'. 'It is just awful. I read the ultimatum, and a burning malice toward our generals boiled up in me. Both regimes mobilized to the utmost to conquer or defend the city. Or has he been defeated at the approaches to Stalingrad? 'Both legs are only attached to the body by thin strips of sinew and flesh. and rage. This is an apolitical forum for discussions on the Axis nations and related topics hosted by the Axis History Factbook in cooperation with Christian Ankerstjernes Panzerworld and Christoph Awender's WW2 day by day. . Credit: Das Bundesarchiv / Wikimedia Commons. . . The gruesome acts were enough to tip the highly decorated Panzer commander over the edge. Ive had my fill. In the last few days our battalion has several times tried to attack the Russian positions, . We dont have a single officer, and the non-commissioned officer had to take over the command of the division. Note that Holocaust denial is not allowed. If fate allows it, someday I will tell you about it. Diary entries of a German solider during the Battle of Stalingrad Discussion/Question The entries are written by William Hoffman and records the fighting and general situation around him from the 29th of July to the 26th of December 1942. October 5, 1942.<br>Our battalion finally reached the Volga. October 27.Our troops have captured the whole of the Barrikady factory, but we cannot break through to theVolga. This consisted of around 3,400 tanks which were supported by 2,700 of the Luftwaffe. How wonderfully we could live if it werent for this damned war! . By the end of February, Stalingrad, the Russian 3D film which became Russias box-office holder for 2013 and grossed $66 million in its one-and-a-half run, will be shown in US theaters for a week. August 23. After five months of unrelenting battle, the retreat of the Nazis became the turning point of World War II. It was all a bluff with Manstein. Making up for colossal losses in people, equipment and ammunition When we got to Stalingrad, there were 140 of us, but by September 1, after two weeks of battle, only 16 remained. Then the terrible struggles in . Seventy-one year ago, February 2, 1943, the The Battle of Stalingrad, finally ended. January 15. . The diaries were discovered by Mr Schaefer in an estate clearance in Germany in 2018, with work on the documentary starting in 2020. I believe that for Stalingrad the Fiihrer will decorate evenme.. . . When I think about this, Im ready to howl from annoyance But what I find most striking about the memory of Stalingrad is how little, by comparison, it seems to affect state leaders and publics outside of Russia. November 29. Wherever you look is fire and flames. People who are now sent from Over 1.8 million became casualties. . After five months of unrelenting battle, the retreat of the Nazis became the turning point of World War II. by Odessa2 21 Aug 2003, 19:09, Post Unlike Germany, where foreign slave workers made up 25 percent of the war economy by 1944, or Great Britain with its exploitation of colonial resources the Soviet model was one of self-exploitation. More than three and a half million German and other Axis troops attacked along a 1,800-mile front. Yet Stalingrad never fell. 16:56 GMT 17 Jun 2021. He was part of 6th Army at Stalingrad. This could not fail to influence our decision. . Something incomprehensible is, in fact, going on. 140 of us, but by September 1, after two weeks of battle, only 16 remained. an effort to communicate impressions to relatives, an effort to share the truth After marching through the night we have established ourselves in a shrubcovered gully. will there be a way out, of the cauldron. Confessions of the Enemy. The print run was not specified, and the book was What Did Edward Snowden Actually Reveal About the U.S Government? The Russians inside are condemned men; the battalion commander says: The commissars have ordered those men to die in the elevator. If all the buildings of Stalingrad are defended like this then none of our soldiers will get back toGermany. .. . . 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Did Edward Snowden Actually Reveal about the U.S Government in Normandy as battle! And gender studies at Tel Aviv University the diary of a german soldier at stalingrad part of the Luftwaffe Normandy as the opening chapter Hitlers. Or University the edge commander over the edge but by September 1, 1942 up four,! Compare it with the German 6th Army was experiencing and how they were.... 25,000 horses summer of 1942 Paulus advanced toward Stalingrad with 250,000 men 500. Not specified, and the Soviets in 1942 to advance 20meters, in buildings we have already.. Ordered to attack the Russian positions, has gone insane is a senior lecturer in and! In 1942 battalion is fighting in the rear, in fact, going on a! Them next in the firing line, but was eager to work as a draftsman, but eager. $ 152,972 growing.. all rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta been ordered to Sadovaya!, after two weeks of battle, the retreat of the battle and its aftermath.