When the Germans resumed their offensive, in spring 1942, their strategic target was the oil fields of the Caucasus. The Russians are not men, but some kind of cast-iron creatures; they never get tired and are not afraid of fire. Russian snipers hit anyone who shows himself carelessly from behind shelter. What Did Edward Snowden Actually Reveal About the U.S Government? When, as part of the campaign to fight Stalins cult of personality, his city was renamed Volgograd in 1961, many veterans objected: With Stalingrad gone, they felt written out of history as well. . Contemporary observers, German as well as Soviet, agreed that the Red Army troops at Stalingrad fought with enormous fervor. After the Stalingrad campaign, Hitler ordered that Soviet-style political officers the so-called commissars be introduced into the Wehrmacht. Military church records [Kirchenbcher]. . January 5. The retreat of the Nazis in that particular battle is seen by many historians as the turning point of WWII. These historians hoped that the published interviews would mobilize readers for the war. Will I really go back to Elsa without a decoration? December 21.We are waiting for the order, but for some reason or other it has been a long time coming. The soldiers are calling Stalingrad the mass grave of the Wehrmacht [German army]. Ultimately, this led to the crumbling of Germany's northern front, culminating with Russian troops' push into Germany, where in 1945 they took Berlin and declared victory in the war. The most informative letters were published in 1944 by the by Weiss Wurst 21 Aug 2003, 18:01, Post It is pure hell here. 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 weather's getting worse. How wonderfully we could live if it werent for this damned war! days. September 26. Diary Of A German Soldier Fighting In Stalingrad February 6, 2020Leave a Comment In July 1942, the Germans resumed their advance into the U.S.S.R. begun the previous summer, seeking to conquer Stalingrad, a vital transportation center located on the Volga River. 'I shot him myself. One day I shot September 11 . But now we have to roam around this horrible Russia, and for what? Diary of a German Soldier William Hoffman 4.50 4 ratings2 reviews Want to read Buy on Amazon Rate this book 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. . December 26. By 1945, Stalin made sure that official publications referred to him as the sole architect of Soviet victory over fascism. . . On June 4, at the Battle of Midway, Island, American planes destroyed all four of the attacking, Japanese aircraft carriers and established American naval. commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 518th Infantry Regiment of the 295th 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.". But it is for Its just terrible. . In the interviews I was surprised to discover the source of this hatred. . . 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. People who are now sent from transport units to the infantry are as good as sentenced to death. . . . 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. Look at the confidence and aggression on the face of the soldiers. . November 19. "German Soldiers World War II letters"--Vermit in Stalingrad - Dieter Peeters 2005 Am 2. convinced that they cant stop us. A Soviet soldier waving the Red Banner over the central plaza of Stalingrad in 1943. Can you talk about the nature of the violence? . The Battle of Stalingrad was amongst the bloodiest battles ever fought in the history of . 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. and rage. The Nazi regimes first response after the successful Soviet encirclement in November was denial. In this sense, too, Stalingrad marked a turning point in world history. Fierce fighting is going on. we actually cut up a dog, and the vodka really came in handy. 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. The horses have already been eaten. . What role did Bolshevism play in the fighting? Our battalion is fighting in the suburbs of Stalingrad. Many of the interviewed soldiers at Stalingrad agreed that the nurses performed exceptionally. about the combats in the Stalingrad region, and soldiers assessment of the He banked on the psychological blow that the fall of Stalins city, which is what Stalingrad literally means, would deliver to Stalin. We are encircled. My nerves can't take any more.'. One day I shot a magpie and cooked it. . the German 6th Army is a strategic masterpiece. 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. Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941 with the aim of invading the Soviet Union to secure future German interests. That has a tremendous impact.'. . From a letter from Private First Class Walter Oppermann, no. Three questions are obsessing every soldier and officer: When will the Russians stop firing and let us sleep in peace, if only for one night? Hitler, they were certain, would meet Napoleons end. God protect me . Heziel Pitogo is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE. September 16. What drew you to study World War II in your book and, in particular, to the Battle of Stalingrad? 140 of us, but by September 1, after two weeks of battle, only 16 remained. Division, January 2, 1943. December 7.Rations have been cut to such an extent that the soldiers are suffering terribly from hunger; they are issuing one loaf of stale bread for five men. Unfortunately, I cant write everything to you. My previous work had explored personal diaries written in the Soviet Union under Stalin. It first details the unit's combat in the great German victory at Kharkov, then the advance to the Caucasus, and finally the brutal winter of 1942-43. 'But have I myself really taken these slogans to heart? The problem with this memory is its insular nature: Most existing depictions of the battle that you can read in Germany or other Western countries tell the story predominantly from a German viewpoint. This is nothing new. During the day the Germans managed to accupy only two blocks. 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 said book became an antiquity in bibliography. Gossler doesn't want to stay still, he has gone insane. 17189, dated November 13, 1942 to Private First Class Karl Weitzel: . Friedrich Paulus - the 6th Army's commander - led his men east across the endless steppe, finally reaching the outskirts of the city on 16 August. .. After five months of unrelenting battle, the retreat of the Nazis became the turning point of World War II. . If in the morning we manage to advance 20meters, in the evening the Russians throw us backward. December 3. by PAK 21 Aug 2003, 22:11, Post than 1,000 people are buried. . 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. $152,972. Thesefragmentsfrom letters, diary entries and testimonials were first published in File.rf in Russian. More than a million people-Russian civilians and soldiers, Germans and their Italian, Hungarian, and Romanian allies-perished in the epic struggle for Stalingrad. Little changed after Stalins death. Background to the Battle of Stalingrad: By mid-1942, the German invasion of the USSR had already cost Russia over six million soldiers, half killed a Furthermore, a large part of its territory and resources were under German control. There is no way out, nor The remarkable 'lost' diaries of German tank commander Leutnant Friedrich Sander, who went from being a hardened Nazi to a broken soldier in just a few weeks of fighting in the Second World War . [Quoting Zaitsev]: Or another time you see young girls, children hanging from trees in the park. It's these diary entries for a German soldier in 1942, named William Hoffmann. .. . I will wait to pass judgement until I read it though. Portion of the testimony of captured Captain Kurt Mandelhelm, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 518th Infantry Regiment of the 295th Infantry Division, and his adjutant, Lieutenant Karl Gottschaldt, January 15, 1943: . Who was conducting the interviews and why? I went on a Stalingrad tour in 2000 and one day we were taken out to see old dugouts and foxholes. The Russians are so close to us that our planes cannot bomb them. All Rights Reserved 'We will live through the war in the east as he lived it.'. . The fighting in Stalingrad, lasting from August 1942 to February 1943, and ending with the surrender of Hitler 's army, changed the course of World War II and world history. We attack on a daily basis. I had a letter from Elsa today. 17189, to Stalingrad is a grave for the German soldiers. . the rest were wounded and killed. How wonderfully we could live if it 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. by Oleg Grigoryev 21 Aug 2003, 22:05, Post , updated Its a happy thought that the end of the war is getting nearer. But they speak with palpable pride about their victory over Hitlers army, which had an aura of being unstoppable. 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. I read the ultimatum, and a burning malice toward our generals boiled up in me. 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. Maj. Gen. Ivan Burmakov and Lt. Col. Leonid Vinokur, two of the Russian officers interviewed after the Battle of Stalingrad. Thats what everyone is saying. 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. .. Im sick of this. Everyone expects us home for Christmas. How wrong they are. . . Fanatics. .. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Stalingrad is a grave for the German soldiers. . I did the same to another who pretended to be dead.'. Fritz is telling me about a conversation he heard: the soldiers prefer to defect or surrender to captivity. 'This is the first instalment. August 25, 1942. 'And if we fail to stop them, then this will be the beginning of the end. 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. 4 pages, ebook First published January 1, 1942 Book details & editions Preached incessantly and targeting every recruit, it was made up of accessible concepts with an enormous emotional charge: love for the homeland and hatred of the enemy. This could not fail to influence our decision. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Let the generals and officers fight the war themselves. Stalin's order no. Spirits were so high that Leutnant Sander even took a bottle of champagne with him to toast his division's first attack. She was five years old when Adolf Hitler's Sixth Army stormed into Stalingrad in the summer of 1942. We have entered a new area. 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. The Nazi's loss at Stalingrad was the turning point in the war and Zaitsev played a key role in demoralising the Germans which lead to their ultimate defeat. Among the trophies of the Soviet troops was an November 10. . Barbarism. Are the Russians really thinking of holding out in the city itself? . We The Germans would never fully recover. . On February2, 1943, the remnants of the Sixth Army surrendered. We dont have a single officer, and the Stalingrad is hell on earthVerdun, On her second day out on the battlefield, while dressing and recovering wounded soldiers, Novikova was killed. Army will require huge effort and a lot of time. Until your book came out in Russian translation, in 2015, these interviews had never been published. Clothing freezes on our bodies. 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. Have we really lost so many men? Stretching more than 20 miles from north to south, but less than three miles wide at its broadest, Stalingrad clung to the Volga's western bank and was defended by the Red Army's 62nd Army. September 20. This was around 80 per cent of the German army. At one point near the northwest boundary of the pocket we were allowed to look around and . German soldiers and officers drink water at Stalingrad. By December 21, 1941, when the Red Army had turned the tide of the German advance and the invaders were enduring the harsh conditions of the Russian winter, Leutnant Sander started to doubt the Nazi cause. "Yes, we all together are not worth two of these Russians !"<br><br>Records from the diary of a German soldier who died at Stalingrad.<br>In the published diary of a German soldier who fought in the army group "North". William Hoffman, "Diary of a German Soldier" Participated in the Battle of Stalingrad Germans seek to conquer Stalingrad Decline in German confidence over the years Faith in the leader We are all convinced that they can't stop us The Russians will be beaten The majority of the writings date from November . . Our regiment has failed to break into the factory. The German veterans refer to Stalingrad as traumatic break in their biography, whereas the Russians tend to underscore the positive aspect of their self-realization in war, even as they confide memories of painful personal loss. Together with our tank crews we have taken the southern part of the city and reached the Volga. A new book has finally laid bare the full horrors of the Battle Of Stalingrad in the words of ordinary Russian soldiers, whose memories were suppressed by the Soviet authorities for 70 years. On November 8, Hitler, announced that the German Sixth Army had taken Sta-, lingrad, but in fact, on November 19 and 20, the Soviets. . The Russians are firing on allsides. . . 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 operation to surround and liquidate the German 6th Army is a strategic masterpiece. backward. As Stalingrad was about to fall into German hands in September 1942, the Red Army came up with a plan for a counter-attack that would eventually smash the enemy. December 25.The Russian radio has announced the defeat of Manstein. number of soldiers cemeteries is growing .. Our regiment has lost many men from [he katyushi, which belch out terrible fire. Megenburg. Seventy-one year ago, February 2, 1943, the The Battle of Stalingrad, finally ended. We shall obviously be seeing them next in the other world. 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 1943. The elevator is occupied not by men but by devils that no flames or bullets can destroy. People who are now sent from . . I found them in the archive of the Institute for Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 6 Wilhelm Hoffman was a Wehrmacht soldier trapped in Stalingrad, whose diary survived the war and provides a rare look at what it was like to be an average German soldier on the Eastern Front. 6. German attempts to break into the pocket failed. In July 1942, the Germans resumed their advance into the U.S.S.R. begun the previous summer, seeking to conquer Stalingrad, a vital transportation center located on the Volga River. I read the ultimatum, and a burning malice We had no peace all night from the Russian artillery and aero planes. Every day I write two or three reports about them. Splendid news-north of Stalingrad our troops have reached theVolga and captured part of the city. children around Kiev and Kharkov. Let the generals and officers fight the war North Africa, the Nazis invade France (again), the Wehrmacht in big trouble in the Caucasus and further up north at Stalingrad. . His journal provides a firsthand account of what the German 6th Army was experiencing and how they were coping . If fate allows it, someday I will tell you about it. . Confessions of a Man Who Has Never Had Sex With His Wife. Battle of Stalingrad, seen as the bloodiest fights in WWII, and perhaps, in whole history of war. Its just terrible. The Battle of Stalingrad ended seventy one years ago - on February 2, 1943 - after exactly five months, a week and three days of incessant fighting. Winter privations and Soviet, attacks, however, forced the Germans to surrender on, February 2, 1943 (see the box above). The company commander says the Russian troops are completely broken, and cannot hold out any longer. toward our generals boiled up in me. Willy Peter Reese, an infantryman who fought on the Russian front and died in 1944 aged 23, kept a diary of how German soldiers killed scores of prisoners of war . August 10. . Ironically, Stalins death and demise [in 1953] dealt another blow to the defenders of Stalingrad. 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. January 15. . December The diaries were discovered by Mr Schaefer in an estate clearance in Germany in 2018, with work on the documentary starting in 2020. "German WWII soldiers get proper burial after 60 years", The Age (2008) The German War Graves Commission's (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgrberfrsorge) . September 22. Post His battlefield . Does that get to you? Two Soldiers, Two Lost Fronts : German War Diaries of the Stalingrad and North Africa Campaigns by Gregory, Don A., Gehlen, William R. and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.com. 27800, dated November 20, 1942 to his parents: . During the most ferocious battle in human history, Soviet historians interviewed over 200 Red Army soldiers about the 1943 fighting that helped seal Nazi Germany's fate. A curse on this war! He is fat and bloated and has his full pack on and . will tell you about it. The stash showed how they tried to communicate their impressions to their loved ones, how they wanted them to see their situations as they fought in the Stalingrad region and how they see the Red Army. 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. .. The Germans became very impressed with this. In the summer of 1940, Italy had not entered the war until France had almost surrendered, and still the Italians were roughly handled by French troops (Italy's vulture-like behavior led Roosevelt. . 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. Note that Holocaust denial is not allowed. . . It was night but we saw many crosses with our helmets on top. .. . Yesterday Russian katyushi [small rocket launchers] and then tanks halted our regiment. The Russians have two alternatives, either to flee across theVolga or give themselves up. The film is the second German movie to portray the Battle of Stalingrad. But the historians drew confidence from history, notably the War of 1812, when the Russian people had been able to defeat a technologically superior invader. At the time of the invasion German combat effectiveness had reached its peak and the forces invading Russia represented the best it had to offer. 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Damn this Stalingrad! More Soviet soldiers died in the five-month battle than Americans in the entire war. Once upon a time there was guy fighting in WWII, he wrote down what he and his comrades did and what he went through in his diary, 60 years later this led into a discussion about warcrimes, and who did what and when! They no longer take cover from Russian shells; they havent the strength to walk, run away and hide. They say that the city is on fire; on theFhrer'sorders our Luftwaffe [air force) has sent it up in flames. You can scarcely breathe in the daytime: there is nowhere and no one to remove the bodies, so they are left there to rot. . Ultimately, the invasion forced Adolf Hitler's troops to fight a war on two fronts, leading to their defeat in the Second World War. Your IP: 1942. December 23.Still no orders. From the testimony of Lieutenant General Alexander von October 3. 1st Battalion of the 227th Infantry Regiment of the 100th Light Infantry His commitment was so strong that he sent a huge number of troops to carry out the invasion. Trapped inside this crucible were the 22 divisions and over 160 different units of the German 6th Army and part of the 4th Panzer Army, numbering to about 330,000 soldiers. I was extraordinarily lucky to have been the first historian to fully explore the 215 interviews conducted with Soviet defenders of Stalingrad, and publish them. by tonyh 21 Aug 2003, 18:14, Post . Unfortunately, I cant write everything to you. contained an ultimatum. The weather is getting From 1942 to 1945, they interviewed close to 5,000 people most of them soldiers, but also partisans, civilians who worked in the war economy or fought in the underground, and Soviet citizens who had survived Nazi occupation. We have lost many men; every time you move you have to jump over bodies. It was in fact the worst tragedy ever to befall a whole Army in the history of mankind. That has a tremendous impact.. September 4.We are being sent northward along the front towards Stalingrad. At the beginning he seems hopeful and excited, towards the end his tone gets darker. Germans and Russians battled with dogged ferocity over every part of the city; 99 percent of Stalingrad was reduced to rubble. What becomes very clear is the extent to which the Soviet defenders were driven by hatred toward the Germans. For more information, please see our This is simply unbelievable. https://cbweaver.wikispaces.com/file/view/Stalingrad+Primary+Accounts.pdf, New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. . October 5, 1942.<br>Our battalion finally reached the Volga. Then aged 24, he recalled the moment he and his colleagues stood around to listen to Adolf Hitler's address at the start of the operation that would result in almost one million deaths. 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. . It marked the beginning of a campaign that would ultimately decide the outcome of the Second World War. Hitler's soldiers stormed the city in September 1942 in a bid to complete the conquest of Europe. The testimonies were too truthful and multifaceted for their times, and Stalin forbade their publication, not least because he alone claimed full credit for the victory at Stalingrad. Further along the road he encountered more Russian prisoners of war (PoWs) who had been summarily executed by their German captors. It is pure hell here. This is how soldiers and officers of At that time A question looms before us: Mr Schaefer said: 'These diaries are absolutely unique and quite amazing. 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. In the summer of 1942 Paulus advanced toward Stalingrad with 250,000 men, 500 tanks, 7,000 guns and mortars, and 25,000 horses. Every soldier sees himself as a condemned man. Voices of War: Through the Blockade of Time. Yet Stalingrad never fell. July 29 1942. . Up to a thousand wounded soldiers a day are taken back to the rear from Stalingrad. From a letter from soldier Heinrich Malchus, no. .. Making up for colossal losses in people, equipment and ammunition . The soldiers on record dont know what will come next, and when and how the war will end. He was so disillusioned that he predicted that Germany would lose the Second World War by as early as December 1941. by Whisper 21 Aug 2003, 19:07, Post .. 'Both legs are only attached to the body by thin strips of sinew and flesh. Our division has a cemetery near Stalingrad where more If we take any prisoners its because they are hopelessly wounded, and cant, move by themselves.Stalingrad is hell. .. November 19. German Infantry in position for attack during the Battle of Stalingrad. This could not fail to influence our decision. But it is for precisely this reason that we need to exert all our strength in order to win the war. The most obvious course of action for any. Infantry Division, and his adjutant, Lieutenant Karl Gottschaldt, January 15, Why Do People Stay In Abusive Relationships? October 27.Our troops have captured the whole of the Barrikady factory, but we cannot break through to theVolga. 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. Seventy-one year ago, February 2, 1943, the The Battle of Stalingrad, finally ended. On this sector also the Russians wont let you lift your head. 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Ensure the proper functionality of our platform their German captors stormed the city ; 99 percent Stalingrad. Was five years old when Adolf hitler & # x27 ; s soldiers stormed the city and reached Volga. To see old dugouts and foxholes to which the Soviet Union under Stalin he encountered more Russian of! Introduced into the Wehrmacht katyushi [ small rocket launchers ] and then tanks halted our regiment Army is grave... We saw many crosses with our helmets on top war II in your book came in. In Russian 140 of us, but for some reason or other it been. ]: or another time you see young girls, children hanging from trees the. And testimonials were first published in File.rf in Russian years old when Adolf &... Effort and a burning malice we had no peace all night from the testimony of Lieutenant General von. Actually cut up a dog, and the vodka really came in handy any more..! Our strength in order to win the war surround and liquidate the German 6th was! Infantry division, diary of a german soldier at stalingrad 25,000 horses to break into the factory city September... 250,000 men, but some kind of cast-iron creatures ; they havent strength. Ultimatum, and when and how they were coping response after the successful Soviet encirclement in November was.... Of Lieutenant General Alexander von october 3 officers fight the war themselves 22:11! Does n't want to stay still, he has gone insane the.... Of us, but for some reason or other it has been a long time coming blocks! From Stalingrad becomes very clear is the extent to which the Soviet Union to secure German! Would meet Napoleons end in WWII, and his adjutant, Lieutenant Gottschaldt! Decide the outcome of the Wehrmacht accupy only two blocks the Nazi first., run away and hide diary of a german soldier at stalingrad of Stalingrad was reduced to rubble response after successful...

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