The Soviets are coming to the Reich.. | World War 2 Memoirs

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I had been unable to leave the telephone and my desk until late in the evening because several units were scheduled to leave for the Battlefront that night words to describe our reunion fail me even now I still see today the little fellow deeply asleep in his pram beside

The bed he was solid darkhaired and looked like a little Italian I couldn’t take my eyes off him between 4: and 5:00 a.m. next morning Patricia and I walked through the darkened streets to The Bishop’s Palace where I had been ordered to report I had packed my few odds and ends and

Said goodbye to Major Arnold who remained behind to wrap up I shall never forget those last few minutes with Patricia before she left to return to weritz they were marked by two or three flickering Stars poking through a break in clouds Weeks Later perhaps it was on

The other side of the river odor someone told me what had happened to Major Arnold with the Russians Drawing Near he had saddled his trusty horse and had set off towards the West whether he had had been overtaken by Russian tanks or his beloved gray mare had slipped and broken

A leg on the icy surface or he had become so overcome by depression I never did find out except I heard he had first shot his horse and then himself the 192 Reserve division had been established in a sector along the river wartha somewhere between the Riverbend southeast of the town of Wun

And oov it was an unusually large area which we hoped to quickly fill with retreating elements of other divisions our HQ was to be in the town of Wun and upon entering the town we were surprised to come upon a busy weekly farmers market and crowds of

People in fur coats and hats and numerous Pony and carts at the divisional command post I was soon overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work which involved finding out if our neighboring units mostly vogm were in place and making contact with their commanders and then setting up a tactical

Reserve on the 16th all was quiet but on the 17th we had our first enemy contact during the day Russian units attempted to cross the river at okov but were driven back contact with other friendly units was by this time accomplished by the simple use of the public telephone

System and the chief of staff in Posen called up frequently to find out what the situation was I don’t remember his name but I do know that blame for the eventual Russian breakthrough was laid at his door because presumably on orders from himler who was at the time in

Command of the viel front line an SS officer appeared at his headquarters who strongly suggested he should go outside and shoot himself our Command Post must have been a former Nazi party house because despite desperate conditions outside we found an excellent kitchen and a plentiful food supply because in

The evening of the 17th I was pleasantly surprised to be handed a generously portioned hot meal on the morning of the 18th enemy pressure mounted and the river wartha was crossed over in s several places while desperately trying to organize our town defense positions on that dull cold

Gray morning I was surprised to find many a house still in Ruins from the days of the Polish campaign in 1939 by midday I found it necessary to tellone the artillery battery set up at the edge of town with orders to move in closer only to have the phone answered

By a female voice which declared flatly how the battery had already pulled out this proved to be one of many examples of unauthorized retreat by burned out panicked and ex hosted Frontline troops now all that remained were the youngsters of gas in the cellers on both sides of the main street

With their handheld Panera anti-tank weapons in the late afternoon the phone rang and a girl’s voice from a local post office calmly described how in her Village tanks were swiftly passing through and she was certain they were not German then the line went dead it was true the Russians had learned to

Thrust their armored formation for forward with Brazen disregard for their flanks just as we had done between 1940 and 1942 shortly after dark all hell broke loose and from outside came the Roar of on je walls and windows shook before I heard the first successful Panera detonations which was followed by tank

Shells striking the wall of our building forcing us to seek shelter in the cellar on the way down through the dust filled stairwell I couldn’t help noticing a flower framed picture of Adolf hit on the wall from which a pair of large dark expressionless eyes stared out at us a

Tank had been shot up right in front of our house but its crew were nowhere to be seen had they perished or bailed out and run off in the dark only a youthful voice begged for mercy pan pan pan that was followed by a single pistol shot in

The Gloom of the courtyard and then all was quiet my indignation at what I thought was the sound of a prisoner being shot evaporated immediately upon the the appearance of gray emaciated figures who had fought their way back from the viel and had seen firsthand the

Bestial rape of girls and women and the nailing of men to barn doors it was Small Wonder that upon seeing such brutality all former proper military traditions for the handling of prisoners were ignored there began a confusing battle in the streets where I could hardly separate friend from foe the

General decided it was time to leave town and the necessary orders were hastily issued the divisional staff had been separated from its Vehicles so we set off in small groups on foot gingery moving from one house corner to the next until a salvo of machine gun fire scattered Us in all

Directions hugging the walls of the last house on the road leading out of wion I came face to face with three huge Russian tanks the noise of which had likely been drowned out by Machine Gun fire at the same time I noticed through an open window the swaying of a naked

Light bulb and it occurred to me that the tank tanks were lost and in need of a guide who would it be a man or a woman if German once the tanks had found their way a lifeless body would be tossed from the vehicle if a pole he or she might

Just escape with their life just then the huge Vehicles roared to life and drove off at speed towards the north I stumbled into Captain bellia the 50-year-old Headmaster from rostock and despite searching we failed to find any of the others so we decided to make our

Own way well in the hopes of meeting up somewhere with the rest of the divisional staff because we believed Russian tanks were on the road up ahead we at first turned North and traversed snow covered plow Fields before resuming our March along the main road to wof and

The old German border we walked and walked without meeting anyone and the only sign of life was a solitary cat beside the road having had no sleep over 3 days of high stress we both decided to stop for a brief rest our astonishment was hard to describe when coming upon a

House to find a woman working over a hot stove and a few other retreating soldiers seated around a table bearing a single candle no sooner had we begged for a few minutes in which to rest when the woman in a completely calm and matter OFA manner stood up and took a

Pot of hot milk from the stove and poured us each a cup she must have seen the immense gratitude in our tired faces I can’t remember what language she spoke but when biela and I resumed our March I had a powerful sense that there was woman who had consciously accepted her

Imminent death and was in the meantime acting and behaving as if the world were at peace a few miles on We Came Upon A Road that led dead straight towards the North and we decided to follow it in the hope of meeting up with the remainder of the divisional staff some weeks later

After we had actually rejoined the general and his staff we learned that they had indeed followed the same route by now it was getting light and the sun rose with a dazzlingly colorful light sh show surrounded by small puffy clouds it was about this time something I now know

When my cousin sigi Walter and her three small Sons left their estate in a horse and cart her husband Pierce Walter was at the front in a large opening in the forest We Came Upon A Young Wood cutter and not far away the forester’s house we approached it with caution but were

Immediately taken into the warm kitchen by the Polish Foresters family and were handed a cup of warm milk they spoke only broken German but I was able to convince the husband to give us a lift to kempen some 20 km distant the good man harnessed his Pony to the cart and

We were off from a distance we could already see a long string of refugee carts and drivers urging their exhausted horses to one side to avoid being run over by motorized traffic which were we guessed enemy tanks in the cover of the trees I let our Forester turn around and

Return home we had little to give him in the way of thanks not even the money we handed him would be of any value I hoped that he and his family survived the Polish Holocaust utterly worn out we finally covered the last 40 kilometers to the town of kempen where a colonel

Whose name I don’t remember was in the process of organizing a new line of defense and who gladly took me on as agitant Captain bibila whose exhaustion was clearly visible was ordered to return to the reserve Battalion in rosock now my job began all over again laying out a line of defense

Reorganizing ing retreating units feeding them supplying them with weapons and ammunition and inserting them into existing formations all of which had to be accomplished in great haste and with much improvisation the Russians left us undisturbed on the 19th of January and by the end of the day thanks to the

Public telephone Network we had a rough idea of the situation between enemy tanks spearheads a number of retreating units had fought there through from the wara river defense position to the West in including the battle group ganas all the while a stream of Desperately fleeing refugees made Road movement

Almost impossible and even on the 20th when I ventured out to the edge of town to see for myself there were still wagons coming hellbent out of woods that same afternoon I had an encounter with a national socialist political officer of the kind I had up until then only heard

Of he was as far I can recall a young first left tenant who within earshot of the men attempted to override my authority and order a Counterattack in order to establish a defense line further to the east what with with companies of old men and young boys carrying only light infantry weapons no

Artillery no tanks he was clearly not sufficiently schooled in Nazi party ideology and or lacked sufficient experience to realize the sheer Madness of his demands he soon disappeared and we never saw him again on the morning of the 21st there was renewed machine gunfire followed by incoming tank shells although we were

Able to hold off the enemy all day by evening we were ordered to move back to the next stopping line east of gross wartenberg in the early hours in a small room at the entrance to Castle wartenberg I fell into a leaden sleep only to be immediately awoken by the

Butler who had with him an exhausted young NCO who was leader of a tank killer Commando formed in a last desperate attempt to fight off the unnerving enemy tank spearheads scattered groups of boys and men either on bicycles or in Volkswagen would remain Behind Enemy Lines under

The cover of darkness and attack enemy tanks with their paner fasts no historian has as far as I know yet written of their courage and sacrifice the young NCO reported the presence of a nearby German tank unit before silently disappearing into the darkness my memories of the next few

Days centered on Gross wartenberg castle and the little town a few kilometers to the east lay our latest assembly area situated along a newly dug network of ditches and trenches where we felt ourselves to be a little more secure than in previous positions Colonel X whose name I have forgotten established

His Command Post in the castle in a number of pretty children rooms which up until then had remained completely untouched and spoke of a peaceful happy childhood within half an hour however that image was gone and everything had been turned upside down the windows pointed towards the front

And it wasn’t long before a tank shell struck the castle wall sending glass in all directions and causing the heavy curtains to flutter outside the destruct ton had just begun further memory scraps included a picture of the church which had been used as a refugee resting place

With its straw and H dung covered floor a vul storm unit marching through and an old man in the middle of the ranks struck by a shell Splinter silently sinking to ground and finally at the Western end of town the impressive sight of a textbook cited gun implacement

Manned by members of the vog storm who continued to work on their defenses as if expecting to be there for months to come sometime during the afternoon I was summoned to a wing of the castle reserved for its owners where an old lady who I think might have been the man

Aerus handed me an airman’s ceremonial dagger it was an item that had once belonged to the son of the estate who had been killed in action and she didn’t want it to fall fall into the hands of the Russians regrettably through the turmoil of the next few days I found it

Impossible to keep the dagger around midnight word came that there had been yet another enemy tank penetration of our prepared defense line and I feared that we would once again become engaged in a nighttime street battle fortunately it turned out to be a case of a solitary

Russian tank having got bogged down in a small wood 100 m to the rear of our trench and was unable go any further to be near near to our defense positions while catching a couple hours of sleep I found a bed in an abandoned building near the edge of town however in the

Gray Dawn a messenger awoke me with the report that all battle groups were ordered to move back I shot out of bed we all slept in our clothes with weapons close at hand and rushed over to the command post there I encountered the disturbing picture of our infantry leaving their carefully prepared

Trenches and moving back over a snow covered Hillside from the russan side all was quiet so summoning all available assistance and issuing unmistakably clear counter orders we succeeded in getting the individual battle groups to Halt and dig in although where they now stood was in an open field even the

Commanders of the vog storm had been shocked at receiving the order to retreat and upon further investigation it turned out that German officers had suddenly appeared including a major who pretended to know some of the ncos and just as it was getting light they stroe the full length of of the trench and

Adroitly persuaded our men to clear the area now the purpose of that solitary Russian tank became clear it had no doubt transported German officers behind our lines who were presumably members of the National Committee of German officers a group formed under Russian offices by anti-hitler men from among prisoners captured at

Stalingrad another gray overcast winter day followed during which we had the men make the most of their new unprepared defense positions and much to our surprise and relief the enemy failed to follow up the reason we soon found out was that the Russians had already bypassed gross wenburg with their

Armored spearhead and we were now in the desperate situation of being attacked from both the front and the rear that night we got orders to move back to yet another defense position which coincided with the arrival of the commander of our only supporting tank who declared he was

Out of fuel and wanted permission to blow up his vehicle rather than leave it to the enemy an enduring memory of the gross wattenberg Castle was its Great Hall which had become a first aid and assembly station for the wounded to my great relief all the wounded were

Successfully evacuated but by then the once pristine Hall had become a room of Filth and stench those with stomach wounds had relieved themselves in the relative warmth of a nearby Corner blood stains covered the floor and the walls and the smell of blood and cold sweat was almost enough to take away one’s

Breath a few years ago I received an inquiry from the former owner of the castle who wanted to know what happened to the building during those last terrible days he had heard that the SS had set fire to it but wanted confirmation I was unable to tell him

One way or the other because we had pulled out in total darkness memories of the next line of defense are spotty except we ended that night in a row of small villages to the east of gross wenberg the next morning was f n clear and sunny and I’m not sure how it came

About but Colonel X and I found ourselves directing units no greater in size than mere battle groups and for several hours I found myself functioning as Chief of Staff while Colonel X was up at the front and we in the staff offices were receiving repeated warnings of Russian tank penetrations a general

Suddenly appeared and demanded an upto-date situation report which I duly gave him in brutal Clarity where is your 1A he demanded 1A is the first general staff office officer of a regularly staffed Division I was much too tired and worn out to care about such Petty formalities so I merely pointed to

Sergeant Arnold and indicated that he was the 1A even under our present desperate conditions handing a simple NCO the title of 1A was too much for the general who muttering strong expressions of disapproval turned on his heels and departed followed by his Entourage only a few hours later trouble was brewing to

The north of us where a strong enemy tank force formation threatened the line and all we had to throw against it was a bicycle company of Panza house troops the reports became increasingly more desperate and before we knew it boy soldiers on bicycles were fleeing past

Our window now we knew we had to act fast if the gessen battle group on our right flank was not to be cut off partially by car but mostly on foot I spent the next few hours reconing a side road through the woods due to the main Highway being already under Russian fire

Enemy tanks were taking particular pleasure in shooting up any vehicle that ventured past a certain spot so before reaching that section of the road my driver stopped to wait and see before darting through having located an Escape Route I handed him the evacuation order for the ganess along with a sketch and

Ordered him to drive with all haste back to the front line I decided to stay until the nessen battle group arrived and personally lead it through the Deep Woods along the reconed side road in the late afternoon sunshine and sheltered from the wind I waited silently hoping that nothing would impede the withdrawal

Of these men hour after hour I waited at the edge of the wood and all I saw were deer rushing from one cover to another to escape the sound of nearby machine gun fire other than that all was quiet in the woods where despite the surrounding human Misery the cycle of

Nature was unfolding aresh just as it was growing dark they came and to my pleasant surprise instead of a weary rabble struggling along on foot they came swiftly forward on sleds and wagons pulled by Fresh Horses it was an impressive sight when compared to the volor misery and the many other worn out

And depleted units of the last few days to me it was proof that under good leadership even during those final days a well-led battle group could remain a force to be reckoned with those belonging to the first Squad pointed their automatic weapons at me until they

Realized I was the one waiting for them and then they greeted me with almost childish Delight with frost hard surfaces and moderate snow my driver was easily able to get me back to the command post although by now a long line of enemy tanks was making its way along

The full length of the same Village Street I had left behind at midday in the center of the Village Square stood a now silent artillery piece which after a few unsuccessful shots had been abandoned and from the northern edge of the village came a steady stream of Red

Army soldiers stamping their War forward their indifference to D was remarkable because their tanks would have given them little protection against snipers or a well- aimed bursts of machine gun fire on our side resistance was fading fast as leaderless groups of men bolted like lost sheep for the relative safety

Of the woods one of our Pew ple had set a school building a light which sha a bright light on this somewhat shameful Exodus I must have collapsed from exhaustion later that evening because the only memory I have is of me on the floor with my Batman wrapping a blanket

Around me and thrusting ing a hard Tac biscuit into my mouth the smell of which reminded me of the family’s my last flight in 1,918 19 I believe our Retreat continued and someone else must have taken over my duties that night in a seemingly endless column with numerous stops the March

Took us back to O’s where a Russian tank spearhead already controlled the main Crossroads long drawn out darkened Villages appeared before us and I wondered at first if the inhabit had already fled or whether they had hunkered down hopping for the best in fact the people were gone leaving behind

Hundreds of barking dogs as if their pitiful howling signaling the looming catastrophe a solitary Tiger tank had partially cleared the crossroads and in the light of a burning Russian tank The Long Dark column proceeded over Open Country details of what happened on the west side of SES escaped me although

Another Commander was known to have taken over the remainder of this section while Colonel X and his small staff which included me were ordered to the city of Breslau today’s polish city of Rocka in Breslau we encountered a scene of indescribable misery until recently the citizens had by Nazi party decree

Been forbidden to leave and now accompanied by vehicles of every description thousands of men and women the latter mostly with small children stumbled exhausted and half frozen along the boulevard leading West we took took on as many as we were capable of but I shall never forget the many hollow-eyed

Women and little children who had given up and lay frozen to death in the ditches sometimes guarded over by a howling dog when there was a little more room in our vehicle the driver stopped beside a stumbling young woman with a baby in her arms she seemed hardly to

Notice us and failed to react to our invitation to climb aboard so the driver jumped out and gently pulled her into the vehicle the woman’s face was bleach white her eyes were open and and seemed to see but in some terrible way they were quite empty one look at the

Mummified tiny bundle she so desperately clutched at her breast caused us all to fall silent the baby had clearly frozen to death once we had unloaded the refuges we reported to a senior officer who may or may not have been the commander of Fortress Breslow from him we learned that General

Shro and the entire staff of Reserve division 192 had moved north towards Frankford on the river Oda where they had been given a new assignment with army group viel under the new command of Reich furer himler Colonel X and I were ordered to join him there during the

Wait of a few hours in Breslau I wrestled with the almost unbearable contrast between the horrors already witnessed and the innocent ignorance of the city Folk calmly going about their business as if in peace time I found myself on an overcrowded train heading north with mostly women children and old

Men the almost endless Journey with its frequent halts brought us finally to Frankfurt on the odor where to my surprise a bus awaited us and once again we were presented with an illusory image of optimism and a criminally deceitful sense of security compliments of the gaigher and Nazi party

Functionaries the evening Street Scenes reminded me of the Sudan land before the outbreak of war with traffic running almost as normal in the offices of the city Commander hastily set up in the red brick VH helenian era bars I changed out of my tattered uniform into fresh winter clothing and was rendered almost

Speechless when I was then invited to sit down for an evening meal in the almost festive like atmosphere of a candl lit dining hall in this circle of officers there was however to be no relaxation every word spoken had to be carefully weighed for who knew how many of those National Socialist political

Officers were seated Among Us ready to report even the smallest remark that might be seen as defeatist early next morning morning I was in the town of Reen and once again on the staff of general shrook and surrounded by the continued senseless destruction and Slaughter of humans and animals when looking at today’s

Pointless rearming in West Germany I am deeply grateful that the long-suffering horse has been entirely replaced by The Soulless internal combustion engine General shirk was no youngster and had already been removed from all Frontline Duty so we found ourselves instead directing organizing and sometimes leading the flow of refugee TRS in order

To minimize their interference with our troop movement on numerous other occasions we had the terrible task of clearing entire Villages whose local party officials had naively guaranteed their safety and within the hour plunge the hitherto trusting inhabitants into the bitter reality scenes from this nightmarish period will remain embedded

In memory until my final hours local party brass repeatedly spoke of the success ful defense of the meitz line however upon reconnaissance I immediately saw that it was going to fall quite harmlessly into Russian hands for the only sign of life was a peacefully grazing herd of deer even the

Occupants and workers on the larger Estates were hastily assembled in Westwood TRS for which we could at least provide a small amount of fuel for the tractors magnificent herds of cattle were driven from their barns into the fields to await a very uncertain future and proud Prussian estate homes were

Within hours left empty and cold to face the oncoming frenzy of barbaric destruction Russian fighter bombers circled low over the town however the people in the street appeared indifferent to them although some took shelter behind a kiosk or the trunk of a tree Army units continued to March

Through town each one however led by an SS officer to supposedly stiffen resistance for now we were under the command of himler and the commissar system adopted from the Soviets was supposed to save us however in in fact it spelled the end of our German Army

Group himler the head of the SS was made commander of this particular front during the dying days of the war something he was hopelessly ill equipped for and is believed to have suffered a nervous breakdown before being removed the Soviet commissar system refers to the use of political soldiers behind

Rular troops whose task it was to shoot anyone not doing exactly as ordered with the right amount of enthusiasm Captain Vanka and I had to attend to divisional matters in the town of lansburg when our job was done Vanka who said he had friends in town a vet

Erry couple and wanted to find out how they were doing suggested we look them up we found the young couple who welcomed us heartily and who cheerfully declared that they had that previous evening made the decision to end their lives they were not going to be driven from their home and possessed the

Necessary poison to commit suicide lucky were those who had the means because four weeks later dozens of families Dr Dr themselves in the norgard lake rather than suffer the murder and rape they knew was coming their way sometime in early February we were cut off and I was certain that the end had

Come however after abandoning our last remaining vehicles we found a Naro Escape Route which ran along the railway line towards Frankfurt that night under the cover of Darkness we undertook a long forced March which the genel because of his age and weight found most strenuous while

While we stamped our way up and over Hills and through Pine forests expecting at any moment to run into a Russian Patrol we suddenly saw long lines of brightly lit empty Railway carriages heading west it was we discovered the reiches bar rescuing its Rolling Stock however we were puzzled why no one had

Thought of using these empty trains to evacuate more refugees our March continued to the edge of the town of kustrin and that night we slept on the floor of a typewriter Factory where every surface was covered in typewriters in the middle of the night an employee appeared who attempted

To carry as many of these machine as possible over to the West Bank of the river all night long from a nearby Fortress we could hear the stuttering of Submachine fire someone said it was the SS liquidating the inmates but we never found out the truth the morning brought

Us another sad encounter it was an officer of the lasso Army in his CAC fur hat and bright red riding britches I believe he may have been a member of the lasso division under general bochenko which had been deployed for the first time in the kustrin region a large

Number of Russians and ukrainians fought alongside the Germans including the cacs many of whom surrendered with their entire families to the British who cynically turned them over the Soviets with predictable results on an extraordinarily mild morning our orders took us to the west of Frankfurt General busers commander of the ninth Army had

His HQ at the edge of the town of fenaler and we were supposed to set ourselves up in the small spree River Community of hburg however the Russians had already pushed their way forward to the river Oda and had even established a bridge head at kustrin from which they

Could no longer be ejected I don’t remember exactly when but sometime at the end of February I had a telephone call from a former commander of one the 192 Reserve divisions regiments in gessen he had been wounded in January and had been sent to a hospital in the

City of Dresden when I asked him how he had survived the bombing he replied that despite all possible preparations there had been a heavy loss of life at the start of the raid he had dragged himself from his bed into the courtyard where he lay on the stones all during that first

Night preferring to die in the open than be buried under the rubble I seem to remember it was the 3rd of March 1945 a gray overcast Sunday and I and a group of officers belonging to the staff of General shro were in the small village of hangle Berg just east of

Firsten Walder while East Prussia West Prussia and Pomerania were falling victim to a wave of indescribable brutality and mass killings we 15 or 20 officers ncos and drivers had been assigned to the newly formed traffic control unit with the task of trying to smooth the movement of the countless

Pitiful Refugee TRS towards evening my thoughts returned to my parents in weritz Happily Patricia and the children were out of the danger zone and were now living with the schwerin in zamin it was on that very same evening that my parents embarked on the fourth flight of their lives the following is

Based on the description given by my mother and father after their safe arrival in vitart near the city of husum in schleswig holin which became the British zone of occupation my mother recorded her memories of the first two days which took them via gnau and ALT Dam and where

They nearly came to grief crossing the river Oda just south of stetin she sent sent her account to Patricia in England who translated it and as far as I can recall had it published in the National Review in 1948 weeks before the Russian breakthrough local authorities continued to strictly forbid all flight

Preparation and movement to the West whereas at first my parents had elected to stay they decided however at the last moment to leave after all and in a mad rush my father Asen bled the refugee Trek which included nearly all of the estate workers and the entire Village

Population a large group of Russian PS most of whom had already worked on the estate for over a year were placed in charge of the fine herd of cattle which they dutifully drove West and a few young Russians volunteered to drive the only available tractor the family home

Was left as it was and in later years I often wondered what the Russian Invaders might have thought about the big photo on the wall of my father dressed in his Russian tarist uniform in the darkness of that Saturday night the Tre departed just as the SS

Were shooting it out with the Enemy a couple of kilometers away The weritz Village Church was struck by a shell and burned to the ground the castle was set on fire and today one can barely see the foundations my father had wisely selected a favorable route South through

The forest estate of matzdorf to his left stood the extensive farm buildings belonging to Farmer Lovitz who next morning was put up against a barn door and shot I could only hope that other members of his family were spared the terrible fate of hundreds of thousands

Of others thus the long Refugee train of tractor and horse and carts of all description approached the mats dorer forest and Lake taking the same route we had so often used on our Sunny bathing excursions the tractor suddenly broke down and since we dared not linger we

Left it and the young Russian driver behind expecting him to wait for his oncoming compatriots in the area of alt Dam the Tre encountered further difficulties and was forced to a halt when suddenly the tractor and its young Russian driver reappeared and overtook the column with stubborn determination the young man had

Located the source of the breakdown repaired it and had quickly caught up before moving on they swiftly reattached two or three wagons to it a very dangerous section of the journey was the crossing of the Oda autoban Bridge South of stettin a vast traffic jam had developed the incline was slip pery with

Ice and low flying enemy airplanes exhausted their ammunition firing into the mass of fleeing people and vehicles the Stupify collection of gruesome scenes demanded every ounce of mental strength to prevent one going mad approximately 24 or 28 hours after leaving weritz the Tre finally made it without loss over the bridge expecting

At any time to suffer the same fate or worst that had befallen many TRS ahead of them as seen from the shattering images of death and destruction to the left and right of the autoban my mother and father nonetheless despite being numb with horror possessed the inner

Fortitude to carry on and even in later life were able to describe these harrowing scenes with undiminished Clarity and without breaking down even if the immediate danger had passed once they crossed the river the suffering and dying continued especially among the very young and the Very Old my mother

Ended her tale by describing their arrival at a temporary overnight stop in prau north of Berlin where most trees from Pomerania had gathered it must have been the seventh or eighth March when the staff of General shurk was ordered to the town of stund and although we had

No troops under our immediate command we understood we now belonged to a newly formed arm of the service within the ninth Army under the overall command of General Busa headquartered in first and valder even 38 years later I clearly recall those few weeks when we stood on

The banks of the Still untroubled Waters of the river spree when we walked through the beautiful Prussian forest with its Immaculate black and white signs and here and there black and white Gates what was going to happen to this meticulously maintained forest in a week or two I also thought about the brightly

Colored Berlin double-deck buses that used to carry holiday makers to the river but now carried troop Replacements to the Frankfurt front line just as general gallen’s Paris taxis of the man had done in 1914 on one particular day following an air raid on Berlin the daylight sky was

So blackened by clouds of smoke and Ash that at midday it seemed seemed as if night had fallen outside the building’s individual soldiers or groups of soldiers lay or sat on their coats or rainc capes either in Hopeless silence or in sad song Those were old German

Soldier songs but also some Russian ones too for among the men were ukrainians and Russians many of whom had shared in our Agony had fought with us side by side and were now scattered among the many fleeing foreign workers from factories on the viel or the odor they

Were the ones who were were the most uprooted of all it should be mentioned that nearly a million Russians served with the vermak many were known as hawise or Hils villiger and who upon capture by the Soviets would have faced a severe penalty anyway whoever they were be it Russian Ukrainian Lithuanian

Latvian or German lost or absent from their unit they were all trying to escape the Asian hordes now descending upon us one lasting picture of that Tiny Village was our farewell from our host and hostess and the lady shopkeeper in the small store all of whom stood With

Tears in their eyes as they waved and wished us luck I was to travel together with an NCO and was given permission to stop in at zamin where Patricia Mary and four-month-old Michael had found temporary Refuge the route took us via rudersdorf where the carbon Works appeared to be still in full operation

The train traveled through orberg at dusk and arrived in zamin late that night after 4 and a half years I was back at zamin but once again when meeting the local people just as I had when on leave from Romania I found only a hard dull insensitivity and shaded

Looks that were almost unseeing and uncaring I was however able to shrug off the unpleasantness knowing that Patricia Mary and the Little Italian Michael were safe it had been the end of January when a captain in an anti-aircraft unit had made a stop over in weritz in his

Volkswagen Jeep his driver was Eric a boy from weritz who had persuaded his boss to drive by his village on the way to the West the captain was welcomed by my parents and when during the course of the evening it became known that he was heading across the river Oda into

Mecklinburg my father quickly developed a plan producing a bottle of his best wine and with a promise of gasoline from his private Tractor Supply he persuaded the captain to take Patricia and the two children with him so Before Dawn the following day my parents said goodbye to

Patricia the bundled up Michael and to Mary and and her rather large knapsack was this to be the last time they would see each other my mother made a parting present to Mary of an aquamarine necklace which had been given to her by her father at

The time of her first ball the Flack Captain wanted to drop Patricia off just west of the odor But Eric persuaded him to deliver her at least to Wolf’s Hogan the home of graph Alexander schwerin brother of the ZET Miner graph many years later I learned that Wolf’s haogen

Had been given to the scharn by the Grand Duke in 16 48 for services rendered following a Charming reception in a house already overflowing with refugees Patricia and the children resumed their Journey next day by train Eric the driver was unfortunately killed a week later during an air raid on the

City of Leipzig leaving zamin we headed north to a spot on the southernmost edge of stund from where on the border of the gries forest we had an unobstructed overview of the highway leading in from the East which allowed us to watch over and guide the endless flow of refugees

Towards the middle of March one of our guide and orientation posts reported incoming TRS from the area around the town of nard and I immediately had it look for the one coming from weritz half an hour later it was found and I saw my parents again my father

Looking thin pale and dog tired was Seated on the tractor at the head of the column my mother described how for days he had been suffering from stomach cramps yet never lacked in energy and farsighted wisdom when asked about fron bismar he pointed to the back and there

She was surrounded by her many bits and pieces seated in her venerable old dler Ben’s hitched to the Tractor and beside her was fra neelen her longtime Swedish massuse in response to my greeting fron bismar gave me a weak smile I was now in position to assist my home Village Tre

In the way of accommodation and fuel along with much needed mechanical repair to the track tour now next morning when saying goodbye I learned that fron bismar had decided to part from the Tre and head for the home of a senior Forester in the Vil laga of second

Andorf where the old lady who had always jealously guarded her food supplies died of starvation following the arrival of the Russians fron bismar was born a forver and long before the outbreak of the first world war she had married a hair Von Austin their only son died in

The war and much later she married Heron bismar from whom she was soon divorced so in reality she was never a true member of the bismar clan while at stund I was able to telephone Patria in zamin and there was much discussion as whether she should leave for the west of Germany

The Sharin family were of the firm opinion that such a move was totally unnecessary because they simply could not believe that the Americans would allow Mech lenberg to be occupied by the Russians when asked for my opinion I gently suggested that Patricia ought to take up olivon bism Mar’s offer of a

Accomodation near the town of seberg Patricia duly left zamin and in dramatic fashion finally reached her destination in damor after barely escaping an air raid on bad olders slow the rather depressing control work in ston soon came to an end and general shro and his small staff were

Transferred to Strasburg just west of pawalk but what we did there I don’t recall the front now ran the length of the river odor and with that there were no longer any TRS coming out of poman Ni however we were put to work salvaging Fuel and essential War material I do

Remember lengthy trips to the North and South once to the heavily forested R gon of alwar Then anlam followed by prenzlau to an Army staff meeting during which journey I bypassed a p camp for British officers on a warm sunny afternoon I was sent to firstenberg and gransy and on

Another day I spotted a huge smoke cloud in the sky and heard a rumor that a battle cruiser had been set on fire in the port of of swine Meer amidst all this I was stopped by girl in riding gear in search of overnight accommodation because she was on her way

To sagberg on Horseback by now I knew that Patricia had arrived safely in damor so I scribbled a few lines and asked the girl to Dro them off when she got there Patricia told me later of a girl who had come some weeks later to the dams dorf

Dairy to deliver the note during our days in Strasburg it appeared to me that the former ganesan officers were beginning to show strong signs of disagreement most knew that I was married to an English woman but now they began to behave in a very unusual manner when

Entering a room in which two officers were talking for example I noticed how they both fell silent or resumed their discussion only in Whispers another detail which remains with me after all these years was the occasion when we were ordered out to celebrate Hitler’s birthday on April 20th I don’t know how

Genuine the demonstrations of loyalty were because our ranks had been richly sprinkled with SS officers however the general feeling here too was that the Americans would never abandon mecklinburg to the Russians a tall SS leftenant who smilingly declared how he had been born in India was at this time

Assigned to our staff it was clear that the shadowy presence of the SS was the result of the entire front north of Berlin being under the command of ss General Felix Steiner and to ensure that we all fell in line with orders from the fur’s bunker hardened as I was by human

Suffering and the terrible demise of the Prussian world and Eastern Germany I was frequently overwhelmed by a sense of Deion when faced with the sight of hundreds of men women and youth laboring over anti-tank ditches none of which were ever likely to stop a single tank

It was clear to me that the Americans and the Russians had already drawn up a plan and were not likely to deviate from it in the final hours we were often required to convince elderly Farm folk many of whom remembered the more civilized conditions of the last war

That the OD Oda front was unlikely to hold for any length of time and would most probably collapse within hours even though the Russian attack on the Oda front already began on the 16th of April we up in East mecklinburg suffered no direct consequences until the front was

Penetrated either side of the city of stetin which occurred on the 23rd following which things moved quickly and we received orders to move back you can imagine that after a period of 39 years some memories are likely to be spotty however I do recall the deep sadness I felt when seeing how the

Beautiful trees along the highway had all been cut down to fuel the wood gas powered vehicles I also recall seeing polish and French PS calmly working their designated Fields as if the world were completely at peace our little dkw car was heavily Laden with not only me

The driver two NC and two Refugee women from Strasburg our route took us first to new brandenberg from where I was sent to treptow to un tangle a mass of refugee TRS which was one of the saddest afternoons I have ever experienced on the one hand I was in country familiar

To me from many army Maneuvers back in 1937 but on the other I now found myself thrust into the Indescribable pain and suffering of both man and Beast countless FES at first able to keep up with their mothers in harness now lay in small heaps beside the road

And the Russian fighter bombers roamed unopposed overhead shooting up both retreat ing troop elements as well as unarmed Refugee columns in Gusto I remember coming Upon A Train full of wounded which could go no further and in which the nurses and Medics were preparing a poison potion with which to

Commit suicide somewhere in that area was also a weapons collection Point their retreating troops were to hand over their weapons and equipment for distribution to some Do or Die Special Forces General shro viewed the assembly area and Upon returning to us remarked how he had just witnessed the last hours of the

Verm it was also in Gusto if I remember correctly where the general came to us on April 30th and reported that the furer had died in Berlin a piece of news received by all with complete indifference on the sunny but cold morning of May 1st while awaiting further orders outside the town of

Rostock I reflected on what might have become of Captain bilder who had been transferred there then we received instructions to organize and guide further TRS to the town of wismar and if available to supply the tractors with fuel while carrying out these duties I ran into an army School classmate from

My Dresden days a captain Krauss who upon recognizing me declared in anguish how the war was lost I hoped afterwards that he hadn’t noticed my look of incredulity at this rather childish understatement the following was an example of how far apart sober thinking folk were from the fight to the last

Bullet Fanatics I was tasked with approaching the the Army bar racks with orders for the Garrison to move back but upon arriving found all doors firmly barred I was treated with undisguised hostility because it was believed that I was an SS officers with orders to organize the town’s defenses only with

Great difficulty was I able to convince the officers inside that I was not SS that evening I was to report to the town of scharen and during my drive south I got a firsthand look at the enemy’s complete control of the air although this time it was the American

And from then on one of us always stood up in the vehicle to keep a close eye on the sky above although from the many corpses and destroyed vehicles in the ditch it would appear that no matter how observant death could rain down at any time at the approach to schwerin just as

We emerged from a wood and reached a straight stretch of road we encountered another Unforgettable scene in the evening sunlight a village stood before us above which a swarm of American fighter bombers were Milling around suddenly the there was a huge explosion and one of the aircraft came fluttering

To Earth in a ball of flame while at the same time a vstorm flack battery crew who had been firing steadily stopped to do a victory dance they had hit a bull’s eye a bit later we saw what the American planes had been shooting at they had

Attacked a column of refugees and all around lay dead and dying horses wagons ripped apart with lug gauge and clothing scattered in all directions and a general state of chaos the dead refugees had by then already been removed later that evening I arrived at the assigned estate but there was no

Sign of the general and telephone contact was unsuccessful while there I ate my daily raans in the kitchen of the estate along with a number of PS I can’t remember if they were French or polls but they seemed content eating and chatting with the kitchen girls and

I suspected that their life had not been too bad which I think was generally the case for prisoners working on country estate Patricia and my parents who would have been killed had they stayed were happily safely behind British lines but what was the fate of the Sharin family living at

Zamin because from my latest telephone conversation with Patricia I learned that the graph and his whole family had decided to stay put no doubt under the mistaken belief that the Americans would never allow the Russians to occupy mecklinburg the highly confused situation of scattered troop elements staff officers without orders and

Missing generals suddenly cleared up in the afternoon when or dares were received to cross the river Elba to the West our front to the west or what was left of it and those still fighting the Russians had reached an agreement with the English to put down their arms and

Allow British and Allied units to swiftly move East we all understood that this would allow the rescue of countless refugees from the clutches of the Russians suddenly there was a small degree of Common Sense those officers still on general sho’s staff took off immediately however I was able to

Convince the ncos and men that it would be better if we set off fully armed and stick together in one group in view of possible violent behavior from released PS and foreign workers so off we went with finger on the trigger along a Country Lane only within a few

Kilometers to come upon an Unholy noise from the village ahead suddenly a truck was seen coming towards us at break neck speed and swaying dangerously from side to side it was overladen with Russians all of whom were completely drunk I prepared myself for some unpleasantness when the driver who must have spotted my

Group suddenly lost control of the vehicle perhaps never having driven before and crashed it against a tree scattering his passengers on both sides like falling apples in the wind Gathering themselves up they came to us smiling and laughing and then tried to get the truck going again

Luckily there was enough room for our dkw to get by and we wasted no time in getting away using side roads and Lanes we made good progress Until We Came Upon a scene I have already described earlier in this diary from the edge of a wood we

Neared the highway along which almost as if in peaceful times a splendid column of anti-tank troops were passing they kept proper distance maintained regar speed and were heading to the Northeast because there was no Gap in the Convoy for us to pass through with our dkw after a short conference I decided to

Walk up alone to the intersection and the loone traffic controller and before I could even open my mouth he gave me a smart salute to which I responded in kind I quickly waved to my small group and moments later we were across the main highway I often wondered whether the

Lone soldier had been given orders to allow German troops to pass or whether he took me in my long gray coat to be a Russian vilhelm already described this encounter earlier on in his diary but it is interesting to note that these Allied troops were canadi Adan we proceeded on

In the direction of randorf where upon getting closer it became uncomfortably clear that more PS and foreign workers had found copious quantities of alcohol and were celebrating their new found Freedom with an infernal row since there was no way around the town it was decided we should split up and each try

Our luck with me in the dkw were Sergeant Arnold who was trying to get to schleswig Holstein the Lany SS officer and one of the two refugee women from Strasburg the other having chosen to remain in rostock at the entrance to the Village we encountered French PS who

Immediately demanded we give up all weapons and so I said goodbye to my trusty nine mimit of pistol which over the years had given me much peace of mind with that the French kindly directed us through the village and out to the other side allowing us to distance ourselves from the hellish

Noise of the drunken celebration it was already dark when we neared rberg where our SS officer tried to rid himself of his uniform in a roadside Guest House people there warned us that we could go no further because the English had occupied the town I decided to circumvent the place to the

South and for a while all went well but then it was all over a Canadian anti-tank gun crew spotted us and ordered us over they brought us into the village of scha where having first allowed our Refugee women to leave they left us standing in the street to suffer

The tantalizing smell of fried bacon as the Canadians were being fed a 3/4 ton truck took me then to the town of mol the old town of till oand Spiegel where the others went I can no longer say but I was interviewed by a German speaking officer who examined my papers with

Astonishment upon seeing reference to my English wife I am not sure what brought it on but suddenly he cried out angrily and you call us capitalist