I Began My 5th Year In Russian Captivity, I Knew I Would Never Return Home (Ep. 13)

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Join us as we delve into the captivating story of a German officer during World War II. This video highlights his journey from a young artillery officer to a high-ranking staff officer in the Wehrmacht. We’ll explore the key themes of duty, survival, and the moral dilemmas faced by soldiers in the chaos of war. Through excerpts, historical insights, and expert commentary, gain a deeper understanding of what it was like to serve on the front lines of history's deadliest conflict.
This is part 13
Entire playlist: • Memoirs Of A German So...
Part 1: • I Was An Officer In Th...
Part 2: • Our SS Troops Were Sho...
Part 3: • A Russian Soldier Aske...
Part 4: • We Studied War Tactics...
Part 5: • I Crossed The Polish B...
Part 6: • At Dunkirk The Allied ...
Part 7: • 87th Infantry Division...
Part 8: • In Moscow The Frostbit...
Part 9: • Italians And Russians ...
Part 10: • Breslau Was A German F...
Part 11: • I Was Captured And Tak...
Part 12: • When I Entered Moscow ...
Part 13: • I Began My 5th Year In...
Note: I do not own this material, it has been sourced from soldat. I've reached out to them for permission. For copyright issues please contact me: [e-mail]

[@WW2Stories1]

Thank you for watching the video. This is part 13 of an entire serie, watch the rest here: Entire playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PL1p7uWYlKNaBWqkJzRZ2uaNOLwcD9-sDb Part 1: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6KwkGZ7rrird5I Part 2: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYfGpWymfNd3oNU Part 3: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIuxm4CwaNqSf8U Part 4: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHzciZStYrqfp5o Part 5: kzbin.info/www/bejne/laSYqIyOoqt9jbs Part 6: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHu9nWptqLOWfsU Part 7: kzbin.info/www/bejne/baqll5tsq52db5o Part 8: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaDcZJSbl8eMr6c Part 9: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnLLi3-JnLljo5I Part 10: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nV7TZouMmZyZbbc Part 11: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sKCZZXyYl96rhKc Part 12: kzbin.info/www/bejne/apecknuhlsSGZq8 Part 13: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZmXeYitnLtoqtU

[@mickyhamer1300]

My great uncle was captured at stalingrad...returned back home in 1954...nobody knew he was still alive...

[@arostwocents]

My great uncle was an SS medic and was there until 54 too 😢

[@john197039]

@@arostwocents It must be a bummer to have NAZI relatives.

[@davidnisbet1911]

Same here

[@donsudduth]

When was he captured? Stalingrad? Or, at the end in '45?

[@remaguire]

If he was a veteran of the battle of Stalingrad, he is one lucky man that he survived to return home. I'm sure his life was total hell while he was a POW of the Soviets, but at least he was alive. I'm sure the experience shattered him.

[@strfltcmnd.9925]

''Home by Christmas," they just never tell you which Christmas.

[@Johnconno]

That's very amusing, and insightful. Amusing and insightful, there, I've said it.

[@strfltcmnd.9925]

@@Johnconno If you have any military experience you would understand.

[@Johnconno]

@@strfltcmnd.9925 Colonel Blimp. 🌹

[@remaguire]

My German wife's grandfather was a POW in England. He didn't return to Germany until 1949. Many outside Germany don't know that the last German POWs didn't return until 1955.

[@Racerxwilly]

One helleva experience. What a wild 20 yr ride. From pre war adolescent adventures as a young officer in training to finishing out the war as a staff officer attached to the defense of berlin, then surviving the russian pow camp(s). It's almost like a video game how far the majors story progresses. Good thing he was the main character lol. Keep em coming! Thank you.

[@DavidISHERWOOD-iu1xn]

This is from his book I read it long ago. It's not a film.

[@crayzmarc]

Calling it a video game is insulting. It's life. Please read more and actually go out and live your life (travel even if its only to the next town or city) and stop playing video games.

[@Racerxwilly]

​@crayzmarc you misunderstand my comment, although perhaps comparing the majors war biography with a video game was a poor choice of analogy to use. I simply meant that in a game, the player character tends to always be right in the the thick of the action across each pivotal battle in a campaign and that the outcome depends solely on the players efforts and deeds . In other memoirs read on this channel, from a infantry rifleman , or a pilot, or perhaps a narrative of certain battles told from multiple perspectives. In these other examples the experiences while harrowing tend to show or tell only the part of the conflict relative to that authors narrative.(hara was a destroyer skipper, deshazer a bombardier then pow, etc) that never have I heard of someone who started the war fresh out of training, experienced combat on multiple fronts and finished the war as a staff officer in Hitlers very command bunker whose decisions influence the fate of thousands and impact the direction of the war itself. I know he wasn't making these war altering commands his self, but to be a part of.. still, I thought was wild. Again, like a game character.. Now. I did not "call it a video game" like you suggest. I did nothing of the sort. I simply likened the story to a theoretical experience a game character might have in the sense that it was not average or mundane. In fact I didn't use any specific game because I haven't played any war video games for about a decade now since I was a teenager, or even owned a console for the last few yrs. So.. how about this. I will look towards traveling in the near future, and you can pick up a couple of 6th grade reading comprehension workbooks to help you next time you feel the need to be a dick in comments section on KZbin.

[@2Oldcoots]

Invaluable Historical Information! Thank You so much for posting it!!!

[@BritonAD]

This would make a good movie.

[@Fuxerz]

I've been following this. This is a great series. Thank you for posting.

[@donaldedgar1004]

These stories should be told in book forum or a film and kept for prosperity so that never again should there be a world war I say this because the storm clouds are here we do not want ww3 I feel sorry for the dead Russians and Ukrainians they didn’t want the war just powerful politicians what a pity ❤

[@chrisjamieson4118]

Thanks for sharing ❤

[@2Oldcoots]

Thanks! Incredible History!!! Thank You.

[@WW2Stories1]

Thank you aswell!

[@Itsjustbeau]

This waws incredible history thank you for sharing it.

[@glebarhangelsky4351]

15 minutes far from my grandmother's village of burth was the village Ksty. There the german soldiers retreating, burned 100+ women, children and elderly alive in the barrack. My grandmother was luckier, the germans standing in her village gave them half an hour to leave the houses, before burning the entire village during retreat. It was february 1942, minus 30 C. So do not tell us about the hardships of german prisoners in Russia. We did not invite them here.

[@AndyJarman]

And the Holdemore? The Kulacks? The Red Terror? Did you invite that upon yourselves? Before WW2 people hadn't learned of the evils of all forms of Socialism, be it Marxist or Nationalist.

[@Spicyvanilla10]

@@AndyJarmanwell said - fascism, nazism and communism are all sub-branches of the same depraved socialist ideology. It is terrifying that it is back in fashion. Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat its mistakes

[@cheguevara5560]

​@@AndyJarmanYes we did learn what you people did in Vietnam war , May Li massacre and that has nothing to do with either bolshevism or nationalism ,just pure farken evil . So get of your high moral horse ....

[@mikhailiagacesa3406]

@@AndyJarman So, that justifies the village being burnt down by Nazis?

[@minimouse0285]

@@AndyJarman Marks was German. everything thats beyond evil comes from Germany

[@kawythowy867]

Thanks!

[@WW2Stories1]

Thank you so much

[@brucewessel7753]

Bad things happened from both sides. There are also some good stories from both sides too.

[@milangovedarica6952]

As much as I feel sympathetic toward a young man returning to his young family and rebuilding their lives - I cannot help wondering the following: 1 - Isn't it a bit rich - being hellbent on criticising communism after being a part of nazi soldatesque for many years? 2 - Not noticing that the Soviet treatment of German POWs was better than the other way round? (Nowhere near millions Soviets Germans worked to death.) 3 - finally many Soviet civilians never got even minimal support from the occupiers. 4 - What treatment would one expect from Soviets after wrecking the entire West portion of USSR causing tens of millions of casualties? Finally, compliments on narration and recording!

[@john197039]

Many people watching these videos are on the side of the NAZIs and don't see the points you raise or choose to ignore them.

[@gardencity3558]

So you expect someone sent to the Gulag to not be critical of communism? Do you also believe there are 30 genders?

[@rosstisbury1626]

totally agree . . the Russians were light on the Germans, i would not be so forgiving and i wasnt even there.

[@morganstanley6356]

Agreed

[@markgilmour1169]

Like the germans were a bunch of saints. What goes around comes around.

[@warwarneverchanges4937]

Working in the town Asbestos sounds like a swell time

[@spotifyde5979]

well read, but is it licensed from Orion books?

[@JamesBrown-pz6nw]

Siegfried Knappe.

[@tomdonahue4224]

Yellow Springs OH is in my back yard. I wonder if I was ever his neighbor?

[@marvwatkins7029]

(Clearly translated for an American audience, ex.: railroad and streetcar.)

[@richardthornhill4630]

Has Russia changed? The power of hope gives the remarkable ability to endure.

[@michaelmazowiecki9195]

The more Russia changes, the more it stays the same.

[@minimouse0285]

has Germany changed?

[@michaelmazowiecki9195]

@@minimouse0285 Germany, as a direct result of WW2, has changed to a pacifistic nation which is unwilling to be directly involved in supporting its allies by "boots on the ground" and much prefers its military forces to be small and barely able to provide self-defense. The entire opposite of imperialistic, expansive Russia.

[@minimouse0285]

@@michaelmazowiecki9195 no, Germany hasnt changed. They wanted to control europe in 1939 by military force but when they failed, they changed their tactics. Now they are controlling the european countries using Euro and their influence in the EU. If you call Russia imperialistic then Germany is imperialistic as well.

[@janstolk486]

That cap is called a ushanka ! I doubt that story is real . He should know that name .

[@daveyvane9431]

My Great Uncle had the y fortunate name of Adolph Heidrich. Captured at Koenigsberg, he was enslaved in Kiev until 1952. Once a week, they all lined up and a nurse would pinch their butt to evaluate body fat. One day, he was to thin and they simply said “go home”. He walked back home, knocked on the door and surprised his wife with “Happy Birthday Mamma”.

[@john197039]

Enslaved is a funny way of saying he was a war criminal.

[@yolandabrinkman2653]

What happened to the negatives he took across the berlin border? Were any of them published?

[@spotifyde5979]

Yup. Knappe wrote a book. "Soldat" This 'video' is read from Knappe's book.

[@yolandabrinkman2653]

@@spotifyde5979 thank you. Much appreciated.

[@saidsuleiman3909]

That was good, what took you to Russia?

[@glebarhangelsky4351]

Looks like they tried to bring "democracy and ruled based order".

[@alkroenker7478]

what year was he released?

[@RS-xo7rd]

Sounds like about 1950

[@jpip1382]

1949

[@buckgulick3968]

What book is this from?

[@antidoteify]

From what I gathered form the comments, its Soldat" by Sigfried Knappe.

[@spotifyde5979]

@@antidoteify Correct.

[@thomasmain5986]

What was the legal basis for holding regular German soldiers prisoner, long after the 2nd World War was over, these were not war criminals. The Allies had released all Germans not suspected of War Crimes. The Russians seem to have been given a by, or was it that they were not signatories of the Geneva convention. And behaved as badly as they liked.

[@JohnsJohnson-ns5xm]

Legal basis=gun

[@maxn.7234]

The Allies had an unwritten agreement to use German POWs as slave labor after the war. Britain and France did the same thing, but the Soviets took advantage of it the most and the longest. They didn't recognize the Geneva convention.

[@thomasmain5986]

@@maxn.7234 I believe the Allies principle was to use German POW's to undo some of the damage they had done like clearing mines that they had layed, seemed fair enough. Yes I am sure the Soviet's would not have been signatories to the 1929 accords.

[@daveyvane9431]

Allies afraid of Stalin

[@carlosasosa4293]

Not criminals? Are you stupid?

[@marvwatkins7029]

If we are discussing German prisioners, why are you showing Russian ones? That is sloppy!

[@LanceRomanceF4E]

Worked in Germany in the early 1970’s with several WWII vets and none talked about the war, but I knew one was taken POW in Stalingrad in 1942 and didn’t come home until 1952. History shows that of the 100,000 Germans captured in Stalingrad only 6,000 eventually came home. Most died of malnutrition and disease early in captivity because they were already starving when captured. The Russians did not intentionally starve prisoners like the Germans did.

[@AudieHolland]

From what I have read and watched, German POWs were much too valuable as forced labour to starve them. Depending on the work they were doing, mining coal or other essential stuff, they would get the same rations as Soviet labourers.

[@stuartsviews1565]

liar

[@cognitivedisability9864]

Not sure i believe "russians didnt starve prisoners intentionally". When they have such an amazing track record of willfully starving their own populations.

[@AudieHolland]

​@@cognitivedisability9864 German POWs were more valuable to the Stalin than his own people. He could use German POWs as bargaining chips and following his death, all remaining were allowed to return to both Germanies.

[@Heiguiking1777]

they were their so they would know 😂😂😂 history is white washed for the beginning of time believing a book is like believing a KZbin video is 100 facts lmao history has been rewritten to protect the government investments lmao

[@georgevprochazka5316]

I have No sympathy for german WW2 soldiers.

[@neoturfmasterMVS]

Sad. They are sons, fathers, uncles. They served their country not out of hate but out of obligation or compulsion. Without sympathy one can only hate, without forgiveness.

[@marvwatkins7029]

(Ok, so he didn't need to translate it.)

[@mikhailiagacesa3406]

Apologists.

[@OlegUshyarov]

Why the hell did the Soviets release these Nazi war criminals back to Germany? 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@Wilt8v92]

They were not war criminals pal,they were Heer regular soldiers...

[@OlegUshyarov]

@@Wilt8v92 “Heer” were war criminals. Don’t you know history?

[@Wilt8v92]

@@OlegUshyarov Go away,single digit IQ..

[@minimouse0285]

@@Wilt8v92 all German soldiers were criminals

[@gardencity3558]

@@OlegUshyarov Well Oleg by your logic every Russian serving in Ukraine is a war criminal and should be sent to Treblinka 2.0?

[@marvwatkins7029]

Russian officialdom: bad then, bad now.

[@PRLcafe]

Cool stuff

[@romsebrell710]

Continuate a riferire i racconti di questi Uomini di questi soldati. Di questi EROI poiché Le loro Storie Non possono morire con Loro.

[@2Oldcoots]

Invaluable historical summary!! Thank you for posting it.