Рет қаралды 24,609
Subscribe to the channel: vk.cc/bX7fmt
Support the channel: 👉 www.donationalerts.com/r/warm... from 10 rubles.
Memories of the Battle of Stalingrad by German soldier Frans Reichbeger
Lance corporal Frans Reichbeger, as part of the 54th Jaeger Regiment, took part in the storming of the Mamayev Kurgan and the Krasny Oktyabr plant. On January 30, 1943, his unit capitulated, and the former Wehrmacht soldier was taken prisoner by the Soviets. After going through a series of physical torments and mental tests, Franz returned to his homeland five years after he left it. Below is his story.
On March 23, 1942, in Wels, we were loaded onto an echelon, which a week later arrived in the city of Dobropolye in the Donbass, where the 100th Jaeger Division was being formed. There, in two weeks they learned to be a signalman.
The first test was the offensive near Kharkov. On May 17, 1942, our attack began, which was met with fire by Russian artillery. As soon as the explosions died down, I heard a heart-rending cry: "Orderlies, help!" Nearby lay a comrade, bleeding. His leg was blown off. The terrible sight literally paralyzed me - I almost lost consciousness from what I saw and the understanding that death had passed two steps away from me.
At the end of the first day of the offensive, when I was to deliver a report about the occupation of the village of Gromovaya Balka by the regiment, I suddenly saw fresh graves with birch crosses. Each has a plaque with a name on it. Here lay my peers from the 3rd battalion, with whom I was drafted in Austria. They were killed in a surprise night attack by Russian tanks. I photographed this cemetery as a keepsake for everyone.
Then, in August, I had to take a picture of another grave, in which my comrade, also a signalman, was buried. He rode a BMW-350 motorcycle, and on the very first day after returning from vacation he was killed. A few days later, a parcel with a home strudel arrived in his name from Austria. We have shared this strudel for everyone. But I never touched him because my tears were choking.
In those days it seemed to me that this episode will remain the most powerful shock. I could not even imagine that Stalingrad would be ahead, where I would have to experience much more monstrous physical suffering and mental anguish.
Near Kharkov, a Russian prisoner of war was unexpectedly delivered to us, about whom they said that he was most likely a commissar - he was wearing expensive chrome boots. According to the order of the commissars, the prisoner was to be destroyed on the spot. But our commander, Hauptmann Witte, decided that he needed to be interrogated first - he probably knows a lot. Since we did not have an interpreter, I was instructed to escort the prisoner to the regiment headquarters.
I spoke a little Polish then - I had a Pole friend. Therefore, on the way, I began to talk with the prisoner. We passed the house. An elderly man and woman were standing nearby. They began to make signs with their hands. The Commissioner waved back at them. I asked him: "Do you know them?" He replied, "These are my parents."
Then I asked myself what to do now? Is it so simple, in front of the parents' eyes, is a man being shot now just for the fact that he is in chrome boots? I wanted to remain human.
When we arrived at the headquarters, I saw that about 200 Soviet prisoners of war were sitting on the lawn. Then I said to the escort: "Sit down among the others." At the headquarters of the regiment he reported that he had brought a prisoner. But he did not speak about the fact that this is the supposed commissioner. Perhaps, by doing so, I saved the life of the Soviet commissar. By the way, the photograph of these prisoners was miraculously preserved in my album.
_________________
See also:
👉 • НЕМЕЦКИЕ СОЛДАТЫ ПЕРЕЖ... - German soldiers who survived Stalingrad. Memories of German soldiers about the battle of Stalingrad.
👉 • Детские воспоминания о... - Childhood memories of the Battle of Stalingrad.
👉 • ВОСПОМИНАНИЯ НЕМЕЦКОГО... - Memories of the German soldier Henry Metelmann about the Second World War and the campaign against Stalingrad.
_________________
stalingrad # memories # memoir