11. April 1943
Part 5
Back to the Eastern Front
Transport Back To Russia – Positional Fighting on Donets River, Summer 1943 – Soviet Summer Offensive 1943 – Wounded and Homeland Stay – Back to the Front
| GEO & MIL INFO | ||||
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| Barvenkovo | 
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| Sowchos VII Ssjesda Ssowjetoff |
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| Subordination to the command authorities at the front was always valid from the moment of arrival at the command area:[1] | ||||
| XXXX. Pz.K. | 1. Pz.A. | H.Gr. Süd | ||
| KG: Gen d PzTr HenriciWP | OB: Gen d Kav von MackensenWP | OB: GFM von MansteinWP | ||
So now it’s time again. We are rolling back to Russia. Like a dream, France lies behind us.
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France, |
that is civilisation, is still Christian living space, is Western culture in which we feel at home, is the common house of Europe. |
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Before us |
lies the dark future, the Russian sphinx. The Soviet Union, that is brutal Bolshevism, is the centre of godlessness, is the alien, incomprehensible monster called Asia. |
| France |
was relaxation, peace, comfort, joy and also a bit of feminine charm. |
| Russia |
means danger, strains, sleepless nights, frost and wetness, sweat and blood, primitive existence - and sometimes also a little humanity. |
Such thoughts and feelings fill me as we continue to roll eastwards. They are in a hurry with us, because we are dispatched with priority everywhere. Eight days ago we were still looking at the rocky coast of the Atlantic, today we are already deep in Russia. The train stops at a small station behind Barvenkovo (?).[2] We unload in a hurry and immediately have the vehicles go into air cover as far away from the platform as possible. Our sister battalion already had the first dead and wounded by Russian air raids here yesterday while unloading. Russia has got us again!
Positional Fighting on Donets River, Summer 1943
We are still in the middle of Rasputitsa, the spring mud season. Our only consolation is that it is gradually coming to an end. For now, however, we are still marching along boggy paths through the dirty, meltwater-soaked countryside. The sight of the grey villages and the winter-bare trees stretching their leafless branches into the leaden sky is desolate. The image of the landscape fits our mood perfectly. We spend the first night in the storehouse of a kolkhoz.[3] In the room assigned to us lies a pile of sunflower seeds. I dig in and create a small hollow in which I hope to sleep softly. It was a false hope, because the seeds are harder than I thought. Eight days ago I was still lying in the soft feather bed of a French maid’s room. Today, half asleep on a pile of hard sunflower seeds, I shiver towards a dreary morning. Landsknecht’s life, soldier’s fate!
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. Erfahrungen i.d.Gefangenschaft Bemerkungen z.russ.Mentalität Träume i.d.Gefangenschaft Personen-Index Namen,Anschriften Personal I.R.477 1940–44 Übersichtskarte (Orte,Wege) Orts-Index Vormarsch-Weg Codenamen der Operationen im Sommer 1942 Mil.Rangordnung 257.Inf.Div. MG-Komp.eines Inf.Batl. Kgf.-Lagerorganisation Kriegstagebücher Allgemeines Zu einzelnen Zeitabschnitten Linkliste Rotkreuzkarte Originalmanuskript Briefe von Kompanie-Angehörigen |
- ↑ cf. e. g. KTB 1.PzA, NARA T-313 Roll 48 Frame 7282396 or 2537 in connection with the definition of arrival (at the station of disembarkation) as opposed to replacement in the position, cf. arrival or replacement II./457 and II./466 in KTB 1.PzA, NARA T-313 Roll 48 Frames 7282357 and 2400
- ↑ Arrival near Barwenkowo 09th-13th (KTB 1.PzA, NARA T-313 Roll 48 Frame 7282357, 388, 400, 421, 433, KTB OKW 1943 pp. 258 ff.); I./477 apparently arrived - in the absence of any other mention - with the "remaining combat echelons" on 11.04.1943 (KTB 1.PzA, NARA T-313 Roll 48 Frame 7282400 i.V.m. 2357, 2388, 2421, 2433)
- ↑ On the marching path, the only one located is the Sowchos VII Ssjesda Ssowjetoff (Heereskarte Russland 1:100 000 sheet M-37-99 Isjum at MAPSTER).