15. November 1943
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| Cottbus | 
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| Krakau |
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| Proskurow |
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| Odesa |
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| OKW situation map December 1943 | 
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| Leader reserve of H.Gr. Süd | ||||
| H.Gr. Süd | ||||
| GC: GFM von MansteinWP | ||||
I visit a church for a short prayer and then sit down in a café. In the station hall I meet Sergeant NN, a red-haired Saxon who used to be my orderly in Jasło. Now he's a squad leader in a mortar platoon. I snapped at him terribly on several occasions back then and I don't think he's particularly fond of me. But he's very friendly and seems to mean it honestly.
In Krakow we are unloaded once again. More groups of officers from other parts of the Reich are to join us here. It is expected to take several days until the transport is complete. We are billeted in a Wehrmacht accommodation for this time. I think about travelling to Krynica, where Sofia works in a library. But that's just too risky for me. So I go to the office of the Reich Corn Chamber, where Hilde Voß is employed. We haven't seen each other for years, so my appearance here in Krakow will come as a complete surprise. She invites me to her flat for the evening, which she shares with two other German girls. I am served a hearty dinner of hash browns. Then we chat about times past and present until it's time for me to go to my accommodation. For reasons unknown, she has not adhered to a second appointment.
Over the last four days, around 200 officers have arrived here. We are complete. The transport is divided into groups according to destination. At ten o'clock in the evening, the train leaves Krakow station towards the east.
Part 6
Third Deployment To Russia
Into The Poach
– harte Battles Of Retreat From River Dnepr To Kriwoi Rog – Second and Third Wound
Shortly after the old Polish-Russian border, we are unloaded again. We are in Proskurow, the location of the Führer reserve of Army Group South. From here we are to be sent to our old units or assigned to other units as required.
The Soviet offensive has massively gained ground. The front is drawing closer. Long refugee wagon trains of Russian civilians are travelling west through Proskurov. They carry their miserable belongings on small farmer's carts, which roll along the snow-covered roads on creaking wheels in the winter cold. The Russians are fleeing from their own army! [1]
We are housed in a barracks and wait for our onward transport. In the meantime, I look around the city or sit in the room reading and go out for group meals in between. One evening I went to see the station chaplain and received the holy sacraments.
After eight days, we receive our march orders. A small group of officers (including myself) is marched off to our old 257th Infantry Division.
1st Panzer Army I
Course of the front:
4 Nov 43 ▬
10 Nov 43 ▬
23 Dec 43 ▬
Russian large-scale attacks: ←
In the meantime we had informed ourselves about the situation. The entire area east of the Dnieper has already been lost. In addition, the Red Army has made huge territorial gains in the central section and has advanced far to the west. In the Ukraine, however, our troops have held on to the Dnieper, so that our front here stretches eastwards in a tremendous arc like a hose. The outermost eastern positions of this tube are still holding in the easternmost bend of the Dnieper bend opposite Zaporozhye, while the Ivan, with vastly superior forces, is trying to tie up the sack in our rear from the north and south.[2]
Despite heavy bloody losses, the Ivan continues to bring in new forces and new material. His reserves seem inexhaustible, while our battle-weary and overtired soldiers hardly get any replacements. Straightening the front would relieve them, but Hitler refuses any change. On the southern front of this pocket, Nikopol is the last bulwark of our front, which is being stormed by the Soviets in furious attacks. This area is where also our division is located.
We are to enter this outermost corner of the hose like a cat in a bag. Our journey takes several days by train to Odesa, where we disembark and spend the night. Our accommodation is in a metropolitan street with three-storey houses. I can peer into the flat on the opposite side of the street from my room. Like many Russian city flats, it's sparse, a bit homely, but cleanly furnished. There is the obligatory rubber tree by the window. We visit a café, stroll through the streets and enjoy the magnificent view of Odessa Bay from the Great Harbour Terrace[3]. Odessa is a large city whose beautiful public buildings and solid apartment blocks still retain a faint flavour of the old, prosperous bourgeoisie of this great trading city from the Tsarist era.
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- ↑ They are Soviet citizens, but most probably not Russians, but Ukrainians.
- ↑ The term "sack at the Dnieper bend" can be found, e.g., in KTB AOK 6 Frame 000782 f.
- ↑ What could be meant? The Potemkin Stairs?