12. März 1944
Landshut
| GEO & MIL INFO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landshut-Achdorf | 
| |||
| Military Reserve Hospital Landshut, hospital part Achdorf | ||||
| Medical Battalion Munic | Military District Command VII | Cdr Replacement Army | ||
12 Mar 44. We have arrived at our destination. The train stops at the station Landshut. There is a whole series of ambulances on the ramp. With their doors wide open, they have reversed up to the carriages. Medics are running back and forth with their stretchers. A medical sergeant stands on the ramp like a general and commands his men. This time it’s my turn, too. Two medics put me on the stretcher and push me into an ambulance. The door slams shut and the vehicle speeds off.
When the vehicle stops again and the door is opened, I raise my head. A medic and a nun are standing in the open doorway. We are in the Hospital part Achdorf of the Landshut military reserve hospital. It’s a former hospital run by Catholic sisters, which has now been converted into a military hospital for the severely wounded.
They put me on a trolley. A male nurse in a white coat pushes me into a lift that takes us to the first floor. I go straight to the bathroom. While the wonderful water gushes into the tub, the carer helps me undress. He then places a board across the edge of the bathtub so that I can place my broken leg over it without immersing it in the water. With his help, I get into the bath and let myself slide into the warm water. The carer leaves and I abandon myself completely to the pleasure of this moment. What a relief it is to lie in this warm, greenish, fragrant water! I splash around in it with both hands and savour this flood of cleanliness. Then I lie motionless again, completely filled with the happiness of this hour. How clean it all is here!
Do I hear right? Isn’t there a reed organ playing? That’s right, today is Sunday! Now I can also hear the singing. What peace lies over this house! Everything in this house exudes calm, comfort and relaxation. The monotonous prayer of the Credo reaches me. My thoughts fly back to the front, to the last days of fighting, when we recaptured the lost trench in the icy snowstorm. I see my comrades fall and recognise the great mercy with which the Lord God has once again - for how many times? - saved me from death. And now I lie here, surrounded by cleanliness and lovingly caring sisters in the security of home. Dear Lord, I thank you!
I have been placed in a twin room. I have just given the admission nurse my personal details. Now I’m labelling the small boards at the foot of the beds with names and ranks. I took this work off the nurse’s hands. Then I sent a telegram to Carola: “Lying Lazarett Landshut. Dont come. Await letter!” Because I have a very guilty conscience.
There are now two of us in the room. My roommate is a young, blond artillery lieutenant. He’s a quiet, friendly, very likeable comrade. We’ve just had our obligatory delousing treatment. A medic has treated our head and pubic hair with a sponge soaked with Cuprex. A brief, firm touch, a short, biting pain, and the procedure was over. The artillery lieutenant wrapped his towel around his head like a turban.
8 o’clock in the evening. Dinner is over. We are lying in bed, have switched on our bedside lamps and are each engrossed in our reading. I’m reading “Lausbubengeschichten” by Ludwig Thoma. The cheerful book fits in perfectly with the relaxed mood I’m in. I put the book down and savour the surreal peace that hangs over the house. The room is also silent. The mate behind me, who fortunately isn’t a fan of a lot of talking either, reads his book in silence. What heavenly peace! A fortnight ago I was still crawling through the snow in the fire of the enemy, soaked with thaw and with death at my side. And today I lie here, warm, dry, clean and far from the war in the care of the sisters. Here, no bullets are fizzing, no threat of a night raid, no rain or snow in my neck and boots. Here I can finally sleep peacefully and carefree again. How incomprehensibly beautiful it all is!
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