German soldiers about the war on the eastern front. All books about: “memories of German...

The material offered to readers consists of excerpts from diaries, letters and memoirs of German soldiers, officers and generals who first encountered the Russian people during the Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Essentially, we have before us evidence of mass meetings between people and people, between Russia and the West, which do not lose their relevance today.

Germans about Russian character

It is unlikely that the Germans will emerge victorious from this struggle against Russian soil and against Russian nature. How many children, how many women, and they all give birth, and they all bear fruit, despite the war and looting, despite the destruction and death! Here we are fighting not against people, but against nature. At the same time, I am again forced to admit to myself that this country is becoming more and more dear to me every day.

Lieutenant K. F. Brand

They think differently than us. And don’t bother - you’ll never understand Russian anyway!

Officer Malapar

I know how risky it is to describe the sensational “Russian man”, this vague vision of philosophizing and politicking writers, which is very suitable for being hung, like a clothes hanger, with all the doubts that arise in a person from the West, the further he moves to the East . Still, this “Russian man” is not only a literary invention, although here, as everywhere else, people are different and irreducible to a common denominator. Only with this reservation will we talk about the Russian person.

Pastor G. Gollwitzer

They are so versatile that almost each of them describes the full circle of human qualities. Among them you can find everyone from a cruel brute to St. Francis of Assisi. This is why they cannot be described in a few words. To describe Russians, one must use all existing epithets. I can say about them that I like them, I don’t like them, I bow to them, I hate them, they touch me, they scare me, I admire them, they disgust me!

Such a character infuriates a less thoughtful person and makes him exclaim: Unfinished, chaotic, incomprehensible people!

Major K. Kuehner

Germans about Russia

Russia lies between East and West - this is an old thought, but I cannot say anything new about this country. The twilight of the East and the clarity of the West created this dual light, this crystal clarity of mind and mysterious depth of soul. They are between the spirit of Europe, strong in form and weak in deep contemplation, and the spirit of Asia, which is devoid of form and clear outlines. I think their souls are drawn more to Asia, but fate and history - and even this war - bring them closer to Europe. And since here, in Russia, there are many incalculable forces everywhere, even in politics and economics, there can be no consensus either about its people or about their life... Russians measure everything by distance. They must always take him into account. Here, relatives often live far from each other, soldiers from Ukraine serve in Moscow, students from Odessa study in Kyiv. You can drive here for hours without arriving anywhere. They live in space, like stars in the night sky, like sailors on the sea; and just as space is boundless, man is also boundless - everything is in his hands, and he has nothing. The breadth and vastness of nature determine the fate of this country and these people. In large spaces, history moves more slowly.

Major K. Kuehner

This opinion is confirmed in other sources. A German staff soldier, comparing Germany and Russia, draws attention to the incommensurability of these two quantities. The German attack on Russia seemed to him to be a contact between the limited and the unlimited.

Stalin is the lord of Asian boundlessness - this is an enemy that forces advancing from limited, dismembered spaces cannot cope with...

Soldier K. Mattis

We entered into battle with an enemy that we, being captive of European concepts of life, did not understand at all. This is the fate of our strategy; strictly speaking, it is completely random, like an adventure on Mars.

Soldier K. Mattis

The Germans about the mercy of the Russians

The inexplicability of Russian character and behavior often baffled the Germans. Russians show hospitality not only in their homes, they come out with milk and bread. In December 1941, during the retreat from Borisov, in a village abandoned by the troops, an old woman brought out bread and a jug of milk. “War, war,” she repeated in tears. The Russians treated both the victorious and the defeated Germans with equal good nature. Russian peasants are peace-loving and good-natured... When we get thirsty during the marches, we go into their huts, and they give us milk, like pilgrims. For them, every person is in need. How often have I seen Russian peasant women crying out over wounded German soldiers as if they were their own sons...

Major K. Kuehner

It seems strange that a Russian woman has no hostility towards the soldiers of the army with which her sons are fighting: Old Alexandra uses strong threads... to knit socks for me. Besides, the good-natured old woman cooks potatoes for me. Today I even found a piece of salted meat in the lid of my pot. She probably has supplies hidden somewhere. Otherwise, it’s impossible to understand how these people live here. There is a goat in Alexandra's barn. Many people don't have cows. And with all this, these poor people share their last good with us. Do they do this out of fear or do these people really have an innate sense of self-sacrifice? Or do they do it out of good nature or even out of love? Alexandra, she is 77 years old, as she told me, is illiterate. She can neither read nor write. After her husband's death, she lives alone. Three children died, the other three left for Moscow. It is clear that both of her sons are in the army. She knows that we are fighting against them, and yet she knits socks for me. The feeling of hostility is probably unfamiliar to her.

Orderly Michels

In the first months of the war, village women... hurried with food for prisoners of war. “Oh, poor things!” - they said. They also brought food for the German guards sitting in the center of small squares on benches around the white statues of Lenin and Stalin, thrown into the mud...

Officer Malaparte

Hatred for a long time... is not in the Russian character. This is especially clear in the example of how quickly the psychosis of hatred among ordinary Soviet people towards the Germans disappeared during the Second World War. In this case, the sympathy and maternal feeling of the Russian rural woman, as well as young girls, towards the prisoners played a role. A Western European woman who met the Red Army in Hungary wonders: “Isn’t it strange - most of them do not feel any hatred even for the Germans: where do they get this unshakable faith in human goodness, this inexhaustible patience, this selflessness and meek humility...

Germans about Russian sacrifice

Sacrifice has been noted more than once by the Germans in the Russian people. From a people that does not officially recognize spiritual values, it is as if one cannot expect either nobility, Russian character, or sacrifice. However, the German officer was amazed when interrogating a captured partisan:

Is it really possible to demand from a person brought up in materialism so much sacrifice for the sake of ideals!

Major K. Kuehner

Probably, this exclamation can be applied to the entire Russian people, who apparently have retained these traits in themselves, despite the breakdown of the internal Orthodox foundations of life, and, apparently, sacrifice, responsiveness and similar qualities are characteristic of Russians to a high degree. They are partly emphasized by the attitude of Russians themselves towards Western peoples.

As soon as Russians come into contact with Westerners, they briefly define them with the words “dry people” or “heartless people.” All the selfishness and materialism of the West is contained in the definition of “dry people”

Endurance, mental strength and at the same time humility also attract the attention of foreigners.

The Russian people, especially the large expanses, steppes, fields and villages, are one of the healthiest, joyful and wisest on earth. He is able to resist the power of fear with his back bent. There is so much faith and antiquity in it that the most just order in the world could probably come from it.”

Soldier Matisse

An example of the duality of the Russian soul, which combines pity and cruelty at the same time:

When the prisoners were already given soup and bread in the camp, one Russian gave a piece of his portion. Many others did the same, so that there was so much bread in front of us that we could not eat it... We just shook our heads. Who can understand them, these Russians? They shoot some and may even laugh contemptuously at this; they give others plenty of soup and even share with them their own daily portion of bread.

German M. Gertner

Taking a closer look at the Russians, the German will again note their sharp extremes and the impossibility of fully comprehending them:

Russian soul! It moves from the most tender, soft sounds to wild fortissimo, it is difficult to predict this music and especially the moments of its transition... The words of one old consul remain symbolic: “I don’t know the Russians enough - I’ve lived among them for only thirty years.

General Schweppenburg

The Germans talk about the shortcomings of the Russians

From the Germans themselves we hear an explanation for the fact that Russians are often reproached for their tendency to steal.

Those who survived the post-war years in Germany, like us in the camps, became convinced that need destroys a strong sense of property even among people to whom theft was alien from childhood. Improving living conditions would quickly correct this deficiency for the majority, and the same would happen in Russia, as it did before the Bolsheviks. It is not shaky concepts and insufficient respect for other people's property that appeared under the influence of socialism that makes people steal, but need.

POW Gollwitzer

Most often you helplessly ask yourself: why aren’t they telling the truth here? ...This could be explained by the fact that it is extremely difficult for Russians to say “no.” Their “no”, however, has become famous all over the world, but this seems to be more a Soviet than a Russian feature. The Russian avoids at all costs the need to refuse any request. In any case, when his sympathy begins to stir, and this often happens to him. It seems unfair to him to disappoint a needy person; to avoid this, he is ready for any lie. And where there is no sympathy, lying is at least a convenient means of ridding oneself of annoying requests.

In Eastern Europe, mother vodka has performed great service for centuries. It warms people when they are cold, dries their tears when they are sad, deceives their stomachs when they are hungry, and gives that drop of happiness that everyone needs in life and which is difficult to obtain in semi-civilized countries. In Eastern Europe, vodka is theatre, cinema, concert and circus; it replaces books for the illiterate, makes heroes out of cowardly cowards and is the consolation that makes you forget all your worries. Where in the world can you find another such iota of happiness, and so cheap?

The people... oh yes, the illustrious Russian people!.. For several years I distributed wages in one work camp and came into contact with Russians of all strata. There are wonderful people among them, but here it is almost impossible to remain an impeccably honest person. I was constantly amazed that under such pressure this people retained so much humanity in all respects and so much naturalness. Among women this is noticeably even greater than among men, among old people, of course, more than among young people, among peasants more than among workers, but there is no stratum in which this is completely absent. They are wonderful people and deserve to be loved.

POW Gollwitzer

On the way home from Russian captivity, the impressions of the last years in Russian captivity emerge in the memory of the German soldier-priest.

Military priest Franz

Germans about Russian women

A separate chapter can be written about the high morality and ethics of a Russian woman. Foreign authors left a valuable monument to her in their memoirs about Russia. To a German doctor Eurich The unexpected results of the examination made a deep impression: 99 percent of girls aged 18 to 35 were virgins... He thinks that in Orel it would be impossible to find girls for a brothel.

The voices of women, especially girls, are not melodious, but pleasant. There is some kind of strength and joy hidden in them. It seems that you hear some deep string of life ringing. It seems that constructive schematic changes in the world pass by these forces of nature without touching them...

Writer Junger

By the way, staff doctor von Grewenitz told me that during a medical examination the vast majority of girls turned out to be virgins. This can also be seen in the faces, but it is difficult to say whether one can read it from the forehead or from the eyes - this is the shine of purity that surrounds the face. Its light does not have the flickering of active virtue, but rather resembles the reflection of moonlight. However, this is precisely why you feel the great power of this light...

Writer Junger

About feminine Russian women (if I can put it that way), I got the impression that with their special inner strength they keep under moral control those Russians who can be considered barbarians.

Military priest Franz

The words of another German soldier sound like a conclusion to the topic of the morality and dignity of a Russian woman:

What did propaganda tell us about the Russian woman? And how did we find it? I think that there is hardly a German soldier who visited Russia who would not learn to appreciate and respect a Russian woman.

Soldier Michels

Describing a ninety-year-old old woman who during her life had never left her village and therefore did not know the world outside the village, a German officer says:

I even think that she is much happier than we are: she is full of the happiness of life, living in close proximity to nature; she is happy with the inexhaustible power of her simplicity.

Major K. Kuehner

We find about simple, integral feelings among Russians in the memoirs of another German.

“I’m talking to Anna, my eldest daughter,” he writes. - She is not married yet. Why doesn't she leave this poor land? - I ask her and show her photographs from Germany. The girl points to her mother and sisters and explains that she feels best among her loved ones. It seems to me that these people have only one desire: to love each other and live for their neighbors.

Germans about Russian simplicity, intelligence and talent

German officers sometimes do not know how to answer simple questions from ordinary Russian people.

The general and his retinue pass by a Russian prisoner herding sheep destined for the German kitchen. “She’s stupid,” the prisoner began to express his thoughts, “but she’s peaceful, and what about the people, sir? Why are people so unpeaceful? Why are they killing each other?!”... We couldn’t answer his last question. His words came from the depths of the soul of a simple Russian person.

General Schweppenburg

The spontaneity and simplicity of the Russians make the German exclaim:

Russians don't grow up. They remain children... If you look at the Russian masses from this point of view, you will understand them and forgive them a lot.

Foreign eyewitnesses try to explain the courage, endurance, and undemanding nature of the Russians by their proximity to the harmonious, pure, but also harsh nature.

The courage of Russians is based on their undemanding approach to life, on their organic connection with nature. And this nature tells them about the hardships, struggles and death to which man is subject.

Major K. Kuehner

Often the Germans noted the exceptional efficiency of the Russians, their ability to improvise, sharpness, adaptability, curiosity about everything, and especially about knowledge.

The purely physical performance of Soviet workers and Russian women is beyond any doubt.

General Schweppenburg

The art of improvisation among Soviet people should be especially emphasized, no matter what it concerns.

General Fretter-Picot

About the intelligence and interest shown by Russians in everything:

Most of them show an interest in everything much greater than our workers or peasants; They are all distinguished by their quickness of perception and practical intelligence.

Non-commissioned officer Gogoff

Overestimation of the knowledge acquired at school is often an obstacle for a European in his understanding of the “uneducated” Russian... What was amazing and beneficial for me, as a teacher, was the discovery that a person without any school education can understand the deepest problems of life in a truly philosophical way and at the same time possesses such knowledge that some academician of European fame might envy him... Russians, first of all, lack this typically European fatigue in the face of the problems of life, which we often only overcome with difficulty. Their curiosity knows no bounds... The education of the real Russian intelligentsia reminds me of the ideal types of people of the Renaissance, whose destiny was the universality of knowledge, which has nothing in common, “a little bit of everything.”

Swiss Jucker, who lived in Russia for 16 years

Another German from the people is surprised by the young Russian’s acquaintance with domestic and foreign literature:

From a conversation with a 22-year-old Russian who only graduated from public school, I learned that she knew Goethe and Schiller, not to mention that she was well versed in Russian literature. When I expressed my surprise at this to Dr. Heinrich W., who knew the Russian language and understood the Russians better, he rightly remarked: “The difference between the German and Russian people is that we keep our classics in luxurious bindings in bookcases.” and we don’t read them, while the Russians print their classics on newsprint and publish them in editions, but they take them to the people and read them.

Military priest Franz

The lengthy description by a German soldier of a concert organized in Pskov on July 25, 1942 testifies to talents that can manifest themselves even in unfavorable conditions.

I sat at the back among the village girls in colorful cotton dresses... The compere came out, read a long program, and made an even longer explanation for it. Then two men, one on each side, parted the curtain, and a very poor set for Korsakov's opera appeared before the audience. One piano replaced the orchestra... Mainly two singers sang... But something happened that would have been beyond the capabilities of any European opera. Both singers, plump and self-confident, even in tragic moments sang and played with great and clear simplicity... movements and voices merged together. They supported and complemented each other: by the end, even their faces were singing, not to mention their eyes. Poor furnishings, a lonely piano, and yet there was a complete impression. No shiny props, no hundred instruments could have contributed to a better impression. After this, the singer appeared in gray striped trousers, a velvet jacket and an old-fashioned stand-up collar. When, so dressed up, he walked out into the middle of the stage with some touching helplessness and bowed three times, laughter was heard in the hall among the officers and soldiers. He began a Ukrainian folk song, and as soon as his melodic and powerful voice was heard, the hall froze. A few simple gestures accompanied the song, and the singer's eyes made it visible. During the second song, the lights suddenly went out in the entire hall. Only his voice dominated him. He sang in the dark for about an hour. At the end of one song, the Russian village girls sitting behind me, in front of me and next to me, jumped up and began to applaud and stamp their feet. A turmoil of long-lasting applause began, as if the dark stage was flooded with the light of fantastic, unimaginable landscapes. I didn't understand a word, but I saw everything.

Soldier Mattis

Folk songs, reflecting the character and history of the people, most attract the attention of eyewitnesses.

In a real Russian folk song, and not in sentimental romances, the entire Russian “broad” nature is reflected with its tenderness, wildness, depth, sincerity, closeness to nature, cheerful humor, endless search, sadness and radiant joy, as well as with their undying longing for beautiful and kind.

German songs are filled with mood, Russian songs are filled with story. Russia has great power in its songs and choirs.

Major K. Kuehner

Germans about Russian faith

A striking example of such a state is provided to us by a rural teacher, whom the German officer knew well and who, apparently, maintained constant contact with the nearest partisan detachment.

Iya talked to me about Russian icons. The names of the great icon painters are unknown here. They dedicated their art to a pious cause and remained in obscurity. Everything personal must give way to the demand of the saint. The figures on the icons are shapeless. They give the impression of obscurity. But they don't have to have beautiful bodies. Next to the saint, the physical has no meaning. In this art it would be unthinkable for a beautiful woman to be the model of the Madonna, as was the case with the great Italians. Here it would be blasphemy, since this is a human body. Nothing can be known, everything must be believed. This is the secret of the icon. “Do you believe in the icon?” Iya didn't answer. “Why are you decorating it then?” She could, of course, answer: “I don’t know. Sometimes I do this. I get scared when I don't do this. And sometimes I just want to do it.” How divided and restless you must be, Iya. Gravity towards God and indignation against Him in the same heart. “What do you believe in?” “Nothing.” She said this with such heaviness and depth that I was left with the impression that these people accept their unbelief as much as their faith. A fallen person continues to carry within himself the old legacy of humility and faith.

Major K. Kuehner

Russians are difficult to compare with other peoples. Mysticism in Russian man continues to pose a question to the vague concept of God and the remnants of Christian religious feeling.

General Schweppenburg

We also find other evidence of young people searching for the meaning of life, not satisfied with schematic and dead materialism. Probably, the path of the Komsomol member, who ended up in a concentration camp for spreading the Gospel, became the path of some of the Russian youth. In the very poor material published by eyewitnesses in the West, we find three confirmations that the Orthodox faith was to some extent transmitted to older generations of youth and that the few and undoubtedly lonely young people who have acquired the faith are sometimes ready to courageously defend it, without fear of imprisonment or hard labor. Here is a rather detailed testimony of one German woman who returned home from the camp in Vorkuta:

I was very struck by the integrity of these believers. These were peasant girls, intellectuals of different ages, although young people predominated. They preferred the Gospel of John. They knew him by heart. The students lived with them in great friendship and promised them that in the future Russia there would be complete freedom in religious terms. The fact that many of the Russian youth who believed in God faced arrest and concentration camps is confirmed by the Germans who returned from Russia after World War II. They met believers in concentration camps and describe them this way: We envied the believers. We considered them happy. The believers were supported by their deep faith, which also helped them to easily endure all the hardships of camp life. For example, no one could force them to go to work on Sunday. In the dining room before dinner, they always pray... They pray all their free time... You can’t help but admire such faith, you can’t help but envy it... Every person, be it a Pole, a German, a Christian or a Jew, when he turned to a believer for help, always received it . The believer shared the last piece of bread...

Probably, in some cases, believers won respect and sympathy not only from prisoners, but also from the camp authorities:

There were several women in their team who, being deeply religious, refused to work on major church holidays. The authorities and security put up with this and did not hand them over.

The following impression of a German officer who accidentally entered a burnt-out church can serve as a symbol of wartime Russia:

We enter like tourists for a few minutes into the church through the open door. Burnt beams and broken stones lie on the floor. Plaster fell off the walls due to shocks or fire. Paints, plastered frescoes depicting saints, and ornaments appeared on the walls. And in the middle of the ruins, on the charred beams, two peasant women stand and pray.

Major K. Kuehner

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Preparing the text - V. Drobyshev. Based on materials from the magazine " Slav»

Source - "Diary of a German Soldier", M., Tsentrpoligraf, 2007.

From the memoirs of G. Pabst, I extract only those fragments that I consider important from the point of view of studying the realities of the confrontation between the Red Army and the Wehrmacht and the reaction of the local population to the occupation.
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07/20/41...you can see local residents lining up at our bakery for bread under the leadership of a smiling soldier...

In the villages, a huge number of houses have been abandoned... The remaining peasants carry water for our horses. We take onions and small yellow turnips from their gardens and milk from their cans. Most of them willingly share it...

09.22.41 ...It was a pleasure to walk on this cold winter morning. Clean, spacious country with big houses. People look at us in awe. There is milk, eggs and plenty of hay... the living quarters are amazingly clean, quite comparable to German peasant houses... The people are friendly and open. This is amazing for us...

The house where we stayed was full of lice. The socks that were put there to dry were white with lice eggs. The Russian old man in greasy clothes, to whom we showed these representatives of the fauna, smiled broadly with his toothless mouth and scratched his head with an expression of sympathy...

What kind of country, what kind of war, where there is no joy in success, no pride, no satisfaction...

People are generally helpful and friendly. They smile at us. The mother told the child to wave to us from the window...

We watched as the remaining population hurriedly looted...

I stood alone in the house, lit a match, and bedbugs began to fall. The fireplace was completely black from them: an eerie living carpet...

02.11.41 ... we don’t get new army boots or shirts when the old ones wear out: we wear Russian trousers and Russian shirts, and when our shoes become unusable, we wear Russian shoes and foot wraps, or we also make headphones from the frost from these foot wraps ...

The offensive on the main direction towards Moscow was stopped and got stuck in the mud and forests about a hundred kilometers from the capital...

01/01/42 ...in this house we were offered potatoes, tea and a loaf of bread mixed from rye and barley flour with the addition of onions. There were probably a few brown cockroaches in it; at least I cut one...

Franz was finally awarded the Iron Cross. The service record says: “For pursuing an enemy tank from point C to a neighboring village and attempting to knock it out with an anti-tank rifle”...

03/10/42... for the last few days we have been picking up the corpses of Russians... This was done not for reasons of piety, but hygiene... mutilated bodies were thrown into heaps, stiffened in the cold in the most unimaginable positions. The end. It's all over for them, they will be burned. But first they will be freed from their clothes by their own people, the Russians - old people and children. It's horrible. When observing this process, an aspect of the Russian mentality emerges that is simply incomprehensible. They smoke and joke; they are smiling. It's hard to believe that some Europeans could be so insensitive.....

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Of course, where can Europeans understand what value trousers and overcoats were for villagers, even if they had holes in them...
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Some bodies are missing heads, others are chopped up by shrapnel...only now you gradually begin to realize what these people had to endure and what they were capable of...

Field mail brought me satisfaction with letters and parcels containing cigarettes, biscuits, sweets, nuts and a couple of muffs to warm my hands. I was so touched...
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Let's remember this moment!
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Our Russian Vasil gets along well with the battery... We picked him up along with thirteen of his comrades in Kalinin. They remained in the prisoner of war camp, not wanting to be in the Red Army anymore... Vasil says that in fact he does not want to go to Germany, but wants to stay with the battery..

Yesterday we already heard them (Russians - N) singing in their dugouts in P. The gramophone howled, the wind carried snatches of propaganda speeches. Comrade Stalin gave out vodka, long live Comrade Stalin!...

The dugout is kept in order by general goodwill, friendly tolerance and inexhaustible good humor, all of which bring a glimmer of cheerfulness to the most unpleasant situation...

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Let's remember this for later comparison...
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It seems that the Russians can’t, but we don’t want to...

How tired I am of these dirty roads! It is no longer unbearable to see them - rain, ankle-deep mud, villages similar to one another...

A country of extremes. There is no moderation in anything. Heat and cold, dust and dirt. Everything is frantic and unbridled. Shouldn't we expect that people here are like that too?...

There were many destroyed buildings in the city. The Bolsheviks burned all the houses. Some were destroyed by bombing, but in many cases it was arson...

08/24/42 ...they have been attacking here now since the beginning of July. This is incredible. They must suffer terrible losses...they rarely get their infantry deployed even within range of our machine guns...but then they reappear, moving into the open, and rush into the woods, where they come under heavy fire from our artillery and dive bombers. Of course, we also have losses, but they are incomparable with the enemy’s losses...

Their mother washed the dugout today. She began to do dirty work of her own free will; believe it or not...

At the door I saw two women, each of them carrying a pair of buckets on a wooden yoke. They asked in a friendly manner: “Comrade, should you wash?” They were going to follow me just like that...

And yet they hold on, old people, women and children. They are strong. Timid, exhausted, good-natured, shameless - depending on the circumstances... there is a boy who buried his mother in the garden behind the house, the way animals are buried. He compacted the earth without uttering a word: without tears, without placing either a cross or a stone... there is a priest’s wife, almost blind from tears. her husband was deported to Kazakhstan. She has three sons, who are unknown where now... the world has collapsed, and the natural order of things was disrupted a long time ago...

Around us, villages were burning in a wide ring - a terrible and beautiful sight, breathtaking in its splendor and at the same time nightmare. With my own hands I threw burning logs into the sheds and barns beyond the road....

The thermometer dropped to forty-five degrees below zero...we created an island of peace in the middle of the war, where camaraderie is easy to establish and someone's laughter can always be heard...

01/25/43 ...between our own trench and the enemy’s barbed wire, we were able to count five hundred and fifty bodies killed. The number of captured weapons was represented by eight heavy and light machine guns, thirty submachine guns, five flamethrowers, four anti-tank rifles and eighty-five rifles. It was a Russian penal battalion of one thousand four hundred people...

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here the theory about one rifle for five actually seems to be confirmed. The only peculiarity was that the battalion was a penal battalion. “Bone”, that is, with blood...
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04/24/43 ... I can’t help but remember how often in the first summer of the war we met sincere hospitality from the Russian peasants, how even without asking they displayed their modest treats in front of us...

I again saw tears on the woman’s exhausted face, expressing the severity of her suffering, when I gave her child candy. I felt my grandmother’s senile hand on my hair as she received me, the first terrible soldier, with numerous bows and old-fashioned kissing of the hand...

I stood in the middle of the village, handing out candy to children. I was about to give one more to one boy, but he refused, saying that he had one, and stepped back, smiling. Two candies, just think, that's too much...

We burn down their houses, we take away their last cow from the barn and take away their last potatoes from the cellars. We take off their felt boots, they are often shouted at and treated rudely. However, they always pack up their bundles and leave with us, from Kalinin and from all the villages along the road. We are assigning a special team to take them to the rear. Anything to avoid being on the other side! What a schismatic, what a contrast! What these people must have gone through! What should be the mission to return order and peace to them, to provide them with work and bread!...

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In general, what can be said about these memoirs? It’s as if they were written not by a Nazi occupier, but by some kind of straight liberator warrior. It is possible that he passed off some wishful thinking as reality. I'm sure I left something out. Perhaps, in his notes, G. Pabst calmed his conscience. It is also clear that in addition to intellectuals like him, there were plenty of cruel and immoral people in the German army. But it is absolutely clear that not all Nazis were fascists. Even, perhaps, there were only a minority of them. Without hesitation, only Soviet propaganda could record all the Germans mobilized by Hitler as destroyers and tormentors. She fulfilled the task - it was necessary to increase hatred of the enemy.. However, G. Pabst does not hide the fact that the Wehrmacht brought destruction to the conquered villages and cities. It is also very important that the author did not have time to adjust his notes to any ideology. Since he was killed in 1943, and before that he was not at all classified as a censored war correspondent...

It should also be noted that for the German everyone was “Russian” or “Ivan”, although he met both Ukrainians and Belarusians on his way. Their attitude towards the Germans, and the opposite attitude, was somewhat different.

However, in the next post we will look at excerpts from the diary of a Russian soldier. And let's compare some important points. Moreover, I claim that I did not specifically select the diaries, I took them for analysis using a random sampling method..

Helmut Pabst's diary tells of three winter and two summer periods of fierce fighting for Army Group Center, which advanced east in the direction of Bialystok - Minsk - Smolensk - Moscow. You will learn how the war was perceived not only by a soldier doing his duty, but by a person who sincerely sympathized with the Russians and showed complete disgust for Nazi ideology.

War memoirs - Unity 1942-1944 Charles Gaulle

In the second volume of de Gaulle's memoirs, significant space is devoted to the relationship of the French National Liberation Committee with its allies in the anti-Hitler coalition - the USSR, the USA and England. The book presents extensive factual and documentary material that is of great interest to those interested in the political history of France during the Second World War. Thanks to de Gaulle's efforts, defeated France became one of the victorious countries in World War II and became one of the five great powers in the post-war world. De Gaulle...

Death through an optical sight. New memoirs... Gunther Bauer

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Memoirs of the German soldier Helmut Klaussman, corporal of the 111th Infantry Division

Battle path

I started serving in June '41. But I wasn’t exactly a military man then. We were called an auxiliary unit, and until November I, as a driver, drove in the Vyazma-Gzhatsk-Orsha triangle. There were Germans and Russian defectors in our unit. They worked as loaders. We carried ammunition and food.

In general, there were defectors on both sides throughout the war. Russian soldiers ran over to us even after Kursk. And our soldiers ran over to the Russians. I remember that near Taganrog two soldiers stood guard and went to the Russians, and a few days later we heard them calling over the radio to surrender. I think that usually the defectors were soldiers who just wanted to stay alive. They usually ran across before big battles, when the risk of dying in an attack overpowered the feeling of fear of the enemy. Few people defected due to their convictions both to us and from us. It was such an attempt to survive in this huge massacre. They hoped that after interrogations and checks you would be sent somewhere to the rear, away from the front. And then life will somehow form there.

Then I was sent to a training garrison near Magdeburg to a non-commissioned officer school, and after that, in the spring of 1942, I ended up serving in the 111th Infantry Division near Taganrog. I was a small commander. But he did not have a great military career. In the Russian army my rank corresponded to the rank of sergeant. We held back the attack on Rostov. Then we were transferred to the North Caucasus, then I was wounded and after being wounded I was transferred by plane to Sevastopol. And there our division was almost completely destroyed. In 1943, near Taganrog, I was wounded. I was sent to Germany for treatment, and after five months I returned back to my company. The German army had a tradition of returning the wounded to their unit, and this was the case almost until the very end of the war. I fought the entire war in one division. I think this was one of the main secrets of the resilience of the German units. We in the company lived like one family. Everyone was in sight of each other, everyone knew each other well and could trust each other, rely on each other.

Once a year, a soldier was entitled to leave, but after the fall of 1943, all this became a fiction. And it was possible to leave your unit only if you were wounded or in a coffin.

The dead were buried in different ways. If there was time and opportunity, then everyone was entitled to a separate grave and a simple coffin. But if the fighting was heavy and we retreated, then we buried the dead somehow. In ordinary shell craters, wrapped in a cape or tarpaulin. In such a pit, as many people were buried at one time as died in this battle and could fit in it. Well, if they fled, then there was no time for the dead.

Our division was part of the 29th Army Corps and, together with the 16th (I think!) Motorized Division, made up the Reknage army group. We were all part of Army Group Southern Ukraine.

As we have seen the causes of the war. German propaganda.

At the beginning of the war, the main thesis of the propaganda that we believed in was that Russia was preparing to break the treaty and attack Germany first. But we were just faster. Many people believed this then and were proud that they were ahead of Stalin. There were special front-line newspapers in which they wrote a lot about this. We read them, listened to the officers and believed in it.

But then, when we found ourselves in the depths of Russia and saw that there was no military victory, and that we were stuck in this war, disappointment arose. In addition, we already knew a lot about the Red Army, there were a lot of prisoners, and we knew that the Russians themselves were afraid of our attack and did not want to give a reason for war. Then propaganda began to say that now we can no longer retreat, otherwise the Russians will burst into the Reich on our shoulders. And we must fight here to ensure the conditions for a peace worthy of Germany. Many expected that in the summer of 1942 Stalin and Hitler would make peace. It was naive, but we believed in it. They believed that Stalin would make peace with Hitler, and together they would begin to fight against England and the United States. It was naive, but the soldier wanted to believe.

There were no strict requirements for propaganda. No one forced me to read books and brochures. I still haven't read Mein Kamf. But they strictly monitored morale. It was not allowed to have “defeatist conversations” or write “defeatist letters.” This was monitored by a special “propaganda officer.” They appeared in the troops immediately after Stalingrad. We joked among ourselves and called them “commissars.” But every month everything became tougher. Once in our division they shot a soldier who wrote home a “defeatist letter” in which he scolded Hitler. And after the war, I learned that during the war years, several thousand soldiers and officers were shot for such letters! One of our officers was demoted to rank and file for “defeatist talk.” Members of the NSDAP were especially feared. They were considered informers because they were very fanatical and could always report you on command. There weren't very many of them, but they were almost always distrusted.

The attitude towards the local population, towards Russians and Belarusians, was restrained and distrustful, but without hatred. We were told that we must defeat Stalin, that our enemy is Bolshevism. But, in general, the attitude towards the local population was correctly called “colonial”. We looked at them in 1941 as the future workforce, as territories that would become our colonies.

Ukrainians were treated better. Because the Ukrainians greeted us very cordially. Almost like liberators. Ukrainian girls easily started affairs with Germans. This was rare in Belarus and Russia.

There were also contacts on an ordinary human level. In the North Caucasus, I was friends with the Azerbaijanis who served as our auxiliary volunteers (Khivi). In addition to them, Circassians and Georgians served in the division. They often prepared kebabs and other Caucasian dishes. I still love this kitchen very much. From the beginning they took few of them. But after Stalingrad there were more and more of them every year. And by 1944 they were a separate large auxiliary unit in the regiment, but they were commanded by a German officer. Behind our backs we called them “Schwarze” - black (;-))))

They explained to us that we should treat them as comrades in arms, that these are our assistants. But a certain mistrust of them, of course, remained. They were used only to provide soldiers. They were less well armed and equipped.

Sometimes I also talked to local people. I went to visit some people. Usually to those who collaborated with us or worked for us.

I didn't see any partisans. I heard a lot about them, but where I served they were not there. There were almost no partisans in the Smolensk region until November 1941.

By the end of the war, attitudes towards the local population became indifferent. It was as if he wasn't there. We didn't notice him. We had no time for them. We came and took a position. At best, the commander could tell the local residents to get away because there would be a fight here. We had no time for them anymore. We knew we were retreating. That all this is no longer ours. Nobody thought about them...

About weapons.

The company's main weapon was machine guns. There were 4 of them in the company. It was a very powerful and fast-firing weapon. They helped us out a lot. The infantryman's main weapon was the carbine. He was respected more than a machine gun. They called him "the soldier's bride." He was long-range and penetrated defenses well. The machine gun was only good in close combat. The company had approximately 15 - 20 machine guns. We tried to get a Russian PPSh assault rifle. It was called the “small machine gun.” The disk contained, it seems, 72 rounds of ammunition and, if well maintained, it was a very formidable weapon. There were also grenades and small mortars.

There were also sniper rifles. But not everywhere. I was given a Russian Simonov sniper rifle near Sevastopol. It was a very accurate and powerful weapon. In general, Russian weapons were valued for their simplicity and reliability. But it was very poorly protected from corrosion and rust. Our weapons were better processed.

Artillery

Undoubtedly, Russian artillery was much superior to German artillery. Russian units always had good artillery cover. All Russian attacks came under powerful artillery fire. The Russians very skillfully maneuvered fire and knew how to skillfully concentrate it. They camouflaged artillery perfectly. Tankers often complained that you would only see a Russian cannon when it had already fired at you. In general, you had to visit Russian artillery fire once to understand what Russian artillery is. Of course, a very powerful weapon was the Stalin Organ - rocket launchers. Especially when the Russians used incendiary shells. They burned entire hectares to ashes.

About Russian tanks.

We were told a lot about the T-34. That this is a very powerful and well-armed tank. I first saw the T-34 near Taganrog. Two of my comrades were assigned to the forward patrol trench. At first they assigned me with one of them, but his friend asked to go with him instead of me. The commander allowed it. And in the afternoon two Russian T-34 tanks came out in front of our positions. At first they fired at us from cannons, and then, apparently noticing the forward trench, they went towards it and there one tank simply turned around on it several times and buried them both alive. Then they left.

I was lucky that I almost never saw Russian tanks. There were few of them on our sector of the front. In general, we infantrymen have always had a fear of tanks in front of Russian tanks. It's clear. After all, we were almost always unarmed in front of these armored monsters. And if there was no artillery behind us, then the tanks did what they wanted with us.

About stormtroopers.

We called them “Rusish things”. At the beginning of the war we saw few of them. But by 1943 they began to annoy us very much. It was a very dangerous weapon. Especially for infantry. They flew right overhead and showered us with fire from their cannons. Usually Russian attack aircraft made three passes. First they threw bombs at artillery positions, anti-aircraft guns or dugouts. Then they fired rockets, and on the third pass they turned along the trenches and used cannons to kill everything living in them. The shell that exploded in the trench had the force of a fragmentation grenade and produced a lot of fragments. What was especially depressing was that it was almost impossible to shoot down a Russian attack aircraft with small arms, although it was flying very low.

About night bombers

I heard about 2. But I haven’t personally encountered them myself. They flew at night and threw small bombs and grenades very accurately. But it was more of a psychological weapon than an effective combat weapon.

But in general, Russian aviation was, in my opinion, quite weak almost until the very end of 1943. Apart from the attack aircraft, which I have already mentioned, we saw almost no Russian aircraft. The Russians bombed little and inaccurately. And in the rear we felt completely calm.

Studies.

At the beginning of the war, the soldiers were taught well. There were special training regiments. The strength of the training was that they tried to develop in the soldier a sense of self-confidence and reasonable initiative. But there was a lot of meaningless drill. I believe that this is a minus of the German military school. Too much pointless drill. But after 1943, teaching began to get worse. They were given less time to study and fewer resources. And in 1944, soldiers began to arrive who didn’t even know how to shoot properly, but they marched well because they were given almost no ammunition for shooting, but the front sergeant majors worked with them from morning to evening. The training of officers has also become worse. They no longer knew anything except defense and knew nothing except how to dig trenches correctly. They only managed to instill devotion to the Fuhrer and blind obedience to senior commanders.

Food. Supply.

The food on the front line was good. But during battles it was rarely hotter. We mostly ate canned food.

Usually in the morning they were given coffee, bread, butter (if there was any), sausage or canned ham. For lunch - soup, potatoes with meat or lard. For dinner, porridge, bread, coffee. But often some products were not available. And instead they could give cookies or, for example, a can of sardines. If a unit was sent to the rear, then food became very scarce. Almost from hand to mouth. Everyone ate the same. Both officers and soldiers ate the same food. I don’t know about the generals - I didn’t see it, but everyone in the regiment ate the same. The diet was common. But you could only eat in your own unit. If for some reason you found yourself in another company or unit, then you could not have lunch in their canteen. That was the law. Therefore, when traveling, it was necessary to receive rations. But the Romanians had four kitchens. One is for soldiers. The other is for sergeants. The third is for officers. And each senior officer, colonel and above, had his own cook who cooked for him separately. The Romanian army was the most demoralized. The soldiers hated their officers. And the officers despised their soldiers. Romanians often traded weapons. So our “blacks” (“Hiwis”) began to have good weapons. Pistols and machine guns. It turned out that they bought it for food and stamps from their Romanian neighbors...

About SS

Attitudes towards the SS were ambiguous. On the one hand, they were very persistent soldiers. They were better armed, better equipped, better fed. If they stood nearby, then there was no need to fear for their flanks. But on the other hand, they were somewhat condescending towards the Wehrmacht. In addition, they were not very popular due to their extreme cruelty. They were very cruel to prisoners and civilians. And it was unpleasant to stand next to them. People were often killed there. Besides, it was dangerous. The Russians, knowing about the cruelty of the SS towards civilians and prisoners, did not take the SS men prisoner. And during the offensive in these areas, few of the Russians understood who was in front of you as an Essenman or an ordinary Wehrmacht soldier. They killed everyone. Therefore, the SS was sometimes called “dead men” behind their backs.

I remember how one evening in November 1942 we stole a truck from a neighboring SS regiment. He got stuck on the road, and his driver went to his friends for help, and we pulled him out, quickly drove him to our place and repainted him there, changing his insignia. They looked for him for a long time, but did not find him. And for us it was a great help. When our officers found out, they swore a lot, but didn’t tell anyone. There were very few trucks left then, and we mostly moved on foot.

And this is also an indicator of attitude. Ours would never have been stolen from our own (Wehrmacht). But the SS men were not liked.

Soldier and officer

In the Wehrmacht there was always a great distance between soldier and officer. They were never one with us. Despite what propaganda said about our unity. It was emphasized that we were all “comrades,” but even the platoon lieutenant was very far from us. Between him and us there were also sergeants, who in every possible way maintained the distance between us and them, the sergeants. And only behind them were the officers. The officers usually communicated very little with us soldiers. Basically, all communication with the officer went through the sergeant major. The officer could, of course, ask you something or give you some instructions directly, but I repeat - this was rare. Everything was done through the sergeants. They were officers, we were soldiers, and the distance between us was very large.

This distance was even greater between us and the high command. We were just cannon fodder for them. No one took us into account or thought about us. I remember in July 1943, near Taganrog, I stood at a post near the house where the regiment headquarters was and through the open window I heard a report from our regiment commander to some general who came to our headquarters. It turns out that the general was supposed to organize an assault attack on our regiment on the railway station, which the Russians occupied and turned into a powerful stronghold. And after the report on the plan of the attack, our commander said that the planned losses could reach a thousand people killed and wounded, and this is almost 50% of the regiment’s strength. Apparently the commander wanted to show the pointlessness of such an attack. But the general said:

Fine! Prepare to attack. The Fuehrer demands from us decisive action in the name of Germany. And these thousand soldiers will die for the Fuhrer and the Fatherland!

And then I realized that we are nothing to these generals! I became so scared that it is impossible to convey now. The offensive was to begin in two days. I heard about this through the window and decided that I had to save myself at any cost. After all, a thousand killed and wounded is almost the entire combat unit. That is, I had almost no chance of surviving this attack. And the next day, when I was placed in the forward observation patrol, which was advanced in front of our positions towards the Russians, I was delayed when the order came to retreat. And then, as soon as the shelling began, he shot himself in the leg through a loaf of bread (this does not cause powder burns to the skin and clothes) so that the bullet would break the bone, but go right through. Then I crawled towards the positions of the artillerymen who were standing next to us. They understood little about injuries. I told them that I was shot by a Russian machine gunner. There they bandaged me, gave me coffee, gave me a cigarette and sent me to the rear in a car. I was very afraid that at the hospital the doctor would find bread crumbs in the wound, but I was lucky. Nobody noticed anything. When five months later, in January 1944, I returned to my company, I learned that in that attack the regiment had lost nine hundred people killed and wounded, but never took the station...

This is how the generals treated us! Therefore, when they ask me how I feel about the German generals, which of them I value as a German commander, I always answer that they were probably good strategists, but I have absolutely nothing to respect them for. As a result, they put seven million German soldiers into the ground, lost the war, and now they are writing memoirs about how great they fought and how gloriously they won.

The most difficult fight

After being wounded, I was transferred to Sevastopol, when the Russians had already cut off Crimea. We were flying from Odessa on transport planes in a large group and right before our eyes, Russian fighters shot down two planes full of soldiers. It was terrible! One plane crashed in the steppe and exploded, and the other fell into the sea and instantly disappeared into the waves. We sat and helplessly waited for who was next. But we were lucky - the fighters flew away. Maybe they were running out of fuel or out of ammo. I fought in Crimea for four months.

And there, near Sevastopol, the most difficult battle of my life took place. This was in early May, when the defenses on Sapun Mountain had already been broken through and the Russians were approaching Sevastopol.

The remnants of our company - about thirty people - were sent over a small mountain so that we could reach the flank of the Russian unit attacking us. We were told that there was no one on this mountain. We walked along the rocky bottom of a dry stream and suddenly found ourselves in a bag of fire. They shot at us from all sides. We lay down among the stones and began to shoot back, but the Russians were among the greenery - they were invisible, but we were in full view and they killed us one by one. I don’t remember how, while firing from a rifle, I was able to crawl out from under the fire. I was hit by several fragments from grenades. It especially hurt my legs. Then I lay for a long time between the stones and heard Russians walking around. When they left, I looked at myself and realized that I would soon bleed to death. Apparently, I was the only one left alive. There was a lot of blood, but I didn’t have a bandage or anything! And then I remembered that there were condoms in my jacket pocket. They were given to us upon arrival along with other property. And then I made tourniquets out of them, then tore the shirt and made tampons from it for the wounds and tightened them with these tourniquets, and then, leaning on the rifle and the broken branch, I began to get out.

In the evening I crawled out to my people.

In Sevastopol, the evacuation from the city was already in full swing, the Russians from one end had already entered the city, and there was no longer any power in it.
Everyone was for themselves.

I will never forget the picture of how we were being driven around the city by car, and the car broke down. The driver began to repair it, and we looked over the side around us. Right in front of us in the square, several officers were dancing with some women dressed as gypsies. Everyone had bottles of wine in their hands. There was some kind of unreal feeling. They danced like crazy. It was a feast during the plague.

I was evacuated from Chersonesos on the evening of May 10, after Sevastopol had fallen. I cannot tell you what was happening on this narrow strip of land. It was hell! People cried, prayed, shot, went crazy, fought to the death for a place in the boats. When I read somewhere the memoirs of some general - a talker, who talked about how we left Chersonesus in complete order and discipline, and that almost all units of the 17th Army were evacuated from Sevastopol, I wanted to laugh. Out of my entire company, I was the only one in Constanta! And less than a hundred people escaped from our regiment! My entire division lay down in Sevastopol. It is a fact!

I was lucky because we were lying wounded on a pontoon, right next to which one of the last self-propelled barges approached, and we were the first to be loaded onto it.

We were taken on a barge to Constanta. All the way we were bombed and strafed by Russian planes. It was terrible. Our barge was not sunk, but there were a lot of dead and wounded. The whole barge was full of holes. In order not to drown, we threw overboard all the weapons, ammunition, then all the dead, and still, when we arrived in Constanta, we stood in the water up to our necks in the holds, and the lying wounded all drowned. If we had to go another 20 kilometers, we would definitely go to the bottom! I was very bad. All the wounds became inflamed from sea water. At the hospital, the doctor told me that most of the barges were half full of dead people. And that we, the living, are very lucky.

There, in Constanta, I ended up in a hospital and never went to war again.

From Robert Kershaw's book "1941 Through German Eyes":

“During the attack, we came across a light Russian T-26 tank, we immediately shot it straight from the 37mm. When we began to approach, a Russian leaned out waist-high from the tower hatch and opened fire on us with a pistol. It soon became clear that he had no legs; they were torn off when the tank was hit. And, despite this, he fired at us with a pistol!” /Anti-tank gun gunner/

“We took almost no prisoners, because the Russians always fought to the last soldier. They didn't give up. Their hardening cannot be compared with ours...” /Tankman of Army Group Center/

After successfully breaking through the border defenses, the 3rd Battalion of the 18th Infantry Regiment of Army Group Center, numbering 800 people, was fired upon by a unit of 5 soldiers. “I didn’t expect anything like this,” admitted the battalion commander, Major Neuhof, to his battalion doctor. “It’s pure suicide to attack the battalion’s forces with five fighters.”

“On the Eastern Front I met people who could be called a special race. Already the first attack turned into a battle for life and death.” /Tankman of the 12th Panzer Division Hans Becker/

“You simply won’t believe this until you see it with your own eyes. The soldiers of the Red Army, even burning alive, continued to shoot from the burning houses.” /Officer of the 7th Tank Division/

“The quality level of Soviet pilots is much higher than expected... The fierce resistance and its massive nature do not correspond to our initial assumptions” /Major General Hoffmann von Waldau/

“I have never seen anyone more evil than these Russians. Real chain dogs! You never know what to expect from them. And where do they get tanks and everything else from?!” /One of the soldiers of Army Group Center/

“The behavior of the Russians, even in the first battle, was strikingly different from the behavior of the Poles and allies who were defeated on the Western Front. Even when surrounded, the Russians steadfastly defended themselves.” /General Gunter Blumentritt, Chief of Staff of the 4th Army/

71 years ago, Nazi Germany attacked the USSR. How did our soldier turn out in the eyes of the enemy - the German soldiers? What did the beginning of the war look like from someone else's trenches? Very eloquent answers to these questions can be found in the book, the author of which can hardly be accused of distorting the facts. This is “1941 through the eyes of the Germans. Birch crosses instead of iron ones” by the English historian Robert Kershaw, which was recently published in Russia. The book consists almost entirely of memories of German soldiers and officers, their letters home and entries in personal diaries.

Non-commissioned officer Helmut Kolakowski recalls: “Late in the evening our platoon was gathered in the barns and announced: “Tomorrow we have to enter the battle with world Bolshevism.” Personally, I was simply amazed, it was out of the blue, but what about the non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia? I kept remembering that issue of Deutsche Wochenschau, which I saw at home and in which it was reported about the concluded agreement. I couldn’t even imagine how we would go to war against the Soviet Union.” The Fuhrer's order caused surprise and bewilderment among the rank and file. “You could say we were taken aback by what we heard,” admitted Lothar Fromm, a spotter officer. “We were all, I emphasize this, amazed and in no way prepared for something like this.” But bewilderment immediately gave way to the relief of getting rid of the incomprehensible and tedious wait on the eastern borders of Germany. Experienced soldiers, who had already captured almost all of Europe, began to discuss when the campaign against the USSR would end. The words of Benno Zeiser, then still studying to be a military driver, reflect the general sentiment: “All this will end in about three weeks, we were told, others were more cautious in their forecasts - they believed that in 2-3 months. There was one who thought that this would last a whole year, but we laughed at him: “How long did it take to deal with the Poles? What about France? Have you forgotten?

But not everyone was so optimistic. Erich Mende, a lieutenant from the 8th Silesian Infantry Division, recalls a conversation with his superior that took place in these last peaceful moments. “My commander was twice my age, and he had already fought with the Russians near Narva in 1917, when he was a lieutenant. “Here, in these vast expanses, we will find our death, like Napoleon,” he did not hide his pessimism... Mende, remember this hour, it marks the end of the old Germany.”

At 3:15 a.m., advanced German units crossed the border of the USSR. Anti-tank gunner Johann Danzer recalls: “On the very first day, as soon as we went on the attack, one of our men shot himself with his own weapon. Clutching the rifle between his knees, he inserted the barrel into his mouth and pulled the trigger. This is how the war and all the horrors associated with it ended for him.”

The capture of the Brest Fortress was entrusted to the 45th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht, numbering 17 thousand personnel. The garrison of the fortress is about 8 thousand. In the first hours of the battle, reports poured in about the successful advance of German troops and reports of the capture of bridges and fortress structures. At 4 hours 42 minutes, “50 prisoners were taken, all in the same underwear, the war found them in their beds.” But by 10:50 the tone of the combat documents had changed: “The battle to capture the fortress was fierce - there were numerous losses.” 2 battalion commanders, 1 company commander have already died, and the commander of one of the regiments was seriously wounded.

“Soon, somewhere between 5.30 and 7.30 in the morning, it became completely clear that the Russians were fighting desperately in the rear of our forward units. Their infantry, supported by 35-40 tanks and armored vehicles that found themselves on the territory of the fortress, formed several centers of defense. Enemy snipers fired accurately from behind trees, from roofs and basements, which caused heavy losses among officers and junior commanders.”

“Where the Russians were knocked out or smoked out, new forces soon appeared. They crawled out of basements, houses, sewer pipes and other temporary shelters, fired accurately, and our losses continually grew.”
The report of the Wehrmacht High Command (OKW) for June 22 reported: “It seems that the enemy, after initial confusion, is beginning to put up more and more stubborn resistance.” OKW Chief of Staff Halder agrees with this: “After the initial “tetanus” caused by the surprise of the attack, the enemy moved on to active action.”

For the soldiers of the 45th Wehrmacht Division, the beginning of the war turned out to be completely bleak: 21 officers and 290 non-commissioned officers (sergeants), not counting the soldiers, died on its very first day. In the first day of fighting in Russia, the division lost almost as many soldiers and officers as in the entire six weeks of the French campaign.

The most successful actions of the Wehrmacht troops were the operation to encircle and defeat Soviet divisions in the “cauldrons” of 1941. In the largest of them - Kiev, Minsk, Vyazemsky - Soviet troops lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers and officers. But what price did the Wehrmacht pay for this?

General Gunther Blumentritt, Chief of Staff of the 4th Army: “The behavior of the Russians, even in the first battle, was strikingly different from the behavior of the Poles and the Allies who were defeated on the Western Front. Even when surrounded, the Russians steadfastly defended themselves.”

The author of the book writes: “The experience of the Polish and Western campaigns suggested that the success of the blitzkrieg strategy lay in gaining advantages through more skillful maneuvering. Even if we leave resources aside, the enemy’s morale and will to resist will inevitably be broken under the pressure of enormous and senseless losses. This logically follows the mass surrender of those surrounded by demoralized soldiers. In Russia, these “elemental” truths turned out to be turned on their heads by the desperate, sometimes reaching the point of fanaticism, resistance of Russians in seemingly hopeless situations. That’s why half of the Germans’ offensive potential was spent not on advancing towards the set goal, but on consolidating existing successes.”

The commander of Army Group Center, Field Marshal Feodor von Bock, during the operation to destroy Soviet troops in the Smolensk “cauldron,” wrote about their attempts to break out of encirclement: “A very significant success for the enemy who received such a crushing blow!” The encirclement ring was not continuous. Two days later, von Bock lamented: “It has still not been possible to close the gap in the eastern section of the Smolensk pocket.” That night, approximately 5 Soviet divisions managed to escape from the encirclement. Three more divisions broke through the next day.

The level of German losses is evidenced by the message from the headquarters of the 7th Panzer Division that only 118 tanks remained in service. 166 vehicles were hit (although 96 were repairable). The 2nd company of the 1st battalion of the "Great Germany" regiment lost 40 people in just 5 days of fighting to hold the line of the Smolensk "cauldron" with the company's regular strength of 176 soldiers and officers.

The perception of the war with the Soviet Union among ordinary German soldiers gradually changed. The unbridled optimism of the first days of fighting gave way to the realization that “something is going wrong.” Then came indifference and apathy. Opinion of one of the German officers: “These enormous distances frighten and demoralize the soldiers. Plains, plains, there is no end to them and there never will be. That’s what drives me crazy.”

The troops were also constantly worried about the actions of the partisans, whose numbers grew as the “cauldrons” were destroyed. If at first their number and activity were negligible, then after the end of the fighting in the Kiev “cauldron” the number of partisans in the sector of Army Group “South” increased significantly. In the Army Group Center sector, they took control of 45% of the territories captured by the Germans.

The campaign, which dragged on for a long time with the destruction of the encircled Soviet troops, evoked more and more associations with Napoleon's army and fears of the Russian winter. One of the soldiers of Army Group Center complained on August 20: “The losses are terrible, cannot be compared with those in France.” His company, starting from July 23, took part in the battles for “Tank Highway No. 1”. “Today the road is ours, tomorrow the Russians take it, then we take it again, and so on.” Victory no longer seemed so close. On the contrary, the desperate resistance of the enemy undermined morale and inspired far from optimistic thoughts. “I have never seen anyone more evil than these Russians. Real chain dogs! You never know what to expect from them. And where do they get tanks and everything else from?!”

During the first months of the campaign, the combat effectiveness of the tank units of Army Group Center was seriously undermined. By September 1941, 30% of the tanks were destroyed, and 23% of the vehicles were under repair. Almost half of all tank divisions intended to participate in Operation Typhoon had only a third of the original number of combat-ready vehicles. By September 15, 1941, Army Group Center had a total of 1,346 combat-ready tanks, while at the beginning of the Russian campaign this figure was 2,609 units.

Personnel losses were no less severe. By the beginning of the offensive on Moscow, German units had lost about a third of their officers. Total manpower losses by this point reached approximately half a million people, equivalent to the loss of 30 divisions. If we consider that only 64% of the total strength of the infantry division, that is, 10,840 people, were directly “fighters”, and the remaining 36% were in the rear and support services, then it becomes clear that the combat effectiveness of the German troops decreased even more.

This is how one of the German soldiers assessed the situation on the Eastern Front: “Russia, only bad news comes from here, and we still don’t know anything about you. Meanwhile, you are absorbing us, dissolving us in your inhospitable viscous expanses.”

About Russian soldiers

The initial idea of ​​the population of Russia was determined by the German ideology of the time, which considered the Slavs to be “subhuman”. However, the experience of the first battles made adjustments to these ideas.
Major General Hoffmann von Waldau, chief of staff of the Luftwaffe command, wrote in his diary 9 days after the start of the war: “The quality level of Soviet pilots is much higher than expected... Fierce resistance, its massive nature do not correspond to our initial assumptions.” This was confirmed by the first air rams. Kershaw quotes one Luftwaffe colonel as saying: “Soviet pilots are fatalists, they fight to the end without any hope of victory or even survival.” It is worth noting that on the first day of the war with the Soviet Union, the Luftwaffe lost up to 300 aircraft. Never before had the German Air Force suffered such large one-time losses.

In Germany, the radio shouted that shells from “German tanks were not only setting fire to, but also piercing through Russian vehicles.” But the soldiers told each other about Russian tanks, which were impossible to penetrate even with point-blank shots - the shells ricocheted off the armor. Lieutenant Helmut Ritgen from the 6th Panzer Division admitted that in a clash with new and unknown Russian tanks: “... the very concept of tank warfare has radically changed, KV vehicles marked a completely different level of armament, armor protection and weight of tanks. German tanks instantly became exclusively anti-personnel weapons...” Tankman of the 12th Panzer Division Hans Becker: “On the Eastern Front I met people who can be called a special race. Already the first attack turned into a battle for life and death.”

An anti-tank gunner recalls the lasting impression the desperate Russian resistance made on him and his comrades in the first hours of the war: “During the attack, we came across a light Russian T-26 tank, we immediately shot it straight from the 37 graph paper. When we began to approach, a Russian leaned out waist-high from the tower hatch and opened fire on us with a pistol. It soon became clear that he had no legs; they were torn off when the tank was hit. And, despite this, he fired at us with a pistol!”

The author of the book “1941 Through the Eyes of the Germans” cites the words of an officer who served in a tank unit in the Army Group Center sector, who shared his opinion with war correspondent Curizio Malaparte: “He reasoned like a soldier, avoiding epithets and metaphors, limiting himself to argumentation, directly related to the issues discussed. “We took almost no prisoners, because the Russians always fought to the last soldier. They didn't give up. Their hardening cannot be compared with ours...”

The following episodes also made a depressing impression on the advancing troops: after a successful breakthrough of the border defense, the 3rd battalion of the 18th infantry regiment of Army Group Center, numbering 800 people, was fired upon by a unit of 5 soldiers. “I did not expect anything like this,” admitted the battalion commander, Major Neuhof, to his battalion doctor. “It’s pure suicide to attack the battalion’s forces with five fighters.”

In mid-November 1941, one infantry officer of the 7th Panzer Division, when his unit broke into Russian-defended positions in a village near the Lama River, described the resistance of the Red Army. “You simply won’t believe this until you see it with your own eyes. The soldiers of the Red Army, even burning alive, continued to shoot from the burning houses.”

Winter '41

The saying “Better three French campaigns than one Russian” quickly came into use among the German troops. “Here we lacked comfortable French beds and were struck by the monotony of the area.” “The prospects of being in Leningrad turned into endless sitting in numbered trenches.”

The high losses of the Wehrmacht, the lack of winter uniforms and the unpreparedness of German equipment for combat operations in the Russian winter gradually allowed the Soviet troops to seize the initiative. During the three-week period from November 15 to December 5, 1941, the Russian Air Force flew 15,840 combat sorties, while the Luftwaffe carried out only 3,500, which further demoralized the enemy.

Corporal Fritz Siegel wrote in his letter home on December 6: “My God, what are these Russians planning to do to us? It would be good if up there they at least listened to us, otherwise we will all have to die here."