The opinion of German soldiers about Russian women. What do German veterans say about World War II? And how is the history of Nazi Germany taught in Germany now? Return of Bernhard Schlink

From Robert Kershaw's 1941 Through the Eyes of the Germans:

“During the attack, we stumbled upon a light Russian T-26 tank, we immediately clicked it right from the 37-graph paper. When we began to approach, a Russian leaned out of the hatch of the tower to the waist and opened fire on us with a pistol. It soon became clear that he was without legs, they were torn off when the tank was hit. And despite this, he fired at us with a pistol! / Artilleryman of an anti-tank gun /

“We almost did not take prisoners, because the Russians always fought to the last soldier. They didn't give up. Their hardening cannot be compared with ours ... ” / Tanker of the Army Group Center /

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

“On the Eastern Front, I met people who can be called a special race. Already the first attack turned into a battle not for life, but for death. / Tanker of the 12th Panzer Division Hans Becker /

“You just 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 blazing houses. /Officer of the 7th Panzer Division/

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

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

71 years ago, Nazi Germany attacked the USSR. What was our soldier like in the eyes of the enemy - German soldiers? What did the beginning of the war look like from other people's trenches? Very eloquent answers to these questions can be found in a book whose author can hardly be accused of distorting the facts. This is “1941 through the eyes of the Germans. Birch Crosses Instead of Iron Crosses” by the English historian Robert Kershaw, which was recently published in Russia. The book almost entirely consists of the memoirs 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 sheds and announced: “Tomorrow we have to enter the battle with world Bolshevism.” Personally, I was simply amazed, it was like a bolt from the blue, but what about the non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia? I kept thinking of that issue of Deutsche Wochenschau that I saw at home and in which the contract was announced. I could not 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. “We can say that we were taken aback by what we heard,” admitted Lothar Fromm, a spotter officer. “We were all, I emphasize this, were amazed and in no way prepared for this.” But bewilderment was immediately replaced by relief from the incomprehensible and tedious waiting 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, who was then studying to be a military driver, reflect the general mood: “All this will end in some three weeks, we were told, others were more careful in their forecasts - they believed that in 2-3 months. There was one who thought that it would last a whole year, but we laughed at him: “And how long did it take to get rid of the Poles? And with France? Have you forgotten?

But not everyone was so optimistic. Erich Mende, Oberleutnant of the 8th Silesian Infantry Division, recalls a conversation he had with his superior during those last moments of peace. “My commander was twice my age, and he had already had to fight the Russians near Narva in 1917, when he was in the rank of 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 former Germany.

At 3 hours 15 minutes, the advanced German units crossed the border of the USSR. Johann Danzer, an anti-tank gunner, recalls: “On the very first day, as soon as we went on the attack, one of ours shot himself with his own weapon. Clutching the rifle between his knees, he inserted the barrel into his mouth and pulled the trigger. Thus ended the war and all the horrors associated with it.

The capture of the Brest Fortress was entrusted to the 45th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht, numbering 17,000 personnel. The garrison of the fortress is about 8 thousand. In the first hours of the battle, reports were pouring in about the successful advance of the German troops and reports of the capture of bridges and fortress structures. At 4 hours 42 minutes "50 people were taken prisoners, all in the same underwear, the war found them in cots." But by 10:50 the tone of the combat documents had changed: "The battle for the capture of the fortress was fierce - numerous losses." 2 battalion commanders have already died, 1 company commander, the commander of one of the regiments was seriously injured.

“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, with the support of 35-40 tanks and armored vehicles, 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 managed to be knocked out or smoked out, new forces soon appeared. They crawled out of basements, houses, from sewer pipes and other temporary shelters, conducted aimed fire, and our losses continuously grew.
The summary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) for June 22 reported: "It seems that the enemy, after the initial confusion, is beginning to offer more and more stubborn resistance." OKW Chief of Staff Halder agrees with this: “After the initial “tetanus” caused by the suddenness of the attack, the enemy moved on to active operations.”

For the soldiers of the 45th division of the Wehrmacht, 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. During the first day of fighting in Russia, the division lost almost as many soldiers and officers as during the entire six weeks of the French campaign.

The most successful actions of the Wehrmacht troops were the operation to encircle and defeat the 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 Günther 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 allies who were defeated on the Western Front. Even being in the encirclement, the Russians staunchly defended themselves.

The author of the book writes: “The experience of the Polish and Western campaigns suggested that the success of the blitzkrieg strategy lies in gaining advantages by more skillful maneuvering. Even if we leave out the resources, the morale and the will to resist the enemy will inevitably be broken under the pressure of huge and senseless losses. From this logically follows the mass surrender of the demoralized soldiers who were surrounded. In Russia, however, these "primary" truths were turned upside down by the desperate resistance of the Russians, sometimes reaching fanaticism, in seemingly hopeless situations. That is why half of the offensive potential of the Germans was spent not on advancing towards the goal, but on consolidating the successes that had already been achieved.

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

The level of German losses is evidenced by the message of 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 "Grossdeutschland" regiment in just 5 days of fighting to hold the line of the Smolensk "cauldron" lost 40 people with a regular company strength of 176 soldiers and officers.

Gradually, the perception of the war with the Soviet Union among ordinary German soldiers also changed. The unbridled optimism of the first days of the fighting was replaced by the realization that "something is going wrong." Then came indifference and apathy. The opinion of one of the German officers: “These vast distances frighten and demoralize the soldiers. Plains, plains, there is no end to them and never will be. That's what drives me crazy."

The troops were also constantly worried by the actions of the partisans, whose number grew as the “boilers” 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 the Army Group "South" increased significantly. In the sector of Army Group Center, they took control of 45% of the territories occupied by the Germans.

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

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 for participation in Operation Typhoon had only a third of the initial number of combat vehicles. By September 15, 1941, Army Group Center had a total of 1346 combat-ready tanks, while at the beginning of the campaign in Russia this figure was 2609 units.

Personnel losses were no less heavy. By the beginning of the attack on Moscow, the German units had lost about a third of their officers. The total losses in manpower by this point reached about half a million people, which is equivalent to the loss of 30 divisions. If we take into account that only 64% of the total composition of the infantry division, that is, 10840 people, were directly "fighters", and the remaining 36% were in the rear and support services, 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. And in the meantime, you are absorbing us, dissolving in your inhospitable viscous expanses.

About Russian soldiers

The initial idea of ​​the population of Russia was determined by the German ideology of that time, which considered the Slavs "subhuman". However, the experience of the first battles made its own adjustments to these ideas.
Major General Hoffmann von Waldau, Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe Command, 9 days after the start of the war, wrote in his diary: “The quality level of Soviet pilots is much higher than expected ... Fierce resistance, its mass character does not correspond to our initial assumptions.” This was confirmed by the first air rams. Kershaw cites the words of a Luftwaffe colonel: "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 was shouting that the shells of "German tanks not only set fire to, but also pierced Russian vehicles through and through." But the soldiers told each other about Russian tanks, which could not be penetrated even with point-blank shots - the shells ricocheted off the armor. Lieutenant Helmut Ritgen from the 6th Panzer Division admitted that in a collision with new and unknown Russian tanks: “... the very concept of tank warfare changed radically, the KV vehicles marked a completely different level of armament, armor protection and tank weight. German tanks instantly moved into the category of 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 not for life, but for death.

An anti-tank gunner recalls the indelible impression on him and his comrades that the desperate resistance of the Russians made in the first hours of the war: “During the attack, we stumbled upon a light Russian T-26 tank, we immediately clicked it right from the 37-graph paper. When we began to approach, a Russian leaned out of the hatch of the tower to the waist and opened fire on us with a pistol. It soon became clear that he was without 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 sector of Army Group Center, who shared his opinion with war correspondent Curizio Malaparte: “He reasoned like a soldier, avoiding epithets and metaphors, limiting himself only to argumentation, directly related to the issues under discussion. “We almost did not take 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 the Army Group Center, numbering 800 people, was fired upon by a unit of 5 soldiers. “I did not expect anything like this,” Major Neuhof, the battalion commander, confessed to his battalion doctor. “It’s pure suicide to attack the forces of the battalion with five fighters.”

In mid-November 1941, an 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 just 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 blazing houses.

Winter 41st

In the German troops, the saying "Better three French campaigns than one Russian" quickly came into use. “Here we lacked comfortable French beds and were struck by the monotony of the area.” "The prospect of being in Leningrad turned into an 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 conditions of 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 made 15,840 sorties, while the Luftwaffe only 3,500, which further demoralized the enemy.

In the tank forces, the situation was similar: Lieutenant Colonel Grampe from the headquarters of the 1st Panzer Division reported that his tanks, due to low temperatures (minus 35 degrees), were sky-ready. “Even the turrets are jammed, optical instruments are covered with frost, and machine guns are only capable of firing single rounds ...” In some units, losses from frostbite reached 70%.

Josef Dec of the 71st Artillery Regiment recalls: “Loaves of bread had to be chopped with an axe. First aid packages petrified, gasoline froze, optics failed, and hands stuck to metal. In the cold, the wounded died a few minutes later. A few lucky ones managed to acquire Russian uniforms taken from the corpses they warmed.

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

It is not enough to kill a Russian soldier, he must also be knocked down!
Frederick II the Great

The glory of the Russian knows no bounds. The Russian soldier endured what the soldiers of the armies of other countries have never endured and will not endure. This is evidenced by entries in the memoirs of soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht, in which they admired the actions of the Red Army:

“Close contact with nature allows Russians to move freely at night in fog, through forests and swamps. They are not afraid of the dark, endless forests and cold. They are not unusual in winter, when the temperature drops to minus 45. The Siberian, who can be partially or even completely Asian, is even more enduring, even stronger ... We already experienced this ourselves during the First World War, when we had to face the Siberian army corps"

“For a European accustomed to small territories, the distances in the East seem endless ... The horror is enhanced by the melancholy, monotonous character of the Russian landscape, which acts depressingly, especially in the gloomy autumn and languidly long winter. The psychological influence of this country on the average German soldier was very strong. He felt insignificant, lost in these vast expanses.

“The Russian soldier prefers hand-to-hand combat. His ability to endure hardship without flinching is truly astonishing. Such is the Russian soldier whom we recognized and respected a quarter of a century ago.”

“It was very difficult for us to get a clear picture of the equipment of the Red Army ... Hitler refused to believe that Soviet industrial production could be equal to German. We had little information about Russian tanks. We had no idea how many tanks a month the Russian industry was capable of producing.

It was difficult to even get the maps, as the Russians kept them under great secrecy. The maps we had were often wrong and misled us.

We also did not have accurate data on the combat power of the Russian army. Those of us who fought in Russia during the First World War thought she was great, and those who did not know the new enemy tended to underestimate her.

“The behavior of the Russian troops, even in the first battles, was in striking contrast with the behavior of the Poles and Western allies during the defeat. Even when surrounded, the Russians continued stubborn battles. Where there were no roads, the Russians in most cases remained out of reach. They always tried to break through to the east... Our Russian encirclement was rarely successful.”

“From field marshal von Bock to soldier, everyone hoped that soon we would be marching through the streets of the Russian capital. Hitler even created a special sapper team that was supposed to destroy the Kremlin.

When we came close to Moscow, the mood of our commanders and troops suddenly changed dramatically. It was with surprise and disappointment that we discovered in October and early November that the defeated Russians had by no means ceased to exist as a military force. In recent weeks, enemy resistance has intensified, and the tension of the fighting has increased every day ... "

Chief of Staff of the 4th Army of the Wehrmacht, General Günther Blumentritt

“The Russians don't give up. An explosion, another one, everything is quiet for a minute, and then they open fire again ... "
“With amazement, we watched the Russians. They, it seems, did not care that their main forces were defeated ... "
“Loaves of bread had to be chopped with an axe. A few lucky ones managed to acquire Russian uniforms ... "
“My God, what are these Russians planning to do with us? We're all going to die here!"

From the memoirs of German soldiers

“The Russians showed themselves from the very beginning as first-class warriors, and our successes in the first months of the war were simply due to better training. Having gained combat experience, they became first-class soldiers. They fought with exceptional tenacity, had amazing endurance ... "

Colonel General (later Field Marshal) von Kleist

“It often happened that Soviet soldiers raised their hands to show that they were surrendering to us, and after our infantrymen approached them, they again resorted to weapons; or the wounded feigned death, and then fired at our soldiers from the rear.

General von Manstein (also a future field marshal)

“It should be noted the stubbornness of individual Russian formations in battle. There were cases when the garrisons of pillboxes blew themselves up along with the pillboxes, not wanting to surrender. (Entry dated June 24.)
“Information from the front confirms that the Russians are fighting everywhere to the last man ... It is striking that when artillery batteries are captured, etc., few are taken prisoner.” (June 29.)
“Fights with the Russians are exceptionally stubborn. Only a small number of prisoners were taken." (4th of July)

Diary of General Halder

“The peculiarity of the country and the originality of the character of the Russians gives the campaign a special specificity. The first serious enemy

Field Marshal Brauchitsch (July 1941)

“About a hundred of our tanks, of which about a third were T-IVs, took up their starting positions for a counterattack. From three sides we fired at the iron monsters of the Russians, but everything was in vain ...

Echeloned along the front and in depth, the Russian giants came closer and closer. One of them approached our tank, which was hopelessly bogged down in a swampy pond. Without any hesitation, the black monster drove over the tank and pressed its tracks into the mud.

At that moment, a 150 mm howitzer arrived. While the artillery commander warned of the approach of enemy tanks, the gun opened fire, but again to no avail.

One of the Soviet tanks approached the howitzer by 100 meters. The gunners opened fire on him with direct fire and achieved a hit - it's like lightning struck. The tank stopped. “We knocked him out,” the gunners breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, someone from the calculation of the gun yelled heart-rendingly: “He went again!” Indeed, the tank came to life and began to approach the gun. Another minute, and the tank's gleaming metal tracks, like a toy, slammed the howitzer into the ground. Having dealt with the gun, the tank continued on its way as if nothing had happened.

Commander of the 41st Panzer Corps of the Wehrmacht General Reinhart

Courage is courage inspired by spirituality. The stubbornness with which the Bolsheviks defended themselves in their pillboxes in Sevastopol is akin to some kind of animal instinct, and it would be a deep mistake to consider it the result of Bolshevik convictions or upbringing. The Russians have always been like this and, most likely, will always remain so.

" , September 8, 1943:
photos found on a captured German soldier

: no one has ever humiliated a Russian for being Russian.

Dossier cheat sheet: Fascists about Russians according to the publications of the Soviet and foreign press during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45.

09/09/43: In one of the recent battles, machine gunner Sytin was wounded, but continued to fire. In the hospital, the doctor, seeing how much blood the wounded man had lost, asked him: “How did you survive” ... Sytin replied: “I wanted to drive them away” ... A huge inner strength supported Russia for two terrible years. She helped both the fighters, the miners of Siberia, and the women to endure all the losses ...

One of our battalions was formed in the majority of the natives of the Kursk region. The commanders and fighters eagerly waited for news from their own. And then came the terrible news. Lieutenant Kolesnichenko learned that his father had been hanged in the village of Medvinka. The mother of Captain Gunderov was shot by the Germans. The Red Army soldier Borodin read that the Germans tortured his mother and shot two brothers. Lieutenant Bogachev - they killed his wife, shot his father. Red Army soldier Dukhanin - his wife was shot. Red Army soldier Karnaukhov - two children and a sister were killed. Red Army soldier Baryshev - his father was shot, his uncle, unable to withstand the bullying of the Germans, laid hands on himself. Red Army soldier Orekhov - wife sentenced to hanging. Red Army soldier Esin - his uncle, his wife and daughter were shot. Red Army soldier Bridin - his nephew, a five-year-old boy, was killed. Red Army soldier Rybalko - son-in-law was shot. Nine families were taken to Germany. Thirty-two houses were burned down. It's all in one battalion. What does the heart say to a person? What will keep such a battalion on its way to the west? ("Red Star", USSR)*

08.09.43: The Germans hate us. Even at the beginning of the war, Hitler's oberbandits taught their soldiers going on a Russian campaign: "Destroy pity and compassion in yourself - kill every Russian, Soviet, do not stop if you have an old man or a woman, a girl or a boy in front of you ..." The robbery precepts of fascist executioners steadily implemented by the German army. In Orel and the Oryol region, they, as elsewhere, destroyed libraries and cultural values, they took away cattle, robbed the population to the skin, killed children, the sick, prisoners, sent thousands of Soviet citizens into slavery. The usual program of German atrocities was fully represented in the criminal acts of the German General Schmidt, Major General Hamann, Major Hoffmann, Captain Matern and many other oberbandits and bandits operating in the city of Orel and the Oryol region. ("Red Star", USSR)

01/30/43: Hitler does not say that von Paulus threatened to kill the wives and mothers of all Germans who surrender. Hitler does not say that the Fritz are afraid to surrender, because Fritz never saw people: animals, they lived among animals.

One of the encircled Fritz named Weber wrote to his wife on December 22: “Yesterday a new order was issued - do not take a single Russian prisoner". Another Fritz, Corporal Haman, reported to his female on November 14: “We are not taking prisoners now. It sounds cruel, but trust me, you have to be firm here.” Here is the key to German "heroism": they do not believe that there can be soldiers in the world who do not beat a lying person. ("Red Star", USSR)

SEPTEMBER 1942:

09/27/42: P policy of extermination of the Russian population was carried out in Pogorely Gorodishche systematically and methodically. In October 1941, 3,076 people lived here. 37 people were shot by the Germans. 94 people were burned alive for resisting "evacuation" to the German rear. 60 people were taken into slavery in Germany. 1980 people died of starvation and disease. 905 people survived.

Terrible count! During the ten months of their stay in the Burnt Settlement, the Germans exterminated more than two thirds its population. This is how modern barbarians carry out their villainous program of extermination of the Russian people. ("Red Star", USSR)*

15.09.42: Dark animal malice lives in the Germans.“Lieutenant Kleist came up, looked at the wounded Russians and said: “These pigs must be shot right away.” “The woman was crying that all her beets were taken away from her, but Hitzder beat her.” “Yesterday we hanged two scoundrels, and somehow it became easier on the soul.” "I would not leave Russian children either - they will grow up and become partisans, they all need to be hanged." "If you leave at least one family, they will divorce and take revenge on us."

In impotent rage, the Fritz dream of gases. Feldwebel Schledeter writes to his wife: "If it were in my power, I would poison them with gases." Mother writes to non-commissioned officer Dobler: “We are told that the Russians need to be suffocated with gases, because there are too many of them, and the population is too large.” ("Red Star", USSR)

The murdered German corporal of the 11th company of the 119th regiment of the 25th German Motorized Division Schultz found a letter from his friend Georg Schneider. The letter says: “We have a lot of Russians working for us. They are always hungry and, in order to eat, drag potatoes, cabbage, peas and other vegetables from the gardens. They often run away from their owners and roam the forests. If any of them are caught, then the conversations are short - they finish him off". (Sovinformburo)

09/10/42: The Germans threw huge forces at Stalingrad. It seems that there has never been such a battle. The military correspondent of the Deutsche Rundschau newspaper writes: “Overworked by incessant battles, the German divisions ran into an enemy who decided resist at all costs. Russian artillery, which has caused us a lot of trouble before, is the main obstacle ... The Russians go so far as to blow themselves up in bunkers. One can imagine what it would be like for us to fight such an adversary. The fortress of Stalingrad is protected not only by powerful structures, but also by that Russian-Asian fanaticism, which we have already encountered more than once. Our gray faces are covered with mud, and under it are wrinkles - traces of summer battles. The Germans are fighting to the limit of human capabilities ... "

Stalingrad is not a fortress, Stalingrad is a city. But every city, every house becomes a fortress when it is defended. courageous fighters. In vain does a German journalist talk about "the limit of human capabilities." The Germans want to take Stalingrad not by courage, but by numbers. They fell upon this city with their whole mass - their own and vassals. These are not people, and they do not have "human capabilities" - they have tanks, planes, cars and slaves.

When the Russians fight, there is no limit to their capabilities. They hold on when they can, and they hold on when the person can't take it anymore. What keeps them on a piece of land, what cement, what magic power? The stupid German speaks of "Russian-Asiatic fanaticism." In human language, this is called differently: love for the motherland, it is one among Muscovites and Siberians. ("Red Star", USSR)*

09/05/42: Hitler's bastards, who set as their goal to exterminate the Soviet people, to seize our wealth, the fruits of our labors, speak frankly about this in their diaries and letters. SS sergeant major Heinrich Merike writes to his wife Else in Bielefeld: “These people are cattle and, moreover, evil. It is impossible to teach him obedience. Russians must be exterminated along with their wives and children. I do that whenever I can. Everything must be taken away from the Russians and turned into vagabonds, which, like game, the Germans will hunt»...

Recently, an unsent letter to his homeland was found on a murdered SS man. Here is what he wrote scoundrel policeman to his wife: “Russians should not be considered people at all. These are pets that must be made to work for us. They need to be trained like animals. And for this it is necessary to intimidate them so that they come to terms with their fate and dutifully like bulls they carried the yoke of slavery around their necks. ("Red Star", USSR)

09/02/42: Peasant woman Anna Geller writes to her husband from Neukirchen (Saxony): “When it was necessary to harvest bread, the Russian hanged herself. This is not the people, but some kind of dirty trick. I gave her food and even gave her an apron. At first she screamed that she did not want to live in a barn with Carl. I think it's an honor for such rubbish if a German does not disdain it. Then she stole Aunt Mina's biscuits. When I punished her, she hanged herself in the barn. My nerves are already out of order, but here is such a spectacle. You can have pity on me ... ”(“ Red Star ”, USSR)

In a village recaptured from the enemy

AUGUST 1942:

08/30/42: They decided to live and be fruitful on our land. They kill our children german female among the ruins of ancient Novgorod brought her "excellent" litter. Where great Russia grew and flourished, they want to set up a huge nursery of the German race, mate among Russian shrines and fatten young Fritz with Russian fruits ... They say that in the place of every German grave there will soon be a hundred German cradles. Not, there will soon be a hundred German graves on the site of every German grave. They want to be fruitful and multiply. We will crush their heads, we will destroy serpentine tribe.

Sergeant Terentiev writes to me: “There are my native Bryansk forests behind the front line. There, as a child, I went with my grandmother to the forest, picked fragrant raspberries, and my hands were red from the berries. Now I want my hands to be red from a slaughtered German.” ("Red Star", USSR)

08/29/42: Letter paper. Gothic, evenly trimmed youths. At the beginning, unchanged: "dear", at the end touching: "your forever."

Letter from Foringern. It was written by a German woman who called herself affectionately: "Mushi". The letter was addressed to a corporal, who during his lifetime was also called affectionately: "Burshi".

The wife writes to the Eastern Front: “Please, Burshi, beware of them! I mean Russians. They should all be shot one by one."

And another leaf. Above: “Act”, below signatures: battalion commissar Azarov, junior political instructor Kazansky, fighters Shevchenko and Goldyrev.

This is what they saw: In the village of Fedorkovo, from which our units drove the enemy out, the Germans burned 20 houses and took the entire population to their rear without exception. Not far from the village, in a dugout, the corpse of a 15-16-year-old girl raped and brutally stabbed to death was found. It was not possible to establish her identity, since she did not have any documents, and not a single inhabitant remained in the village.

Is it not in this terrible dugout that Burshi left his mark, whose wife asked exterminate all Russians one by one?... (Izvestia, USSR)

08/28/42: Jakob Klemens, a captured soldier of the 256th regiment of the 112th infantry division, said: “The German army produces colossal devastation in the areas it occupied. Hungry Russian people roam everywhere in the occupied territory. In Orel, the inhabitants are literally dying of hunger. In the village of Novo-Nikolskoye, we underwent military training. When we complained about poor food, the officers told us: "You are the complete masters here, go to any house and take whatever you want." The officers repeatedly instructed that the soldier had the right to shoot any Russian whether male or female. To do this, it is enough just to call him a partisan, a partisan or an assistant to the partisans. Under this pretext, hundreds of Russian residents were shot.” (Sovinformburo)

08/25/42: Hitler's bandits set out to exterminate the Soviet people. A letter was found from a murdered German soldier, a certain Hans, in which his friend Dreyer writes: “The main thing is to beat all the Russians without mercy so that this swine people will end soon.” ("Red Star", USSR)

16.08.42: In June 1942, Hitler published an order to the troops entitled: "Prisoner of War Cost" . The order says: “Have all the soldiers on the eastern front realized that in every prisoner of war they acquire a well-used labor force? It is proved that a Russian person can become a well-used worker. Now the need for male labor force is great. Germany, as you know, has attracted many millions of foreign workers, but, firstly, this is not enough, and secondly, certain difficulties arise in this. Prisoners of war do not present any difficulties: they are a well-used and, moreover, cheap labor force. By capturing a prisoner, a soldier acquires labor power for his homeland, and, consequently, for himself.

Italian and Hungarian workers need to be fed. It's easier with prisoners, as he says. cannibal, with prisoners "no difficulties." The Germans now go on a campaign not only for chickens and wheat, they go on a campaign for slaves. German lieutenant Otto Krause jokes in his diary: "A Russian Cossack with a horse on a German field is two horsepower." ("Red Star", USSR)

08/14/42: An unsent letter to his sister Sabina was found with a German soldier Josef. The letter says: “Today we organized 20 chickens and 10 cows. We are removing the entire population from the villages - adults and children. No amount of prayer helps. We know how to be ruthless. If someone does not want to go, they finish him off. Recently, in a village, a group of residents became stubborn and did not want to leave for anything. We went berserk and immediately shot them down. And then something terrible happened. Several Russian women stabbed two German soldiers with pitchforks... We are hated here. No one in the homeland can imagine what fury the Russians have against us.” (Sovinformburo) [Note: and such idiots are now bred everywhere. ]

04.12.42: Non-commissioned officer of the 670th Infantry Regiment Wilhelm Schussler wrote on October 26 to his parents: “Stalingrad is a big city, it has turned into a continuous heap of ruins. I will not exaggerate if I say that not a single stone house has been preserved intact there. Wooden houses collapsed like cards after the first raids... Among the ruins, from which only pipes protrude, women and children live. They huddle in crevices where they try to find protection from artillery and bombing... This is the greatest disaster I have ever seen. We must thank our God that he delivered us from all this and that we were born Germans... However, one cannot speak a different language with Russians. Thus, the struggle here is approaching its victorious end. An emergency message will soon announce the fall of this stronghold." ("Red Star", USSR)

JULY 1942:

07/24/42: Manager Reinhardt writes to Lieutenant Otto von Schirach: “The French were taken from us to the factory. I chose six Russians from the Minsk region. They are much more hardy than the French. Only one of them died, the rest continue to work in the field and on the farm. Their maintenance is worth nothing and we should not suffer from the fact that these animals whose children may be killing our soldiers, eating German bread. Yesterday I subjected two Russian beasts to a light execution, who secretly ate the skimmed milk intended for the queens of the pigs ... "

Mathaes Zimlich writes to his brother Corporal Heinrich Zimlich: “There is a camp for Russians in Leiden, you can see them there. They are not afraid of weapons, but we talk with them with a good whip ... "

A certain Otto Essmann writes to Lieutenant Helmut Weigand: “We have Russian prisoners here. These types devour earthworms on the airfield site, they rush to the garbage can. I saw them eating weeds. And to think that these are people ... ”(“ Red Star ”, USSR) [These villains are now teaching Soviet people how to live]

17.07.42: The Germans say to the Ukrainians:"We are only against the Russians." The Germans say to the Tatars: "We are against the Slavs." The Germans say to the Georgians: "We are against the Slavs and Tatars." They want to deceive everyone. They will not deceive anyone. Germans recognize people of only one race: German. All other nations for them "untermensch" - "subhuman". The Germans write about Russians: “They are an inferior people” (“Schwarze Kor”). The Germans write about the Ukrainians: “A people suitable for agriculture, but not capable of self-government” (“Pariser Zeitung”). The Germans write about the Tatars: "These are typical conductors who can be bought for one mark." ("Deutsche Zeitung in Ostland"). The Germans write about the Georgians: "A strongly mixed tribe, itself gravitating towards a foreign yoke" ("Ostfront"). The Germans write about the Kazakhs: "Nomads, who were in vain attached to the conquests of civilization" ("National Zeitung"). The Germans want to set one Soviet people against another in order to more easily take possession of our Motherland. They have shackles ready for all peoples. For all nations they make gallows.

Germans hate Russians the most. They hate the older brother in the Soviet family. They know that without the Russian people there would be no Russia. They know that without the Russian people there would be no Soviet Union . They hate Russians because Tolstoy wrote in Russian, because Lenin spoke in Russian, because the command of the commander of the Red Army is heard in Russian: “Fire at the Germans!” ("Red Star", USSR)

07/12/42: An English journalist who is now in Russia recently asked a German prisoner of war: "Aren't you ashamed to treat captured Red Army soldiers so brutally?" The German calmly replied: “That's why they are Russians...” The German writes to his brother: “It is not true that we kill children. You know how they love guys in Germany, in my company everyone will share the last with a child. And if we in Russia kill small representatives of a terrible tribe, this is dictated by state necessity. He is clean before himself: after all, he kills Russian children, that is, not children, but small "representatives of a terrible tribe." ("Red Star", USSR)

JUNE 1942:

06/21/42: It is not easy for a person to feel what air is: for this you need to find yourself in a deep mine, to survive suffocation. The Russian people did not know before the national oppression: no one has ever humiliated a Russian for being Russian. The Nazis mock Russian customs, Russian antiquity, Russian speech. And we feel how national dignity is rising in us. Russia has now learned what exacting, all-consuming patriotism is. Hitler awakened a terrible force for him: the wrath of Russia. ("Red Star", USSR)

06/11/42: Notebook bound in brown leatherette - confession. Beyond Philosophical Books Wolfgang Frentzel loves war, and he doesn’t care what to fight for and where ... The connoisseur of Plato loves to talk about morality: “Looking out the window of the car, you see people in tatters. Women and children want bread. Usually in response they are shown the muzzle of a gun. In the front line, the conversation is even simpler: a bullet between the ribs. By the way, the Russians deserved it, all without exception - men, women and children ... I have already become acquainted with the morality of the front, it is harsh, but good "...

Fritz the philosopher was killed. Well, who would regret that? Probably even the fool Genkhen will breathe a sigh of relief when he learns that her " Lord' can no longer command. But, leafing through the brown book, you are amazed squalor these scientists cannibals. For torture they need philosophical quotes. Near the gallows they are engaged in psychoanalysis. And I want to kill the philosopher Fritz twice: one bullet for torturing Russian children, the second for the fact that, having killed the child, he read Plato. ("Red Star", USSR)

06/07/42: Moritz Genz received his first Iron Cross for Warsaw and his second for Belgrade. For the bombing of Coventry, he received a "silver buckle". He killed women and children. For a thousand days he was engaged in the extermination of the "lower races." His fiancée Berta lived in Lübeck, and Berta admired her fiancé's career. Berta wrote to him: “Beat the Russians, as you beat the English! If each of your comrades had killed as many Russians as you, my dear Moritz, the Russians would no longer have resisted and the Fuhrer would have won the war. Sometimes I get scared that they can knock you out, but no, the Russians are too weak for that ”... (“Red Star”, USSR)

MAY 1942:

05/27/42: The German was brought up by Hitler on the feeling of his "racial superiority". In winter, I talked with a captured lieutenant. It was an officer of the defeated battalion, shabby, dirty and enough silly. At first, like other prisoners, he muttered about "Hitler's mistake", and our translator spoke of him complacently: "a convinced anti-fascist." When did they manage to call the lieutenant to frank conversation, he said: “It happens that even a giant falls into the clutches of ants ...” “The giant”, in his opinion, was he, a shabby, ignorant and beaten lieutenant, and Russians were ants! [How similar to the behavior of the captured Bandera]

German generals try instill in their soldiers a sense of contempt for everything Russian. General Hot in the order stated: "Each serviceman is obliged to imbue himself with a sense of his superiority over all Russians." Now General Hoth is in command of the German army, which has suffered serious damage in the Kharkov direction. It is unlikely that his soldiers feel a sense of their superiority. But General Hoth is powerless here: Russian tanks and cannons intervened in German pedagogy. ("Red Star", USSR)

04/05/42: Corporal prefers to break other people's heads. His summer records are colorful. They are worth remembering. Too often we now see the Fritz, who, whimpering and wiping their nose with their sleeves, mutter "Hitler kaput". It is useful to restore the image of a summer German. Here is what Hans Heil wrote in July: “Russians are real cattle. The order is not to take anyone prisoner. Any means to destroy the enemy is correct. Otherwise, you can not deal with this rabble.

“We cut off the chins of Russian prisoners, gouged out their eyes, cut off their backsides. There is only one law - merciless destruction. Everything must proceed without so-called humanity.”. “Shots are heard every minute in the city. Each shot means that another humanoid Russian animal has been sent to the right place. “This gang is to be destroyed. Men and women, all should be shot.” ("Red Star", USSR)

MARCH 1942:

03/29/42: When it comes to the Russians, you need to remember one thing - and the Germans felt it in their own skin - they do not take willpower. One of them told me at the front shortly after the United States entered the war, "Your problem, comrade, is that you don't hate the Germans enough." ("The New York Times", USA)

03/03/42: Like many of his compatriots, non-commissioned officer of the 35th Infantry Regiment Heinz Klin kept a diary. Being an educated man, Heinz Klin recorded not only how many chickens he swallowed and how many trophy stockings he grabbed, no, Heinz Klin was inclined to philosophize. He noted in his diary his thoughts and experiences.

“September 29, 1941. ... The sergeant-major shot everyone in the head. One woman begged to be spared her life, but she was also killed. I am surprised at myself - I can look at these things quite calmly ... Without changing my facial expression, I watched the sergeant-major shoot Russian women. I even had some fun with it...»

“November 28, 1941. The day before yesterday in the village we first saw a hanged woman. She hung on a telegraph pole ... "(" Red Star ", USSR)

01/28/42: In another letter, extracted from the bag, some woman splashes dirty Goebbels saliva. She writes to non-commissioned officer Schneider: "You are dealing with a terrible enemy who must be ranked among the semi-savages." She is sure that "Russians eat their own people and besides they eat worms." Another woman says that Russians are "Gypsy people". These German fools have read Goebbels' nonsense and still believe it. But the war is already beginning to clear the German brain. When a German is hit on the head, he starts to think better. ("Red Star", USSR)

DECEMBER 1941:

12/05/41: A. Rozenberg: Russians are not capable of creativity. These are imitators. They are organically lower than any wild people ... The Russian people are not able to rise to the concept of honor. He is only capable of bloodless love. ("Red Star", USSR)

12/03/41: Before the lackeys, von Ribbentrop was magnificent. He first praised his servants. The lousy Romanians became legendary heroes for him, Marshal Mannerheim became the Paschal lamb. Then von Ribbentrop began to swear. He denounced everyone - President Roosevelt, Churchill, the British, he especially reviled the Russians. His words about the Russian people are so picturesque that they should be written out: “The Russian people are stupid, cruel and bloodthirsty. He does not understand the joy of life. He does not understand the concept of progress, beauty and family. ("Red Star", USSR)

09.11.41: The key to the resilience of Russians is the Russian soul itself, primitive and furious, darkly brooding and sensitive, burdened with deep guilt. All this not only turns the Russian into a passive fatalist, but also accustoms him to suffering and death, forcing him to cling tightly to two things that seem clear and eternal - religion and the sacred native land. "Superstructure" to this national character was Bolshevik a regime that followed Russian traditions, but created a centralized party apparatus capable of rallying together the heterogeneous masses of people. In addition, he instilled in the people a unifying ideology that bound the youth and the army with strict discipline and the ruthless suppression of any ideological "deviations", including in the Communist Party itself. ("The New York Times", USA)

10/29/41: Entries in the notebook of the soldier Heinrich Tivel: “I, Heinrich Tivel, set myself the goal of exterminating 250 Russians, Jews, Ukrainians for this war, all indiscriminately. If each soldier kills the same number, we will destroy Russia in one month, everything will be ours, the Germans. I, following the call of the Fuhrer, call all Germans to this goal ... [This is how all marauders at all times argue]

Entries in the diary of Chief Corporal Hans Rittel: “October 12, 1941. The more you kill, the easier it becomes. I remember my childhood. Was I affectionate? Hardly. Must be a hard soul. In the end, we are exterminating Russians - these are Asians. The world should be grateful to us.

Today I took part in cleaning the camp from suspicious ones. 82 people were shot. Among them was a beautiful woman, fair-haired, northern type. Oh, if only she were German. We, Carl and I, took her to the barn. She bit and howled. 40 minutes later she was shot.”

A letter found with Lieutenant Gafn: “It was much easier in Paris. Do you remember those honeymoon days? The Russians turned out to be devils, we have to tie them up. At first I liked this fuss, but now that I'm all scratched and bitten, I do it easier - a gun to my temple, it cools my ardor.

A story unheard of elsewhere happened between us here: a Russian girl blew herself up and Lieutenant Gross. We now strip naked, search, and then ... After which they disappear without a trace in the camp. ("Red Star", USSR)

Here is a European poster about the USSR:

Reminiscent of today's propaganda of the West against Russia

SEPTEMBER 1941:

09/23/41: Here are the notes of Corporal Marowitz. With a typical German pedantry Marowitz, day after day, describes the events in which he was a participant or witness, without knowing it himself, that he draws terrible picture degradation German soldier.

“...One was delivered today. They interrogated and immediately finished off ... Soon they brought back one and two children. They were also interrogated and killed."

On August 7, Marowitz was in Pskov. The diary says: “... Then we went to the market square. The fact is that two Russians were hanged there and we had to look at it. When I arrived at the square, a large crowd had gathered there. Both Russians dangled at the fear of others. They don’t argue with such people for a long time, they were quickly hung up so that they immediately suffocated. comical You get the feeling when you look at it…” ("Pravda", USSR)

09/20/41: Lange arrives at Baranovichi. A German motorcade passed before him. He writes: "The devastated city looks terrible." Then he notes that on the road from Mir to Stolbtsy they see only ruins. Lange philosophizes: "We did not feel any compassion, but only colossal will to destroy. My hands itched to shoot my gun at the crowd. Soon the SS will come and smoke everyone. We fight for the greatness of Germany. The Germans cannot communicate with these Asians, Russians, Caucasians, Mongols.” ("Red Star", USSR)

The Germans are killing prisoners. Here is the order of the commander of the 3rd German infantry division. It is marked with the letters AZ 2 and dated July 7, 1941. “It has been repeatedly observed that Russian soldiers who surrendered after being captured or sent to the rear were shot by our troops.”

In the diary of senior corporal I. Richter of the 4th battalion of the 40th infantry regiment, field mail 01797, we find the following entry dated July 1: “We shot 60 prisoners at headquarters.”

Non-commissioned officer of the 735th division (3rd army corps Reichenau) Hans Jurgen Simon wrote in his diary on August 7: “Goff tells me the case of one Russian, wounded in the head, who was ordered to be shot. The soldier, who was ordered to shoot the prisoner, led the Russian to his comrades and gave them the task, claiming that his gun did not work. Goff thinks that this soldier could not overpower himself and shoot an unarmed wounded man.

The Germans are torturing the prisoners. Corporal Zochel from Wiesbaden field mail 22408 B writes in his diary: “July 25. Dark night, no stars. We torture Russians at night."

The Germans hang the Russians. Here is the order of the commander of the 123rd German Infantry Division dated August 16, 1941: “It is recommended to resort to the strictest penalties, such as hanging the executed in the squares for general viewing. Report this to the civilian population. On the gallows there should be tables with inscriptions in Russian with the approximate text "this and that is hanged for that and that." ("Izvestia", USSR)

09/17/41: Minister Darre stated in an interview that the lack of draft animals could be compensated by the labor of the Russians. They want to take away land and houses, vegetable gardens and apiaries, devour pigs and geese, steal dairy cows and horses to their home in Germany, and harness the Russians to the plow - after all, they don’t waste fuel on tractors, no, they need fuel for tanks. The German landlords will stand and shout: “Alive. Turn around." This is what the "common yard" of these bandits means - prisoner companies, hard labor! ("Red Star", USSR) [And before the revolution, the "German" landowners oppressed the Russians with all their might - http://vimstory.blogspot.ru/2017/05/blog-post_76.html ]

09/14/41: I spent half a day with these animals. The pilot, who graduated from the gymnasium, did not know the names of Heine, Shakespeare, Tolstoy. And it was most educated copy... Dark people. Compared to them, the Kaffirs and Zulus are representatives of high culture. amazing mixture of arrogance and cowardice. Tears had just dried up in the eyes of the coward-corporal, as he already makes claims: why was he placed with the soldiers, why was his finca taken away from him? One boor respectfully says to the sentry through an interpreter: “Comrade Commissar, I am not a fascist. I have always loved Russians.” Then to his friend (he thought I didn't understand German): "Russian pigs"... I looked at him in surprise. He immediately drew himself up, turned white and whispered: “I am the son of a worker. I am a Marxist." Contemptible comedians! ... ("Red Star", USSR) [Ragul is Ragul]

09/05/41: On June 24, while not far from the border, Gerd Schmidt wrote: “I saw Russian prisoners. Unsympathetic race." The diary ends with the following unexpected entry: “Hands up, drop your weapons! We are in Russian captivity. Surprisingly good handling. "Comrade"... Russians share with us the last"... [The animals got to people and were surprised]

Marauder

AUGUST 1941:

08/29/41: The leader of the "Hitler youth" Baldur von Schirach said: "Better German lies than human truth." And one of his fosterlings, Corporal Stampe, wrote in his diary: “Today they broadcast on the radio that three million Russians were surrounded and we would kill them all in a week. Maybe it’s a lie, but in any case it’s nice to listen ... ”(“ Red Star ”, USSR)

08/24/41: The order was supplemented by the "Basic Rules for the Conduct of German Troops in Russia". It states that for a German soldier "any contact with the population is fraught with a danger to health", that the Russians "are secretive, insidious and insensitive, and therefore you need to be merciless and cruel with them" ... ("Pravda", USSR)

08/19/41: Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler and company organized a real orgy of murders after treacherous attack on the USSR. The fascist newspaper "Schleswig Holsteinish Tageblat" wrote: "The Bolsheviks are not people, they not only can, but must be destroyed." The newspaper Westdeutcher Beobachter wrote: “Kill the Bolsheviks! The court of public opinion will not require you to justify! ("Pravda", USSR)

08/05/41: “There is something unhealthy, illegitimate in Russian blood,” vomits Hitler’s henchman Rosenberg. The hatred of the fascist bandits for the Russian people is understandable. has been beating conquerors for centuries so that units out of hundreds, hundreds out of many thousands, thousands out of millions returned to Germany from raids on Russian lands! The fact that the Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians and other peoples of the Soviet Union, fighting for their honor and freedom, have already destroyed a fair part of the German fascist army during the six weeks of the war, really serves as a sufficient reason for the Hitler-Rosenbergs not being able to recognize our healthy blood. ("Pravda", USSR)

07/30/41: After the defeat of a group of German troops in the K. area, a document was found at the headquarters of the German infantry regiment, again exposing the fascist predators. Notifying the regimental commander of the difficulties with the delivery of food, staff officer K. Vollmer proposes to continue to find food for the personnel of the regiment on the spot. In conclusion, it is indicated that the regiment commander, based on the situation that has arisen, must secretly inform the entire officer staff of the following: “1) shoot the prisoners; we cannot spend food on them when the German units do not receive a daily ration; 2) it is desirable before the liquidation of the prisoners to select a small group of highly skilled workers (not older than 30 years old, physically strong) to work in factories in Germany. (Sovinformburo)

07/04/41: Everyone knows that engines play a huge role in modern warfare. The Red Army also has motors. But people decide. Is it necessary to point out the superiority of our people? Every Red Army soldier knows what he is fighting for. He knows that this is a fight not for life, but for death. The invaders are coming at us, intoxicated by the myth of their invincibility. The sobering up will be terrible. Every inch of Soviet land held, every wrecked tank, every destroyed plane, every killed Nazi brings the inevitable hour closer - their sobering up and our victory. ("Red Star", USSR)

Otto Carius(German Otto Carius, 05/27/1922 - 01/24/2015) - German tank ace during the Second World War. He destroyed more than 150 enemy tanks and self-propelled guns - one of the highest results of the Second World War along with other German tank battle masters - Michael Wittmann and Kurt Knispel. He fought on tanks Pz.38, "Tiger", self-propelled guns "Jagdtigr". Book author " Tigers in the mud».
He began his career as a tanker on a light tank "Skoda" Pz.38, from 1942 he fought on a heavy tank Pz.VI "Tiger" on the Eastern Front. Along with Michael Wittmann, he became a Nazi military legend, and his name was widely used in Third Reich propaganda during the war. Fought on the Eastern Front. In 1944, he was seriously wounded, after recovering, he fought on the Western Front, then, by order of the command, he surrendered to the American occupying forces, spent some time in a prisoner of war camp, after which he was released.
After the war, he became a pharmacist, in June 1956 he acquired a pharmacy in the city of Herschweiler-Pettersheim, which he renamed Tiger Apotheke. He headed the pharmacy until February 2011.

Interesting excerpts from the book "Tigers in the Mud"
the book can be read in full here militera.lib.ru

On the offensive in the Baltics:

“It’s not bad at all to fight here,” Sergeant Dehler, the commander of our tank, said with a chuckle after once again pulling his head out of a tub of water. It seemed that this washing would never end. The year before, he had been in France. The thought of this gave me self-confidence, because I entered the fighting for the first time, excited, but also with some fear. We were greeted enthusiastically everywhere by the people of Lithuania. The people here saw us as liberators. We were shocked by the fact that before our arrival, Jewish shops were destroyed and destroyed everywhere..»

On the attack on Moscow and the arming of the Red Army:

“The attack on Moscow was given preference over the capture of Leningrad. The attack choked in the mud, when the capital of Russia, which opened before us, was a stone's throw away. What then happened in the infamous winter of 1941/42 cannot be conveyed in oral or written reports. The German soldier had to hold out in inhuman conditions against those accustomed to winter and extremely well-armed Russian divisions.»

About T-34 tanks:

“Another event hit us like a ton of bricks: Russian T-34 tanks appeared for the first time! The astonishment was complete. How could it happen that up there, they did not know about the existence of this excellent tank?»

The T-34, with its good armor, perfect shape and magnificent 76.2-mm long-barreled gun, made everyone in awe, and all German tanks were afraid of him until the end of the war. What were we to do with these monsters thrown against us in multitudes?

About heavy IS tanks:

“We examined the Joseph Stalin tank, which, to a certain extent, was still intact. The 122-mm long-barreled gun aroused our respect. The disadvantage was that unitary shots were not used in this tank. Instead, the projectile and powder charge had to be loaded separately. The armor and uniforms were better than those of our "Tiger", but we liked our weapons much more.
The Joseph Stalin tank played a cruel joke on me when it knocked out my right drive wheel. I did not notice this until I wanted to back away after an unexpected strong blow and explosion. Feldwebel Kerscher immediately recognized this shooter. He also hit him in the forehead, but our 88-mm gun could not penetrate the heavy armor of "Joseph Stalin" at such an angle and from such a distance.

About the Tiger tank:

“Outwardly, he looked handsome and pleasing to the eye. He was fat; almost all flat surfaces are horizontal, and only the front slope is welded almost vertically. The thicker armor made up for the lack of rounded shapes. Ironically, just before the war, we supplied the Russians with a huge hydraulic press with which they were able to produce their "T-34" with such elegantly rounded surfaces. Our armaments experts did not consider them valuable. In their opinion, such thick armor could never be needed. As a result, we had to put up with flat surfaces.”

“Even if our “tiger” was not handsome, his margin of safety inspired us. He really drove like a car. With just two fingers, we could control a 60-ton giant with 700 horsepower, drive at a speed of 45 kilometers per hour on the road and 20 kilometers per hour over rough terrain. However, taking into account the additional equipment, we could only move on the road at a speed of 20-25 kilometers per hour and, accordingly, at an even lower speed off-road. The 22 liter engine ran best at 2600 rpm. At 3000 rpm it quickly overheated.

On successful Russian operations:

« With envy, we watched how well equipped the Ivans were compared to us.. We experienced real happiness when several replenishment tanks finally arrived to us from the deep rear.

“We found the commander of the Luftwaffe field division at the command post in a state of complete despair. He did not know where his units were. Russian tanks crushed everything around before the anti-tank guns had time to fire even one shot. Ivans captured the latest equipment, and the division fled in all directions.

“The Russians attacked there and took the city. The attack followed so unexpectedly that some of our troops were caught on the move. Real panic set in. It was quite fair that the commandant of Nevel had to answer before a military court for a flagrant disregard for security measures.

About drunkenness in the Wehrmacht:

“Shortly after midnight, cars appeared from the west. We recognized them as ours in time. It was a motorized infantry battalion that did not have time to connect with the troops and advanced to the highway late. As I found out later, the commander was sitting in the only tank at the head of the column. He was completely drunk. The disaster happened with lightning speed. The whole unit had no idea what was happening, and moved openly through the space being shot through by the Russians. A terrible panic arose when machine guns and mortars began to speak. Many soldiers were hit by bullets. Left without a commander, everyone ran back to the road instead of looking for cover south of it. Any kind of mutual assistance is gone. The only thing that mattered was every man for himself. The cars drove right over the wounded, and the freeway was a picture of horror.

On Russian heroism:

“When it began to get light, our infantrymen approached the T-34 somewhat inadvertently. He was still standing next to von Schiller's tank. With the exception of a hole in the hull, no other damage was visible on it. Surprisingly, when they approached to open the hatch, he did not give way. Following this, a hand grenade flew out of the tank, and three soldiers were seriously wounded. Von Schiller again opened fire on the enemy. However, until the third shot, the commander of the Russian tank did not leave his car. Then he, seriously wounded, lost consciousness. The other Russians were dead. We brought a Soviet lieutenant to the division, but it was no longer possible to interrogate him. He died of his wounds on the way. This incident showed us how careful we must be. This Russian sent detailed reports to his unit about us. He only had to slowly turn his turret to shoot von Schiller point-blank. I remember how we resented the stubbornness of this Soviet lieutenant at the time. Today I have a different opinion about it ... "

Comparison of Russians and Americans (after being wounded in 1944, the author was transferred to the Western Front):

“In the midst of the blue sky, they created a screen of fire that left no room for imagination. It covered the entire front of our bridgehead. Only Ivans could arrange such a barrage of fire. Even the Americans, whom I later met in the West, could not compare with them. The Russians fired in layers with all types of weapons, from continuously firing light mortars to heavy artillery.

“Sappers were active everywhere. They even reversed the warning signs in the hope that the Russians would drive in the wrong direction! Such a ploy sometimes worked later on the Western Front against the Americans, but did not pass with the Russians.»

“If I had two or three tank commanders and crews from my company that fought in Russia with me, then this rumor could well turn out to be true. All my comrades would not fail to fire on those Yankees who were marching in "ceremonial formation". After all, five Russians were more dangerous than thirty Americans.. We have already noticed this in the last few days of fighting in the west.

« The Russians would never give us so much time! But how much it took the Americans to eliminate the "bag", in which there could be no talk of any serious resistance.

“... we decided one evening to replenish our fleet at the expense of the American one. It never occurred to anyone to consider this a heroic deed! The Yankees slept in the houses at night, as the "front-line soldiers" were supposed to. After all, who would want to disturb their peace! Outside, at best, there was one sentry, but only if the weather was good. The war began in the evenings only if our troops retreated, and they pursued them. If by chance a German machine gun suddenly opened fire, then they asked for support from the air force, but only the next day. Around midnight we set off with four soldiers and returned pretty soon with two jeeps. It was convenient that they did not require keys. One had only to turn on a small toggle switch, and the car was ready to go. It wasn't until we were back in our lines that the Yankees fired indiscriminately into the air, probably to calm their nerves. If the night were long enough, we could easily drive to Paris.”

On the eve of Germany's invasion of the USSR, Hitler's propaganda created an impartial image of Russians, portraying them as backward, devoid of spirituality, intellect, and even incapable of standing up for their Fatherland. Having entered the Soviet land, the Germans were amazed that the reality did not at all correspond to the ideas imposed on them.

And one warrior in the field

The first thing that the German troops encountered was the fierce resistance of the Soviet soldier literally on every patch of their land. They were especially shocked that the "crazy Russians" are not afraid to engage in battle with forces several times greater than their own. One of the battalions of Army Group Center, consisting of at least 800 people, having overcome the first line of defense, was already confidently moving deep into Soviet territory, when it was suddenly fired upon by a detachment of five people. “I did not expect anything like this! This is pure suicide, attacking a battalion with five fighters! Major Neuhof commented on the situation.

The British historian Robert Kershaw in the book “1941 through the eyes of the Germans” cites the case of how Wehrmacht soldiers, having shot the Soviet T-26 light tank from a 37-mm gun, approached him without fear. But suddenly his hatch suddenly opened up and a tanker leaning out to the waist began to shoot the enemy with a pistol. Later, a shocking circumstance became clear: the Soviet soldier was without legs (they were torn off during the explosion of the tank), but this did not prevent him from fighting to the last.

An even more striking case was described by Lieutenant Hensfald, who ended his life near Stalingrad. The case was not far from the Belarusian town of Krichev, where on July 17, 1941, senior sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin for two and a half hours alone with the help of an artillery gun held back the advance of a column of German armored vehicles and infantry. As a result, the sergeant managed to fire almost 60 shells, which destroyed 10 German tanks and armored personnel carriers. Having killed the hero, the Germans nevertheless buried him with honors.

Heroism in the blood

German officers have repeatedly admitted that they took prisoners extremely rarely, since the Russians preferred to fight to the last. “Even burning alive, they continued to shoot back.” “Sacrifice is in their blood”; “The hardening of the Russians cannot be compared with ours,” the German generals did not get tired of repeating.

During one of the reconnaissance flights, the Soviet pilot discovered that there was no one on the way of the German column moving towards Moscow for tens of kilometers. It was decided to throw into battle a completed Siberian regiment that had been at the airfield the day before. The German military recalled how suddenly low-flying aircraft appeared in front of the column, from which “white figures rained down in clusters” on a snowy field. These were Siberians who became human shields in front of the German tank brigades, they fearlessly threw themselves under the tracks of tanks with grenades. When the first batch of troops perished, the second one followed. Later it turned out that about 12% of the fighters crashed during the landing, the rest died, having entered into an unequal battle with the enemy. But the Germans still managed to stop.

Mysterious Russian soul

The Russian character for the German soldiers remained a mystery. They could not understand why the peasants, who must have hated them, greeted them with bread and milk. One of the Wehrmacht soldiers recalled how in December 1941, during a retreat in a village near Borisov, an old woman brought him a loaf of bread and a jug of milk, lamenting in tears: "War, war."

Moreover, often civilians treated both the advancing Germans and the defeated with the same good nature. Major Küner noted that he often witnessed how Russian peasant women wailed over the wounded or killed German soldiers, as if they were their own children.

War veteran, doctor of historical sciences Boris Sapunov said that when passing through the outskirts of Berlin, they often came across empty houses. The thing is that local residents, under the influence of German propaganda, which depicted the horrors that the advancing Red Army allegedly did, scattered through the nearby forests. However, those who still remained were surprised that the Russians did not try to rape women or take out property, but, on the contrary, offered their help.

They even pray

The Germans who came to Russian soil were ready to meet with crowds of militant atheists, as they were convinced that Bolshevism was extremely intolerant of the manifestation of religiosity. Therefore, they were greatly struck by the fact that icons hang in Russian huts, and the population wears miniature crucifixes on their chests. The civilian Germans, who met the Soviet Ostarbeiters, also faced the same. They were sincerely surprised by the stories of Russians who came to work in Germany, who told how many old churches and monasteries there are in the Soviet Union, and how carefully they keep their faith, performing religious rites. “I thought Russians had no religion, but they even pray,” said one German worker.

As the staff doctor von Grevenitz noted, during medical examinations it turned out that the vast majority of Soviet girls were virgins. “Shine of purity” and “active virtue” radiated from their faces, and I felt the great power of this light, the doctor recalled.

No less than the Germans were struck by the fidelity of the Russians to family duty. So, in the town of Sentenberg, 9 newborns were born and another 50 were waiting in the wings. All but two belonged to Soviet couples. And although 6-8 couples huddled in one room, there was no licentiousness in their behavior, the Germans recorded.

Russian craftsmen are cooler than Europeans

The propaganda of the Third Reich assured that, having exterminated all the intelligentsia, the Bolsheviks left a faceless mass in the country, capable of performing only primitive work. However, employees of the German enterprises where the Ostarbeiters worked were convinced of the opposite over and over again. In their memos, the German craftsmen often pointed out that the technical knowledge of the Russians baffled them. One of the engineers of the city of Bayreuth remarked: “Our propaganda always presents the Russians as stupid and stupid. But here I have established the opposite. Russians think while they work and don't look so stupid at all. It is better for me to have 2 Russians at work than 5 Italians.”

In their reports, the Germans stated that the Russian worker could eliminate the malfunction of any mechanism by the most primitive means. For example, at one of the Frankfurt-on-Oder enterprises, a Soviet prisoner of war in a short time managed to find the cause of an engine failure, repair and start it, and this despite the fact that German specialists could not do anything for many days.