German soldiers about Russians. Letters from German soldiers and officers from the Eastern Front as a cure for the Fuhrers A story about the WWII through the eyes of the Germans

Let's continue our tour of the SS.
It is generally accepted that these were the elite units of Germany and the favorites of the Fuhrer. Where there were problems, crises, the SS appeared there and ... Did they break the situation? Not always. If in March 1943 the SS recaptured Kharkov from us, then they failed the Kursk salient.
Indeed, the Waffen-SS fought desperately and insanely bravely. The same "dead head" ignored orders prohibiting hand-to-hand combat with Soviet troops.
But courage, and even insane, is not all in the war. Not everyone. It is said that cowards and heroes die first. And the cautious and prudent survive.
In the first year of the war, the Wehrmacht was skeptical about the SS troops. If the level of political training was beyond praise, then tactically and technically the SS were an order of magnitude worse than the army. How much could Theodor Eicke, a former police informant, former psychiatric patient and former head of the Dachau concentration camp, do? How much did he understand about military affairs? When he flew to Hitler's headquarters in the summer of 1942, complaining hysterically about the huge losses, was it not his fault?
"Butcher Eike", as he was called in the Wehrmacht for neglecting the loss of personnel. On February 26, his plane will be shot down and he will be buried near Kharkov. Where his grave is is unknown.
Well, good.
And the Wehrmacht soldiers ironically called the SS men "tree frogs" in 1941 for their spotted camouflage. True, then they themselves began to wear. Yes, and supplies ... Army generals tried to supply the "Totenkopfs" in the second place. What is the point of giving the best to those who, of all types of combat, have mastered only rabid attacks at any cost? They will still die.
Only by 1943 did the situation level off. The SS began to fight no worse than the Wehrmacht. But not due to the fact that the level of training has grown. Due to the fact that the level of training in the German army itself has fallen. Did you know that the courses for lieutenants in Germany lasted only three months? And they scold the Red Army for a 6-month training period ...
Yes, the quality of the Wehrmacht was steadily declining. By 1943, the strong professionals of France and Poland had been knocked out. Poorly trained young people of new draft age came to their place. And there was no one to teach them. Someone rotted in the Sinyavinsky swamps, someone rode on one leg in Germany, someone dragged logs in the Vyatka logging sites.
Meanwhile, the Red Army was learning. I learned quickly. The qualitative superiority over the Germans grew so much that in 1944 the Soviet troops managed to carry out offensive operations with a devastating loss ratio. 10:1 in our favor. Although, according to all the rules, losses are 1:3. For one lost defender, 3 attackers.

No, this is not Operation Bagration. This is the undeservedly forgotten Iasi-Kishinev operation. Perhaps the record for the ratio of losses in the entire war.
During the operation, the Soviet troops lost 12.5 thousand people killed and missing and 64 thousand wounded, while the German and Romanian troops lost 18 divisions. 208,600 German and Romanian soldiers and officers were captured. They lost up to 135,000 men killed and wounded. 208 thousand were captured.
The system of military training in the USSR defeated a similar one in the Reich.
Our Guard was born in battles. The German SS are children of propaganda.
What were the SS men in the eyes of the Germans themselves?
However, a small lyrical digression.
It is no secret that a huge number of myths have accumulated around the Great Patriotic War. For example, this: the Red Army fought with one rifle for three. Few people know that this phrase has historical roots.
She comes from ... "A short course of the CPSU (b).
Yes, the Bolsheviks did not hide the truth. Truth, oh... About the Russian Imperial Army.
"The tsarist army suffered defeat after defeat. German artillery
bombarded the tsarist troops with a hail of shells. The tsarist army did not have enough guns,
there were not enough shells, not even enough rifles. Sometimes for three soldiers
had one rifle.

Or here's another myth. From book to book, the famous dialogue of two marshals wanders: Zhukov and Eisenhower. Like, Zhukov boasted that he let the infantry ahead of the tanks through the minefields, so that they would clear the passages with their bodies.
Let's give up on the fact that the weight of a person will in no way undermine an anti-tank mine. That it is useless to launch infantry at them. Let's forget about it. I'm wondering: where did this myth come from?
And here's where...
Günter Fleishman. An SS man from the Viking division.
We find such an episode in his memoirs.
1940 France. City of Metz. Fleishman staff radio operator. Yes, not just anyone, Rommel himself, the future "Desert Fox". Rommel then commanded the 7th Panzer Division, to which the SS Regiment Das Reich was assigned.
Behind the city itself are howitzers. The city itself is tightly covered by French anti-aircraft guns. There is a mixed minefield in front of the city. Both anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. What is Rommel doing?
Sends his radio operator as far forward as possible to determine and report the location of enemy batteries. The reconnaissance group completely perishes on the way. Almost, otherwise the memoirs would not have been preserved. Gunther gets to the hedge and there he tries to get through to Rommel: they say, everything is gone:
"- Iron Horse! Iron Horse! Firefly-1 is calling you!
- How are things, private?
- Herr General, Klek and Morer are killed. I ask permission to return to the rear.
“We need to locate these positions no matter what, private. Do you have a weapon?
- That's right, Herr General! I still have Grosler's MP-38.
- That's it, son. Try to get closer. As close as possible. I'm counting on you...
“Yes, Herr General. End of connection".
And what's next? And then here's what:
"Looking at the field, I made out a signalman waving red and blue flags. This was a signal to get in touch. I was not afraid of surprises here in the hedge, remembering Klek's words that it was inconvenient to place mines here, so I calmly sat down and after simple manipulations with the scheme began to call the "Iron Horse".
"Our plans have changed," the Herr General informed me. "Stay where you are, but don't stick your stupid head out to no purpose."
- I don't understand, Herr General!
- Son, sit where you sit. And stay in touch. I have prepared a present for you. End of connection.
- Who are you with? asked the Rottenführer.
- With your commander.
What gift was he talking about?
- He knows better.
It took some time before we understood what the Herr General meant. Medium bombers "Heinkel" and their dive brothers "Ju-87" appeared in the sky. The dive bombers were assigned the task of aimed bombing, while the Heinkels were engaged in carpet bombing. Metz was on fire.
"Thank you, Herr General," I sent, pressing the transmit key.
Everything is fine? Suppressed artillery?
No. The French only reduced the intensity of the fire.
And Rommel sends his soldiers to attack.
"I noticed how our soldiers were running across the field.
- There are mines! I yelled into the microphone.
Herr General knew this. Special purpose armored personnel carriers and half-track all-terrain vehicles appeared on the field. Mines worked, people were torn to pieces, and equipment was twisted. An act of the most cruel madness was being accomplished before my eyes.
Already a few minutes later, the soldiers of the reserve company reached me. These were the soldiers of my company, the one in which I fought. They cleared the way for the SS, the Wehrmacht and the 7th Panzer. And then I realized that if I weren’t a radio operator, I would have been waiting for the fate of a decommissioned one.
Again.
THE GENERAL KNOW ABOUT THE MINES.
What, frau still give birth to kinders?
Or are there other categories in war than the view from the trench?
Apparently, this incident affected Fleishman so much that he began to think about what was happening.
“So, for example, reports began to arrive from parts of the SS“ Dead Head ”, concerning certain events in the town of Drancy. I have already heard that either a camp or a prisoner-of-war prison was set up in Drancy. However, not only for prisoners of war. More in addition, it was ordered to pass out of turn all trains traveling to Drancy and to some stations located east of this city from Limoges, Lyon, Chartres and other places.All trains of this kind followed from France to the east, to Strasbourg, where they then crossed German border, exclusively with the knowledge of the SS. I then had no idea that in September-October 1940, the mentioned trains were transporting people to the camps. It was my responsibility to send a corresponding report to the officer of the SS headquarters, and they knew what to do. it was necessary to immediately notify superiors about the trains from the cities listed above.Each time when information about the trains came in, I was even put out of the radio operator's room and allowed to return there only some time later, when the information received was processed.
I once asked Gleizepunkt and Engel, they say, what kind of secret trains they were, but they only grinned in response. I, perplexed, asked what was funny here, but I did not receive a clear answer. On principle, I pestered both colleagues until Gleizepunkt asked me:
- Kager, what do you think these trains can carry?
I replied that I had no idea, and Gleispunkt laughingly asked me a question:
- Listen, have you seen many Jews on the Parisian streets?
It is said that the Germans did not know about the death camps. This is wrong.
“We all knew about Dachau and Buchenwald, but in all honesty I can say that in 1940 I had no idea what was going on there. I always believed that there were centers for political re-education for criminals, where the latter were taught to respect existing laws I believed that if someone violated German laws, he deserved several years in Dachau or Buchenwald.
But why we needed to drag Jews from another country to Germany, I absolutely did not understand"
They knew everything.
"... I did not understand why Gleispunkt and Engel laughed at this. And they laughed maliciously and with such an air as if they knew much more than me."
He just started to think. Enlightenment will come on the Eastern Front.
By the way, about the Eastern Front.
We all know that the Great Patriotic War began on June 22.
And when did hostilities begin on the Soviet-German front?
Fleischman claims that...
Earlier.
As early as June 20, on Friday, he, as part of a reconnaissance and sabotage group, was thrown from an airplane into the territory of the USSR.
On the night of June 20-21, an SS group meets with ... With a partisan detachment:
There were a lot of partisans. Fires were lit in holes dug in the ground, this was done obviously for the purpose of disguise. There were also tents sewn from tablecloths, curtains, or who knows what. According to my estimates, there were at least 40 people in the camp. We decided to refresh ourselves with canned stew, our guide sat down with us.
“The village is very close,” he said.
- What kind of village? Detweiler asked him.
- Village, - the guide answered. - We'll take you. You will be there to listen. Eat first.
Glancing approvingly at our buttonholes, the old man said with a smile:
- SS.
Other partisans began to sit down to us. Among them was a woman in her thirties in shabby clothes. But, despite the clothes and the soiled face, she seemed to me a beauty. Her presence lightened the atmosphere somewhat.
- Who you are? I asked the old guide again. - And where are we?
Hearing my question, the rest of the old man's forest brethren smiled as if they knew something we didn't.
We call him Father Demetrius. And my name is Rachel. Welcome to Ukraine.
Doesn't bother you?
Personally, I was confused by the name Rachel - a typical Jewish name.
Who was that? UPA? What are "partisans"? Unfortunately, Gunther does not provide an answer to this question. But he clarifies that these places are about thirty kilometers from Kovel.
During the day, intelligence transmits messages about the composition of the Red Army units in the offensive zone.
On the 22nd, something happened that we all know about. But what happened next, when the German troops entered the territory of the USSR.
“The advance of the column slowed down. About a kilometer from the checkpoint, we noticed a group of SS police soldiers on the side of the road. not from the front line. Having traveled another 500 meters, on both sides of the road we saw gallows made of freshly hewn logs dug into the ground. There were about 50 of them on each side, and a hanged man dangled from each. We seemed to be following through a tunnel of gallows. And what is most strange "We didn't see a single military man among the hanged. All civilians! To the right of the road on the gallows, I suddenly recognized with horror among the executed Father Demetrius and Rachel"
The Germans started the war and first of all hanged the Ukrainians. The same ones who the day before yesterday assisted the SS intelligence officers.
“At the end of a row of gallows, a ditch was dug, where the bodies of the dead Russian soldiers were dumped. Looking closer, I realized that they were lying in rows - as if they were first brought in groups to the edge of the ditch, and then shot to immediately bring the next one. the soldiers of the SS police poured alcohol into themselves right from the neck. When our column increased speed, they didn’t even move an ear. Then someone touched my shoulder. Turning around, I saw Detweiler. He pointed back. Looking back where my colleague, I saw how the SS police soldiers were escorting another group of civilians to the ditch. Men, women and children obediently walked with their hands up. I asked myself: are these also partisans? How could they be them? What crime did they commit to make them sentenced to death without trial? Our column was moving away, but I managed to see how the SS police soldiers began to divide the doomed into groups - men were sent in one direction, women in the other. Then they began to separate the children from their mothers. It seemed to me that through the roar of engines I heard screams"
This is not Ehrenburg's "red propaganda".
These are the memories of an SS officer of the Viking division.
I have nothing to say here.
“One of the Untersturmführers ordered me to tune the Petrike to another frequency, then he began to call his commander. The second officer, meanwhile, ordered two soldiers of the 2nd SS regiment to deliver the prisoners to them. One of the Russians looked like an officer, their uniform was And then it dawned on me - this is a political instructor. The Untersturmführer, having returned the radio to me, turned to his comrade.
- No, this applies only to political officers, - he reported.
And literally at the same second he pulled out a pistol and fired several bullets in a row right into the head of the Soviet political instructor. Krendle and I didn't even have time to dodge the spatter of blood and brain."
Here is an illustration of the "Order on Commissars". Or here's another...
“We drove through the barrier, then turned left to the building where the guards were located, and, already approaching the quartermaster’s post, suddenly, about 50 meters away, near the trees, we saw several hundred local civilians stripped naked under the protection of the SS and Ukrainian volunteers. A machine gun burst was heard, then several single shots came from behind the trees.
- What is it doing here? Who are these people? I asked the guard at the quartermaster's post.
He took our documents, read them and said:
- Go inside and report your arrival to the quartermaster.
- So what are these people? Krendle repeated my question.
And why are they being shot? - joined Lichtel.
- Report the arrival to the quartermaster, - as if not hearing us, the soldier stubbornly repeated. “And don’t poke your head where they don’t ask,” he added in an undertone.
The quartermaster turned out to be a Sturmscharführer in an unbuttoned uniform with a thick cigar in his mouth. Looking over our papers, he told us to continue along the same road we had turned off. The radio unit is nearby, he assured us, and report to the Hauptsturmführer there.
Lichtel, unable to bear it, asked the Sturmscharführer:
- And what kind of shooting is there, by the trees?
“Firearms training,” the quartermaster said without looking at him.
- And those who stand naked, who are they? The Sturmscharfuehrer gave him an icy look.
“Targets,” came the laconic answer.
What is there to comment?
Well, then Gunther tells how the Germans began to sew and turn into pigs. Yes, already in June 1941. Immediately after the Battle of Dubno.
"Thirst, dehydration and moldy bread turned into diseases of the personnel"
I don’t know where the Germans get moldy bread from? However, as winter will show, this is a typical ordnung of German quartermasters.
"... often bread was teeming with worms, and we were not allowed to choose them. Chew yourself with worms, it will be more satisfying, and there will be more proteins, apparently, our commanders reasoned. This is how we made up for the lack of proteins. Over time, our meal enriched with a new ritual - a kind of protest. Everyone vying boasted to each other who had a thicker worm in the loaf of bread. And then they began to chew, and even with their mouths open, they say, look at me, I'm not squeamish, I'm used to everything. Pure masochism"
"... of course, there was no need to talk about any hygiene in such conditions. If we found ourselves near a river or lake, no one was allowed to climb into the water until all the flasks, tanks and car radiators were filled. But many preferred to lie down to sleep instead of bathing. Officers forced them to bathe, but it was not so easy to wake up an exhausted soldier, and they eventually got rid of. Lack of basic hygiene turned into lice, other parasites, in the end we reached such a state, when it was no longer possible to distinguish "bathers" from "dormouse". Lice pestered both of them - they were in their hair, in clothes - everywhere. You could pour buckets of exterminators on yourself - there was no sense ... "
cultural nation. Very cultural. Only the Eskimos are more cultured, but those are not worth washing at all. Life threatening.
In general, there is no need to comment on Fleishman's memoirs. Everything is said by him:
“On the very first night near the Dnieper, the Russians damaged the pontoon bridge with rockets and mines. The next day, our sappers put it in order, but the next night the Russians disabled it again. And again our sappers restored the crossing, and then the Russians again once destroyed it ... When the pontoons had to be restored for the fourth time, the rank and file only shook their heads, wondering what kind of wise people our officers are after all. Meanwhile, the bridge, meanwhile, was again damaged the next night as a result of Russian shelling. Then from the Russians mines went not only to the bridge, but also to our advanced post, the railway bridge located to the north was also damaged. The officers ordered trucks to be delivered to them for withdrawal, but no one bothered to give the order to return fire."
The vaunted SS fight as best they can.
Eventually...
"... again new faces, new names, again the devil knows how long to hang around in line for grub. I didn't like it all. of the 14th Corps, but at every morning check-in, their names involuntarily climbed into my ears. I just had time to get used to them, as I had to wean - suddenly new ones sounded from Dietz's lips. And it infuriated me "
By the winter of 1941, the elite had been practically knocked out by Soviet soldiers. And that's when the insight begins...
“Then I asked myself, what am I actually fighting for? There was no doubt - this is not my war.
But he continued to fight, as the valiant war of the SS was supposed to.
“And then we all grabbed our machine guns and rifles and opened fire. Ahead lay a small square, something like a market, on which the Russian field hospital was located. Doctors and staff fled, leaving the wounded. Some of them were already reaching for machine guns, and we, realizing that we had just lost Brückner and Bizel, blinded by rage, began to indiscriminately fire on the wounded. the bullets overtook them too. At the end of this monstrous, barbaric act, I suddenly noticed a Russian soldier hiding behind a wooden handcart. Pulling out the empty horn, I inserted a new one and smashed the cart to pieces with a burst. The body of the Russian, clumsily tumbled over the wreckage of the cart, fell to the ground Realizing that this horn, too, had run out, I stuck another one into the submachine gun and plunged it entirely into the dead body.If it weren't for the scarführer who ran up, I would have continued to shoot until the cartridges ran out.
We silently examined the pile of motionless bodies. Someone muttered to Stotz that we supposedly avenged you on the Russians. Then the scarführer and I began to walk around the square, I specially approached the remains of the cart, to make sure that the Russian was actually dead.
Krendle approached me. I looked into his eyes. And he understood what he was thinking at that moment.
"This is not Belgium."
Yes. This is not Belgium. It's Russia.
And here enlightened Europeans waged not an ordinary chivalrous war. No. It was an ordinary colonial war.
The concept of "Untermensch" is no different from the concept of "Negro" or "Indian". Scalp and destroy the wounded. That's the whole attitude of Europeans towards the so-called "uncivilized peoples".
uncivilized...
It's us, Russians, uncivilized.
But lousy, up to the elbow and knee in blood, the Germans are civilized.
Yes, it's better to be a third world country than such a beast in the form of an SS.
“I didn’t feel any pangs of conscience, looking at what I had done. I didn’t even feel a shadow of repentance.”
In the end, Fleishman was wounded in the city of Grozny. And he ends up in Warsaw. To the hospital.
"The conditions in the Warsaw hospital were terrible. There were not enough medicines for the wounded, and most of them were doomed to a painful death."
However, we have already spoken about the quality of German medicine. It remains only to add that the wounded who died in the rear hospitals were not included in the combat losses.
They were transferred to the so-called Reserve Army, and its losses are the losses ... of the civilian population.
Now you understand why the Germans have such low losses of the Wehrmacht and the SS?
Speaking of losses:
"I received letters from home regularly, from which I learned that all my (there were two of them - approx. Ivakin A.) brothers died in this war. Like both cousins, like my uncle, who served in the Kriegsmarine."
Of the six relatives, five died by the winter of 1943 ... Is there such a statistic?
Well, how else?
Here our hero describes the attack of the SS in Normandy. The elite run up the hillside:
“I don’t know who most of the fighters consisted of - whether they were recruits or veterans, but I watched with horror how they make absolutely wild mistakes. Some of the fighters decided to throw hand grenades to the top of the hill, which was completely empty an idea due to a decent distance and height.Naturally, grenades that did not reach the target rolled down, exploding next to the SS soldiers.Other soldiers tried to fire from machine guns in a standing position, which, to put it mildly, is difficult to implement on a hillside - the recoil force simply knocks you down Of course, after the very first round, the fighters fell and rolled down a steep descent, breaking their arms and legs."
This attack began at 4:15 am, according to Fleischman. Attack with five infantry waves. The second wave went at 4.25. At 4.35 the third. But, as we can see, already at the second echelon, the attack simply bogged down. Because of the dense fire of the allies and the own stupidity of the SS.
Only at 6 am did other waves attack.
And at 7.45 it was all over...
"Out of 100 people of the 1st echelon, only a dozen survived"
On the mountain, on the hill, there is a bell tower ...
The assault on Hill 314 continued for another 6 days.
So who was throwing meat at whom?
Some kind of tonton makuta, capable only of shooting the wounded and civilians.
“I still decided to visit Werner Bühlein. He served in the 3rd SS Panzer Division “Dead Head” at the time of the invasion of the Soviet Union and in 1942, blown up by a mine, lost his right leg. We talked about the war and other topics. I felt that he was not inclined to expand on the topics that my father spoke about, and I did not know how to ask him more delicately about it.But then, plucking up courage, I asked bluntly:
At first, Werner took my questions incredulously - you never know, or maybe I was sent to sniff out about his defeatist moods, this is undermining the morale of the nation. I gave him the contents of the conversation with my father, explaining that I wanted clarity.
“Whole villages,” he admitted. - Entire villages, and in each - a thousand inhabitants, or even more. And they are all in that world. They simply drove them like cattle, put them at the edge of the ditch and shot them. There were special units that constantly dealt with this. Women, children, old people - all indiscriminately, Carl. And only because they are Jews.
It was only then that I fully realized the horror of what Werner had said. I looked at the stump instead of a leg in a pajama leg and thought: no, this person no longer makes sense to either lie or embellish.
- But why? I asked.
- And then, that the order is the order. Thank God, my leg was torn off in time. I couldn't take it anymore. Sometimes we shot only old people and children, sometimes men, women and teenagers were sent to camps.
- To the camps?
- To Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belsen, Chełmno. And then they were turned into semi-corpses, and then into corpses. New ones were brought in to take their place. And so not one year.
Werner stated these terrible facts in a calm, impassive tone, as if it was something taken for granted.
Let me remind you once again who the "Dead Head" consisted of - former guards of concentration camps.
And Fleishman himself got into the SS by accident. Then, at the beginning of the war, the Nazi guards were in desperate need of specialists of all stripes, including radio operators. As a result, Gunther was transferred from the Kriegsmarine to the SS.
But he ended the war not by accident. Being already an Unterscharführer and commanding a platoon, he simply surrendered to the Americans. Along with the platoon. They spat on everything, raised their white shirt on a bayonet and left the battlefield. Even despite the fact that the families of the warriors could get into those same concentration camps. For betraying their men.
Collective responsibility. Like this. In enlightened Germany, by the way.
And in June, Gunther Fleischmann was released from captivity. They were not tried for military crimes.
However, I have no doubt that he changed his name. Sometimes he speaks out in the text and his comrades turn to him: "Karl!".
And yes, he lived, by the way, in the GDR ...

Otto Carius(German Otto Carius, 05/27/1922 - 01/24/2015) - German tank ace during the Second World War. Destroyed more than 150 enemy tanks and self-propelled guns - one of the highest results of World War II, 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 that 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.”

AUGUST 1942:

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 Russians without mercy, so that this swine people will end soon.” The facts of recent days that took place in the areas of the Don temporarily occupied by the Germans show the diabolical consistency with which the Nazis carry out their cannibalistic program. ("Red Star", USSR)

08/22/42: Soldier Herbert boasts to his parents: ... “On the second day of our forest campaign, we arrived at the village. Pigs and cows roamed the street. Even chickens and geese. Each section immediately slaughtered for itself a pig, chickens and geese. Unfortunately, in such villages we stopped for one day and could not take much with us. But on this day we lived to the fullest. I ate at least two pounds of roast pork at once, a whole chicken, a frying pan of potatoes, and another liter and a half of milk. How delicious it was! But now we usually end up in villages that have already been captured by soldiers, and everything is already eaten in them. There is nothing left even in chests and cellars.

In letters to other soldiers, the punishers are even more frank. Corporal Felix Kandels sends his friend lines that cannot be read without a shudder: “Having rummaged through the chests and organized a good dinner, we began to have fun. The girl got angry, but we also organized her. It doesn't matter that the whole squad... Don't worry. I remember the advice of the lieutenant, and the girl is dead as a grave ... ". ("Red Star", USSR)

08/16/42: On the entire front, the Germans were excited: the Fritz wanted to eat after hibernation. He wants to rob. A soldier of the 542nd regiment, Iosif Gayer, writes to his parents: “The food is sufficient - we supply ourselves. We take away a goose, or chickens, or a pig, or a calf and we eat. We make sure that the stomach is always full. Resurrected "trophy parcels" to their homeland. Like flies in the spring, hungry, greedy German women came to life. Martha Trey writes from Breslau to her husband: “Don't forget about me and the little ones. We also experienced a hard winter. I'll be especially grateful for the smoked bacon and the soap. Then, although you write that you have a tropical heat, think about winter - both about yourself and about us, look for something woolen for me and for the kids ... ”(“ 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 can 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)

08/03/42: Below are published excerpts from an unsent letter found with the murdered German chief corporal Stricker: “Yesterday, finally, mail was brought. What a surprise! I received a letter from Heinrich Sporn and Robert Treilich, they are back in Russia, somewhere in the south. They never dreamed that they would be sent out of France so soon. Heinrich writes that in the first battle his unit suffered terrible losses. Robert is furious. He hates rear stallions who, with the help of connections, advance in the service much faster than those who are on the Eastern Front and risk their heads ... Each of us has one foot in the grave. Previously, we were looking forward to the change and thought that when new units arrived, we would be taken to the rear. Now we are convinced that the change comes only for those who have already committed suicide. (Sovinformburo)

07/29/42: We know that the Germans paid dearly for Rostov. The soldier Franz Grabe writes to his wife: “We do not have time to bury our dead, it was ordered to put up crosses with numbers, but we bypass this and the authorities do not insist, because there is a terrible stench” ... They walk over the corpses. They covered their path with corpses - from Tim to the Don and from Valuyki to Rostov. ("Red Star", USSR)

07/28/42: An unsent letter to Ernst Schlegel was found near the German chief corporal Alois Luring, who was killed in the Voronezh region. The letter says: “I cannot tell you what is happening here. Believe me, I have never seen or experienced anything like it during the entire war. Every day costs us many lives. Our battalion was disbanded - almost no one was left in it. I got into the 5th company. Already now there are fewer people in it than there should be in one platoon ... Russians are very desperate people. They stubbornly resist and are not afraid of death. Yes, Russia is a mystery to all of us. Sometimes it seems to me that we are involved in a very dangerous adventure. (Sovinformburo)

07/24/42: 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 to 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)

07/12/42: “It is spring here, and the Russian fields are covered with flowers. However, it is ridiculous to call these miserable plants flowers. Flowers, real flowers bloom only here in Germany...”. (Letter from Heinrich Simmert).

“There is neither art nor theater in Russia. The capital of Russia was built by the Germans and therefore was called Petersburg before the Bolsheviks. Schools in large cities were set up by the Germans, and teaching was in German, with the exception of the catechism and the Russian language - for communication between the top of the country and the common people. Dr. Kraus, who studied at a Moscow school, told me about this in detail. I don't remember a single book translated from Russian, not a single play. It’s just that Anna Karenina was shown in the cinema three years before the war, but in my opinion the script was German there, and the Germans put on the picture - there was one Russian plot in it, and a stupid one at that ”(Letter from Corporal Ludwig Kortner) .. .

Snobby bastards, they despise everyone, even their "allies". One German told me: "I will never believe that a German woman could get along with an Italian, it's like living with a monkey." Soldier Wilhelm Schrader writes to his brother from the Finnish city of Lahti: “You can get a girl here at any time of the day or night for a can of canned food. I do this vigorously after my monastic life in the snow. But it is difficult to call these persons "women". She is silent all the time, like fish, and I prefer the latest German whore to the daughter of the local doctor. Sometimes it seems to me that I am messing with them in the order of self-torture ... ". ("Red Star", USSR)

04/05/42: German non-commissioned officer R. Seyler recently wrote to his acquaintance in Germany: “Our company has been greatly reduced: many killed and even more wounded. For more than three weeks we have been fighting fierce battles day and night. Today fate overtakes one, tomorrow another. We are in a real cauldron. Who gets out of here, he was truly born in a shirt. We are days and nights in the snow. The Russians attack us suddenly from the flanks or from the rear. They are everywhere ... I hope that you can read my scribbles - I can’t do it better, because I froze my fingers. (Sovinformburo)

03/29/42: Hitler's soldier was not what he was at the beginning of the Soviet-German war. True, not all Germans who have been drafted into the army can and dare to openly express their dissatisfaction and indignation at the domestic and foreign policy of the Nazi pack. However, there are enough facts to correctly judge the true state of affairs in the Nazi army. Here are some examples.

On January 8, 1942, the German soldier Lenchen received a letter from his friend Karl, in which the latter writes: “There is literally no interest in anything anymore. I would like to throw a rifle - that's what it came to!

Corporal Alfred Akhtsein writes to his homeland: “We are already pretty dumb. There is no interest in anything. If it lasts, then you can go crazy. ("Pravda", USSR)

03/10/42: They finally guessed that we were not armed with pitchforks or rakes. They realized that we were throwing them with not warm hats. At first they hoped that we would go against them with bare hands. They prepared a war plan: they have tanks - we have carts, they have guns - we have hunting rifles, they have planes - we have sparrows. It turned out that the war is unfolding according to a slightly different plan.

So the Fritz write sad letters home. One complains that our artillery music gives him a headache. They call our artillery "organ" - a sonorous instrument. Another informs his Gretchen that he will be driven into the coffin by the Katyusha, and directly writes: “This is not a woman, this is worse ...” The third does not like that our tanks pass where the Germans stumble. The fourth does not like our attack aircraft, he admits: "The sergeant major went crazy from them, he was taken to the infirmary." ("Red Star", USSR)

JANUARY 1942:

01/25/42: “A German soldier at the front writes too much. It is unacceptable that the diaries of German soldiers or letters addressed to them by their relatives fall into the hands of the enemy. Caring relatives for a son or husband is interpreted by the enemy as our weakness. The Russian does not know our family way of life and understands the content of the letters literally.

Soldiers should be reminded again that they should not mention much in their letters and above all describe heavy losses. With such messages, we only upset our relatives, while we are obliged to support them with cheerful news. In addition, this kind of news, transmitted by word of mouth, can reach the enemy. In letters to the front one can often find complaints about the length of the Russian campaign. It's time to get out of your head the thought of a quick end to the war. If in our press it is sometimes written that the Russians have been completely defeated, then such opinions of leading figures are published exclusively for foreign countries, in order to emphasize our confidence in victory.

Postal censorship stops all poor-quality mail. Each soldier, describing his experiences, should not report anything that can excite his relatives. We are men and we ourselves are obliged to endure all the bleak consequences of a hard struggle, without burdening others with them.

Another German general, commander of the 263rd division, is also seized with the itch of writing, and he also dropped a "top secret" order, marked December 18, 1941:

“Soldiers should be made aware that it is forbidden to mention in letters alleged or real difficulties, especially the adverse effect of war on the mood and health of soldiers.

Letters from home that mention hardships of any kind or personal concerns should be destroyed.

We must courageously endure the difficulties arising from the winter campaign, not giving food for enemy propaganda.

Two German generals apparently decided to destroy me: they do not want to give me material for my articles. After all, I'm greedy for Fritz diaries and Gretchen's messages. But so far the generals have pleased me: what could be better for our propaganda of these two orders? ("Red Star", USSR)

01/15/42: The German command is seriously concerned about the defeatist and decadent moods growing in the rear and in the army. The order for the 263rd German division dated December 18, 1941 states: “... Each unit must be informed so that nothing is mentioned in the letters of the soldiers to their homeland about difficulties in supply, about the unfavorable effect of the Russian winter on the mood and health of the soldiers. Letters from the homeland, which inform about the victims and hardships of the population, about all kinds of personal concerns caused by the protracted war, should be destroyed. Relatives of soldiers should be told that any negligence in correspondence is dangerous and can lead to sad consequences. The order further warns that the division will face severe trials, and invites "soldiers who will suffer misfortune and who will be captured by the enemy, pretend to be fools and give no evidence about the decrease in the strength of the resistance of the German army and about the weakening of its will to win." (Sovinformburo)

01/08/42: A letter was found from the German Chief Corporal Walter Seibel, who was killed on the Leningrad Front, addressed to the Corporal Fritz Klaugg in Berlin. “The cold here is swine,” Seibel wrote. - The daily attacks of the Russians with the participation of planes and tanks are wearing us down. Believe me, everything that happens here is beyond my powers. Many received a nervous shock. Only 3 machine gunners remained in our company, the rest were killed and wounded. You often ask yourself - when is your turn? (Sovinformburo)

DECEMBER 1941:

12/30/41: In an article published in the German magazine Das Reich, Goebbels lashes out with threats and abuse against Germans who complain about the difficulties they have to endure. According to Goebbels, only soldiers have the right to talk about hardships and sacrifices. “German soldiers in Russia,” writes Goebbels, “sometimes fight for their very existence against snow, ice and blizzards, against the most terrible opponents. Sometimes they are left completely without food, sometimes there is not enough ammunition. For six months they are deprived of any contact with the outside world. They don't hear the radio, they don't have newspapers, and they often wait months for letters." ("Red Star", USSR)

12/25/41: Moscow was another and very important bait. The officers all the time cheered up the soldiers, they inspired them that with the capture of Moscow the end of the war would come, that the Soviet government should capitulate, and then the soldiers would receive vacations. They were promised good, warm apartments and rest in Moscow. The soldiers were looking forward to the time when it would be possible to live to their heart's content in Moscow, to rob shops and apartments.

Thus, the soldier Ximan from the SS wrote to his wife in Munich on December 3: “At present we are 30 kilometers from Moscow. When you leave the house, you can see some of the towers of Moscow from a distance. Soon the ring will close, then we will occupy luxurious winter apartments, and I will send you such Moscow gifts that Aunt Minna will burst with envy.

Chief Corporal Adolf Huber wrote to his wife on November 30: “Despite the cold, snow and ice, our campaign continues further along the indicated path. We, infantrymen, are today at a distance of 35 kilometers from Moscow. It will not last long, we will overcome the last resistance of the Russians, and victory will be achieved. The Russians will pay us then for everything!”

An unknown soldier wrote to his wife Anna Goter on December 1: "We have 30 kilometers left to Moscow, we will take it, and then they will let us go, and you will get your fur coat." ("Red Star", USSR)

December 21, 1941: Under the blows of the Red Army, the clothed soldiers of the Nazi robber army are quickly squandering their warlike ardor. In the letters found lately from the dead German soldiers, there are no longer boastful statements about an imminent victory. Now they are dominated by whining, complaints about the plight.

The murdered German soldier Wolf Werner, in an unsent letter to a certain Lizabeth Lutu, wrote shortly before his death: “Our conditions cannot be described ... terrible lice will drive you crazy someday.”

Soldier Schultz Stelmacher writes home: "We must spend Christmas here, suffering from lice."

The German soldier Walter Reingold received a letter from his relatives in Weide. It says: “The fact that insects will eat you soon is not good at all. You wanted to have a comb, but now there are no combs, since many of us have been called again and they have bought everything. ("Red Star", USSR)

12/05/41: During the defeat of the German SS Viking division near Rostov-on-Don, our units captured a large number of unsent letters from soldiers from the Nordland regiment. The letters say that even the elite Hitlerite thugs are extremely exhausted and long for a speedy return home. Soldier Karl writes home: "... If we could now get out of Russia, then for us there would be no greater joy, because staying here is suicide." Willy Franz complains: “... It is very cold in Russia, we all freeze. Our division has been here for 16 days. All this time we are starving - there is nothing to eat. They don't deliver anything to us. A few more words about the torment that lice cause us. My body was covered with wounds. Hurry home." Soldier Keller writes: "... We all have one thought, one password - home, to Germany." Lieutenant Getlich, in his letter to his family, admits that he was mistaken. Getlich hoped that the war would end soon, but now he was convinced that "the struggle would be very stubborn and cruel." Non-commissioned officer Boyme in his letter describes one of the many front-line days: “...Today we have hell. This has been going on for three days. The Russians shoot day and night. They are distinguished by unprecedented perseverance, every minute we expect death. (Sovinformburo)

NOVEMBER 1941:

11/21/41: Letters were found from German soldiers captured in the Mozhaisk direction of the front, which they did not have time to send. Soldier Simon Baumer writes home: “We are 100 kilometers from Moscow, but it cost us huge losses ... There will be more fierce battles, and many more will die. The Russians put up very strong resistance. If the war continues for another six months, we are lost.” Soldier Rudolf Rupp tells his mother: “The fighting is fierce and bloody, as the Russians defend themselves fiercely. Many of us will never see our homeland again.” Corporal Otto Salfinger, in his letter to his parents, complains about the incredible hardships and suffering that he endures, and concludes: “...Very little is left to Moscow. And yet it seems to me that we are infinitely far from it ... We have been marking time in one place for more than a month. How many of our soldiers lay down during this time! And if you collect the corpses of all the dead Germans in this war and put them shoulder to shoulder, then this endless tape will stretch, perhaps, to Berlin itself. We walk over German corpses and leave our wounded in the snowdrifts. Nobody thinks about them. The wounded is ballast. Today we walk over the corpses of those who fell ahead; tomorrow we will become corpses, and we will also be crushed by guns and caterpillars.” (Sovinformburo)

11/11/41: A letter from his father was found in the pocket of a German soldier. He wrote: “I don’t understand you, Hans. You write that in Ukraine they hate you, they shoot from behind every bush. It is necessary to explain well to these cattle, because you are freeing them from the Bolsheviks, maybe they did not understand you. ("Pravda", USSR)

10/29/41: 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 - the gun at the temple, it cools the 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.

Letter from a soldier Heinz Müller: “Herta, dear and dear, I am writing you the last letter. You won't get anything else from me. I curse the day I was born a German. I am shocked by the pictures of the life of our army in Russia. Debauchery, robbery, violence, murders, murders and murders. Old people, women, children were exterminated. They just kill. That is why the Russians defend themselves so madly and bravely.

We want to exterminate an entire nation, but this is a fantasy, it will not come true. Our losses are gigantic. We have already lost the war. We can take one more, two large cities, but the Russians will destroy us, defeat us. I am against all this! Two hours later we are thrown into battle. If I survive from Russian bullets and shells, I will die with my mood from a German bullet. Farewell, Hertha! ("Red Star", USSR)

SEPTEMBER 1941:

09/23/41: General Guderian's adjutant Lieutenant Gorbakh was killed in the battles near Pogar. An unsent letter was found in the lieutenant's pocket. writes:

“You ask what I think about Russians. I can only say that their behavior during the battle is incomprehensible. Not to mention perseverance and cunning, the most remarkable thing about them is their incredible stubbornness. I myself saw how they did not move from their place under the strongest artillery fire. The gap was immediately filled with new rows. It sounds incredible, but I have seen it often with my own eyes. This is the product of a Bolshevik upbringing and a Bolshevik worldview. The life of an individual is nothing to them, they despise it "... ("Red Star", USSR)

09/21/41: Lieutenant Gorbakh - a staff officer under Guderian - wrote on August 21 that he would soon be in Moscow. “We will close the last ring around the Soviets beyond Moscow through Bryansk and Tula,” Gorbakh wrote to some “Mr. Director.” “You will obviously be surprised that I tell you everything so openly. But this is true, and when you receive this letter, everything I write about will become reality.

Reality severely deceived both Gorbakh and the "Mr. Director", and Guderian himself, who left up to 500 wrecked tanks near Bryansk. ("Red Star", USSR)

09/11/41: Letters and diaries of the soldiers of the fascist army themselves testify to the moral character of the fascist army ... German officers and soldiers cynically report in their letters about the executions of prisoners of war by the fascists, about the killings of civilians.

Albert Kreutzer wrote to Rudolf Kreutzer from the front from Lithuania on June 29, 1941: “Already after the first clash, we had one dead and five wounded. The next day, another one was killed by partisans, for which, however, we immediately shot seven Russians.

Non-commissioned officer Lange (field mail 325324) wrote to Gedi Beisler: “There was real bloodshed in Lvov ... Exactly the same in Tarnopol. None of the Jews survived." You can imagine that we had no remorse for them. What else happened I can't tell you."

“Our division no longer takes prisoners, and we shoot everyone who falls into our hands,” Lieutenant Zilbert Kuhn wrote to his wife Frida on July 9, 1941. “Believe me, everyone who gets in our way is shot: be it a civilian or a soldier, if he only seems suspicious to us.”

Max Gruber writes to Karl Seitzinger on July 8, 1941: “You cannot imagine what is going on here. Everything that we meet along the way is shot, because there have never been so many partisans as there are in Russia in Poland. You can imagine how we treat them: when we pass through some Russian village and they shoot at us, we shoot the whole village.” ("Izvestia", USSR)

AUGUST 1941:

08/23/41: And what "military secrets" are told in the diaries of the Nazi warriors? Many examples of this type of literature have already been cited in our press. In the records of fascist soldiers and officers, the impudent confidence in their “invincibility” from the very first days of the war gives way to bitter disappointment, confusion in the face of an unexpected crushing rebuff from the Red Army and the Soviet people. The utter surprise for the Nazis was the powerful strikes of Soviet aircraft and tanks, well-aimed fire from our artillery, Russian bayonet fighting, partisan bullets and grenades.

Here, for example, is the diary of a German officer killed at the front - the commander of the 2nd reconnaissance company of the 20th motorcycle rifle battalion of the 20th tank division. Already on July 4, it was written in the diary: "The difficulties of the campaign are monstrous." The following are the entries:

“July 6th. The enemy pushed back the 59th Infantry Regiment from here. Heavy Russian artillery fire.

July 19. Today, Russian bombers are on the move again. The situation is unclear, but critical.

26 July. Today the Russians have been advancing all day with heavy artillery fire. Continues until night. The tanks and the training brigade arrived at the last moment.

Entries in the diaries of Hitler's soldiers and officers more and more often reveal that their nerves are beginning to fail, that the horrific losses of the Nazi troops, the death of their best regiments and divisions, cause feelings of despondency and doom among the Nazis. The strong resistance of the Soviet troops and the huge losses of the Nazis are two topics that do not leave the pages of the diaries of Nazi soldiers and officers. ("Pravda", USSR)

08/20/41: Fascists love strong sensations. Books, theatre, cinema give only a surrogate for experiences. Is it a matter of approaching a Belarusian collective farmer, snatching a baby out of her hands, throwing him to the ground and listening, slowly twisting her mouth with a smile, how a woman screams and rushes towards him, helpless and safe, like a bird whose chick has been killed, and in the end when these cries of an impudent woman reached the nerves, poke her with a bayonet under the left nipple ... Or drag from the farm to the forest edge, where the tanks for refueling are located, a dozen and a half girls and women, order them - a German, with a hoarseness, a team, - strip naked, surround them, putting their hands in their pockets, winking and releasing bold words, disassemble them by seniority and rank, drag them into the forest and enjoy their desperate screams and weeping, and then waddling back to their tanks, lighting a cigarette and leaving, in order to subsequently write friends in Germany postcards about a funny adventure: "I must confess, Fritz, these damned girls in the end we got tired of their screams and scratching ...". Collective farmers later found them in the forest - some had their chests cut out, their heads broken, their throats cut ... ("Red Star", USSR)

08/09/41: His mother writes to soldier Gert Nigsche from Dresden on June 12: “Today I received flour ... I was also very glad to receive drying oil from you. After all, now we don’t have oil paint ... From the material that you sent, I will not sew a suit for myself ... ”.

His fiancée Lenchen Stenger from Dettingen writes to Sergeant-Major Siegfried Kpyrepy on June 13: “The fur coat has become wonderful, it was only a little dirty, but my mother cleaned it, and now it is very good ... Mom's shoes are just like poured. And the material on the dress is very good. I am also very pleased with stockings and other things as well. Kruger answers his mother in Dettingen on 28 June: "Very glad that the boots fit you, they are from Belgrade."

In an effort to kindle the dark, base instincts of the soldiers, the German command favors looting and provides "organizational assistance" to the robbers. Corporal Forster reported on July 9 to his wife in Neukirch Lausitz: "A special wagon was sent from here to Germany, and each of us could send something home ...". ("Pravda", USSR)

08/08/41: Why is this happening? Why are S.S., who shouted “To Moscow!” a month ago, now sending melancholy letters to the brides standing by? Why, in the second month of the war against us, German soldiers are already keeping diaries full of despair, similar to the pages of Remarque's novel? Why do captured saboteurs suddenly fall to their knees and whimper, begging for life?... The time has come for a check. The executioners and spies failed the test. A person who is used to humiliating another is first of all a coward - he knows that he can be humiliated too. He either stands with a whip, or exposes his ass to the whip. The courage of our fighters is born of love for a free homeland, a sense of human dignity, an understanding of human solidarity. The Nazis yelled: “Long live the war!”, And when it came to real war, they began to sigh. We did not revel in the word "war", but our fighters fight simply, severely and seriously.

And in the head of a German soldier, the first thoughts are vaguely born. Here is a letter from soldier Franz: “Anna, I cannot sleep, although my whole body hurts from fatigue. For the hundredth time I ask myself - who wanted this? .. ”The soldier Franz was killed - there is a pale red spot on the sheet. But soon the other French will ask: "Who wanted this?" Perhaps Hitler will then call on his S.S. guards, murderers, thieves, molesters, to help. But the "knights of honor" will betray yesterday's idol. In the notebook of one murdered S.S., I found among the records of drinking parties and stages the following aphorism: “Together to rob, to die apart ...” (“Pravda”, USSR)

08/02/41: The letters of the SS men, selected, notorious fascist thugs from security detachments, were especially self-confident. One of these degenerates - a certain Ziege with cheeky impudence wrote on June 23 to Lie Ziege in Stuttgart: "I believe that the war with Russia will be over in 3 weeks." He was a little mistaken, this Hitlerian serpent. For him, "it's all over" was not in "three weeks", but much earlier. From a Red Army bullet in battle, he received three arshins of the coveted Russian land, and only his letter got to Moscow - a document of disgusting stupidity ...

Franz Weiger, a member of the SS security detachment, wrote to his friends in Purg Stahl, in the Niederdonau region: “I am proud to be able to participate in the fight against the Red Army. Don't be afraid for me, nothing will happen to me..." He hoped for an easy walk. The Red Army shut his arrogant throat.

Senior corporal Eduard Willy also gathered for a "military walk". In a letter that was never sent (field post No. 09201), he wrote on July 10 in the tone of a conqueror of the universe: "I expect to be in Kyiv on Sunday." Perhaps his assumption was justified and he managed to get to Kyiv at the appointed time, but, of course, not as a conqueror, but as a prisoner of war!

Days turn into days. The ranks of the Nazi armies are thinning under the blows of the Red Army. And gradually in the letters the puffy tone begins to subside. Between the lines you can already hear disturbing notes. Corporal Max Gruber (field post No. 00567), in a letter to senior corporal Karl Leitzinger, writes with apprehension that their armored division is passing through burned villages, that partisans are shooting in their backs everywhere.

But the idiotic self-confidence has not yet been broken - he still hopes to "be in Moscow in 10 days." The same Max Gruber, in a letter dated July 5 to his brother Sixtus Gruber in Munich, at Brüdershulstrasse 10, again promises to take Moscow in a few days, "after which, in his opinion, the war will be over. The fascist degenerate does not intend to linger, does not want to linger on the way to Moscow. He has very good reasons for that. He frankly and sadly tells his brother about them: “It is worse in Russia than in Poland. There is nothing to steal (!) here at all. Firstly, there is no time, and secondly, everything is burned.” ("Pravda", USSR)

07/30/41: Reuters transmits from Zurich a letter from a German soldier from the Eastern Front, transmitted by the Berlin correspondent of the Swiss newspaper Bund. “This war makes us absolutely wildly tired,” the soldier writes. “We yearn to spend at least an hour outside the noise of battle, we long to see at least a piece of the sun-drenched road that does not smell of burning or corpses. But all this is nothing compared to how you want clean water to drink and wash. This is the worst war Germany has ever fought. This is a life-and-death war against soldiers who fight with desperate tenacity and do not retreat. ("Pravda", USSR)

Chief Corporal of the 119th Infantry Regiment Siegberg Mayer writes to his wife: “Our division has survived four difficult days. We had to endure terrible air attacks. This morning 10-15 Red bombers strafed us, and we already thought that our last hour had come. They appear 6-9 times a day.

More news: four guns of our regiment are disabled. All servants were taken prisoner by Russian infantrymen. 264 soldiers of our battalion were captured. We were given several tanks, since many of our units were already weakened by losses.

Here, in the east, is truly the greatest bloodshed that the world has ever seen. God grant that all of us who are still safe and sound are spared and that there are not too few of us left.

The letter of Chief Corporal Otto Geweiler is filled with the same despair: “We were met with real fire and I had to lie with my nose buried in the ground, and today one of us shot himself in the foot, as if by accident.” ("Red Star", USSR)

07/21/41: Hitler miscalculated. He counted on a lightning victory, but his elite divisions and tank corps had already been defeated, and he would not see victory as his own ears.

A very interesting letter from the German corporal Karl Herms to Germany to Oberleutnant Sander: “We gradually advanced into Russia. It didn't happen as soon as we first thought. We counted on a crappy 1,200 kilometers to Moscow for 10 days. We haven't even done half, and that's in 20 days. Suddenly - stop again. Russians came to reasonable thoughts and destroy numerous wooden bridges. The most unpleasant thing is the Russian pilots. How unpleasant! Corporal Karl Herms. Field mail 24/535. ("Pravda", USSR)

19.04.42: The newspaper "Angriff" of April 2 published the reflections of Oberleutnant Gotthagdt, entitled "A people without a soul." The chief lieutenant spent several months in the occupied regions of Russia, and he did not like our people. He writes: “The fact that they don’t laugh here can be explained by disaster, but the absence of tears has a terrifying effect. Everywhere and always we observe stubborn indifference even before death. People remain indifferent not only when their comrades die, but also when speaking is about their own life. One was sentenced to death. He indifferently smoked a cigarette... Isn't that terrible? Where do these people get the strength to stubbornly defend themselves, constantly attack? This is for me. "("Red Star", USSR)

05.04.42: 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, you need everyone.” ("Red Star", USSR)

MARCH 1942 :

29.03.42: In the diary of a killed non-commissioned officer of the 2nd company of the 42nd German separate anti-tank division, a certain Platzer on January 16, 1942, it was written: “Save yourself, who can! The broken, confused army retreats. People are confused. The losses are huge. So, apparently, Napoleon retreated with his army. Field courts sit day and night. Soldiers with frostbitten limbs are taken away in whole packs ... "...

Among the various documents found recently among the dead soldiers and prisoners, there are notes, diaries, poems in which Hitler's military policy is criticized. Often Hitler and his entourage are ridiculed in a sharp form. In the diary of the soldier Wilfried Neub, found in the Budogoshcha region, for example, there were such verses:

“We are mad from little lice,
There are no lice in the world for us.
We itch for our dear homeland
And in honor of the Fuhrer." ("Pravda", USSR)

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 felt some pleasure at the same time ... "

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

In December, the division to which Heinz Klin belonged was put to flight. The non-commissioned officer wrote: “December 20, 1941. The city of Chern. We keep retreating. You have to be here to understand what it means... It's terrible! The toughest guys are crying like little children... We are running, leaving the wounded behind. We are forced to run and run only to save.” ("Red Star", USSR)

11.02.42: Below are excerpts from a letter from a corporal of the 489th regiment of the 269th German infantry division, who was killed on the Leningrad front. The surname of the corporal could not be established.

“January 11, 1942... You can't imagine what we've been through in the last six weeks. You can't even write about it: you'll just say that I'm lying. All the time they lived in the forests, having no roof over their heads, and the Russians constantly sat on our necks. In addition, this desperate cold, so and so many half-frozen people leave us every day. My hand and feet are also frostbitten, and I'm just looking forward to the day when I, too, will be finished. There are only two of us radio operators left, and all the rest are in the hospital. No one can endure this life. For 6 weeks we have not received clean linen or decent food. On Christmas Day we were surrounded by Russians, and only with the help of tanks did we manage to escape. With regard to Russia, we seriously miscalculated. However, these complaints do not make sense: now we will not be able to endure for a long time anyway. In the cinema, everything is shown wrong - reality looks much more tragic. But all this would not be so terrible, if only to know that someday the end will come. But who knows how long this bush war will last. In any case, the Russians never capitulate... Our carts are constantly attacked by partisans... The body itches like hell. A German soldier without lice is now in Russia ... "(Sovinformburo)

JANUARY 1942 :

29.01.42: One scoundrel wrote in his diary: "When I tell Elsa that I hanged a Bolshevik, she will probably give herself to me." Another in a notebook deigned to draw: "Women love the cruel." It is unlikely that Nietzsche would have recognized his followers in these predatory rams. The immorality of modern Germany is closer to a barnyard than to a philosophical system ...

This savagery of a large country was facilitated by the hypertrophy of mechanical civilization. Every German is accustomed to the life of a machine gun. He does not reason, because thought can disrupt both the apparatus of the state and his, Fritz's, digestion. He obeys with delight. This is not just a sheep, no, it is an ecstatic sheep, so to speak, it is a baranophile and a pan-baranist. In mechanical obedience, he contributes the share of passion that is released to him. How many times, when talking to German prisoners, have I exclaimed impatiently: "But what do you personally think about this?" ("Izvestia", USSR)

25.12.41: Soldiers are increasingly openly asking questions to officers: “when will the promised end of the war come,” “when will we get winter uniforms,” “when will we go on vacation,” and so on. The soldiers begin to sharply engage in bickering with the officers.

An unknown soldier of the 7th Infantry Division made the following entry in his diary: “Yesterday morning, the corporal hit me in the face because I objected to him. I could not bear the insult and gave back. The corporal grabbed my hair and, with the help of another junior commander, began. ("Red Star", USSR)

15.11.41: In the course of the war of Hitlerite imperialism against the peoples of the Soviet Union, countless materials, personal notes, diaries and letters of German soldiers fell into the hands of the Soviet command. Only a small part of them was published in the press, but even from them it was clear that as the hostilities on the Eastern Front developed, a deaf, latent, not yet openly expressed, but deep and radical change took place in the moods and thoughts of the German soldier. The severity of the huge human losses of the German army, the inconsistency of the course of military operations with the plans and promises of the Nazi command, the burning hatred of the occupying animals of the population of the regions occupied by the Germans - all this makes the German soldier, if he has not yet completely lost his human appearance, think about what is happening. These thoughts are unhappy. The worm of doubt crawled into the soul of the ordinary fighting German, wears him down, forces him to evaluate the situation created by the war in his own way. Letters from home, from the German rear, from relatives and friends left at home bring the German front-line soldier more and more depressing news. And those who, in anticipation of death from a Red Army bullet, are able to think not only about themselves, had to think about what the Nazi war and Hitler's power bring. ("Izvestia", USSR)

:

29.10.41: Entries in the notebook of a soldier Heinrich Tivel: “I, Heinrich Tivel, set myself the goal of exterminating 250 Russians, Jews, Ukrainians, all indiscriminately during this war. If each soldier kills the same number, we will destroy Russia in one month, we Germans will get everything. I, following the call of the Fuhrer, call all Germans to this goal ... "

Entries in the diary of Chief Corporal Hans Rittel: “October 12, 1941. The more you kill, the easier it is. I remember my childhood. Was I affectionate? Hardly. Must be a hard soul. After all, 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. In 40 minutes ". ("Red Star", USSR)

01.10.41: Not only soldiers are learning, officers are also learning. The diary of Lieutenant Joseph Kassing (pol. mail 12337 E) is a whole diploma work. The lieutenant is initially nonchalant. He is occupied with one thing: how to combine the theological chair with work at a casual station. He writes: “What will happen to me? I had intended to study theology. But as soon as I get home, I will spoil all the girls. It's the first thing I'll do."

He is still stupid and ignorant. Lessons ahead. And so the teaching of the Russian language begins:

“With a different feeling, I went to this war. Not like going to war with France... I'm tormented by the thought that I'll be killed.

Many German graves and many still unburied Germans. Oh, this is terrible!.. In France it was not so...

The Russians have been sending us greetings since morning. Every minute they shoot. God, what is this?

The Russians again bombarded us with heavy artillery fire. We have big losses.

I prepared my trench and lined it with straw. I wanted to ask others, “Have you ever seen a man who dug his own grave. God help me! I can't hear it anymore, I can't!"

Lieutenant Joseph Kassing also spent three months on our soil not in vain. This stallion became tearful and sentimental. He heard so much shells and bombs that he grew wiser, realized that the German army was digging for itself with us. ("Red Star", USSR)

SEPTEMBER 1941 :

23.09.41: Here are the notes of Corporal Marowitz. With typical German pedantry, Marowitz describes day after day the events he was a participant or witness to, without suspecting it himself, that he paints a terrible picture of the degradation of the 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. You feel a comical feeling when you look ... ". ("Pravda", USSR)

Here are excerpts from the diaries found in the possession of German soldiers and officers killed in battle. The fascist offspring with the composure of professional killers describes their bandit reprisals against the peaceful Soviet population. The German soldier Emil Goltz, a member of the National Socialist Party, writes: ...

June 28th. At dawn we passed Baranovichi. The city is destroyed. But not everything is done yet. On the way from Mir to Stolbtsy, we spoke to the population in the language of machine guns. Screams, moans, blood, tears and many corpses. We didn't feel any compassion. In every place, in every village, the sight of people makes my hands itch. I want to shoot from a pistol at the crowd. I hope that the SS detachments will come here soon and do what we did not have time to do.

5'th of July. At 10 o'clock we were in the town of Kletsk. They immediately went in search of prey. They broke down the doors with axes and crowbars. Everyone who was found in houses locked from the inside was finished off. Some acted with a pistol, some with a rifle, and some with a bayonet and butt. I prefer to use a pistol."

Another fascist-cannibal chief corporal Johannes Herder writes in his diary:

"25-th of August. We are throwing hand grenades at residential buildings. Houses burn very quickly. The fire is transferred to other huts. A beautiful sight! People cry and we laugh at tears. We have already burned ten villages in this way.

August 29th. In one village, we grabbed the first 12 inhabitants that came across and took them to the cemetery. They forced them to dig a spacious and deep grave for themselves. The Slavs do not and cannot have any mercy. Damned humanity." (Sovinformburo)

20.09.41: The Germans are killing prisoners... 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 at night." ("Izvestia", USSR)

Corporal Richter, this "most sentimental" German hates his comrades-in-arms. Being "most observant", he notes one thing: his colleagues stink. He writes down July 30: "Emil stinks like a polecat", August 15: "Everyone in the tent stinks." His battalion is suffering terrible losses. Richter writes down on August 9 that the battalion is no longer fit for military operations: so many "tourists" have been killed...

Let's get acquainted with the "observations" of Corporal Richter:

But our "tourists" and this is not enough. They want sensational experiences. On July 6, Senior Corporal Richter wrote: “Matula dug up a dead man in the Jewish cemetery. The gofsteter cleans the skull with his fingers. Matula places it on a stump and cuts it with an axe. Me and the skydiver got 2 geese. I have today." ("Red Star", USSR)

11.09.41: All the bloody crimes of the "holy fathers" of the Inquisition, Eastern tyrants, the hordes of Attila and Genghis Khan pale before the bloody orgies of fascist cannibals. The darkest pages of human history are nothing compared to the horrors perpetrated by the Nazi scoundrels.

Letters and diaries of the soldiers of the fascist army testify to the moral character of the fascist army. Let's give some examples. A soldier of the 435th German infantry regiment, Berthold Braun, wrote in his diary: “July 28. Today has been a calm day. Soldiers dart through the devastated houses and return with bundles and sacks. Under our military laws, robbery is a kind of valor.

August 3rd. I have been in hell for 10 days already, which is called the Eastern Front. How many Germans I have seen killed during these days! Today, the chief lieutenant shot Leopold Strauchman - the father of six children - for "". ("Izvestia", USSR)

AUGUST 1941 :

29.08.41: The leader of the "Hitler youth" Baldur von Schirach said: "Better a German lie than a human truth." And one of his fosterlings, Corporal Stampe, wrote in his diary: “Today it was broadcast on the radio that three million Russians were surrounded and we would kill them all in a week. Maybe - a lie, but in any case ... "(" Red Star ", USSR)

17.08.41: The owner of the notebook, Senior Corporal of the 12th Regiment in Hannover, Alfred Kurrle, noted his "exploits" with German methodicalness. He was in France, in Brest, and from there he bombed English cities. Especially often he was sent to Plymouth. Records of the destruction of English houses are interspersed with useful references: collar number, checking account number, addresses of prostitutes.

On the sixth of August, the corporal frolicked in the French town of Chartres: he washed down a turkey with pommar. On the seventh he was sent to the east - he was supposed to replace the pilots killed by our fighters and gunners. For an attack on Moscow, the German command selects SS with good experience. Kurrle was thoroughbred, and he even bombed the English cruiser Exeter.

After spending the night in Warsaw devastated by the Germans, Alfred Kurrle flew to Moscow on the 10th. He wrote: "19 hours 43 minutes." He left a space to mark when he would return. The place remained clean - he . ("Pravda", USSR)

09.08.41: The instigators of disgusting violence against prisoners and civilians are German officers. A diary was found from the German Oberleutnant Krause, who was killed in Ukraine, vividly depicting the moral character of the average German officer. Krause went through Poland, France, Yugoslavia, Greece with fire and sword, and finally came to Ukraine. And in all these countries, the entries in the travel diary are similar to one another: this is an account of violence, robbery and hooliganism.

“Soon I will become an international lover! - writes the owner of the notebook. “I seduced French peasant women, Poles, Dutch women ...”. Further, the chief lieutenant sets out such details of his "exploits" that cannot be conveyed in any way. “How to be? writes Krause in Warsaw. - I have nowhere to store collections. Yesterday I purchased a massive gold goblet. How to send all this home to Louise? She would be very happy..."

The bandit describes his impressions of Ukraine as follows: “We have been on Ukrainian territory for the third day. Damn it! I languish in surprise. Where are the vaunted beauties? Mysterious. Are they really hiding in the forests with these damned partisans?

And further: “Today, finally, I managed to take my soul away. A 15 year old girl was extremely shy. She bit my hands. Poor thing, I had to tie her up ... The lieutenant told me: “You should be given for these exploits.” ("Pravda", USSR)

JULY 1941 :

16.07.41: All these warriors were mortally tired of the war, although few of them fought for real. Horst Schuster begins to think, although the "memo" of the German soldier says in black and white: "The German soldier never thinks, he obeys." It is difficult for an unaccustomed person to think, and Schuster writes: "We are slowly being driven to insanity."

And Hitler, meanwhile, is preparing another campaign. There is a military turmoil. Schuster writes: “March. March. You stomp like a sheep and know nothing about the position or the goals. This is wrong... It looks like something is starting again. Some say - Spain, others - Libya. At least not in England...

If I were Hitler, after reading such a diary, I would be afraid to think that Unter Schuster, a mediocre person who repeated all the stupidities of his superiors, suddenly realized that he was a "sheep"! .. ("Red Star", USSR)

See also:
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* * * (Special archive)
("Red Star", USSR)
("Izvestia", USSR)

This is how the Nazis described in their diaries and letters home their advance across the Belarusian land in 1941:

Private 113th Infantry Division Rudolf Lange:

“On the way from Mir (the village) to Stolbtsy (the district center of the Brest region), we speak with the population in the language of machine guns. Screams, moans, blood, tears and many corpses. We don't feel any compassion. In every place, in every village, the sight of people makes my hands itch. I want to shoot from a pistol at the crowd. I hope that soon the SS detachments will come here and do what we did not have time to do.

Record of Corporal Zochel (Wiesbaden, field mail 22408 B):

Another fascist, Corporal Johannes Herder wrote:

"25-th of August. We are throwing hand grenades at residential buildings. Houses burn very quickly. The fire is transferred to other huts. A beautiful sight. People cry, and we laugh at tears.”

1941-1942. Liberation of Kaluga. Blood trail of fascist robbers

1942. Liberated Soviet territories. Civilians shot by the Nazis

(Photo taken by a German Wehrmacht soldier)

Soviet women were massively subjected to violence by the Germans.

“In Vitebsk, for example, a field commandant ordered girls between the ages of 14 and 25 to come to the commandant's office, ostensibly to be assigned to work. In fact, the youngest and most attractive of them were sent to brothels by force of arms.

“In the city of Smolensk, the German command opened a brothel for officers in one of the hotels, into which hundreds of girls and women were driven; they were dragged by the hands, by the hair, ruthlessly dragged along the pavement.

Rozhdestveno village teacher Trofimova says:

“All our women were driven to school and set up a brothel there. Officers came there and, under pain of arms, raped women and girls. 5 officers collectively raped collective farmer T. in the presence of her two daughters.”

A resident of Brest G.Ya. Pestruzhitskaya spoke about the events at the Spartak stadium, where the local population was herded:

“Drunken fascists burst into the stadium every night and forcibly took young women away. For two nights, German soldiers took away more than 70 women, who then disappeared without a trace ... "

“In the Ukrainian village of Borodaevka, Dnepropetrovsk region, the Nazis raped all women and girls without exception. In the village of Berezovka, Smolensk region, drunken German soldiers raped and took away with them all women and girls aged 16 to 30.

“A 15-year-old girl, Maria Shch., the daughter of a collective farmer from the village of Bely Rast, was stripped naked by the Nazis and led down the street, going into all the houses where German soldiers were.”

From the diary of non-commissioned officer of the 35th Infantry Regiment Heinz Klin:

“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 felt some pleasure at the same time ... ".

From the diary of Corporal Hans Rittel:

“October 12, 1941. The more you kill, the easier it is. I remember my childhood. Was I affectionate? Hardly. Must be a hard soul. After all, we are exterminating Russians - these are Asians. The world should be grateful to us… Today I took part in clearing 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 shed. She bit and howled. 40 minutes later she was shot.”

1942. Gallows of the Nazi invaders for Soviet citizens. And there are still such fools who believe that the Germans came to us in 1941 as a war in order to feed Bavarian sausages to the full and drink Bavarian beer to drink ...

Entry in the notebook of Private Heinrich Tivel:

“10/29/1941: I, Heinrich Tivel, set myself the goal of exterminating 250 Russians, Jews, Ukrainians, all indiscriminately during this war. If each soldier kills the same number, we will destroy Russia in one month, we Germans will get everything. I, following the call of the Fuhrer, urge all Germans to this goal ... From 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 pistol at my temple, it cools my ardor ... Between us, an unheard-of story happened 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.

From a letter from Corporal Meng to his wife Frida:

“If you think that I am still in France, then you are mistaken. I am already on the eastern front... We eat potatoes and other products that we take away from the Russian inhabitants. As for the chickens, they are gone… We made a discovery: the Russians bury their property in the snow. We recently found a barrel of salted pork and lard in the snow. In addition, we found honey, warm clothes and material for a suit. Day and night we are looking for such finds... Here are all our enemies, every Russian, regardless of age and gender, whether he is 10, 20 or 80 years old. When they are all destroyed, it will be better and calmer. The Russian population deserves only destruction. They must be exterminated, every one of them."

The order issued by Hitler five days before the attack on the Soviet Union, which affirmed the right of German soldiers to rob and exterminate the Soviet population, charged officers with the duty to destroy people at their discretion, they were allowed to burn villages and cities, drive Soviet citizens to hard labor in Germany.

Here are the lines from that order:

“You don’t have a heart, nerves, they are not needed in a war. Destroy pity and sympathy in yourself - kill every Russian, Soviet, do not stop if in front of you is an old man or a woman, a girl or a boy. Kill! By doing this, you will save yourself from death, secure the future of your family and become famous forever, ”the Nazi command said in an appeal to the soldiers.

From the order of the commander of the 123rd German infantry division of August 16, 1941:

“It is recommended to resort to the strictest measures of punishment, 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”.

Ivan Yuriev, grodno-best.info

In April 1945, in the Gardelegen concentration camp, the SS drove about 1,100 prisoners into a barn and set it on fire. Some tried to escape but were shot dead by the guards. Only 12 prisoners managed to survive.

Soviet children, prisoners of concentration camp No. 6 in Petrozavodsk. July 1944

“The children stood by the wire and looked at Sanko without making an attempt to speak. They could not believe in any way that everything was over, they were released. Having taken the famous shot, Sanko hurried through the open gate: she so wanted to stir up these serious, not childish kids, to tell them something comforting, encouraging.

Only when she entered, just entered, without passes and other things, the children suddenly understood everything and believed. They shouted:

"aunt!" Many began to call for mother, others finally burst into tears.

European democracy against the USSR. Fragment of the film "Come and See":

Movie: "Come and See"