Hello my dear friends! Today we are going to
continue our review of the diary of German Oberleutnant Martin Shteglich. Remember to rate
this video, and also leave your opinion on this story, and we are about to begin!
December 10, 1941. For eight days I've been in command of my
company again. I had to cheer up the guys a bit, to give them strength of spirit again.
And they grew in these days of silence, externally and internally put themselves
in order. And it was extremely important, because for two days it has been
a record frost: -31 ° Celsius! Now, we have skis - as many as eight of them.
And each day, no matter what the weather, I spend with my men in the fields, practicing
cross-country skiing. We follow the trail of the partisans. As soon as they show up
nearby (and there are plenty of them here!), we pursue them, something that is
much more convenient to do with skis. The letters come with big delays -
evidently because of Christmas parcels. Recently we had an officers' dinner
in the battalion. It was fun, we drank a lot of vodka. The only trouble is
that there's nothing but schnapps. It's gross! Lieutenant Noimann joined the company
yesterday. He was badly wounded on June 25, but he is well now. He is a dutiful
young man with a strong character. "Penguin" is with us again! He is as
cheerful as ever; his wound is quite healed. Coincidentally, the next day our
General conducted the Iron Cross awards, and "Penguin" was awarded the Iron Cross
1st Class. Our good old battalion commander, now unfortunately very ill, was awarded
the Order of the German Cross, and everyone was very happy about it. Our Regimental
Commander was also awarded the same Order. Since December 12, the regiment
has successively moved back into position on its former section. On
December 15, it will be our turn. We are expected the long winter
months of positional warfare! Recently I read "Der Schatz" by Eduard
Mörike - an exquisite, touching, well-written story. And then there was "Morning
Ride" and "The Mask of War." The first book was written by Wetzel and the second by Möller.
I purposely choose literature that's more sophisticated. The brain must be at work, I
must force myself into intellectual endeavor. Japan has entered the war with the
United States, Britain, Australia, and the Dutch colonies. It was an incredible
initial success for the Japs. It was like the May wind breaking in on the events of the day. And
now I guess I'll read "On War" by old Clausewitz! December 12. Yesterday, Germany and Italy declared war against
the USA! The Führer got square with that hireling Roosevelt. Moreover, the Fuhrer outlined the
entire previous course of the campaign in Russia. We are at Tverdovo. Yesterday it was snowing
incessantly, and today it has almost all melted. And what now? Now the wind has changed and
blows its icy breath on us. Everything that was melting is freezing again. It's a typical
pattern for late fall and early winter! December 21. Our front line is located in the
village of Khilkovo. On December 19, I took a new section with the
company. Here the lull for us ended. The company moved forward in two
throws with an intermediate overnight stay at Krasnaya Gorka. I skied the
whole distance, all 44 kilometers, together with my reconnaissance men.
I spent the night at the Regimental Chief of Staff and the next day I got
instructions already on the new location. We had to shoot a bit today. At about 5 p.m.
a Red reconnaissance group approached the only spot where there was a gap in the fence, but they
were repulsed. Taking advantage of the blizzard, I at once sealed the gap with anti-tank hedgehogs
and wire spiral. When another bad night comes, we will put some more "mischief"
here. That's how we reinforce our positions day by day. I sent my first
two leave-takers. The first one was Fuks. There's a nice Christmas wreath on
the table in the dugout in front of me. Today a letter came from Mommy asking
if I was healthy and if everything was all right with me. The envelope contained a
picture taken somewhere near Leningrad: a wounded man lying on a stretcher, smoking a
cigarette. It cannot be denied that he really looked like me in profile. This was
confirmed by everyone in the company's command and control department. That's why
mommy's worried. I'll write to her today. I'm under the command of Major von Duisburg, commander of the 3rd Battalion. Erich Bölte,
our old strategist, paid me a visit today. We set up wires on all sides, and, having dug
interconnecting passages so that Erich Bölte could hear, we play gramophone records. We'll celebrate
Christmas Eve in the dugouts. Well, that'll work! Today it was reported: Generalfeldmarschall
von Brauchitsch and von Rundstedt have resigned. We don't know the reasons
yet. Miscalculations? Rostov-on-Don? Klin? Tikhvin? Who knows? We are soldiers,
we are loyal to the oath, not to names. December 28. Our Führer has taken command of
the ground forces! We, infantrymen, are especially delighted. The Führer
has shouldered even more of a burden. So far, everything is all right at the section,
except for the regular firefights. On Christmas Eve I went around all the dugouts and
celebrated Christmas with my guys. December 29. I just woke up. The sun shines brightly and white
snow falls outside - the scenery is fantastic. Before Christmas I paid a visit to Erich Bölte
standing to my right. On the first day of the holiday, the commanders of all the companies
of the 2nd Battalion, together with the Chief of Staff and his deputy, organized a
brief get-together in "Forest Silence", Erich's dugout. At 2:00 p.m., getting there
on skis, the regimental commander also joined us. He conducted the Iron Crosses awarding.
Moritz Hinsch, the Regimental Chief of Staff, a great man, was with us as well. We asked
Herr Lieutenant Colonel to let him stay with us. Hinsch later took a nap in my dugout,
after we went around the position together, fired machine guns and threw hand grenades. His
only dream is to forget about all his paperwork for a couple of days one day and go on a
"vacation from himself" to our front line. Today our convalescents are coming
back to the company! Everyone is extremely happy about it! And the
guys are glad to be "home" again! Now we have to build more dugouts. That's
a job for the sappers. They're awfully lazy men. Yesterday they had orders to put
up anti-tank hedgehogs, but they left after only three hours. I was mad at them! My
guys are out here day and night on the wire, and these good guys sleep 5 kilometers behind
the front line and come here only for "tours". January 3, 1942. Oh well, the last time I "lowered
the boom" on the sappers. After this scolding they are working perfectly
well now. During the day they are working, and at night they are blowing something up. The company's losses are three men.
Two of them were heavy machine-gunners. Yesterday the Russians broke a rut to
the junction of my positions with the positions of the 10th Company. But
let's talk about all this in order! On New Year's Eve there was an
unprecedented cannonade across the entire front. They fired everything! It
was a great firework - flares flew all the way to our rear. The anti-aircraft gun
behind our positions fired whole bursts into the night sky. The Russians were out
of their mind and were firing until dawn. On the first morning of the new year, I welcomed guests from the 89th Infantry
Regiment. What a feast we had in my dugout! That is called first-rate! In
general, we drank everything to excess. We beat the frost record - it's
-42 ° Celsius! I even ordered to rotate the sentries once every half an
hour. On the occasion of the New Year, I got letters from many of my
fellow soldiers. I was so happy. January 8. All is quiet on the section so
far. Yesterday I visited von Plato, our neighbor on the left. We had
a great time, and drank a lot! Weber, the Chief of Staff, has
just telephoned - the Russians have broken through our defenses to the
south of Lake Ilmen. The breakthrough, however, has already been localized,
and there is no more danger to Staraya Russa. But in many sections of our
front line the forces are very poor. On January 20, my company will be replaced at
the front line - we will have a little respite. Major Engel wrote to Hinsh that there
are not bad odds to "weigh" my neck with a new award. All in all, it's
pretty weird that this is something I've known about for quite some time. The
element of surprise and unexpected joy is completely lost. Regardless, once
it happens, it will be a thing!!!! January 12. On the night of January 10, I was ordered to
hand over positions by the evening of the same day to a company of tank destroyers. Besides us
other rifle companies will be replaced. Our new combat mission is to subordinate to the 123rd
Infantry Division and engage in operations to eliminate the enemy breakthrough. The significant
enemy forces broke through not far from here, and "one-two-three" moved back,
avoiding the battle (meaning the 123rd Infantry Division). Things
happen. At night we were replaced. We reached Krasnaya Gorka in a marching
formation through terrible frost (-35 Celsius). In the morning on January 11, we
moved towards Bel' on horse-drawn sledges, taking a field kitchen. Upon arrival we got
an order to move on to Linie. We reached it by 10:30 p.m. This morning, we received a new
order to start setting up positions immediately. I have just dispatched a large reconnaissance
unit under the command of Feldwebel Paukovitz.
The division command orders us to take the
defenses in separate companies. Sounds crazy to me. We should be held together, and then we are
a combat-ready force, we shouldn't be fragmented! We expect the Luftwaffe to engage
today and hit the Russians. The frost still doesn't abate. Three soldiers
are already out due to frostbite. Our boots are absolutely not appropriate for the snowy and
frosty winter, and not all of us have valenki. I visited the battalion on the way here. They said
that the submission for awarding me the Knight's Cross had not been approved by General-feldmarshal
Keitel, and I wouldn't get the German Cross. January 13.
We are at Linier. Yesterday the Ivans assaulted us. And this morning they came
at us again like idiots. They were tactically incompetent, that's why they were beaten. I
grabbed my rifle and fought with the others. Now every killed or captured
Russian is a coveted trophy for us: he has a white camouflage coat and valenki! Today one of my guys - rifleman Kaufman
- a perky young fellow from Eastern Austria - was killed. Gefreiter
Tyne was wounded. Fortunately, lightly. The Russians we killed will be a
great honorary escort to my little Kaufman! The neighborhood of Staraya Russa
has been swept clean of the enemy. Fighting in the extreme cold requires
a high degree of control mobility. We can't have everyone constantly on our
front line - the snow rampart. We need to be rotating all the time, because
- 46 ° Celsius minus and below - this is no joke. We don't forget to take
off the valenki from the dead Ivans. Our regimental commander now also has his own
"enemy sweep regiment" under our number. So, we are "Sharf's special battalion" (ironically). I think the sweep operations
here will soon be finished. Well, what else is there to write
about? Except for the fact that I "hit" lice of all possible
tonnages on a daily basis. That is all for today! You can
watch other episodes of this diary by following the link in the pinned
comment. If you enjoyed this video, please give it a like and support the channel by
subscribing. See you all later, until next time!
