Brutal Reality of Eastern Front Exposed by Lost German Diaries | Part One

[Music] these are the Diaries of loiten and Friedrich Zander [Music] he was born on the 31st of August 1916 in groudens then a small Merchant town in German West Prussia on the shores of the fistula River and which is today located in North Central Poland Zonda was Apprentice to a merchant in osner Brook in Northwest Germany but like many his age he would go on to spend six months in the reich's Labor Service before the start of his military training in early November 1937 volunteering for service in the Vermont as a signalsman or radio operator in a Panzer regiment he rose through the ranks quickly becoming an enter officer at the end of 1938 conducted training as a tank commander in the following year and was commissioned as an officer in 1940. he saw no Frontline service in Poland and France and spent the years of 1939 and 1940 training troops for the regimental replacement battalion during his service on the Eastern front he was decorated with both classes of iron cross the German Crossing gold and the tank destruction badge [Music] his Frontline service ended in December 1942 just outside of Stalingrad when he was wounded during an attack intended to relieve the encircled troops of palace's sixth Army [Music] by the summer of 1941 he was just 24 years old and a commander of a platoon of Panzer 35 tees by June of that year he would become one of the three million troops who would March into the Soviet Union as part of operation Barbarossa the largest military invasion in history in which Panzer regiment 11 would fight as part of six Panzer Division in Army Group North it is through his words that we will see the reality of the unanging and unforgiving nature of War on the Eastern Front [Music] 17th of June 1941 in the morning at 9 30 a.m the company stood assembled on the parking Square ready to leave behind the fence of the schoolyard on which the vehicles have been standing for the last three months the dense crowd of people has ascended many school children among them had been given a day off just to see us go [Music] this piece makes his report and then the bus arrives not too early like he usually is on exercises and I report to Uber like the boss then briefly addresses the company whereupon we are dismissed and mount our vehicles and then our trusty old LT skoda 35t are rolling again the old buckets perform admirably in September 1939 the Germans launched their attack on Poland in response to this act of German aggression Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany the second world war had begun on the 17th of September 1939 the Soviet Union invaded Eastern Poland sealing the country's fate the last operational polish unit surrendered on the 6th of October after Poland's defeat Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union divided the country in accordance with a secret clause in the German Soviet non-aggression pact which had just been signed a few days before the demarcation line for the partition of German and Soviet occupied Poland ran along the bug River almost two years later Vietnam sander found himself in the west Prussian town of freestat just seven kilometers from the Soviet border poised to be part of an armored Vanguard that would smash the molotov ribbon trough pact to pieces [Music] 17th of June 1941 the moot in the tank is excellent there's a bottle of champagne in my luggage which I will crack open to baptize the first attack Outback is playing the harmonica [Music] Herring is also sitting on the turret and is reading a funny book a collection of jokes drawings caricatures and humorous anecdotes whenever he reads a particularly juicy story he laughs out loudly while we glance at the contents of her shoulder put that aside I also have to keep an eye on my Society while having a look at our surroundings the Summer Landscape with all its Lakes is quite nice and the towns and Villages make a tidy impression after dusk during a clear night there's a technical stop when the journey continues they make themselves comfortable to catch some sleep little earthwick pulls himself up in the fighting compartment amidst ammunition boxes luggage bags and fuel canisters sleeping the sleep of the just right below the gun caring stretches out next to the fuel canisters on top of one of the hatches above the engine a wonderful fan-driven warmth radiates from the other open hatch sending my wireless operator into a blissful sleep for Zonda and many of his fellow Soldiers the previous year would have been a quiet one in 1939 and 1940 Poland Denmark Norway the Netherlands and France had fallen the British expeditionary force and the French army had been defeated in a matter of weeks most of Western Europe stood under the Nazi yoke in the shadows however Hitler was planning a new war one that he had always wanted and one that had been on the cards from the very beginning the war against the Soviet Union 18th of June 1941 seven kilometers east of Weiss Island I'm sitting on a meadow in rastram 1 in the hope to be safe here from the huge swarms of mosquitoes down at the forest where the tanks are it's just unbearable we spent the rest of the night sleeping next to the tank after having taken great care to camouflage everything now we have finally stowed everything away properly we are feared up and conducted the last technical check foreign in the evening the journey continues further and further east just like yesterday many aircraft passed over us it is a nice and reassuring feeling to know that in the worst case we can always firmly count on head from above 21st of June 1941 in Readiness in the deployment area in the same moment on which the boss returned a dispatch Rider brought the address of the fever to the soldiers of the Eastern front it was read out by uttarovitia vasmud with his distinctive voice standing in the kubel wagon of the boss the whole company was assembled around it everyone was listening eagerly serious faces during the Furious deliberations and while his final words were read out it was clear the show would go ahead foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] Hitler had announced his decision to go to war with Russia on the 31st of July 1940. after plans have been drawn up Hitler issued directive number 21 to the Armed Forces joint staff in the German High command ordering the three branches of the Vermont to prepare an attack on the Soviet Union by no later than May 1941 in order to overthrow Soviet Russia even before the end of the war against England the undertaking was codenamed onto neyman Barbarossa or case Barbarossa it would be a military undertaking of unprecedented scale formed into three enormous Army groups advancing along a front line of almost 3 000 kilometers in length the German Army and its allies would thrust deep into the Russian Heartland Army Group North was tasked to annihilate enemy forces in the Baltic states to seize the Baltic ports and thereupon capture the cities of Leningrad and crunched out the initial goal of armor group Center the strongest and most powerful of the three was the capture of Smolensk while armor group South would attack the Russian Southwest and Southern front via Slovakia Hungary and Romania its strategic goals were the advance to the danipa the conquest of Kiev and following that an advance into the danette's basin as in previous successful invasions the key would be speed and aggression while the tip of the spear would again be formed by the Panzer divisions which would smash through the Russian lines before beginning to chew through hundreds of kilometers of enemy territory in command of a platoon of one of those Transit formations was Lloyd and Friedrich wilhelmsander [Music] the Baltic offensive operation 22nd of June 1941. wake up call at 2 30. it has asked cold and we have been molested by midges but never mind it's a Sunday and today it's show time 250 fire up and forward March locked on China and his platoon in front then the boss and the heavy platoon and myself the new boy and this rabbit at the rear as soon as we leave the forest Hell Breaks Loose I can't see anything at all but I can hear that some of our guys open up eventually I and my lot also reached the spot where nothing seems to be going forward anymore because a long anti-tank obstacle is holding the advance few bunkers are behind it built from wood and sand very solid work the boss and the Panzer 4 with Uber locked and Leonard drove up to the wooden boxes and fired directly into the firing slits from a range of five meters or less the fellows inside did not get out and kicked the bucket instead they were Mongolians Army Group North was allocated 20 infantry divisions three Panzer divisions and three motorized infantry divisions they were organized into two infantry armies 16 and 18. and Juan Panzer group Panzer group four Panzer group 4 was ordered too break through the enemy border zone between the Naaman and the tilsit Riga Road and before long the dubsier sector between the mouth of the river and zala Panzer group 4 shall then thrust to the Western Divina and establish bridgeheads between dunburg and jakobstadt the point of main effort so far as the situation allows will be the area of duneburg orders for further operations will then be issued by the Army group [Music] 23rd of June 1941. I sit in the turret a payoff binoculars hanging around my neck headphones on and microphone at my throat ahead of us something is burning it must be a bigger place russini I guess the direction is about right these giant pillars of smoke are the best signal to announce we are here far better than any signal flare they spring up to wherever there is enemy resistance if one fires his gun into one of those wooden Lithuanian Shacks they immediately catch fire yesterday morning we could clearly see the smoke rising up from taubach and it was thick enough to block out the Sun now here on the road I can see smoke rising up along the whole of the horizon the first day of the German fancif of crossing the Russian border Spencer division had Advanced beyond the erzville Cass a respectable distance of about 90 kilometers but it failed to reach the objective the crossing of the tubsia northeast of Racine the main reason for this was the unexpected ferocious defense of the soldiers of the Red Army who would often fall to the last bullet preferring to be killed rather than let themselves be taken prisoner the Ferocious resistance offered in particular during the first days of the fighting cost the German Army dearly with over 42 000 men killed wounded and taken prisoner in the first eight days of the fighting for men like Logan and sander death became a constant companion part of everyday life something that was dealt and received but that never alleviated the traumatic effect of losing friends [Music] Has Fallen I've seen his grave is Panzer 2 Number 601 stood on the roadside opposite its right side hoed like a sieve 4.7 centimeter anti-tank gun he got a Shell through his back and was and one can only thank God for this could immediately as the next Shell had ripped off both of his hands [Music] short greeting hands in salute to the cap and our Panzer rode on his parents will receive a letter from the company commander who is heartbroken just like we are there will be a death notice in the local newspaper and his little blonde sister will cry for him [Music] we however will march on with him in our thoughts he will fight at our side and his death will not remain unpunished [Music] Friedrich sander and for many other young soldiers like him tankers infantrymen and air crew the fighting was the first of their military careers all had heard Tales of heroism of their more experienced comrades who had already seen action in Poland Norway and France now it was Sandra's chance to prove himself in combat the soldiers of the Red Army however didn't make this undertaking easy the German Army faced a new ferociously fighting enemy [Music] Soviet propaganda denounced all Germans as killers violent beasts and cannibals hatred of the Germans was actively and overtly encouraged many Red Army soldiers fighting bravely in defense of their motherland believed that the Germans took no prisoners which did have the desired effect 27th of June 1941 and then finally we are deployed to counter-attack a long drive to the burning Barn ahead carrying The Riflemen along with us a few shots into the mammoth tank suddenly starts to burn then a few shots into an armored Target on our hard ride not visible for a driver and affects thus unobserved the company is getting in our way we drive around the edge of the forest where the Russian Field kitchens are the Infantry is only a few meters ahead of us when suddenly on the left of our tank a Russian stands up the swinat pretended to be dead when our infantry came past him that's an old classic pretending to be dead and then firing from the rear but that isn't a good idea when facing tank men like us floor the accelerator turn left and run over him problem solved that man won't hurt anyone anymore we were advancing when suddenly there was a very hard metallic and frightening Bang in the same moment I feel a sharp pain at the back of my head for a moment my vision blacks out and then turns red I try to find out what has happened to my sky above me a little bit of the edge of the turret hedge is missing the observation mirror is smashed the leather padding on the inside of the hatch torn there's a hole in the light signal apparatus in the turret tiny metal splinters cover the breach of the gun and the rest of the turret is strewn with fragments of leather and similar splinters I feel the back of my skull and there's blood on my fingers everything seems to be alright however as otherwise there would be more blood confirms that there are only a few small scratches on the skin lucky me won the tanks of the six Panzer Division had Advanced another 290 kilometers constantly harassed attacked ambushed bombed and shelled by the Red Army with little sleep and in brutal heat the strain of the rapid Advance was taking a huge toll both mentally and physically 28th of June 1941 the demand on the men not only in battle but also on the March is enormous sometimes the medic issues a few pills which keep us awake and then it goes on forward ever forward without light eyes nearly glued shut with sweat and dust y tired and unwashed at two in the morning we came across a stream the bridge across which was unable to take a load and where Uber lot and playskin and his gentlemen were directing the traffic no need to describe the resulting chaos on the other bank local Jews had been put to work by the locals serves those Brothers right beards cut off they can now repair the roads for many in the Baltic states the German conquerors were welcomed as liberators from occupation by the USSR and its repressions Lithuania Latvia and dystonia all of which had been forcefully absorbed into the Soviet Union in the middle of 1940. for the Jewish communities the German invasion didn't bring Liberty but unspeakable horror fear violence and death starting in Lithuania one day after the German invasion of the Soviet Union murderous anti-semitic riots flamed up even as the first German troops arrived fueled and encouraged by the Germans thousands of Jews would go on to be murdered in the early summer period of the 220 000 Jews living in Lithuania when the Germans invaded on the 22nd of June 1941 over 195 000 were murdered in the Holocaust [Music] when we came through the area of yemegala we noticed that the lithuanians were flying their old national colors from their houses green yellow red in The Villages and smaller towns there were men in olive green uniforms with swastika armbands in the Lithuanian colors I asked one of those men who to my surprise even greeted me with a higher Hitler what kind of a wild Association he was a member of with a radiant Smiley explained that he was a Lithuanian partisan a few of these weird Forest tinies even carried rifles and were guarding some scruffy Jews working on the streets the streets by the way deserve their own chapter unpaved only covered with a layer of gravel and in dry weather a layer of fine white flower-like dust and if there's only a little rainfall then these roads which are already marked red on our Maps turn into a mud bath of a Kind no one in Germany could ever imagine but once the people of the Baltic states rejoiced at the ousting of the Soviets from their lands Barbarossa was far from being a normal invasion territories within the Soviet Union were crucial to Nazi plans to acquire lieben's realm living space for German and Aryan people with Continental Western Europe firmly under German control Hitler's ultimate aim in the war against the Soviet Union was to make full economic use out of the newly won territories in the east to achieve this goal supposedly inferior races Slavs and Jews who lived there had to be removed and ethnic Germans settled in their place for Friedrich wilhelms Ander who would apply to join the SS in 1936 and he was a firm believer in National Socialist ideas the war against Russia was a noble Crusade against communism one that would not just benefit him but also Europe and the rest of the world every Soldier on our side knows what the great objective of all of this is not only that they have all grasped the deeper sense of it there just look at it all that rich soil and they are acres and Acres of it but it's also badly cultivated if these people here are incapable of cultivating the land then they have no claim on it bring German settlers here they know about cultivation and animal breeding there are a lot of things to see here for the Lancer even though life is not the same as it was in France it is however a great political education for them for they can learn about the wider plants of the fira they can witness the difference between German culture and State of Affairs in Lithuania they can see the women here going to church in their dirty and gray gowns most walk barefoot some have wooden shoes which they often carry in their hands even when they go to church hats seem to be unknown the best the women folk are wearing a white headscarf but even this is usually dirty and gray scruffy cats a lot of them and many Alonso can't help comparing them to the French women whose acquaintance we made last year as June turned to July German forces had made incredible progress elements of army group South had crossed the horim river and were rapidly approaching tarnapal which would fall on the 2nd of July by the 30th of June in the sector of army group Center second Panzer group under General Oberst Heinz guderian and the third Panzer group under General low burst Hermann Hoth decimated the Soviet Frontier defenses defeated several Soviet counter-attacks and encircled four Soviet armies nearby Ally stock and Minsk total of 420 000 men would March into German captivity about a week later in the north German forces were in the process of capturing Riga and the Baltic Coast while Panzer regiment 11 had swung northwards established a Bridgehead over the degava and livani and was approaching villainy one of the final objectives before crossing the border into Russia [Music] it looked like the conquest of the Soviet Union would only be a matter of time but even in the rapid pace of the advance and amidst the fighting there were brief moments of respite 1st of July 1941. in the GIF the tents were pulled down and packed up our outfits prepped for the night March and vehicles made ready corporals and fed people in the courtyard were in the boisterous move amidst other jokes and inanities someone suddenly started to hum a tune one man after the other joined in and soon everyone was loudly singing the song of marushka the Polish Girl then countless lodged on China's driver shot a harmonica between his lips upon which it went on filters [Music] [Music] the farmer who owned the Farmstead we had moved into with our company was a Latvian who during the World War had been held a prisoner for seven months in Limburg and Elan stood at the door with his wife and listened to the music his oldest daughter a squeaky clean intelligent girl of about 17 years which I found exceptionally attractive was standing with them during the day I had ample opportunity to watch her at work even with all the heavy agricultural labor on the fields and in the Stables she kept herself well groomed and some of the more inquisitive infantry men even managed to watch the girl through their binoculars while she was bathing herself in a stream now that beautiful girl which I take into my heart suddenly approached me with a bunch of sweet-smelling wild roses she said something in her own language which I didn't understand I did however realize that there was something good and nice and I felt it too because she kept holding my hand with hers for quite a while in an affectionate manner I have no idea why these people here suddenly wish us a good journey and lots of luck the man had of course learned a bit of German during his time as a prisoner apart from that I have realized that the whole area on the Latvian side is a lot cleaner and more cultivated than on the Lithuanian side the cattle in the fields are premium Brown breeding stock which is quite a contrast to their small ugly and non-efficient goats kept in Lithuania the wooden houses are clean and not covered with rotten straw but with proper shingles in general the properties here are more spacious cleaner and better looking the farmer offered us fresh cow milk as soon as we arrived and soon after brought out two finely cut glasses which he filled with home brewed beer drawn from a pretty ceramic pot in return he asked me for some cigarettes as he would love to smoke but could never get any tobacco he was delighted when winterhagaman issued him with two large packets of Russian cigarettes we then moved out into the pouring rain the white roses the girl had given me attached to the front of my tank now it is Friday the 4th of July 1941. a truly infernal concert an mg34 on my right fires first it must be that of Overlord and Eggert in the same second I too pull the trigger and keep firing belt after bed there are plenty of mass Targets on the road on my left the Panzer twos of light platoon of the staff company poor flanking cannon fire on the lorries more than 500 meters away the Russians in front of my vehicle dropped like they've been mowed down with a side a bit further back the Russians try to get into cover in some bushes on the roadside a few high explosive shells for them they now try to get from the bushes across the field into a forest about 400 meters away on a sports field it takes about a minute to run 400 meters running for one minute to the stream of fire of the three mg-34s of the Panzer twos will most likely be their end and trying to cover the distance in the crawl is sheer Madness not a single one of them makes it into the safety of the Woods the Lorry column however is ours the vehicles are mostly undamaged some have been abandoned with engines running some of the gun-down Russians in front are still moving chapansky finishes them off with a rifle on the right there is a basket case who can't walk a bit further on another one has not gone stiff yet damn the dog has just pretended to be dead I kick him in the ass and then push him back to the rear up to the farm where slowly a large number of prisoners are gathering while I'm taking a closer look at a Russian who shot himself the boss and Leonard have discovered a still breathing Russian in a water hole ahead we are trying to pull the poor bugger out the boss is bending down and at the same moment the wretch pulls a gun a revolver out of the water and fires on the boss staring at us with a hateful face contorted into a satanic mask throws himself to the ground and the shot misses him I pull out my pistol and send the bullet to the Russian skull but at the same time he's slumping down under a burst of bullets from under officia Butler's machine pistol I am livid with anger such pigs we are trying to help the wounded and they fire upon us this is the price one pays for our damned Humanity because of which we are treating this scum in a way too soft manner I take my pistol and fire around to the head of another wounded guy with a sturturous breath the swine collapses I am such an idiot having preached to my men again and again that we are the nation of culture and that we have to act gently but here we get our comeuppance for being soft 6th of July 1941. [Music] here they won't allow us to swim [Music] a few Lancers are standing there and tell us that swimming is forbidden as the other side hasn't been cleared of the enemy the small stream forms the border between Latvia and the old Soviet Union no one knows what it's called something unpronounceable ultimately we did take a bath in the Stream between Latvia and the union just like our soldiers based in the English Channel and we're proud of it we have the body of lightning Klein Young on the bow of the tank that reply nearly knocks me over shall I start to cry shall I begin to swear and scream I feel sick and walk over to the tank and there lies Klein young right under the machine gun he was shot in the head after having left his vehicle the poor fellow there's still some life in this gurgling lung I will make the Russians pay for that I call for a medic and a Sanka or medic Maya places climbing on a blanket and bandages his head from which a thick mass of the brain is oozing [Music] there will be payback time soon [Music] the Soviet Russians live damned miserable lives today I went inside a house of one of these Collective Farmers there is no way to get rid of the stink one finds in these one-roomed checks not even with hours of ventilation a few roofed stairs lead into the living quarter the pannier lives in the belly Taj while all his livestock lives in the sutera the botukudo and other jungle tribes live in the same way the conditions in the one and true Fatherland are farmers and workers are even more dirty and degenerate than those in Lithuania [Music] the Catalyst serve as auxiliary Heating in case the enormous oven doesn't suffice the roosts for the members of the multi-headed family are usually behind the oven we finally found all the cattle here near borgino which is how far the panya's got a Russian shell that exploded amidst the herd but none of the cattle had been harmed [Music] the Russian shells are far less effective than ours but their tanks are superior and they have good snipers a whole lot of Russians had approached waving leaflets dropped by us on which the German government guaranteed to treat all soldiers of the Red Army willing to surrender well I had personally interrogated three of them as well as I could they told me they were members of a rifle regiment the Germans had done a lot of shooting which had caused their regimen to disperse the commander had run away [Music] one of them speaking in a mixture of Russian and Yiddish told me that they had had 40 tanks to support them but these had all life Avec tanks with weirds not with tracks he explained I suppose we are going to run into those soon anyway we are following up as a reserve platoon one of leonhardt's Panzer force is standing in front of some bushes in which several Russians are hiding our Rifleman spotted the danger first but at that moment the wretchers had already gone two of them down feige is angry he shouts and rages and orders his men to get off attacks maybe he has finally understood that the terrain has always to be thoroughly searched and the other rifle brothers say that isn't their job well that's why they are now missing two of their Riflemen but who cares the war goes on [Music] in mid-july 1941 the German Advance was making good progress along the entire front vitabs had fallen and Smolensk was finally Within Reach of the Panzer groups of army group Center in the South German troops slowly Advanced towards the denipper in the north the Second City of the Soviet Union Leningrad was seemingly Within Reach of the exhausted tank Crews of Panzer regiment 11 which had a fighting advance of over 1 000 kilometers behind them during which they not only fought the troops of the Red Army but also nature itself 15th of July 1941. initially the plan had been that we together with the Infantry would form a Vanguard in the Advance on Leningrad it's at most 150 kilometers until we reach our objective I have no idea why they let us sleep until six in the morning but then sleep was desperately needed there was a thunderstorm in the night and had poured down the rain I do feel sorry for those who didn't set up a tent we've been surprised by such rain once and since then we set up a tent whenever as possible tudash and Japan ski scare out the mosquitoes by smoking some puppy rossis or a cigar after the rainfall however the masses of mosquitoes swarmed about the beasts know how to find even the smallest patch of uncovered skin the land and then one can hear the distinctive smack of a hand often followed by some juicy curse now however we have reached an area where not only the mosquitoes bite flies cat flies from the corpses and fat horse flies and all those are determined to stab you it's not uncommon to see men with swollen hands cheeks and eyes the beasts are everywhere hopefully there are none in Leningrad yes Leningrad every Soldier is looking forward to this Metropolis of Russian Europe and inwardly I do feel the same I'm looking forward to the end of this period of fighting here in the east what's going to happen after that nobody knows but we'll have reached an important Target and that makes me happy when I speak of Leningrad the average Lancer though is looking forward to more mundane things every Lancer in my platoon has been talking to me by now there will surely be schnapps factories in Leningrad headlightnund are there fur shops in Leningrad will there be mosquitoes in Leningrad too we'll finally get different food to pea soup and blood sausage [Music] the women here are also dirty will they be washed in the big city yes leaningrad the objective of dreams of all comrades we are about 150 kilometers away from it and progress on the terribly bad Advanced roads is slow war in the Soviet Union was not just about leibensarm it was about German racial Purity and a political Crusade against bolshevism in the words of Hitler a Velton sounds Creek a war of ideologies of peoples and a war of races with aim to annihilate those who were seen as being ethnically inferior and also politically dangerous Soviet troops captured by the German Army suffered from Hunger cold forced labor and abuse gestapo and SD Personnel searched their ranks for Jews State officials and other intolerable or dangerous individuals like those political commissars who had somehow managed to survive the effects of the infamous commissar order issued by the German Army in June 1941 which ordered their immediate execution as purported in forces of judeo-bolshevist ideology these were then taken to the extermination camps where they were usually killed immediately [Music] total of between 140 000 and 500 000 Soviet prisoners of War died in concentration camps most of whom were shot or gassed [Music] 5.7 million Soviet soldiers who were in German captivity 3.3 million did not survive the war 19th of July 1941. the scene at the crossroads is terrible dead Russians wherever one looks the whole area is littered with them dead horses between them and shut up vehicles at the side of the road never before have I seen so many dead shredded Corpses they lie on the road in the ditches and in the fields at ledinki there was a whole pile of corpses in front of our vehicles but not nearly as many as here the few kilometers from the crossroad to gidau are full with carts gun carriages limbus cars Cannon lorries and all kind of other equipment then we roll into town through the haze we can see Lake Pipers on our right a few boats are visible too apparently they are Russian evacuating fleeing troops to the north into still unoccupied territory the Russians have been given her here I decide not to stay with the vehicles but walk down to a square open space alongside the lake where the prisoners are being kept under the trees there are large numbers of wounded who are being treated by women dressed in riding boots and trousers a Russian surgeon who looks more like a butcher is standing between them with his hands in his pocket doing absolutely nothing we don't have enough dressing material for the wounded here the Russians themselves carry nothing of the sword with them a woman in a civilian coat under which the uniform of the Russian women's battalions is visible approaches she wants to have a passport proving that we have been discharged here and asks to be allowed to stay with the wounded she's sent to find and fetch white linen which can be used as dressing material there are 1500 prisoners alongside a fence separated from the others there are about 20 more they are Volga Germans who have been forced to serve in the Russian army admittedly the creatures are not very confident inspiring but anyhow they have at least some German blood in their veins and thus they have been separated from the Mongols Caucasians and Russians they only speak broken German strongly mixed with Russian and they find it difficult to understand our high German after all their ancestors were swabians who had come to the volgais settlers for me they are Bolsheviks just like the others they too have taken up arms against us and had fought in the ranks of the Red Army but then the party knows best what to do with such people the other Red Army men are a Savage looking lot a few civilians are among them Communists in civilian clothing caught carrying weapons two more men in civilian dress are brought up they had tried to set fire to a captured petrol storage and then the process had fired on our men the question on what to do with the pigs is met with a short reply by an adjutant on the general staff shoot them the two are LED behind the house a few minutes later a few pistol shots could be heard [Applause] done sorted couple of fanatical Bolsheviks less 23rd of July 1941 a lot has happened today several Russian bombers came over and had scored a few direct hits on the artillery column of the first Infantry Division nasty very nasty for the artillery men certain of them dead 15 more or less severely wounded soldiers 12 horses killed and tamchick my radio operator wounded when a bomb Splinter hit a scarf that's the result of an attack by five Russian sb2 bombers and of some clowns shouting they are Germans they are Germans without having clearly identified them tanchik was in great pain couldn't put any weight on his right leg with a splinter in it the boy made a brave face however and tried not to show how much it hurt him as Barbarossa entered its fifth week millions of men along the enormous front were asking themselves when the campaign would be coming to an end in the north where Russian resistance was seemingly weakening desperate counter-attacks ambushes and Air Raids Allowed no time to rest the advance had to continue further and further towards Leningrad across Dusty roads and through infernal summer heat 27th of July 1941 for the third time yesterday while I was sitting on the thunderbox a mosquito stung me in my most delicate Parts how bad is that mosquito plague he is just crazy at home no one can imagine what it is like here where you automatically SWAT your hands at all the Buzzy beasts just like horses and cattle do with their tears and then the dust and the Heat even though we don't have 72 degrees Celsius in the Sun the inside of our iron coffins easily reaches that temperature and not rarely one spends 20 hours from three in the morning until the night inside our buckets when one needs to relieve oneself outside another man has to take his position at the guns we have all experienced something like that and if one has saved a little Swig of coffee that is often shared with a crew or some poor thirsty infantrymen those poor buggers are getting even less than we are supposedly we can soon enjoy the roads of the Soviet Paradise again never in my life will I be able to forget the dust makes one look like a flower Miller someone wearing flower sex and not a black uniform but anyway all is well if we only capture Leningrad we must take possession of Leningrad 30th of July 1941. [Music] 20 hundred hours The Village seems to be home to enormous swarms of mosquitoes but never mind we are not getting used to them in addition to a lot of the fifth there is also Uber like and Eggert with three Panzer fours and lot done speakerman with his pioneers his men have just conducted a search for men over 14 years of age result one man a one-eyed hydrocephalic of about 30 years of age and five old rasputids one of them on crutches all of them have long beards and Scruffy hair hardly anyone has any teeth left in his mouth they all assembled in the Village Square where our tanks are none of them have any idea what was going on they laugh about my attempts to speak Russian and immediately relax a little then I asked them where the partisans are and suddenly they are all excited again I guess they have misunderstood what I had said they'd be far too old they explained while pointing at their toothless Jaws water head shows me his dark red eye socket the partisans are all Naz lujba in service in Leningrad they told me seems the Russians are assembling everyone who stood as two legs and is able to squeeze a trigger up there in Leningrad [Music] the rapid German Advance on an enormous front the lack of infrastructure and the terrible road conditions turn the matter of supplying the troops with food Fuel and ammunition into a logistical nightmare the supply lines were overstretched and vulnerable to partisans and small pockets of regular enemy troops still fighting far behind the German Front Line the hastily retreating troops of the Red Army were no longer being supplied and just like their opponents on the other side were forced to live off the land in their wake the local people were leaving their Farms taking their remaining livestock and supplies with them in the Blazing summer heat of July the lack of clean drinking water in particular was becoming an ever-present problem for the German troops Thursday 31st of July 1941 we noticed that the old houses here so close towards Leningrad show more traces of culture than those we have come past further to the Southwest here the wooden constructs rest on Stone foundations while inside there are sometimes two or three rooms inside we often find traces small items like photographs which link to a bygone time of culture before 1917. there are no traces of any cultural achievements of the Soviet period the people here are also slightly better dressed than the villages and don't all have the bearing of the international proletariat many women still spot the shortcut hairstyles which I remember seeing in Germany during communist marches in general their clothing instead of Germany in 1926 27. when our propaganda claims that the Bolsheviks have proletarianized everyone out here turning the people into a big herd of submissive cattle it is entirely right the outward appearance alone proves it besides we have noticed that the collectives and caucuses are either hiding or their Kettle or they're driving it towards the north away from us that puts us at quite a disadvantage as that means that in addition to petrol and ammunition our supply units also have to drag huge amounts of food across enormous distances but in general there's nothing to complain about there's enough bread and crisp bread and that is quite fitting you just have to be careful with what we have and take the rest from the land if we can find something now the thoughtless infantry men take whole potato Fiats over just to find enough to fill one small basket with potatoes and in the winter it is us who can feed the population and we already have the whole of Europe hanging on our shirt sleeves [Music] Relentless campaigning in infernal heat on difficult terrain and abysmal roads The Strain was also beginning to affect the machines engines gearboxes brakes suspensions tracks and other mechanical Parts began to break down in increasing numbers March distances far exceeded the regular inspection intervals required to keep the division's tanks on the road in particular the Checkmate Panzer 35t replacement parts for which were increasingly difficult to find but Leningrad was now almost on the horizon [Music] Friday first of August 1941. now that I'm writing here my driver is testing our new brakes right in front of me just had new brake pads installed and now he's going back and forth with a howling engine and is distracting me quite severely particles of suit from the exhaust are raining down on the paper but I'm more than willing to tolerate that if only the old bucket can still take us to Leningrad strategic objective Leningrad Hill is in La saskina where he's trying to educate the men about the situation bongard in Iowa sitting in the adjoining room and the map was hanging in the doorway so what do you think are strategic objectives here in the e-star we are standing behind the map our head sticking out to the left and right and we both look into the empty faces of the Lancers in front of us they are all quiet and they're looking at us with big eyes hello loses patience and shouts the Volga River someone asks no one wants to believe it in other states that with our old cards we can be happy if we get to Leningrad that would be it for us 7th of August 1941. finally it's kicking off again thank God for that no more endless waiting here at the crossroads we are waiting for the artillery section with its neighbor to which we have been attached today I remember when we saw their rockets detonating at rusini howling across us towards the dubisa many Lancers threw themselves to the ground our knees were trampling and it was an eerie feeling when we saw the detonation clouds rising up ahead hopefully I can witness the spectacle again today while in the south field Marshall Von runstead's troops were clearing the deniper salient formations of army group Center were transferred to the north to support the final thrust on Leningrad loknan sander with leading elements of the sixth Panzer Division now stood only 130 kilometers from the center of the city after their Advance had been slowed for some time to allow the lead elements of the other approaching armies to close up time which gave Soviet High command much needed breathing space to organize and strengthen the city's defenses between the 11th and 13th of August the division had been engaged in heavy fighting to the north of the Luca River and now prepared to launch its final thrust towards Leningrad 13th of August 1941. soon we'll also cross the bridge on which men of the organization toured are currently repairing the damage caused by Russian long-distance battery fire aircraft had tried to hit the Bridge's worth there are huge craters which surely have been carved into the ground by Russian 1000 kilo bombs I remember that morning when we drove back from the Bridgehead and when everything was shrouded in dense fog the Black Bridge girders Rising wrath like into the sky the ground pockmarked with bomb and shell craters and the road lined with a white birch wood crosses marking the graves of Fallen comrades and the mass Graves of the Russians then the site of the burned Woodland the scorched heathland and the shut up houses through all that we withdrew and then had to wait until the other Army Wings see in the Northwest had closed in on Leningrad in those four weeks of waiting the Russian had entrenched himself so well that each of his excellent positions can only be taken with great casualties the boiling summer heat gave way to more moderate temperatures scattered showers and thunderstorms turned Sandy roads into sticky quagmires making vehicle movement increasingly difficult the warmth of the sun still had enough power to drive Road surfaces quickly nighttime temperatures fell rapidly a worrying sign of things to come Thursday 14th of August 1941. 10 Leningrad 1800 hours it is raining again and thick clouds are hanging low in the sky really not looking great the weather chaps of the division have stated that night frosts aren't rare in this area of Russia from about mid-august onwards from schmalt I have received a thick Overcoat Albert I have collected a thin Russian blanket of which he has several in his vehicle as far as I'm concerned Frost May set in now Sunday 17th of August 1941. there was a huge Chaos on the road as on the orders of the boss all platoons had left their defensive positions to come and see him in the Village Center now they were all being shed by Soviet heavy artillery two of The Riflemen had been standing right on the spot on which a Russian heavy shed exploded not a single scrap of them could be found anymore the third one had both his legs blown off the Infantry climbed on our tanks and we slowly rolled towards our objective we had Advanced about one kilometer through the Rye and Old Fields when the enemy defensive fire became so heavy that the Infantry had to Dismount they then Advanced behind our tanks using them as cover against the hail of projectiles supported us from the Russian defensive positions soon a wild close combat ensue I had to hand a few of our hand grenades to the Infantry we've always 20 meters or so in front of the Infantry or directly with them [Music] the closest Russians away from us I often had to make use of my pistol putting down several fellows in foxhoes close to my tank alongside a road leading into the direction of our attack it was a group of 20 or so Russians who surrendered when we pulled up the Infantry took them prisoner everyone is delighted our progress is excellent then suddenly another group of 10 Russians slowly Rose from the tall grass the Reds got on their knees and raised their hands but among them there was one swine who suddenly pulled out a hand grenade and threw it at my tank well I shot the man with my pistol the machine gun opened up and mowed down the entire group now the Russian Artillery starts firing and is sending 10.5 centimeter shares into the village wow one of them slams right into the engine of former's tank and in this case it was really a classic piece of soldiers luck that he's still alive Michelle was a dud or better some kind of exercise shell filled with a concrete like substance the top half with the fuse on it broke off by the bottom half with the base of the shirt smashed through the armor before being stopped by the engine block if that had been a live show not much would have been left off the tank and just as the weather was changing so did the nature of the combat operations when Swift armored thrusts and maneuvering were replaced by brutal close-in Forest fighting and bitter struggles for every single Village and Hill nerves lay bare and mistakes were made Monday 18th of August contact with the Enemy The Rifleman dismounted Advance on foot enemy tanks in front three of them big buckets are reported to be standing next to a bar one of the Panzer Force opens fire Venture is sending one radio message after the other all the Panzer Force now roll to the edge of the forest and start firing short after shot in the direction of the bar and on one of the big Russian tanks another one according to Fayetteville venture has withdrawn few Russians have escaped running across the field to the right then sudden the adventure reports that there's an anti-tank gun firing from the bushes on the right Oswald rolls forward and opens fire on the bushes where enemy movement has now seemingly been observed no one realizes that they're firing on what are our own advancing Rifleman and because of that they direct a hell of fire on them is angrily calling on us to seize firing on the bushes when I run over to Oscar to tell him that the swine is giving me lip he says that I should concentrate on running my platoon he wouldn't be firing towards the right later I learned that down there on the right German soldiers had been killed and wounded by our tanks where and the anti-tank gun later turned out to be a mine obstacle in which Vince's tank had nearly ended up in wooden box mines buried in the ground and covered with Turf easy to overlook if not very careful and if we're not being careful one could have seen that the tank in the barn was actually a threshing machine over 1 000 rice marks worth of ammunition wasted firing on bleeding farming equipment and only because of Vince's idiocy I take a moment to take a look at my surroundings and find that there are two Russian soldiers in the Foxhole right next to my tank I dragged my pistol out and shot Bros table origier rookie Village one of them however is raising his rifle I make short work with the two and empty a whole pistol magazine into them [Applause] they won't harm anyone anymore ahead on my left another Russian playing dead I take the machine pistol from inside the turret and fire a few rounds into the back of his head the swine as he bites the dust a hand grenade rolls out of his hand despite the strenuous efforts of the campaign the hardship suffering and traumatic experiences of combat loit Nintendo's belief that he was acting in the greater good of the fuhrer and the Fatherland did not falter and the loss of friends and comrades only stealed his determination to end the campaign victoriously and to make the Russians pay 19th of August 1941. the dispatch Rider had found matoseek and had brought him back to the company where he reported that his crew was unheard in the other crew however winter officia Dalman had been lightly wounded and Bosman his Gunner severely wounded had been killed Albert had been lucky and was completely unharmed there had been Russians lying in the grass only 15 meters ahead of their tank as soon as massheuser had bailed out he had been shot through the head and was killed immediately a firefight developed in which diamond and Albert desperately tried to defend themselves with their Pistons it was only when Albert gunned down one of the Russians when the situation changed the Russian had been in the process of throwing a grenade and after he had been shot down this detonated in his hand shredding his lower abdomen and causing the others to withdraw more mail arrived on Tuesday we were staying in an Old Barn which we had furnished to a quite comfortable standard later that day after having drawn rations from the field kitchens Alvis and I walked down to where the two destroyed tanks were standing to find and bury massheiser a recovery vehicle had arrived from the Fiat Workshop in koppmann and corn had already wrapped massage's body into a tent Square removed some private items from his pocket and had broken his dog tag we carried massage back to the road and then dug him a grave under a tree next to a bunker one of the tank mechanics had found a few flowers in one of the shot up houses at clubichi each of us threw three shovels of Earth onto the grave we then placed his black cap on top of the Birchwood cross and thus added to the many of such monuments which adorned the graves of a bold and brave panzagana it Compares us further Relentless commitment his death will not remain unpunished in one of the bushes there was the dead body of a Russian captain that of a first lieutenant and that of a commissar in total more than 20 corpses lay around the destroyed tank a wounded Russian was also lying there still with his rifle in his hand he didn't react when I ordered him to raise his arms I shot him myself I did the same to another who was lying in a foxhole closer to the tank and pretended to be dead when I told him to stand up are they acting in that manner because they are afraid of us or out of Deceit if it's the first reason then the commissars are to blame for the death of those men if it's the letter well they deserve it 25th of August 1941. yesterday evening it was reported that luga had fallen I don't yet know if that's true I wish it was it would be nice the entire sky in the direction was illuminated by a huge fires last night The Horizon was bathed in blood red colors only good that the war isn't waged on German soil like it was in the 30 Years War last night was very cold again makes me wonder how the weather will develop in the future hopefully there will be less rain than we had during the last days the daytime heat is much better to Bear than the freezing cold of the nights one can't find any sleep just turning and tossing in an attempt to keep warm today is the 25th and I personally doubt that Leningrad will already be fully encircled in six days maybe that's what they'll be employing us for maybe it is us who are supposed to close the lock but I need to stop thinking about ifs and whens there is no sense in that earlier we drove through a village which was inhabited by a strikingly northern type of people most certainly Finns or Germans women and children with long beautiful faces light blue eyes and white blonde hair clearly not of Russian or Slavic descent we were astounded to see Gardens even beautifully kept Gardens with nicely painted fences I wonder how these people managed to persist out here their fears were the best we had seen in the whole region 27th of August 1941. yesterday I couldn't write anymore Lopez me and the other platoon leaders had been called to a briefing with Uber solenkopf to discuss the further deployment of our company we are defending a line facing beaten Russian troops flooding back from luga our positions are widely dispersed in the gaps between shpikarman the leader of southernkop's pioneer platoon has installed a number of niceties mines booby traps Spring Guns yesterday evening after a strong artillery preparation about 600 Russians attacked from the direction of krasnog vadies as usual they were repelled and suffered heavy casualties in general the casualties of the reds are absolutely enormous and when one speaks to the workers here well they think in the same way as our workers do the Lost War the working population suffers most am I too much of a materialist if I claim that the upper levels of the population can bear the loss of the ideational values much better than the working class can bear their material loss that's saying it carefully I don't want to be classed as a bolshevist but my socialist vaid anshawang is only strengthened by this war only that when it comes to me the international social ideology is replaced by a strong nationalist Direction with an emphasis on the racial stance the political perspective of the Lancers has been much widened by this campaign in particular even though it is a bit drafty out here I've escaped the company of the mutineers in my platoon spoken graph schweinberg or Burger freitamin four years of service [ __ ] the roofer one worse than the other graph in particular is one of the internally colorless quite a good comrade but politically not quite plus and not quite minus either people such as this without a clear position have always existed especially after the last war they have quickly taken advantage of a secure Bourgeois existence but they have gained just as much as they have that not much at all particularly so when it comes to intellectual matters in contrast men like Bill fight Peter goldhouse and rudigaka have spent 14 years of their lives with one foot in a fortress prison cell they have been despised by the glutted citizens while they themselves have been forced to live from hand to mouth marked down by society as feared existences but it was them who had to shape and create a new enormous fight and that Monumental thought and the satisfaction that arises from it is worth so much more than quietly munching one's middle class cabbage bought with a secure Union wage now then enough of politics we have to move out soon [Music] for many German troops volunteer and conscript alike and regardless of personal thoughts and motivations the campaign in Russia had not only taken them further away from home than they had ever been before it also confronted them directly and often very personally with the people they had come to conquer to survive they had to interact peacefully with the Russian people German soldiers were often billeted in Russian houses shared a Russian family's table they had to buy their food and talk to them many German soldiers did so with great interest wrote about these new cultural experiences and documented them in a wealth of photographs Friday 29th of August 1941 kurisa at 1300 hours we inspected the positions of the rifle company and then accompanied by lopa and his tanks drove to the Glass Factory the name of which I have forgotten it is located alongside the lake and was once built by Germans a lot done of the geheimer FED polizzai who had been born in that Village was just then visiting the house he had been born in the section there is held by ubalat nunchtaka who was stood asleep and we arrived because it had taken him in his Vehicles the whole night to get there one of his Vehicles had driven into a roadside ditch and had become stuck there he didn't see the necessity to get up when we appeared and greeted us like samoble Dame lying on the bed he has always been a little braggart we left Lopez lot in another small village and then drove to another place where pharah and Hiller wanted to organize some meat but there was no livestock and not even a single egg to be had as the population of the village with a glass factory who were all Factory workers and did not own any ground or livestock had to be supplied by the surrounding villages the situation in the area was similar to famine hundreds of people were queuing for hours in front of vehicles from which bread was being distributed a stark contrast to our situation at home no one in Russia had wasted even a thought about securing the provision of the non-combatant population we talked to a worker who spoke fluent German he said that of the original German Workforce only an old man in his 70s remained until recently he had still been the best paid worker now he received a pension of 102 rubles but then he had earned 700 rubles that's 70 marks in German currency we took a look at the church in the neighboring Village which had been turned into some kind of dance club that was also something the worker had told us about only the old people were still living in their Orthodox religion the young were growing up without any religion at all and felt good about it inside the red Club they had hung the big tarpaulins with the faces of Stalin Lenin or ashiloff kalini and other Soviet dignitaries they were hanging right above the old and much smaller images of the Saints I was shocked about the scruffy appearance of the workers even before 1933 no one in Germany had looked that shabby we then drove back to the Glass Factory stopped briefly at Lopez position where someone had managed to Source a few scraps of fresh Veer of which some was handed to hither I took the time to rummage through some of the nearby houses Camino kitchen Sports Hall a food and housekeeping shop all grouped together there or very practical and in my opinion the right thing to do from a socialist perspective maybe it's because of the army that I am such a friend of communal cooking just the right thing for the employed communal kitchen and Cooperative Society but there is no space for individualism just one of many arguments against all this on our way back we were overtaken by solinkov's adjutant who told us that there was something brewing in civiosk we drove back as fast as we could but not without bartering half a dozen eggs from a Finnish woman in return for half an army bread foreign [Music] population were struggling simply to survive and would happily barter with whatever side was in control of their Village at the time there was another significant portion of the Soviet population who would be actively resisting Behind Enemy Lines the stress of not knowing who was a partisan fighter and who was a harmless civilian would put pressure on the mind of every German Soldier across the entire Eastern Front 30th of August 1941. this morning I was just sitting in my tank drinking coffee when the mayor of the village walked past it was Distributing flour I sent virenga to take a look into the Big Barn which had so far been locked he returned and reported that the barn was more or less empty and only contained several radio headphones a few Food Supplies some old rubber tires and old pots and pans I decided to take a closer look at the headphones the mayor explained to me that these had been left behind by members of the red Club but by then I'd already switched my interest to the other barn and ordered it to be unlocked lo and behold a box of English machine gun ammunition and about 100 bottles Molotov cocktails which the bastards had made themselves the bottles contained an added layer of very fine tobacco of the kind which was used for pest control on the Cabbage fields to Aid the burning time rubber straps fashioned from old tires heard the long phosphorus igniter I was burning with rage in order the man to be brought to comrade halitat he being the village Commander would have to decide upon punishment after interrogation what a bloody mess if one isn't facing soldiers then one has to cope with partisans only this morning in the neighboring Village of novoskaya two women notified the Russians about one of our reconnaissance Patrols one of them has already been strung up on the sports field The Village itself has been turned to ashes and the populace has been rounded up on the Village Square the most unbelievable things happened there entire Russian Recon squads have spent the night there the women have smuggled arms for the partisans and we are giving them bread in return even though we have hardly enough to feed ourselves and distribute the dispensable grain of the coal causes among their workers only the good natured German encounters problems such as this someone should shoot a whole lot of them [Music] on the 6th of September a decision of far-reaching importance for the further course of the campaign was made Hitler suddenly put aside his interest in Leningrad and declared the north a secondary Theater of War by doing so he had yielded to the urging of the general staff and ordered the preparation of an attack against Moscow shifting all Expendable forces from army Group North to Army group Center by the 15th of September [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 5th of September 1941. the campaign has to be over soon one way or another but for me there is only one option now to stick it out until the nseq has been achieved one must not think that the wounded are better off or if I would have a wound like this I could at least get out of these uncomfortable Dirty Surroundings I am past all that now only today a few letters from good and much loved friends in the highmat a few photos and the thought of my mother's upcoming birthday have brought me back to my senses I'm not giving up now that the end is already inside and what a side Leningrad is the thought of the NC and the knowledge that the people in the heimat are watching and confiding on us [Music] all that will now spur us on during the final thrust on the red Metropolis on the Cradle of the Red Revolution on Leningrad [Music] foreign September 1941. looking on the map we have just noticed that our whole flank is still open down at copy cover the Russians are still clinging stubbornly to their anti-tank defenses that's the objective of the SS pulitzider vision and from there the enemy has a fear of fire towards sadesi Wilhelm Loper was here to see me he thinks that we won't capture these tank obstacles thinks it's better to just close the shop here and then simply starve leaning garage out even though that would take a bit longer it would cause us far less casualties we have already lost enough men [Music] I don't know what to think better to attack now smoke the enemy out if only we could look into the future German High command was less willing than ever to accept High material loss and Human Resources involved in the destruction of Leningrad they would surround and lay Siege with the least amount of forces and starve the city out the great city of Leningrad would be forced to surrender through starvation and the plan went even further when it was combined with considerations to let the city population starve to death even after the fall of Leningrad already at the end of August certainly in consultation with Hitler Field Marshal title had taken the view that the population of Leningrad could not be fed and therefore had to be expelled with this view he followed the guidelines for economic policy in the occupied Eastern territories that had been drawn up before the campaign and which factored in Starvation of large parts of the civilian population as yet these terrifying plans were unknown to UNI commanders on the ground whether the city should be conquered or besieged occupied or starved preserved or destroyed was still an open question for them and army Group North resulting in heated exchanges of ideas about the treatment of Leningrad which was characteristic of the German relationship between Warfare ideology and crime the 20th of September however it was realized that 10 exhausted infantry divisions were no longer sufficient to conquer Leningrad it was stipulated that Petersburg should not be attacked and not occupied surrounded and then destroyed with artillery Fire and Air Raids all preparations for the occupation and taking advantage of the city can be discontinued Lloyd and Xander would see no part in this and unknown to him at the time he would never see the streets of Leningrad himself Lloyd and Zander was going south on the 22nd of December General house had issued an order which hinted at spending the winter here asked for increased readiness the snowstorm that's raging today was so bad that even the Pioneer horses perished in it we humans could hardly survive out there it is simply horrible faces Frozen hands feet as well in that way we are supposed to work and clear the roads which snow covers again as soon as one is finished there are always several men who are sick 27th of December 1941. during the night I had to think that we are supposed to stay here through the entire winter surely we'll get Replacements and new vehicles and when new operations are possible again in the coming spring we launch attacks which will destroy the Siberian Army of the East I will be there until an anti-tank gun an aerial bomb a shell or a mine will put a full stop behind the last sentence of my life story thanks for watching this video on the history Hit YouTube channel you can subscribe right here to make sure you don't miss any of our great films that are coming out or if you are a true history fan check out our special dedicated History Channel History hit dot TV you're gonna love it

Channel: History Hit

Views: 2,628,817

Keywords: history hit, history hit youtube, operation barbarossa ww2, operation barbarossa footage, operation barbarossa documentary, ww2 diaries, operation barbarossa, german invasion of russia, german soldier diaries ww2, battle of leningrad, unseen ww2 footage, lost ww2 footage, eastern front ww2, eastern front ww2 documentary, ww2 documentary 2023, hitler barbarossa, ww2 doc, brutal reality of eastern front exposed by lost german diaries, eastern front, ww2 eastern front

Id: Hw-VUaeNmgw

Length: 87min 33sec (5253 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 21 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/burnout02urza]

Reminds me of the Legion of the Damned novels. (Not the Space Marine ones).

[u/calornorte]

Finally a docu about hans!

[u/noniboi]

good one

[u/howardhughesbrain]

normalize humanizing nazis ..this week on history hit TV