Hello my dear friends! Today we continue our
review of the diary of German Oberleutnant Martin Shteglich. Remember to rate the video,
and also leave your opinion about this story, and we are going to begin!
July 15. We managed to get to Krestinovje yesterday. We set
up a guard there from the south and south-east. In the evening Berg, the senior rifleman, who
had gone AWOL from the company on July 6, even before the crossing of the Daugava near
Kraslava, reported about his arrival. He explained his absence by the fact that he was
afraid of a new wound and therefore wanted to commit suicide. I sent him immediately under
arrest and handed him over to the division. On the same day this morning a trial was held in his
case. Berg was sentenced to 10 years' hard labor, was declared unfit for military service, and was
deprived of his civil rights for five years. The apparent leniency of the sentence imposed may
be explained by his youth, apparent madness, and voluntary return. Alternatively, he would
have been sentenced to death. After the trial, I drove with the witnesses and his closest
comrades in a passenger automobile, catching up with the battalion that had left ahead,
and only caught up with it at the lunch break. At 4:00 p.m., we continue the march. The 89th
Infantry Regiment advances ahead of us. The bridge over which we have to cross has just been crushed
by the weight of a heavy anti-aircraft gun. July 16.
At 0:30 a.m. last night, after numerous halts, we reached our assigned
section. We quickly entrenched and fell asleep as dead men after a hot day and heavy
crossing. I guess the air conditions are quite comparable to typical temperatures in
the tropics. Even the night brings no coolness. At 5:00 a.m. we got the order to advance.
The 2nd Battalion is in front on the right, the 1st Battalion is on the left, and we are
in the direction of the general strike. The 12th and 48th Artillery Regiments with their
21-cm mortars made our mission much easier, giving us the chance to move forward quite a bit. Again, the Russians crawled out of their shelters
and were about to flee when we charged with shouts of "hurrah" at the signal of the bugle. They
can't stand it! As a matter of fact, these guys haven't eaten for five days. And despite being
so hungry, they defended themselves desperately. I was very lucky today on my birthday: the
Company had no losses. This made me very happy and strengthened my soldiers after the
hard times of July 8 and 9, eight days ago. That's what I wrote in my report after
a successful offensive: "The combat mission was successfully accomplished,
we captured such a number of soldiers, the trophies were such and such,
a number of Russians killed, no losses of our own. I report that it is
my birthday today." The news quickly went around the regiment, and many people came
to the command post to congratulate me. The regimental commander was among them,
and many of my comrades and subordinates. July 17.
The encirclement ring is closed. We block it from all sides. We lie pretty close to each other, but
I hope that everything will run well. We're all in individual entrenchments. It's disappointingly
cold today and it's starting to rain - damn it! July 18.
It is the second day since we took up the defense in the necking between the lakes near Sukoklino.
There is artillery fire in both directions. The weather is cold, and if you lie down, you even
feel freezing. To make everything worse, it's foggy and damp. Yesterday the Reds made an attack
and were beaten back, suffering heavy losses. Now we are buried in the ground, ready for defense and
waiting for whatever should happen. We lie calmly, but as soon as the Red artillery fires at us,
we jump into our hideouts. It is necessary to be careful to watch and be on the alert, so that
they would not plan any meanness against us. The commander of my 1st platoon, Oberfeldwebel Yorissen, was awarded
the Iron Cross 1st class today. July 20.
Today is Sunday, the fifth Sunday day of the war in Russia.
Yesterday was nothing but a mess. We were under artillery fire all day. It was impossible
to catch a break. The weather cleared up some, but our reconnaissance planes were unable to
be engaged because of the low cloud cover. The regimental offensive by the 2nd and 3rd
Battalions was scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m., but it was already 8:00 p.m. when
we actually launched the offensive. My company charged from the front, the 7th
Company, encircling the enemy, - from the right, and the 3rd Battalion attacked from the left.
So, we caught all the artillery "goodness ". In addition, the dusk thickened, and
the offensive ceased on its own. The Bolsheviks fell to another kind of disgrace:
war gases! When we came under artillery fire, and upon receiving my order to
quickly regroup for defense, the company promptly dug into the ground (rarely
I and "Penguin" managed to entrench faster), amidst the noise of fragmentation and
fugitive shells, I unexpectedly heard these particular bursts of shells that explode
with a disgusting crackle and without shrapnel. It looks like shrapnel. But these shells
explode high up in the air almost without a rumble and have a brisance effect. My eyes
were immediately blinded by the acrid odor of chlorine. There was no doubt about it - it was
gas! I commanded to put on gas masks and fire a signal rocket to inform the rear of our troops.
Thank God, the wind soon blew away the cloud, and in a quarter of an hour we were able to
take off our gas masks. All the soldiers in the company had their hands "itching and burning"
until this morning. Well, wasn't it disgrace!? At night, lying in an anti-tank gap, we got pretty
cold. This morning at 3:50 a.m. we launched the offensive again. This time the 6th Company was
ahead, and the 5th Company behind it. We kicked out the Reds, again hidden in the bushes (so that
you could not notice them at once), crossed over the bridge set on fire by them and burning badly,
and the head of the column burst on the other bank. The combat task was accomplished. And then
they shouted: "There are tanks in front!". There were eight of them at once! Fortunately, these
swines did not have enough courage and they did not continue the breakthrough, and in fact we
managed to drag the anti-tank gun across the burning bridge only on hands. When the gun was on
the other bank and opened fire, these swines got away at once. They were firing large-caliber
guns. We were also shelled by artillery, heavy mortars and tank guns: 7.62-mm machine guns
and 3.7 cm cannon. We quickly entrenched ourselves in the bushes. At 11:30 a.m. I was ordered to take
up the defense: the entire regiment goes on the defensive against the Reds attempting to break out
of the cauldron from the south. I wish they would advance with infantry alone, without artillery
softening-up (I mean without artillery support, as powerful as in the last three days)! In
that case, I believe we can cope with them! This kind of defensive fighting takes
special effort. It is necessary to observe constantly to spot this scum
at the first attempted approach. What will this war be like from now on? Currently,
we know almost nothing about the state of affairs on the fronts. The situation is still unfolding
and nothing is being brought to our attention. Major Haberhauer was awarded
the Iron Cross 1st class, and that made us very excited! There are five
men wounded, one killed - this is the balance of the last few days. All Sundays so far,
beginning with the first, have been days of great skirmishing. The resistance of
the Reds begins to grow visibly stronger. July 21.
I took out additional insurance on my life for 5,000 reichsmarks
and sent the papers off yesterday. The fact that this is being done right during the
war is laughable in itself..... Actually, this procedure was initiated by me back in
May, but only now it came to realization. After the reconnaissance group was sent, I
went to sleep, as there was no sign of the Reds. The night was quiet. I ordered to hand
out blankets to everyone so that they could have a good night's sleep. In the pre-dawn
twilight, a gullywasher suddenly started, and we quickly moved to take a nap
under the tarpaulin. In the morning I washed myself with a bucket, changed my
pants and shaved away my five-day stubble. It's already 3:00 p.m. The commander
of the 3rd Company, 459th Regiment, has just arrived and replaced us on
this section. We have been ordered to march in a northeasterly direction.
The order to march has just been given. July 22.
The march was short, only to the village of Osnitsy. There we had
a night halt. We were forced to settle down in isolated shelter trenches - a Red battery was
firing at us from somewhere. An enemy bomber was hit in front of our eyes and one of the Reds'
formations fled. At night we were forbidden to fire on air targets for all our units - our
comrades from the Luftwaffe were on a major mission. And today we heard on the radio about
a large air attack on Moscow! That's great! This morning at 3:50 a.m. we set out on the
march, being ordered to join the main forces of our division, so even before noon at the
station Mayevo we crossed the main railroad line connecting Riga with Moscow. Our track
sappers worked hard on the section. We spent our lunch break between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
at the lake, which, unfortunately, was silted up. The roads were again awful. Now we are sitting
in a roadside ditch and listening to the news about the dismissal of Voroshilov from the
post of commander-in-chief. That is where he should be - a palace coup! All of us wish for
the quick and total annihilation of the Reds. That's why we're all unsympathetic
to this country. Both the country and the nation! The vital and practical
necessity of solving this problem has become clear to every soldier. The way the
battles are fought, the local landscape, the enemy himself and the methods of warfare
they use - everything makes this war unsightly. July 23.
We gathered for the march in a hurry because the regimental radiomen had made
a mistake with the time. The battalion set out an hour late. We marched along a comparatively good
road about 18 kilometers to Nasva. In the village of Drozdovo we had a break. It was incredibly
hot, and even now it is still unspeakably hot. The heat at midday makes you crazy. In the
afternoon there was a refreshing heavy rain. That correspondent from the propaganda
company, who interviewed me after July 9, promised that he would try to put a chronicle
of the day in "B.N.N.". That would be great. The night was peaceful, but I didn't have a good
night's sleep. We left in the morning at 6:00 a.m, covered another 15 kilometers and
now we are in the woods near the village of Saklika. I don't know yet if
we will continue today or only tomorrow. 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 like it and support the channel by
subscribing. Goodbye everyone, until next time!
