A few years ago I sold some old coins to a guy who randomly asked if I could read German. I said yes and he produced an old letter he had bought at a flea market. I couldn't read it, as it was in an old German cursive, called Sütterlin, which they stopped teaching in schools there in the 1950s. But he emailed me scan of it, I sent it to German friend, who's in her 70s now. She couldn't make it out, so she showed it to an elderly woman in her church, who had no problem with it. My friend then emailed me the text in typed German. I haven't written it all out in English, but it's from a soldier to his fiancee in November, 1942. He's telling her about the train ride to the eastern front, how he didn't sleep at all from the heat in the boxcar, but arrived to find snow on the ground, near Bialystok. It's pretty emotional, where he tells her he'll be fine and not worry about him.







I'm guessing his chances of survival were pretty low. I was just in Germany and was thinking of trying to track down this address, but it was a little too far out of my way. I will probably get around to this one of these days, but I don't think it will be a quick Google search and then door knock. Anyway, just imagine how many millions of similar such letters there are out there.

Very interesting. Kudos to you for taking the time to have it translate it.

Thanks for sharing. I can't imagine the dread and fear he must have felt knowing that an assignment to the eastern front was close to a death sentence.

That is awesome, thanks for sharing!

If you haven't already read it, the book "The Forgotten Soldier" written by a German soldier serving on the Russian front in WWII is a great look into what life was like for a German grunt on the Eastern front.

https://www.amazon.com/The-For...l%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
I can't imagine the dread and fear he must have felt knowing that an assignment to the eastern front was close to a death sentence.

It's actually more accurate to state that he was likely in high spirits, but had no idea what he would be getting himself into, and his high spirits would not last long.

Look at the date. November 23rd, 1942. The encirclement of Stalingrad actually took place on that same day, but a lowly soldier en route to the front wouldn't have known it at the time.

At that point in the war, in November 1942, being sent to the Eastern Front was not yet the apparent death sentence it would become. After the rough first winter of 1941, the Wehrmacht had actually gained significant ground throughout the successful 1942 offensive, and they had learned many lessons from the first winter and believed they were better prepared for the second.

In fact, November 1942 actually marks the high water mark for expansion of the German Reich, marking the point when it had reached it greatest extent (before it would rapidly begin to shrink and give ground).

As a result, spirits were high right up until the very end of 1942 and the encirclement at Stalingrad. Even then, there was still much hope for a couple months that the Wehrmacht would be able to break through and relieve the encircled 6th Army in the Stalingrad Pocket, supplying them by air in the meantime, like the Wehrmacht had successfully demonstrated 6 months prior in the Demyansk Pocket.

It wasn't until 1943, starting first with the disastrous collapse of the Stalingrad pocket in February, and later cemented by the failure of the mass offensive at Kursk in August (the last major offensive the Germans were able to undertake in the East), that the average German understood the writing on the wall of the Eastern Front, and being sent to the Eastern Front became a widely-recognized death sentence. The overwhelming horde of the Red Army had finally robbed the Germans of the initiative, forced them onto the defensive, and begun to truly overwhelm them and beat them back, and the best that could be hoped for was to delay the inevitable defeat.

I just finished an older book,about Stalingrad. " Enemy at the Gates" . Many of you have probably already read it.

The OP's posting was very interesting. Hilter was a terrible tactician.

In the WWII Eastern Front battles, I can't say I wished either side to win. Both were cruel regimes, however the USA supported one of them.

The captives on either side suffered badly.

quote:

Originally posted by Sunset_Va:
I just finished an older book,about Stalingrad. " Enemy at the Gates" .

My second favorite Stalingrad history, just behind Beevor's "Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege".

Yes, I'm sure he had no idea what he was walking into at that time. Imagine - a private with a K-98, probably fall, not winter, clothing, having heard nothing other than the war would be over by Xmas. Unless he was one of the lucky ones to get wounded and evacuated, he either got killed in battle or was taken prisoner, where he died in captivity or came home 10 years later when Adenauer negotiated the release of those who remained in captivity. Either way, he was probably in for a very rough ride and saw some really awful stuff.

I've met one Stalingrad vet who was captured there and got back home in 1952. He definitely had a vibe about him.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
Imagine - a private with a K-98, probably fall, not winter, clothing

If it was November 1941, that would be accurate.

But after learning the hard lessons from being unprepared for the first Eastern Front winter, the Wehrmacht began preparing adequate winter clothing. Stockpiles of things like Russian-style felt-lined boots and reversible quilted winter suits had been produced and distributed in preparation for their second winter in 1942.

So the soldier writing this letter likely had adequate winter clothing.

I have two distinct feelings when this stuff comes up.
First, I get it, from a soldiers perspective, not knowing the world view of what was really going on. ( I was a sailor and served my county- soo get it)

Secondly, fuck ‘em. I’m part Jewish, yet I’m a Christian( guess that I can be called out based on my comment- not very Christian is it) if they hadn’t started it and murdered 6,000,000 other Jews and god knows how many other peoples because of their crazy leaderhadnt done that, they would all be better off.and so would have all the people who died.

Would you be interested in posting the typed German version?

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
I have two distinct feelings when this stuff comes up.
First, I get it, from a soldiers perspective, not knowing the world view of what was really going on. ( I was a sailor and served my county- soo get it)

Secondly, fuck ‘em. I’m part Jewish, yet I’m a Christian( guess that I can be called out based on my comment- not very Christian is it) if they hadn’t started it and murdered 6,000,000 other Jews and god knows how many other peoples because of their crazy leaderhadnt done that, they would all be better off.and so would have all the people who died.

I agree. I wonder if this guy ended up murdering any of my fellow Jews.

Harry was a wall paper hanger and painter and we met him in the mid-80s when we moved into a newer house in St. Pete.

He'd been in the Luftwaffe's infantry on the eastern front and wasn't fond of the Russians. Back in those days I had a nice collection of WW2 German guns, helmets and documents (sold 'em all in the early 2000s) and he loved working at our house so he could look at and examine them. He knew what they all were, the guns, bayonets, documents & papers, and he was so humble about everything that I believed he was telling me the truth.

He died in the mid-90s and really never told any "war stories" about his service other than being a prisoner of the Russians till sometime after the war ended.

I never pushed him since I never liked being prodded about my time in VN.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Would you be interested in posting the typed German version?

Fräulein
Lotte Bremer
Braunschweig
(Klaggesstadt)??????? Ich kann es nicht entziffern
Asseweg 8

Absender: Gefreiter Gerh (vielleicht Gerhard?) Münch
Feldpostnummer 03149

Im Osten, den 23.11.42
Mein Liebling!
Zu Deinem Geburtstag nochmals meine herzlichsten Glückwünsche. Um eines bitte ich Dich: Sei nicht traurig. Ich weiß, dass Du tapfer sein kannst, bist ja auch meine kleine liebe Soldatenbraut. Willst Du das tun?

Wenn ich dann auf Wache stehe, werden meine Gedanken bei Dir verweilen. Dabei gedenke ich auch der schönen Stunden, die wir zusammen verlebt haben.

Wenn Du dann schlafen gehst, träume recht nett von mir.

Wie Du siehst, bin ich hier verhältnismäßig gut angekommen. Seit Donnerstag habe ich noch keine Stunde geschlafen. In dem Zug nach Bialystock war es so heiß, dass ich nicht einschlafen konnte. Ab B. wurden wir, bis nach hier, in Güterwagen verfrachtet. Da konnte ich vor Kälte nicht schlafen. Das Wetter ist hier noch einigermaßen. (15°C Kälte) der Schnee liegt noch nicht hoch.
Sonst ist hier noch alles beim alten. Hast Du den Film abgeholt?

Herzliche Grüße an Mutti, Vati und Oma. Es grüßt Dich herzlichst und küsst Dich in Gedanken Dein dich liebender Gerhard

Those involved were Gerh, short for Gerhard, to Miss Lotte Bremer in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony.

My feeling, reading it, is that Gerhard was a conscript sent to war in the service of his country who just wanted to be back with his girl, family and other loved ones, and harbored no ill will toward anyone.

quote:

Originally posted by P210:
... Did you pick up the movie?...

Dang, the Germans already had video stores.



.

quote:

Originally posted by P210:
Those involved were Gerh, short for Gerhard, to Miss Lotte Bremer in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony.

My feeling, reading it, is that Gerhard was a conscript sent to war in the service of his country who just wanted to be back with his girl, family and other loved ones, and harbored no ill will toward anyone.

Whenever I watch historical footage of military actions I always wonder what became of the men and women in the film. The same for reading letters and diaries by service personnel.

It would be interesting to know if this soldier made it back and what kind of life he lived, but being an Eastern Front veteran I suspect he's still there.

I started watching WWII treasure hunters on youtube (speaking of rabbit holes!). There are a couple of russian channels that are constantly digging up unburied soldiers from around Stalingrad and other places. They all appear to be in marshes and were just left there. Never buried and just let the environment take over their bodies. It's hard to believe that the Soviet gov't never went and retrieved the weapons and buried the dead.

Along these lines, just watched Young Lions, a great film that deals with the issues of love, relationships and the futility of war. There is a line I remember," when all the legs and arms are blown away, things will remain the same, nothing ever changes."