“Na ja, warum nicht,” (= “well, why not”) said one of the ladies, a brunette with haggard features. “Aber is will nicht kostenlos sein” (“But it won’t be for free.”)
Then they started haggling over the price. In sum, Arno knew the language and sometimes he got along quite well enough with words, but sometimes he didn’t. That’s why he had to settle being a Private before he could think of advancing.
Arno’s German soldier training was completed in June. Then he was sent East. After a period as a garrison soldier in Kiev, Arno was transferred to his field unit: 3rd Battalion of Battle Group Kossmann. It was at the time – the autumn of 1942 – stationed in Stalingrad.
As intimated above, Hitler decided in the spring of 1942 to attack to the south. AG Süd would take Stalingrad on the Volga. Maybe this, in the long run, could break the backbone of the Red Army. Indeed, the operation went ahead and both Stalingrad and the Caucasus range were reached. But in taking Stalingrad the Germans created a long, exposed north flank. The Russian commander, Zhukov, saw this and planned an envelopment of Stalingrad. The attack was two-pronged: one column advanced from bridgeheads south of the Don and further south, another one swept over the Kalmuck steppe to the west-northwest. Eventually the two pincers met and the encirclement was complete. 6th Army was trapped.
But Arno and his comrades knew nothing about the impending encirclement when they fought in Stalingrad in October and November. 6th Army Command by this time had orders to take the whole city. In the operation was included the capture of an industrial complex in the northern part of the city. The strongpoint of the Russian defence was the so-called Tractor Factory.
Protecting the flank of the Tractor Factory, the Russians held a certain house, a two-story brick building that had been an office. The Company in which Arno was serving was ordered to take it. Arno had no illusions by this time. He was finally at the front, a goal in his life was reached; finally, he would test his strength as a soldier. He was prepared to die. This, he knew, was the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Much can be said about Arno’s integration into the German army, his grey-green woolen tunic, his marching boots, his black lacquered steel helmet M/35, his transportation to the East, his arrival at Stalingrad and so on. Let it suffice to say that he was full of fighting spirit. He knew that Stalingrad was a hard place, he knew that the battle wasn’t yet won and he wasn’t naive. But he had some reserves of willpower in him and he said to himself: I will fight and I will fight well.
He was guided by willpower. This was a lesson from the Swedish Army, the episode during the War Preparedness Duty when the Company Commander had disliked the look of the men, disapproving of their despondent and sad impression. When you’re a soldier, try to look the part. Shape up and evoke that spark in the eye, the Eye of the Tiger. By the time he arrived at the Eastern Front, Arno had internalised this wisdom. He said to himself: I Am. And so he was ready for anything.
The Company was thrown into the push to take the Tractor Factory. Before his first battle Arno listened to the commands of his Squad Leader, kept his head down and made sure not to shoot any stray rounds from his 7.92 mm Kar 98k. At dawn on November 24 they advanced on the target, the two-story house just being 100 metres away. The goal was to break into the west end and clear the ground floor first.
This operation, despite its limited target, was complex. On the day, November 24, Arno was included in the advance patrol, led by Sergeant Lober. His squad would break into the house. This they did. Then another squad, led by Corporal Hofbauer, would follow and assist in the clearing of the house. This also happened. The two squads plus reinforcements cleared the ground floor. Rooms were checked and cleared with hand grenades and automatic fire.
The house was taken, both the ground and the upper floor being eventually cleared. The day continued with more battles in the house. For example, a Bolshevik counter-attack came; a welter of automatic fire, muzzle flashes and barked orders. At one point Arno snatched a Maschinenpistole from a fallen soldier, a submachine gun caliber 9 mm with a 32-round magazine, abbreviation MP. In this close quarter combat, it was better than a rifle. But he kept the rifle he had and carried it slung on his back. He thought: you have to be careful with the bureaucratic side of army life. If I just throw the rifle away and go with the MP surely someone will notice this later. Also, you had to have special ammo pouches for the MP and Arno didn’t care to wear such, going with MP magazines tucked under his belt instead.
The counterstrike was thrown back. Soon the entire house was firmly in their hands. For several days they fought over other targets in and around the Tractor Factory. Arno adapted to the whole thing and came to function well as a front-line soldier. Tactically he learned a lot, like keeping your head down and not playing the hero; this is important for telling the story of Arno the soldier.
However, strategically, the whole operation was going awry – for at the same time, the end of November 1942, the whole of Stalingrad was encircled in Operation Uranus, Zhukov’s double envelopment. The German 6th Army ended up in motti as the Finns say – or in a Kessel as the Germans themselves said. However, Arno was flown out of the Kessel after one week. He was to report for duty at the 2nd Battalion of the 50th Regiment, stationed south of Kharkov. This was indeed a narrow escape from the Cauldron.
So on December 3, Arno packed his knapsack, took leave of his superiors and mates of 3rd Battalion and went off through the ravaged cityscape. Dust from the bombardment mingled with the mist and gave the city a ghostly aura: everything was as if shrouded in veils. A pale sun shone on him as he walked along a street lined with heaps of broken brick, rifle slung, backpack on the shoulder and Sturmgepäck with gas mask, ammo pouches and a bread bag. The MP he had given to Sergeant Lober before he left.
3
Kharkov
Arno was flown out of the Stalingrad Kessel, boarding a Junkers 52 at Gumrak, destination Kharkov. Even in his new unit his position would be as a Schütze, a common soldier. The unit was grouped in a forest south of the city.
Arno ended up in the 1st Platoon, led by Lieutenant Tanz. The Platoon had three squads, one of which was an MG Squad, a Maschinengewehr group. With a belt-fed machine gun with a furious rate of fire, it was the very linchpin of the German infantry platoon, its sine qua non. As it happened Arno didn’t get to serve in the MG squad but in one of the two regular rifle squads. Specifically, Arno came to serve in 2nd Squad under Sergeant (= Feldwebel) Kantele. For the moment Arno kept a low profile. It was about surviving, getting used to the combat zone, adapting. Here he was among hardened fighters, so he might learn something from them, he figured.
As for Kharkov, in eastern Ukraine, this was a better place to be in than Stalingrad, but it was by no means a safe place. This was in the wake of the Stalingrad encirclement, a time when the Russians launched a general offensive in Southern Russia and Ukraine. And Kharkov had to be abandoned by the Germans on February 19, 1943. Arno’s unit, the 50th Regiment, regrouped south of the city and was in the process encircled. Now the Russians were between them and their German comrades in western Ukraine, blocking the road west. The regiment’s 2nd Battalion in this scenario got the orders to fend for itself as best as it could. This included the 4th company to which Arno belonged. They had to trudge through the snow to the west.