Eugen Gerstenmaier, one of Germany’s post-war presidents, put the errors of those conspirators into very clear, explanatory words. “What we in Germany’s resistance did not understand, or did not want to, was that this war was not against Hitler, but against Germany. Only afterwards did we understand that all the efforts of those in the resistance were unsuccessful and that was also no coincidence”.
“The opposition did not offer even the smallest chance of better conditions of freedom, than the National Socialists themselves, not even in the event of a successful putsch and a proclaimed cease-fire”. Quoted from Hellmut Diwald. The opposition against Hitler himself, a third of it stemming from the aristocracy, did not come from the people themselves, but from the old conservative leadership. Their failures had caused the very emergence of a dictatorship in Germany.
When the Heads of the military were united in the opinion that Hitler should be deposed, even before the Stauffenberg assassination attempt, then the question must be raised, why this was not carried out by those in uniform, in close proximity to Hitler. They had all been allowed to have a regulation pistol on their person. It was all too late. Those same officers gave daily orders themselves to their soldiers in deployment and under risk of their lives. True, this act of opposition would have demanded the willingness to take a very big risk and needed the courage of conviction. But it would have been characteristic of resistance activity. Many, if not all, had profited under this ‘Bohemian Private’. They had been promoted in rank and highly decorated, resulting from the efforts of those soldiers at the Front who had paid a very high ‘price in blood’.
Only with the turn of the tide, i.e. the invasion by the Allies on French shores, in June 1944, which could no longer be halted, did those very opponents of Hitler turn to the use of bombs as a more effective means of disposing of him. Nazi propaganda denounced them and the people too, seeing them as traitors and renouncers of their oaths. It was Hitler himself who interpreted this attack as “a ratification of my commission in the name of providence.” It gave him the will to carry on as before, to attain his life’s work. It has certainly not been easy for post-war generations to sort the chaff from the wheat of this scenario. Who were the ‘opportunists’, and who were the ‘idealists’ prepared to make sacrifices for their ethical demands? Only the last of those requires any respect.
We wanted however to win the war. So we used the opportunity given to us to improve our education in the SS School for Non-commissioned Officers. We also got to grips with the course, and the use of the light 7.5cm infantry gun and 15cm howitzers. The drill for the heavy 15cm howitzer was hard, especially for those who had to manhandle the heavy cartridge-cases and shells with speed. I was however spared the work. I was spared this muscle exercise, as team leader. But for that I had to be perfection itself on the optical sights, with speed and perfection even at a distance of 3,500 to 4,000 metres. No mistakes were allowed, which meant no ‘dud’ shots. No Fahrkarten! i.e. a ticket back home in soldiers’ slang. If even one shot missed the target, then there was an almighty dressing-down from our instructor!
CHAPTER 14
East Prussia
The victory fanfares were now seldom to be heard. The orders over the radio to ‘hold your positions’, and ‘at all costs’, became more frequent. Even in June 1944, the collapse began in the East. The central sector of the Front line that had been held by Army Group Centre collapsed. Without doubt, there then began the most forceful and horrific chapter of the war for Germany. The coming months brought the hardest months of fighting and the highest losses for the Eastern Front soldiers. For old people, women and children, it also brought unimaginable suffering and senseless death.
With the coming of autumn 1944, the Polish and Lithuanian countryside sank into mud. The battle for East Prussia had begun when six Russian armies broke through the lines of the 3rd German Army. They severed the lines of the central and northern sectors. Four days later, at Krottingen, the Russians trod German soil, for the first time. Once more our time had come. The heavy losses of non-commissioned officers, the backbone of the army, had produced many gaps in the front line and these had to be filled. Our course therefore came to an abrupt end. With our packs on our backs we were on the march again, not knowing where we were going.
As the long train, laden with pieces of heavy equipment, passed Danzig, it was clear that we were returning to the Eastern Front. We had so much wanted to finish the course and receive our certificates and promotion as non-commissioned officers. However I was promoted, and at a later date decorated for ‘bravery on the Front’. I belonged to the 8th Company, Kampfgruppe ‘Römer’. The train took us 300 kilometres eastwards, to our final destination of Lötzen in East Prussia. The journey then continued by road, to a village called Kruglanken in the middle of the Masurian Lakes district. There we were based in readiness for ‘Operation Scharnhorst’.
Provisionally, I was used as a motorcycle messenger and was given a 250-BMW motorcycle, to accompany motorised convoys. I enjoyed that, racing up and down the columns, like a shepherd dog with a flock of sheep. Later on, in the depth of winter, it was no longer so pleasant when, despite balaclava and goggles, the ice-cold wind froze your face to a stiff mask.
Reconnaissance and security runs were now the order of the day, together with one other comrade and with machine-pistols slung around our necks. We were our own masters. We could plan our own routes in this fantastic countryside. It was near the front that we found two young women about to leave their empty property, an estate. We had to do our best to persuade their very old grandmother to leave with them. We did our best to explain the danger that she was in, amidst the war and the Russian soldiers. It was all to no avail. If she had to die it would be where she was. She would rather do that, than leave her home. There was nothing more to say or do. She was adamant. The two granddaughters left with us, crying bitter tears. They said ‘goodbye’ to their grandmother, leaving her with her cat on her lap, having provided enough food for them both. It was a heart-rending scene.
Not only there, but in other places as well, where we made our quarters, we were witness to indescribable human tragedies, particularly when in the villages, estates and farms, the inhabitants had to leave at a moment’s notice, only taking what they could carry. The evacuation of the areas was the responsibility of the area administrators. They often gave the order of evacuation at the very last minute, not giving the inhabitants time to think about what they should take, and what had to be left behind. Where we could, we soldiers helped them with packing their meagre belongings on to horse-drawn carts, hand-carts, or their tractors pulling trailers. But they had other help as well. Prisoners of war, who had been sent to work on the German farms in the area, where they had been well treated, also helped the local inhabitants to pack up their possessions. The majority were Poles, and there were also some French who joined the trek of refugees, fleeing from the Red Army.
‘Operation Scharnhorst’ was designed to ensure amongst other things, the security of Hitler’s headquarters the Wolfsschanze, or Wolf s Lair, and the wide circumference around it. The HQ in the Görlitz forest was made up of eight, one-storey, above-ground bunkers and some other wooden and brick-built buildings. All of the roads on the complex, the paths and the bunkers were covered in enormous ‘cammo’ nets as protection from aerial view by the enemy. Lying behind several barriers of barbed wire and other security barriers, the Wolfsschanze was the most secure of Hitler’s quarters. As the Russians forced their way further west, his HQ was once more transferred to Berlin on 20 November. So that it did not fall into the hands of the Russians, the Wolfsschanze was blown up at the beginning of January 1945.