Brothers in Arms: The Graf Story Part 2

Brothers in Arms:
The Graf Story
Part 2

"ICH SCHWÖRE BEI GOTT diesen heiligen Eid, dass ich dem Führer des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes, Adolf Hitler, dem Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht, unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will, jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen." God damn I will never forget the tune of this oath. 150 Men, we were the three. Kompanie. Most of them, just like me, were drafted from the Hitlerjugend. God, the HJ was probably the best thing that ever happend to me. I always wanted to be part of them and I was so enormously proud when I was finally able to join their ranks.

The last three months put me through hell and back. Basic training was harsh but I never expected it to be that hard. After some days out on the field I just fell into my small bed in our room and slept without even changing. Hauptmann Schulz would be fucking upset when he discovered that, but at least I could get some good night sleep. Sometimes I struggled so hard I thought about quitting but that were the times when I thought of my father and I guess he would have never even talked to me nor looked me in the eye had I quit. It’s a good fucking thing that I was able to find comrades like Fritz and Günther.

During the training we became more than friends. We became a family. Fritz, Günther, and I, Albert Graf -- three friends now freshly out of the troop school, officially Obersoldaten. Upon completion of the oath, Günther spoke up, "What a goddamn shame we missed France."

"I heard the Frenchies got toasted by our Panzerdivisons," Fritz replied.

Yes, that was indeed the case. Now we three, young, energetic lads were about be part of the glorious 11. Panzerdivision. Serving for Germany and for Hitler, fighting for the expansion of our fatherland. A most noble and most exciting thing we would ever be able to do!

I will also never forget how proud my father was. When I went home to Munich for the first time wearing my Wehrmacht-Uniform, he had that look on his face. His eyes shining, and a smile on his face that you could see from Prussia. Being a highly decorated World War I veteran, my father now had all of his sons following in his footsteps, serving in the mighty German Wehrmacht. If it was up to my mother, me and my brothers, Hans and Ludwig, would be doing a "real job." Come on, what on earth could be better than crushing Germany's enemy’?

There was only one thing that made me quite sad when I arrived home. My childhood friend Viktor and his family had moved away. It was hard enough to learn he was a Jew, after all those years we spent together, but it was even harder to swallow that he was Jewish because they were inferior. The wedge between us grew even greater when I started to fear his father, after the things my Schulführer revealed about the Jews. Yet again I am sad to lose my best childhood friend. I guess I just am confused about how I truly feel.



THIS IS IT. This is the day. Tomorrow we will begin the greatest battle that the fatherland has ever seen and we will accomplish the biggest victory that mankind has ever witnessed.

A few weeks ago our Division was ordered to move into Poland and be stationed directly opposite the Soviet Union’s borders. I first assumed we would have a Training here, but then Leutnant Meier revealed the plan to us. We would finally be marching on the Bolschewik scum. In our briefing, we were told our main objective was to push through Ukraine and reach Donbass and then the Black Sea. Our secondary objectives were to reach the Dneper and capture Kiev. Our Leutnant told us that it would be easy to break the Soviet soldiers, as they were inferior to us in every way. He then, with a smirk, said that we were to kill all. We would not be taking prisoners. Hell, that will be fun was my thought.



IT HAD ONLY BEEN one day. One day and I already looked into the face of evil. On our advance into the Ukraine we met a bunch of Russian mechanized troops who were defending the area around Dubno. After advancing into a small village, we were attacked by the Russian 15th Corps who had set up on our flank. As the 1. And 4. Kompanien tried to save our flank, the 3. was ordered to avoid the swamp ahead and to move to Brody where we were to dig in and expect another Russian attack. Turns out that they were right. Upon reaching the first sighting of the small wooden houses of Leszniew, an MG nest that was built in one of the small houses began to open up. Thanks to the rather long grass, most of us were able to dodge the first burst and crawl near the base of the house. Fritz then looked at me and grabbed a grenade. I did the same. He looked into my face and mouthed “One, two, three” and we stood up and lobbed both grenades into the house window before running to either side of the house and jumping to the ground. With a resounding thud, both grenades went off. No longer was the Maxim firing. Hah! These bastards didn't see that one coming.

Panzer II and advancing Infantry.

There was absolutely zero time for cheering for suddenly a column of Soviet light tanks rolled out from between the houses. Verdammte Scheiße, we never expected them to have a whole tank column out here! How could they have hide from the Luftwaffe? We had almost no Anti-tank equipment and by God I saw many brave men die in a mere five minutes as the tanks managed to catch us with our dicks out. The only AT we had was a handful of mines and a 37mm anti-tank gun. We were completely surprised by their counter attack; however, our Regiment managed to stop the tanks with the help of some Panzer 3s and pure will. I personally worked with Fritz to get behind a tank and jump up on it. We dropped a bundle of grenades down a hatch and watched in aw as it thudded inside. A wounded Russian jumped out screaming, only to be put down with a bullet through his face. A while later, after we cleared out the village from the remaining enemy, I took a rest in one of the buildings. I couldn't help myself, but I sent a prayer to God, that both of my brothers were safe! I heard that Ludwig and his famous JG 51 are somewhere around here. One time I saw some Russian bombers attack our positions but they were mercilessly shot down by our Me 109s. I could've sworn one of them must have been Ludwig. He was the only pilot that I knew able to accomplish things like this, he was the pride of the Graf family!



I HAVE BEEN FIGHTING for four months now. Vier gottverdammte Monate! I saw so many men die and I barely saved my own ass a few times. Fritz and Günther were still with me, barely. Günter got shot in the shoulder on our advance past Kiev to support the flank while another division was assigned to capture the city. At first we were just driving a wedge between the Russian lines to finally reach Kharkov. That city was very important to us, as it served an important role in the Soviet industry. On the way there, our regiment was assigned to capture a line of small villages with an unknown number of Russian defenders in them. We engaged the enemy in bloody house to house fighting before we were able to get support from a Panzer III. The Panzer loaded HE shells and blasted the hell out of those house. During the fight we lost about 20 men, but capturing the last village (I can't remember those cryptic fucking names) was even harder. Most of the surviving Russians fell back to this village so we expected a tough defense. We planned to attack at night, supported by a few mortar teams, as the Pz. III had run out of ammunition, in the early morning. We managed to sneak up on the Russian defensive lines. Total silence among the men. I quickly loaded the LMG-34, a drum locked in and another on my belt. My Feldwebel asked, "Are you all ready?" I looked at Fritz and Günther. "Yes, sir!" I said. He then gave the signal via a long blast on his whistle.

German Soldiers in combat on the Ostfront.

A few seconds later, the air was filled with the sounds of mortar shells raining down on the enemy defenses, as I heard them scream in pain and surprise. We then charged forward. "FÜR DEUTSCHLAND!" we screamed as we proceeded run straight into the first line of defenders, shooting on the move and spraying our automatics from the hip. Suddenly I heard a loud scream from my left. Three Russian soldiers were hiding in a building we had already passed, and one of them shot Günther from behind. Günther was insanely lucky. The guy who had shot him must have been barely out of training with about zero real combat experience thus far so he missed the killing shot and instead gave Günther a flesh wound on his left shoulder. It seemed almost like he was very surprised that he'd even hit and he stared into my eyes, his mouth open in surprise. I swifted on my foot, digging my heel in. I gripped the handle and the stock before letting a blast from the LMG spew out. I cursed them as I just emptied the drum into all three bodies. Each body jerked as multiple bullets impacted their dead bodies. When I ran out Fritz and I ran over to Günther to pull him out of the trench he had fallen into. "Come on, get up!" I screamed as I pulled him out of the trench. We pulled him out of the village, where we screamed for a medic.

The next morning we learned that we were only a few kilometres apart from our goal. However, our offensive had stalled. Our replacements were coming in slower than the amount of wounded and killed going out. We received orders that we were to be reassigned a few days later. We were to be reassigned to finally bring Stalin and his Gremlins to their knees. We were then told that our unit was to be assigned to capture Moscow along with the Panzergruppe 4. Günther was healing quickly and would be going with us! I couldn't be happier. My best friends and I were about to achieve the greatest victory of Germany ever!



WE ARE CLOSE! We are very close to our goal! In the last 30 days we have managed to push the Russian bastards back into their nest, Moscow. Our Panzergruppe Four was assigned to guard the flank of the IXth and VIIth Army Korps in doing so we were instructed to close the pocket at Vyazma.

German half-tracks observing enemy lines.

Just yesterday we had a very funny turkey shoot going on. Our Regiment was slowly but steadily pushing into enemy territory while me and my squad were in our half-track to give fire support, if necessary. We hid ourselves in a small forest about 300m away from a village where we expected the Russian bastards to be. As our companies attacked, following a few Mortar salvos, all I could hear were the explosions inside the village and Russians screaming. It was so goddamn loud and I am still surprised at how loud our relatively small mortars are when they started raining death upon our foes. As the other companies began their attack with a long whistle of the Leutnants, I checked the mounted MG of the half-track, another barrel nearby for quick change, drum loaded and another on standby.

"Go for it!" I whispered to Hans, one of the best drivers I have ever known. He stepped on the throttle and with a roaring sound our half=track moved out followed by squads of my Company. Thus began our forest hunt, our sights on killing the fleeing Bolschewik Cowards. I stood at the MG, constantly firing and taking out one bastard after another. I remember myself screaming "DIE YOU FUCKING PIGS!" repeatedly. That's it. That was the bloodlust of the German soldier no enemy of the fatherland could withstand! After we were sure every single one of them was dead we searched the dead Bastards for anything that was worth taking with us. I remember on that day I found my watch that I still have up until now. Its a goddamn great watch, sadly I can only image the poor Wehrmacht soldier it once belonged to prior to being stolen by the Russian cunts.



THIS IS A DAY I will remember forever. It was the day I realized I wasn't invulnerable. our advance onto Moscow got stuck around December 5th and now we are dug in into this fucking snow covered winter wonderland and constantly trying to fend off the Russians. Suddenly it seemed like they had taken one or two bites too much from a Panzerschokolade. They fought with a rage I had never seen before. A tenacity unexplained. This was a day that had started so well, for I received my first Iron Cross for action in Vyazma and I was to go back to Germany to be trained as a Company Commander. Hell I have never been happier in my life!

However later in the day the almost usual artillery strike came in from behind the Russian lines but just as the days before they wouldn't hit shit. This was mainly because we constantly managed to fool them by switching our positions every night without them seeing it. Today we were told that we would try to launch a counterattack. It all seemed so easy. We had just enough troops in our trenches and defensive positions to fend them off, while two of our companies, including mine, were waiting on the flanks to immediately encircle the enemy's incoming attacking troops. After Vyazma I had taken over the lead of our group. Our Feldwebel Gustav died on a flight home when his plane was intercepted by a stray Russian Fighter. Damn his poor wife. Just about to give birth to his second child, a daughter.

The Russian attack lasted about five hours. At some points our lines were under so much pressure I was about to just give orders to plug the gaps in our lines. Luckily, Major Dietrich arrived with his tank platoon just in time to fend of a major push. Those bastards clearly lack their new "Supertanks". I heard rumors from other parts of our divisions they were facing more and more of those mysterious T-34s and they even told me they could withstand our AT-Guns. Pffft. That must be a hoax. Several hours into the night I finally got orders over the half-track's comm system. "Groups move out quickly! The enemy is retreating!" I heard the long whistle sound from my Leutnant. Off we go!

We met the Russians half way between their and our lines. We almost managed to cut them off completely, but a few escaped from our half-tracks and infantry. Upon driving down a hill into a forest I jumped off the half-track to check for our tracks. While chasing the enemy I heard a sound that sounded like a wheel was broken and I wasn't mistaken. "Halt Männer. We first need to fix this!" I yelled. My group got off the half-track and started to fix the cracked drive wheel while me and Günter were standing guard and observing our surroundings. Günther asked, "We gave 'em a good ride huh?"

"Definitely," I replied, "I don't think it will be too long until they will be out of power and we will be finally able to annihilate them from the face of the earth."

Thats when suddenly I heared a loud cracking noise. "Scheiße! Did you hear that?" I asked Günther.

"Haha yes but don't worry, that must have been the supply half-track closing in onto our position."

"Let's get back there anyway to see how long it will take. I am fucking freezing to death out here!" As we reached our half-track I asked if the supply company had shown their faces yet.

"No we didn't see them yet," Our driver Hans said. "But did you hear that tree cracking? I guess that..."
Suddenly all I saw was a flash and heard the sound of a hammer striking the bullet... immediately I felt a deep and sharp pain in my leg and chest. I slowly began to faint, droping to the ground trying to scream. "Scheiße, I am hit!" is all I could manage to let out before everything went black around me!



I DIDN'T KNOW where I was, nor why I was in a place I didn't recognize. It smelled almost like a battlefield, that was for sure. I closed my eyes again. I had some brief memories flashing through my mind. Günther beside me screaming something. Then I remember hearing the sound of plane engines. The rest of my memories is that I heard numerous people talk around me. I felt a strange numbness crawling up my left leg as I slumped into unconsciousness again.



"BE CAREFUL WITH that leg for some time soldier." Those were the last words Doctor Fischer spoke to me upon releasing me from the Lazarett. I had been there for freaking seven months now. Günther told me what happened when he visited me one day. The cracking noise we heard back then was a Russian T-34 crawling through the woods. He shot our half-track upon reaching sight. Fritz, Hans and the 6 other guys were killed immediately as the shell hit our ammo boxes and exploded. Günther luckily got away with a few scratches because he stood behind a tree peeing. I was hit by a shrapnel that was apart of the armor of our half-track. It broke my leg and almost cut it off. Thank God the supply half-track arrived with an anti-tank group and took out the T-34 just a few minutes later. Else I wouldn't have survived. Günther barely managed to save my life. He said he had never seen that much blood coming out of a person without the person already dead or dying.

Thanks to the wonderful nurses here, I recovered relatively quickly. By now I could walk again and while I couldn't go back to the front as of yet, I forced Doctor Fischer's blessing out of him for me to go to the Wehrmacht-Academy to become an Officer.



I AM FINALLY BACK on the Steppes. It felt like a real relief when I finally got reassigned to my now Panzergrenadier-Regiment 110. I took command of my old comapny. The glorious Third. Leutnant Eichhorst had been severely wounded during the Winter and was therefore replaced by me. Freshly out of the Offiziers-Akademie and now a Leutnant myself and I know for what I was here for.

After our shameful defeat in Stalingrad the Russians pushed us back. We couldn't withstand the never ending counterattacks. Now we were at Kursk. The Red Army had pushed into the areas around Kursk during the Winter and created a bulge in the frontlines. High Command therefore decided to encircle this Bulge to finally regain the momentum again. The day was the 5th of July. Although many of the greater generals suggested to start earlier, Hitler himself again blocked this decision as I heard. I seriously began to question if he was the right person to fight for!

A German motorized Unit advancing in the Kursk Area.

WHAT A SHAME. We were so damn close to victory but because of Hitler who went on to fight this war as he liked best instead of fighting it the right way, we are retreating again! Heeresgruppe Süd and my Panzerdivision were doing so damn fine on the way to reach our goals.

When the offensive launched on the 5th I was surprised how easily our Units went through the Soviet lines. Our main task was to clear the flanks. We were under constant attacks until we were finally called to retreat. Now our task was to secure the positions for our retreat.

Sitting comfortably on my Command half-track I coordinated the attacks of my third company on a small town called Lechansk. I heard from our recon units we were facing the remnants of the 6th Guard Army which was a tough challenge although we had given them a pretty harsh fight on our advance. Or at least I thought so.

Upon reaching the outskirts of Lechansk we faced the spread out nests of Maxim-MGs dug into either ruins of houses or craters created by our heavy artillery two hours ago. Thank God I had Günther and his men from the second group. When I returned I heard he did almost unbelievable things when I was at home recovering and I was really glad I had him with me. I saw him and his men entering the village. While our command group and the rest of the company distracted the enemy, they managed to clear out the defensive lines all by themselves.

Our half-tracks couldn't drive into the village so I jumped out, got my helmet and fetched myself an MP40 from our pioneer-half-track and proceeded into the village to join Günther's group. Man they were surprised seeing their Leutnant actually joining urban combat with them. "I heard reports of a Soviet command post not far from here," Günther said. "If we are fast enough we could catch them!" I was surprised how he could find that one out. All that command heard was that they immediately fled when we crushed the first defensive lines. "Sounds like a plan then," I said. "I always wanted to capture a Russian Offizier!"

As we began to crawl through the ruins, we met multiple Russian MG nests which basically consisted of just two or three men and an MG. Luckily most of them surrendered when they faced a group of seven German Landsers. But one nest was different. As we approached they immediately started to engage hell with their MG. We were pinned down in a narrow alley behind a pile of dirt. Suddenly I saw a path between the ruins. A gap in a wall, likely caused by an artillery shell. I slowly crawled into the gap. I checked my magazines -- one full clip in my bag and still 24 in my gun. More than enough for a bunch of these cowards.

I got up fairly quickly and engaged the enemy. Before they could even react I had two of them taken out by my MP40 leaving a bloody mess inside of that small hole. I thought the last scumbag would surrender now seeing his comrades literally blown into pieces by me. But I underestimated this man. This day I learned the lesson, that the Guard Troops really were the best troops the Soviet Union could probably have. The guy I was facing must have been in this war since we first engaged them in Operation Barbarossa about two years ago.

Before I could even react he rammed his buttstock into my stomach. I felt every bit of breath leaving my body for a second as I almost faded away into darkness. "Fuck!" I thought, "Don't let it end like this Albert! Stay strong!" Gaining every pinch of power I had I jumped forward to knock this bastard over. I hit him with my shoulder and grabbed around his chest as I rammed my whole weight into his body. We both fell off the pile of debris they had put their defensive position into and tumbled down until we both laid at the foot of the dirtpile. I slowly got up to my feet but he was way faster then me. He charged at me holding his hand in a weird position. I stepped back a bit and prepared for the impact. As he knocked me to the ground I suddenly felt a pain as bad as I have never felt pain before. Suddenly I realized what this fucker was holding in his hand. A trench knife, now stuck inside my stomach. As he ripped it out the pain even got worse.

Luckily the incident with the T-34 about two years ago made me unconscious so I couldn't really feel anything right after I got hit. But now the pain was there and it nearly took my mind away once again as I prepared to die. A Russian Guardsman above me preparing for the deathstrike and me lying in a dirtpile in the middle of fucking Russia. That's not how I imagined to die at all, but hell maybe dying is even better than getting killed in this stupid war I thought.

I waited for the killing blow. "What's taking him so long?" I asked myself as I still waited for the world around me to go dark. I slowly opened my eyes. The Russian Guardsman, or should I say, the remains of him, had fallen off of me. I heard a familiar voice: "Albert Gottverdammt nochmal not again!" It was Günther and his squad. For one second I wondered what had them take so long to get to me, but I thought that just for a second as my doubts vanished into a feeling of pure joy. Günther saved my life once again. This guy literally saved my ass from death two times. "Man am I glad to have you mein Freund!" I whispered with the last bit of power before the pain reemerged from my stomach and my mind decided to leave me again leaving me unconscious again.



THIS MUST HAVE BEEN the saddest New-Year's Eve I have ever had. I have been in this hospital for another 6 months again. It took Doctor Fischer almost 7 hours and countless blood conserves to finally stitch me back together, but again the second dude who saved my life once did it for a second time. The trench knife damaged my intestine and cut a hole in it. I was bleeding like a pig that just got slaughtered but thanks to the Doctor (a true miracle worker if you ask me), I survived it. Well let's say the first months were really bad because I had to eat special food in order to not make my situation worse, but for me that was a price I would gladly pay to have my life saved again.

So why was this New Year's Eve so sad you may ask now? Well, I knew how the war was going that is why. The Soviets had driven us back almost to where Barbarossa started, the Western Allies were pushing through Italy and there were rumors about a huge invasion coming from Britain to France. The second time in the hospital because I fought a war for that crazy Hitler actually made me rethink my ideals. I started to realize that all I have ever been was a tool for a mindless bastard who had some wicked fantasies about ruling the world. But still, I remembered I had to fight for my fatherland, and I don't want it to be taken away from me by those fucking Allied or Soviet troops. I have to protect my family now! And bei Gott I will!



I REALLY HATE TRAINS, I must admit. Since my I was a child I had always been a fidgety guy and sitting around for multiple hours is a horror for me. Usually. But after a year of sitting around combined, the 8 hours on the train to Avignon were like a blink. As I got off the train and entered the station, I wandered into a mess of Soldiers. "Albert!" I heard a familiar voice. "Thank God you finally made it back!" I turned around and I saw Günther. Goddamn this magnificent bastard is here too. Tears started to pour into my eyes and couldn't help but cry and hug my best Kamerad out of them all. On the way to our Kompanie-Post Günther told me about all the things that I had missed. After Kursk he received another Iron Cross for saving my ass once again and had a two month holiday granted by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW). When he got back in April our division was fighting off the Soviet counterattacks inside the Carpathians. In a small town our company got encircled by Russian ski troops and barely managed to escape while sacrificing almost half the company. After that, the whole division was withdrawn from the frontlines to be replenished at Avignon. According to Günther, this was the one and only moment to do that. He heard reports of a Soviet attack just two Days after we had been replaced.

At that moment, the division and my company were taking as many new soldiers as we could. New weapons and supplies. For this time, we had to do simple administration tasks. Why am I telling you this you may ask. Well it all started when Obersturmführer Schulze entered my room in the former Mail-Office right at the central place of Avignon. He entered the room and did the obligatory salute. "Heil Hitler!" I responded not even looking up from my paperwork. Suddenly he slammed a briefcase onto my desk. "Read this!" he ordered me. "What's that?" I asked him. "Some more of your crazy plans?" Günther told me about things he witnessed in Russia. These kind of guys would only appear when there was dirty work to do. That usually meant killing Jews or deporting them. I slowly read through the papers he handed me. It was an order. The order to completely search Avignon and its surroundings for Jews and partisans.

I began to think about the consequences. He soon would be needing my men to complete these tasks. Partisans were a huge deal that's for sure, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice my men needlessly. I was suddendly filled with rage. "Go ahead and do what they tell you. But don't you dare take a single man from my company into this filthy business you death's head clown!" He stood there and stared at me with his jaws opened. "Now go before the guards get rid of you!" I almost yelled at him. He quickly turned around and walked right out of the building. I won't support these fucking mass murderers but I hoped these fuckers would at least help us with the Partisans.



YEP, THAT'S IT. All my fears had been confirmed within one single month. One day after I arrived in Avignon it happened. It really wasn't a surprising attack, but somehow the OKW predicted it totally wrong. While our forces were waiting around the Calais area they attacked Normandy. It was huge shock for our commanders. But high command decided we should stay around Avignon as we were expecting reinforcements soon so we were able to hold off another offensive, that was likely to come from the South. I eagerly awaited these as my company was on just about two-thirds of its usual strength.

The devil himself sent a new surprise as it seemed. In July the Heeresgruppe Mitte got completely obliterated by a massive Russian attack. Morale was low enough around this time, but now the OKW decided to withdraw all the promised reinforcements to quickly reestablish a strike force in the areas of the Heeresgruppe Mitte. We were getting small reinforcements though but those consisted of healed veterans and fresh recruits who must have been taken right out of the basic training without even completing it. So we just waited for the inevitable. Two days ago the Allies landed on the Cote d'Azur. Our crippled Division had no choice but to leave. And here we are. Travelling to Belfort to form a new defence there with the 19th Army.



THIS YEAR MUST BE the year of the saddest holidays ever. New Years's Eve was shitty, but Christmas Eve was even sadder. Trapped in a village. Most of my company was sent to fight a battle we couldn't win. I was sitting in a barn with the light of one single candle. Sitting on a chest laid back against the wall I was really glad I still had my coat. The Winter outside was just as merciless as the Allied forces and it was freezing Cold. The Offensive in the Ardennes has failed although the Authorities still say we are winning I seriously doubt it. I suddenly heard a knock on the barn doors. It was Günther. "So what are your next orders Albert? We have lost contact with the Divisonskommando. I think we are on our own now." I began to think once again. Hell, all I did for the past few months must have been thinking about all the shit that started to break down on me in the few months! I constantly hoped that both of my brothers were still going strong. Hopefully I will meet them again soon. I thought of my family. When the Allies started to bomb the cities there were constant reports of thousands of civilian casualties. I couldn't stand it anymore. I started to cry. Günther left the barn as he saw me have this breakdown.

After I cried for about 10 minutes I got myself together. I called Günther back in and told him to gather the men. As soon as they were all standing outside the Barn I issued my next orders to him. "Männer! I know we are all cold. I know we all just want this all to finally stop. I know we all lost friends and Kameraden in the past few days. I know you all are not eager to continue this fight any further, but I just ask you. Think of your women. Think of your kids. Think of all the relatives at home counting on you. I need all of you to be aware of whatever is happening outside the village. And as soon there is any Allied troops attacking, we will give them a ride they will never forget. Für unsere Familien!" Damn it was a good feeling to hear all my men cheering for me after this. I caught a new breeze of hope to get out of all this alive.



I WONDER HOW I even managed to sleep. But as Günther woke me I realized, that I had indeed fell asleep right on my improvised desk in the barn. "They are coming!" Günther whispered. Damn that's it. That's the moment I prepared my men for yesterday. I quickly grabbed a helmet and the Sturmgewehr I had in the chest I was using as a chair. I had to prepare for battle. "Heinz just went peeing as he suddendly spotted some Americans in the Woods. He barely managed to escape."

"Thank God he made it out of there. Now let's get to my men. I need to support them."

We had set up a small defensive line inside the Village. Two MGs in the houses flanking the entrance of the Central place and a Pak40 we found on the way here hidden in a hole right in the middle of the square. I got behind our sandbag line and peeked over it. At first there was nothing to notice. But then suddendly I heard the screeching noise of tracks. Those must be some of those damn Sherman tanks so we were facing an armored unit. "Scheißdreck!" I hissed. The first American soldiers came out between the trees. There were more and more appearing out of the woods like a strange and mysterious ghost army coming right out of nowhere.

As soon as the first American stood in the gap between the two houses that marked the entrance onto the main plaza I started shooting and right after that, my men started as well. The Americans were taken completely by surprise by this massive attack. I saw them falling one by one down into the snow. I saw blood everywhere and I heard them scream. As I hid behind the sandbags to reload my gun I couldn't help myself but think that these poor bastards must feel just like me. As I popped my head out again I suddenly felt my heart drop onto the ground. We were facing 3 Sherman Tanks rolling into the gap. One of them crushed right through the house on the left and right through the MG that was hiding in it.

I heard Fritz scream one last time before he got killed under the tracks of the tank. The crew of the Pak managed to put an end to the tank and it's crew just a second later by hitting it's ammo stowage causing the whole tank to burst into flames. As they were reloading the gun the second Sherman sent a shell toward the gun, killing the crew. I dived behind the sandbags as soon as it fired another. I rolled up into a circle covering my ears and expecting my death. But I lived. Instead it hit Günther. One shrapnel that was most likely a piece of the gun barrel of the Pak40 hit him in the head and killed him immediately. As I opened my eyes I saw him lying beside me, his head a bloody mess.

That was the killing blow. Suddenly all my courage and strength vanished. "Feuer einstellen!" I screamed. I don't know why they stopped because I was sure they would not have heard me over all that noise. I slowly began to raise up from my knees, my hands folded above my head. I started to walk out behind my cover. One step after another. Finally leaving this war.

German Soldier surrendering to a GI in the Ardennes.

I FINALLY MADE IT home. It has been five months since I surrendered. Five months after I finally got my head out of the sling. Five months at a prison camp. Five gottverdammte months. I was sure I lost everything. My pride. My dignity. My family. My brothers. I felt the urge to get piss drunk and forget everything that happened in the past five years. As I walked down the streets of Munich I was surprised as my feet took me to the place I strove for, all on their own. They took me right to the bar in which I used to sit and drink with my brothers.