12. April 1943
| GEO INFO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petrovskaya | 
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We march into Petrovskaya, where we relieve an SS division.[2] I am placed with my platoon to the southern edge of the large village, where I take up quarters in the last street, the houses of which open out onto a wide plain. This plain is already no man’s land, for at the far end lies the enemy. In order to block his view of the road, the SS had drawn a high reed screen across the road behind the last houses.
When I took over the quarters, I address two SS men in a courtyard who answer me in Russian. The platoon leader explains to me that the two are captured Russians. They had stayed with the company after their capture and had done extremely well. They had therefore been given SS uniforms and treated like comrades. During a surprise advance by the Soviets, they once got behind the Russian lines and disappeared for days. They had already been written off, when one day they suddenly reappeared. They had cheated their way back to the Germans through the Russian lines. They are fanatical enemies of the Soviets.
As I step into a parlour, I see an SS man packing up his things and taking the opportunity to include a beautifully embroidered towel belonging to the peasant woman.
Petrovskaya lies in a wide and deep hollow that cannot be seen by the Ivan. That is why he rarely shoots into the village. Although the street at the edge of the village, where my quarters and fire positions are located, is the most visible, it is still the quietest. Only one night there was a brief commotion. A reconnaissance party of the rifle company had gone out from my road into the wide open plain to probe the terrain. Here, about eight hundred metres away, stood a tall straw clamp. As the patrol walked unsuspectingly towards it, it suddenly received fire from the haystack. The patrol leader did the only right thing in this situation. Since the meadow offered no cover whatsoever, he attacked, jumped close to the pile of straw and set it on fire. Two Iwans were killed in the flames. It turned out that the Russians had an observation post in this straw clamp and could literally see into the village right under our noses. If the Ivans hadn’t fired, the scouting party would have walked on heedlessly. But since the troop was heading straight for the heap, the Ivans thought they had been spotted, and fired.
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The division holds a three-day pioneer course in Petrovskaya, and I also take part. We listen to lectures on Russian combat engineering, on the construction of underwater bridges, receive instructions on the most important combat engineering activities in practice and theory, so that we could later carry them out ourselves if necessary, e.g. the use of explosive charges, satchel and pole charges, S-(shrapnel) and T-(Teller) mines, the blasting of wire obstacles or tanks in combat. Course leader is a combat engineer captain.
The train of my old 8th company is also in Petrovskaya. I was there today and visited the old comrades. Fritz Schulz is still the sergeant major. He has now applied to become an officer candidate. For this reason, he has to go forward again for two months for frontline probation, although he had already earned his Iron Cross 2nd Class at the front during the French campaign. But he doesn’t want to make a fuss and so he will be going to the front before long.
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- ↑ Osteuropa 1:300.000 Blatt Z 50 bei MAPSTER
- ↑ SS Panzergrenadier Divison “Wiking”WP, which later lies behind the front for recreation