26. Mai 1943
I have the impression that we are being watched intensively by the Russians. Recently, one of the anti-personnel mines in front of our positions went off during the night. When we looked for the spot the next morning, we found a sneak trail in the tall grass that ended in a bush fifty metres in front of our positions. So this is where a Russian scout had been lying, observing at close range our traffic, the location of our positions, firing positions and foxholes, as well as the strength of our crew.
A soldier rushes up and reports that there are Russians in front of the positions. I run forward with him, gather a group and advance into the woods, although no Russian was to be seen at the moment. We run over a dry bump, ford a narrow, marshy streambed in long jumps and reach dry ground again. Here there is light pine forest. The ground is covered with a thick layer of dry branches that make walking difficult. Some tree stumps stick out of the tangle. I duck behind a tree stump to observe for a moment. There is movement! 25 metres in front of me a Russian crouches behind a tree stump just like me and peers out. He doesn’t seem to have seen me, because he swings his head back and forth as if he wants to see something more closely and can’t make it out. If he hadn’t moved, I wouldn’t have recognised him either. But as I straighten up a little to jump, he recognises me through my movement. For a second we look into each other’s eyes, waiting, with utmost tension. Then I move quickly forward and jump towards him. There he turns around in a flash, loses his telogreika in this movement and runs away like a weasel. I yell, “Stoi, stoi!”[1], chase after him a few bursts of fire from my sub-machine gun as I run, stumble over that damned branchwork - and suddenly 30 metres to my left I see a whole pack of earth-brown figures jump up and hurry away in a crouched run like a pack of startled deer. There were at least ten of them. They could have easily shot me down before they ran away! I had rushed ahead of my men in the heat of the moment without checking whether they were following me. Of course, that goes without saying, but that does not mean anything. They must have been close behind me however, and must have jumped with me when I jumped up, because I can’t imagine that the whole bunch of Russians would have run away from me alone. How they run! They scurry through the undergrowth. Every now and then you see a brown back appear, but in a moment the bushes collapse behind him again. They dash almost silently, they are faster than we are. I give up the chase, once again we see them emerge on a cutting. They look back as I stand on the forest path with my whole group looking after them. Then one of them shoots back once more before they disappear for good.
Now that we are here, I decide to take a closer look at the area. We follow the forest path that runs towards the Donez and after a while we reach a small marshy watercourse where two Russian tanks have sunk. I memorise the area and then we return. Our only booty is a telogreika. Unfortunately, the Ivan didn’t have any papers with him. But Russian patrols or combat patrols never do.
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- ↑ Стой! or Стои! Wait! Stay (still)!