23. August 1944
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Saule | ![]() | |||
23-25: Romania’s secession |
At dawn[1] I wake up. It’s chilly. I wipe the steamed-up compartment windows to take a look at the countryside. As we pass by, my gaze falls on a Latvian farmstead where a girl is stepping across the yard. What an attitude that girl has! Slim and slender and yet powerful. And a gait like a queen! The picture is over in a matter of seconds, but I am still fascinated by this appearance. A queen in a peasant girl![2]
Terminus! All out! The train stops at a small station in the middle of a large wooded area. To the east of the station is a large clearing, a clear-cut on which the barracks of a sawmill stand.[3] The mill is run by the OT (Organisation Todt) and works with Russian prisoners of war. We let the battalion encamp at the barracks and wait for the guide. In the meantime, I go into the leader’s barracks and ask one of the OT leaders to let me shave here. He willingly puts his room and all the shaving utensils at my disposal. After a short time, the door opens and a Russian girl comes in to bring me warm water. I thank her and she shyly withdraws again. The shave is quickly finished. In the meantime, an officer has arrived outside to show us the way. The battalion falls into line, the point starts to move, and then an endless line of German soldiers marches towards the front in dispersed anti-aircraft security formation.
The August sun shines warmly down on us as we march hour after hour through the marvellous landscape of Livonia. The beauty of this part of Latvia makes the arduous march easier to bear. The land undulates gently to the horizon. Between the lush meadows and pastures, fructiferous fields spread out, and everywhere there are larger and smaller forests, copses and groups of trees. Green predominates in the landscape. Small villages and individual farms are scattered across the countryside. The large, prosperous farms with their wooden houses lie broad and massive in the farmland. I never knew that Livonia[4] was so beautiful.
Having reached today’s destination, we put up in a hamlet. A small group of farmsteads in which a German staff is already quartered. We billet the men in barns. I myself will spend the night on a straw sack in the office of the local unit. The first clerk is very helpful and takes great care of me. He treats the blisters I have got from walking today and brings me a glass of milk without being asked. He takes care of my comfort wherever possible. A really good comrade, because he cannot expect any advantage from me.
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- ↑ around 5.10am
- ↑ The author encountered this girl again in a dream during his imprisonment.
- ↑ The aerial photograph of the Saule railway station still shows such a situation today, without the editor daring to claim that this must have been the terminus of the transport.
- ↑ in the original “Courland”