23. Dezember 1944
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| Gdansk | 
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| Neufahrwasser barracks |
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23 Dec 44. We are in Danzig. As the date of our crossing has not yet been fixed, we have been accommodated in a barracks near the harbour[1]. We are now making preparations for Christmas Eve here. The platoons have bought Christmas trees and are preparing their accommodation for the celebrations. In my company orderly room, the sutler goods are piling up in mountains. There are boxes and parcels of baked goods all over the floor, on tables and chairs. They were donated by the Wehrmacht, the party, the Red Cross and the Danzig women’s organisations. The homeland is doing all it can to ease the fighters’ hard lot. This willingness of the people and individuals to make sacrifices has always amazed me. A group of soldiers is busy distributing the gifts to the individual platoons. I myself am so busy with duty legwork that I can’t take care of these tasks.
A soldier from my company is based in Danzig: He invites me to his parents’ house for a roast duck on Boxing Day. But I decline with thanks because I don’t want to commit myself in any way (another over-correct habit of mine, which I also kept as a teacher when parents with consideration for their sons offered invitations or harmless and often completely unintentional gifts).
Our soldiers are already wearing their winter gear. Everywhere in the streets our soldiers are now walking around in winter camouflage dress and thick felt boots.
In the afternoon, the battalion gathers in a hall where a propaganda officer gives us a lecture on the situation in Courland. He describes the size of the Courland area we still hold and mentions the number and strength of the divisions, artillery and tanks fighting up there. There are around 300,000 men. He wants to prove to us that the Kurland fortress is by no means a mousetrap, but a bastion that is giving the Russians a hard time and tying up strong Soviet forces that would otherwise be marching against East Prussia.
Of course, you can also see it that way. It’s not even entirely wrong, but it conceals the crucial point: That we are, on the whole, in retreat. Of course, he didn’t say that we had to give up Riga three months ago. He’s a propaganda man, after all.
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- ↑ probably in the Neufahrwasser barracks, originally built for the Danzig Infantry Regiment No. 128, Sept. 1939-March 1940 civilian prison camp, further use unknown