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01 Jan 45 Bat. renamed to Korps-MG-Batl. X<ref
 
01 Jan 45 Bat. renamed to Korps-MG-Batl. X<ref
 
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The renaming did not take place on 21 Dec 1944 already, as stated by the author, and there were even more: [https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/8020#page/3/mode/inspect/zoom/6 KTB 132.ID of 31 Dec 1944] still names M.G.-Btl. “Berlin”; [https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/3212#page/150/mode/inspect/zoom/8 KTB X.AK of 04 Jan 1945] mentions an action of the Korps-M.G.Btl.X the day before; in [http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/KorpsMGBat/KMGBat410.htm LdW] mistakes have probably been made: initially Heerestruppe with H.Gr. Nord, renamed {{gerade|Korps-MG-Btl 410}} on 10 Jan 1945 (the previous renaming to Korps-MG-Btl X is missing), “subsequently” change of subordination to X. A.K. (fits, if subsequent to the first renaming). The first renaming will have taken place with effect from 01 Jan 1945.
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The renaming did not take place on 21 Dec 1944 already, as stated by the author, and there were even more: [https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/8020#page/3/mode/inspect/zoom/6 KTB 132.ID of 31 Dec 1944] still names M.G.-Btl. “Berlin”; [https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/3212#page/150/mode/inspect/zoom/8 KTB X.AK of 04 Jan 1945] mentions an action of the Korps-M.G.Btl.X the day before; on 24 Jan, [https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/3212#page/76/mode/inspect/zoom/6 HGr N] still writes MG.Btl.X while [https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/de/nodes/3212#page/78/mode/inspect/zoom/6 132.ID] already writes Korps-MG.Btl.410; [http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/KorpsMGBat/KMGBat410.htm LdW] is incorrect. The first renaming will have taken place with effect from 01 Jan 1945, the second one before 24th, maybe on 10th, using LdW’s date.
 
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| X. A.K. | 01 Jan 45 provisional leader: [http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/T/ThomaschkiS.htm GenLt Thomaschki]{{wpl|en:Siegfried_Thomaschki}}
 
| X. A.K. | 01 Jan 45 provisional leader: [http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/T/ThomaschkiS.htm GenLt Thomaschki]{{wpl|en:Siegfried_Thomaschki}}

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Editorial 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Epilog Anhang

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Chronik

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.

Erfahrungen i.d.Gefangenschaft Bemerkungen z.russ.Mentalität Träume i.d.Gefangenschaft

Personen-Index Namen,Anschriften Personal I.R.477 1940–44 Übersichtskarte (Orte,Wege) Orts-Index Vormarsch-Weg Codenamen der Operationen im Sommer 1942 Mil.Rangordnung 257.Inf.Div. MG-Komp.eines Inf.Batl. Kgf.-Lagerorganisation Kriegstagebücher Allgemeines Zu einzelnen Zeitabschnitten Linkliste Rotkreuzkarte Originalmanuskript Briefe von Kompanie-Angehörigen

Deutsch
GEO & MIL INFO
Jūrmalciems Karte — map
OKW situation map January 1944 Karte — map
3rd Comp. became subordinated to a bat. of 132nd I.D.[1],WP

01 Jan 45 Bat. renamed to Korps-MG-Batl. X[2]

X. A.K. 18. A.
01 Jan 45 provisional leader: GenLt ThomaschkiWP 01 Jan 45 Boege GOC (31st acc. to KTB HGr K)
Field post letters/Red Cross cards
29. ✉ to parents
31. ✉ to Carola
Position at Jurmalciems[3]
My company section at Jurmalciems (north is below)
Blockhütte log cabin
Gehöft farmstead
Haus house
Kp. company command post
Art.B.-Stelle artillery observation post
Batl. battalion command post
Ruine ruin
sumpfig boggy

Our trench runs in front of the dispersed group of farmsteads in the village of Jurmalciems, twenty kilometres south of Libau with the front to the south.

As a Corps Machine Gun Battalion, it is actually our tactical task to be deployed with our massed firepower to focal points of the battle. However, as the front line troops have melted down considerably due to heavy losses, our battalion has been split up and subordinated to other units company by company. My company and I are now part of a battalion whose commander is a Bavarian.[4] But even in this battalion section, we don’t form a second line with our heavy weapons (as we should, but rarely did throughout the entire war), but are deployed at the front in the trench like the rifle companies. The HKL (main line of resistance) is well manned this way, but there’s nothing behind us apart from Paks (anti-tank guns) and artillery. The only advantage for me is that I have my company together and am defending my own section with it.

We’ve always heard on courses and training seminars about how the front should be tiered in depth with a network of defensive positions, but out here there’s almost always just one line consisting of either a continuous trench or a chain of individual positions and foxholes. For a long time now, this line has also been alarmingly weakly manned. I myself once - this was my most blatant case - with my 45-man company (that’s a quarter of the authorised strength!) defended a section that should normally have been manned by 180 men. I know that due to a lack of soldiers we can only ever manage a thin line, but here in Jurmalciems we could build a second line. We could bring the effect of our heavy weapons to bear more effectively, the enemy’s firepower would be divided and fragmented, and the attacker would still be facing a second line even after penetrating the first. This way, however, the Ivan can concentrate his massed fire on one line. But I am not a general. So let them do it.

My section is 1100 metres long and consists of a continuous trench manned by 90. With our many heavy machine guns, we have enormous firepower, at least against attacking infantry. In the centre of the section, about sixty metres behind the trench, is the farmstead, between whose buildings are the bunkers of my company command post. This is very satisfactory so far, almost ideal, but it has one major drawback: the men are only briefly trained recruits and retrained air force personnel without any combat experience who are at the front for the first time.

Our farm is cleared of civilians. But from time to time a member of the family now living further inland comes here for a few hours to see if everything is still in order. They have moved the furniture in the rooms together. I spoke to the farmer once. He is very pleased that everything is still intact and undamaged. I assure him that we are treating everything as carefully as possible. The only living creatures that haven’t left the farm are the cats.

For the first time in a long time, I finally have a fully-strength company. My company squad alone is 17 strong: 1 company squad leader, 2 messengers, 6 radio operators, 6 telephone operators, 2 medics.

The communications echelon and the two Sanis (medics) are housed in a bunker next to the barn. There is a bunker under the barn, which I occupy with the squad leader. With my tacit consent, a third man, a sergeant, has also nested here. Like the squad leader, he is an air force sergeant, knows little about infantry and, like the whole company, has never been to the front. I use him as a messenger. He’s quiet, unremarkable and friendly, but an obscure lurker. In addition to the company squad, I also have a 9-man reserve squad. This company reserve is temporarily housed in a room of the residential house. Next to the house is an ammunition bunker.

Our shelters have all been given names. My company command post is called “Carola”. I put the name plate above the entrance and have my photo taken with the two occupants right in front of it by lance corporal Otto.[5]

The reserve squad is supposed to build a bunker behind the house. They have no desire to do so, as they live much more comfortably in their living room. But the bunker is necessary, and that’s why I ordered it. As the men are protected from enemy sight by the house, they can dig unhindered during the day. This gives them something reasonable to do at the same time. The construction is progressing very slowly because the lads don’t feel like it. I leave them to it. After all, they are all newcomers to the front line. They’ll work faster after the first surprise fire!

We’ve set up a small observation post in the loft of the enemy side barn. We’ve punched a small hole through the thatched roof, through which I can easily see the outpost area of my company section with my powerful binoculars.

We’ve hardly been in the position for a few days when the Landsers have already discovered a potato clamp in the field. They dig around in it during the day. I forbid that, because we draw the enemy’s attention towards us with these movements.

Evening after evening, as soon as dusk falls, I start my rounds of the positions. There is a lot of minor and major trouble. Everywhere there is something to criticise, to improve, to order. Rarely can I praise something. They were heating a dugout during the day and of course the smoke gave away the location of the bunker. The Russians are very good observers. Another time there was only a single post, even though a double post was supposed to move up at nightfall. The next evening there is a double post, but the two Landsers are talking loudly and uninhibitedly. Again and again I come across guards who are openly smoking a cigarette. As I have a continuous trench, with the exception of the left wing, I can also walk round the positions during the day. Even then, many things are not in order. One sentry is standing too high, so that he sticks out over the edge of the trench up to his chest. The sights on another machine gun are not right. He wouldn’t hit a Russian because he would have shot over their heads. Another gunner doesn’t know the left and right limits of his firing area, so there are gaps in the forefield that are not covered. So today is this and tomorrow is that. The soldiers are not always to blame. They don’t yet know how to behave in the trench and in front of the enemy. Their training was too short. In addition, you learn a lot from experience only, which they still lack. Perhaps there is also a certain war-weariness.

They are no longer the troops of 1939.

I have a sergeant, for example, who can’t get out a clear sentence or a sensible report. Every time I meet him, I have to pan him for some negligence or other. It has now become too much for himself. One day he reports to me and asks to be transferred to another company, as he could never please me. I have no objections and suggest that he make his request directly to the battalion.

It’s late in the evening. The regimental commander has just paid me a brief visit. He had come alone, enquired about all sorts of things and was just a little surprised about my distribution of the night posts. Here, however, I had told him a fib to hide the fact that I had not yet visited my advanced position. I’ll have to do that as soon as possible.

This advanced position is a farmstead about two hundred metres in front of our trench. I have manned it with a squad. I have also “punished” one of my telephone operators, who has repeatedly behaved contrary to orders, by transferring him there. When I wanted to take him back to the company squad during a visit to the position, he surprisingly showed no desire to return. So I left him here at the front. A reinforcement up front couldn’t do any harm. I later learnt that the group up front had found a buried barrel of salted meat and had been living a wonderful life of feasting.

I was woken up in the middle of the night. The battalion commander is standing in the bunker. He has checked my section and allegedly found an unoccupied guard post. Boy, boy, what a rich vocabulary such a choleric Wurzelhuber (hillbilly) has! At the end he rumbled something about a “Saupreiß” (filthy Prussian). I didn’t say anything back, because I’m not sure he’s not right after all.


— next date →

Editorial 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Epilog Anhang

January February March April May June July August September October November December Eine Art Bilanz Gedankensplitter und Betrachtungen Personen Orte Abkürzungen Stichwort-Index Organigramme Literatur Galerie:Fotos,Karten,Dokumente

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.

Erfahrungen i.d.Gefangenschaft Bemerkungen z.russ.Mentalität Träume i.d.Gefangenschaft

Personen-Index Namen,Anschriften Personal I.R.477 1940–44 Übersichtskarte (Orte,Wege) Orts-Index Vormarsch-Weg Codenamen der Operationen im Sommer 1942 Mil.Rangordnung 257.Inf.Div. MG-Komp.eines Inf.Batl. Kgf.-Lagerorganisation Kriegstagebücher Allgemeines Zu einzelnen Zeitabschnitten Linkliste Rotkreuzkarte Originalmanuskript Briefe von Kompanie-Angehörigen

  1. The division relieved 32nd I.D. just in this period of time (KTB 132.ID of 26 Dec .1944 p. 16 and 19; Haupt 1987 p. 98, 106 and 109).
  2. The renaming did not take place on 21 Dec 1944 already, as stated by the author, and there were even more: KTB 132.ID of 31 Dec 1944 still names M.G.-Btl. “Berlin”; KTB X.AK of 04 Jan 1945 mentions an action of the Korps-M.G.Btl.X the day before; on 24 Jan, HGr N still writes MG.Btl.X while 132.ID already writes Korps-MG.Btl.410; LdW is incorrect. The first renaming will have taken place with effect from 01 Jan 1945, the second one before 24th, maybe on 10th, using LdW’s date.
  3. , shown on the situation map of 26 Feb 1945, lacking a time-wise closer one; the front practically did not change in this section
  4. 132nd I.D. was in fact based in Landshut; the battalion could have been II./G.R. 438 (KTB X.AK of 22.01.1945 p. 85).
  5. Unfortunately, the author never received this photo - like so many others. - Is Otto a first name or a surname? Is it possibly Otto von Kleinsorgen, whose address the author had? - The author only told his wife about this bunker name in his letter of 20 Jan 45.