26. März 1942
| GEO INFO | ||||
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| Bilbassowka | 
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I am called to the company chief . Since we live under one roof, I only have to go into the next room. When I enter, First Lieutenant Jablonski is standing there, and next to him is Fritz Schulz, our spiess. I report as prescribed and silently wonder about this meeting. The boss and the spiess send for me! Why? Then the company chief hands me the Iron Cross II. class for brave behaviour in front of the enemy in the hard battles of the last days. The commander makes a sour face at this. Three months ago he would have liked to strike me off as an officer candidate, and now he has to award me the Iron Cross. I certainly don’t owe it to him. It was probably First Lieutenant Rasche who suggested me after the attack to retake the village. Or even the lieutenant to whose machine gun platoon I was assigned in the following days and who liked me from the start. The most likely scenario is that they both suggested me together. As it is customary for the Iron Cross to be worn openly on the day of the award, it now dangles visibly from the black, white and red ribbon in the buttonhole of my tunic all day. A man from my mortar platoon is surprised about my award, because I was not visible at all during the hard days of fighting with the platoon. Of course, he doesn’t know that I was fighting with the infantry in the front line during those days. That's how misconceptions arise, because people don’t know the background.
On the right side of the village stretches a wide valley, which is then bordered by a rather steep slope. At the top of the plateau lies the village Bilbassowka. We can see it well because its houses reach the edge of the steep slope. The village is held by the Probation Battalion 500. It is a reassuring feeling to have this probationary unit next to you, because where the Probationary Battalion 500 is, no Russian can get through.
One day there was an unpleasant story about the probation battalion. A few defectors had come. They cut off their ears and chased them back to their lines with the message that this is what happens to everyone who falls into the hands of the probation battalion. If that is true, then these idiots' ears should also be cut off, for that would be the best propaganda aid we could supply to the Red politruks. In the future, every Russian would rather fight to the last breath than surrender or defect. Besides, defectors in particular are often anti-Bolsheviks or bring information with them. Not to mention the unsoldierly, brutal mutilation of defenceless opponents and the betrayal of trust.
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