1. Mai 1945
| GEO & MIL INFO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OKW situation map 1945/Mai | 
| |||
| Hilpert GenOb | ||||
1 May 45. Midnight is over. My birthday has begun. The battalion leader and Senior Paymaster Schneider have just been here to congratulate me. They brought me a bottle of cognac as a present. Now they’ve left again and I want to go back to sleep. All I have to do is let myself fall over, because I’m already sitting on my bunk.
The phone shrills in the middle of the night. What’s all the commotion lately? I sleepily pick up the receiver. I am reported that the adjutant is on his way to me. He brings an important message that the caller doesn’t want to talk about. Soon afterwards, the bunker door opens. The adjutant is there with a messenger: “Schrödter, the Führer has fallen! According to the order of the high command, the company leaders are to deliver the news immediately and personally to their men and exhort them to remain calm and level-headed.” Well, there’s not much more to say. The adjutant leaves again, and I juggle with my messenger in the dark night across the walkway to the positions, go from position to position and deliver the news of Adolf Hitler’s death to the Landsers with a few more or less necessary remarks.[1]
A few days ago, a Landser who had been taken prisoner by the Ivan returned. He was treated and fed exceptionally well over there, then led through all the firing positions of all weapons and calibres to demonstrate the overwhelming superiority of the Red Army. He was then told that a new offensive would soon be launched. He was also offered a girl, which he said he refused. And then they sent him back over to us with the order to make clear the hopelessness of our continued resistance and to ask his comrades to defect and return with them to the Russian lines. So the soldier came back and reported his experiences to the regiment[2].
The 6th Kurland Battle is long over. This time we were spared the brunt of the offensive because the Russian tried north of us to finally push through to Libau and wrest this vital harbour from us. This time, too, he failed due to the indescribable readiness to self-sacrifice and bravery of our soldiers. One Allenstein division alone[3] is engaged by 9 Soviet divisions. The fighting in the large wooded area is murderous. The tough East Prussians take up a position of all-around defense, cling to every tree. Their companies are now only 30 men strong, but they withstand the attack! Despite being outnumbered 1:9! South of Schrunden, the 8th Soviet Guards Division was even encircled and destroyed![4] And all the Kurland battles were similar. Of course, we had to retreat slowly in the face of the overwhelming superiority of the Soviets and suffered bloody losses, but the Russians did not achieve their goal in Courland despite the unimaginably high blood sacrifices.
The night is restless. Soviet aeroplanes buzzed incessantly over Libau. The bombs make the ground tremble slightly, while our anti-aircraft guns strike out their red claws into the swarms of bombers with furious fire. Many a Red airman will have to lose his life here, because the anti-aircraft guns around Libau are famous for their high downing numbers. In February, for example, they downed 60 Red bombers in one day together with German fighters, after 40 Soviet aircraft had already been destroyed on the approach.[5]
My soldiers showed an admirable attitude. Despite all the rumours and rumblings of the incipient collapse, they remain completely calm and do their hard work like a matter of course. Not a hint of discontent, no insubordination, no defections! This clearly shows how deeply rooted the old discipline is.[6] An admirable army! They would have deserved a better fate!
When the shock of the lost war has passed and the time is ripe for an objective judgement, later reports will testify to the almost superhuman achievements of the soldiers of this army until the end. Then, hopefully, the time of the smear campaign of our left-wing literary mafia and its blind ideologues will be over. No people in the world has ever dragged their own army through the mire like we have.
|
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 Originalmanuskript |
- ↑ This second paragraph is dated “30 Apr 45” in the original. However, the OKW did not announce Hitler’s death, which occurred at 3.30 pm on 30 April (KTB OKW 1944-1945 p. 1469), on the radio until the evening of 1 May, and even GrAdm Dönitz does not seem to have known anything when he sent a radio message to Hitler at 1.22 am on 1 May (KTB OKW 1944-1945 p. 1468). However, the author claims to have learned of this in the middle of the night on 30 April. As 1 May was his birthday, which he certainly remembered particularly well, the information seems credible at first glance. However, this also means that the adjutant and, shortly afterwards, the commander with the chief paymaster would have come to him on the same night. The early message and the double visit lead to an implausible picture overall, so that the adjutant’s visit and his message must be re-dated to the evening of 1 May.
- ↑ Gr. Oberst v. Gise
- ↑ Taking into account the troop masses in front of the army border (“seam”) south-west of Frauenburg and the adjoining forest area to the north on the situation map of 1 April, it must have been the 11th I.D. division, which had been activated in Allenstein.
- ↑ according to Haupt 1979 p. 106. Two regiments of this division (NARA Roll ?? Frame 6459440 and map 6065262 indicate 7th GRD) were encircled for about a week, at least 21-29 March 1945 (Frame 6459323/92) at II. A.K./290. Inf.Div. southwest of Frauenburg (Saldus), northwest of Pampāļi or southwest of Lapuki (Frame 6459341, Heereskarte Osteuropa 1:300000 Zusammendruck R58/S56) and suffered heavy losses, but the division was not destroyed (communication from Alexander Rshavin dated 14 May 2019; source: pamyat-naroda.ru p. 95 ff.). Schrunden (Skrunda) is located 20 km north-west of Pampāļi (Pampeln).
- ↑ In mid-February 1945, 40 downed by 6th Flak Div, on 14 Feb 45 another 48 downed by I./JG 54 (kurland-kessel.de)
- ↑ A liaison officer of the OKW also described the mood of the troops in Courland on 9 May as impeccably disciplined (KTB OKW 1944-1945 p. 1487; acc. to Haupt 1979, the liaison officer was Obstlt i.G. de Maizière, Ia of the OKH and later Inspector General of the Bundeswehr).
