29. November 1941
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| Slawjansk | 
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| OKW situation map December 1941 | 
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| 30 Nov: deputy division leader Oberst Schütze from (earliest) end Nov/(latest) 23 Dec: Company commander of the author: Oblt. Jablonski Historic Events: 5 Dec: Turning point of the war in front of Moscow[1] 11 Dec: declaration of war against the United States 19 Dec: Hitler commander-in-chief of the Heer | ||||
| 29 Nov: GenLt Sachs deputises for sickened KG Koch | 3 or 20 Dec: OB: GFM von Reichenau[2],WP. | |||
29 Nov 1941 or later. A gallows is erected in the market square, from which a partisan hangs. Moved by the breeze, the lifeless body rocks quietly back and forth. The dead man's face is calm, his lips are pinched together. His rifle has been slung around him, with the butt pointing upwards. A sign hangs on his chest stating the reason for his execution. The passing civilians look up indifferently or not at all at the hanged man.[4]
Not only our men are starving, but also our horses. This is bad, because the animals, overstrained by the hardships of the advance, especially in the last phase, are very weakened. Now they are starting to nibble at the wooden cots and beams. One by one they have to be put down, especially our active (German) horses. For the drivers, these emergency slaughters were a welcome boost to the damn scarce rations, but they ate these extra rations with one laughing and one crying eye, because many of our drivers were farmers and the horses had grown close to their hearts. All in all, the losses are still bearable, for we had almost doubled our horse inventory after the battle of Uman through loot horses, and the tough little Panje horses are still holding out.
I can't help thinking of our old nagging boss who used to give us such a hard time about feeding when we were on the advance. He had been relieved soon after the battle of Uman and appointed regimental feed master. This had given him a position suited to his inclinations and abilities. Lieutenant Herzog had then taken over the command of the company, but in the meantime he had already been replaced by another commander: First Lieutenant Jablonski with an unsympathetic gallows bird face. Former twelve-rounder. Recently he started a big party on the occasion of his birthday, which he then wanted to have paid for out of the company kitty. He's off to a good start!
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- ↑ meant at the same time the end of “Operation Barbarossa”; no mention in the diary, but in KTB 257. I.D., NARA T-315 Roll 1804 Frame 000336; Benary (p. 73) recalls Napoleon’s failure in Moscow in 1812; for Hitler Moscow had secondary importance (KTB OKW 1940-1941 p. 1062); Moskau was the geopolitical turning point, Stalingrad the psychological turning point of the war (German Wikipedia, viewed on 13 Nov 2021).
- ↑ acc. to sources on 3rd, acc. to KTB 257. I.D., NARA T-315 Roll 1804 Frame 000962 on 20th, or not earlier than 19th. About the background of the change of command at AGS see also Gerd von Rundstedt’s dismissal
- ↑ On the Internet, "Apocalyptic Years" by G. Kostiuk is quoted as even reporting three gallows “on the square between the cathedral and the pedestal of the recently destroyed Lenin monument”.
- ↑ The paragraphs following here in the original text (Barvenkova taken by the Soviets) were saved under the applicable date 23..42.