Memories of a Lost Generation: German War Letters, 1939 - 1945

By Steve Nicklas

This book is a detailed history of the German side of World War 2. It is based on letters from German soldiers and German families. The study collection consisted of a total of 564 different letters and documents which included: 544 private letters, from a total of 72 different individuals; 18 official letters and documents; and two wartime diar

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steven Nicklas
• Release date: Nov 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9780692979822

Book preview

Introduction

The Importance of Letters

I am, by training and education, an archaeologist with a passion for military history. The bulk of my research has focused on the Roman military of the third and fourth centuries A.D.; more recently I've been involved in the relatively new discipline of Conflict Archaeology, with a primary focus on the German/Soviet War of 1941 to 1945.

The goal of any archaeologist is to try to get, as much as possible, into the minds of the people from the past who are being studied. This process is made easier if you are dealing with a historical culture (one that produced written documents, inscriptions, etc.). In the world of archaeology, the most significant artifact is the one that contains the most intrinsic information. When they exist and can be found, personal letters are about as good as you can get. In many cases, they are more accurate and reliable than official documents and histories because they frequently lack governmental censorship and propaganda. Unfortunately, letters almost never survive in an archaeological context. A surprising exception to this norm was the discovery of a large number of letters and other documents from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD at the Roman fort of Vindolanda, just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England. The letters were written by members of the garrison and their families. They were personal in nature and gave unprecedented insight into life in a late 1st and early 2nd century military base on the edge of the Roman World.¹ One of the better-preserved examples, from the collection at the archaeological site of Vindolanda, is depicted below.²

Letters, of course, are far more abundant from more recent time periods and have frequently been used to supplement the history of modern military conflict. Numerous books have been written using Allied war letters to tell the story of World War II. The use of exclusively German letters, however, is a different case entirely. In this project, we utilized letters from German soldiers and German families. The study collection consisted of a total of 564 different letters and documents which included: 544 private letters, from a total of 72 different individuals; 18 official letters and documents; and two wartime diaries. A total of 89 letters that had been translated and read were not included in the text because they were brief and redundant.³

To maintain a statistically valid, unbiased sample, the contents of the letters were translated after they were selected for use in the study. The selection of the letters for inclusion was based solely on the unit identification of the individuals who wrote the letters, all of which were written between 1937and 1945. It is imperative that all primary sources be randomly selected. Otherwise, the result of the research will be predetermined by the selected letters and subject to manipulation. In an ideal world, it would also be helpful to have the same number of letters from each individual represented in the corpus. This approach is problematic; because of the relatively small number of surviving German World War II letters, it could only be achieved by randomly selecting far fewer letters and in so doing eliminate relevant and important references to wartime events.

Facsimile images of all original letters and documents presented in the text are available to the reader. The large number of pages (just over 2,000) in the corpus mitigates against the use of a traditional appendix. Scanned color copies of all original letters and other documents referenced in the text can be found on the following permanent website: www.germanwarletters.com. All correspondence and documents are numbered consecutively to match their appearance in the text.

The letters come from just about every branch of the German military, the Nazi political establishment, and the civilian population. Included in the corpus are letters to and from soldiers in the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe, the Kriegsmarine, the Waffen SS, the SD, the RAD, Pioneer Units, a punishment battalion, and concentration camps. The documents were, however, selected on the basis of content. In some cases, they relate directly to situations mentioned in the letters.

Image #1. This letter is a birthday invitation the wife of a garrison officer wrote to one of her friends who lived in a nearby town. The letters were all written on thin tablets of wood. The amazing preservation is due to the fact that sections of the site, since Roman times, have been below the water table of a nearby spring. When organic material is both buried and below the water table, oxygen cannot get to the microbes that facilitate decomposition.

A total of 416 letters (from nine soldiers) tell the wartime story of two extended families, the Bredemeiers and the Ketschaus. The translations of 370 of these letters are included in this volume. The remaining 46 letters were translated and read but not included in the text because of repetition and brevity. Both the Bredemeier and Ketschau letters start in 1940 and continue until late 1944; in essence, they cover the entire war. Letters from additional families are present in the collection as well, but they are fewer in number and, as a result, they cover shorter periods of time.

In addition to the family correspondence, a number of single letters are included. For the most part, they are from important individuals or military units and provide unique personal insight into many major wartime events. Not all of the letters contain important historical information or descriptions of battles fought; some tend to be more mundane and deal with the daily issues of life during the war. Some will make you laugh; some will make you cry. Taken as a whole, however, they make it clear that the majority of the soldiers who wrote the letters seem to have been motivated by a sense of duty, tradition, and patriotism, and to a much lesser extent, ultra-nationalism or racism.

Written expressions of National Socialist ideology are extremely rare, mostly occurring in the letters of the SS and functionaries of the Nazi party. The following letter is one of the most extreme examples in the collection; it was written by, Heinz Lehmann, an SS Oberscharführer in the Waffen SS Panzer Division Wiking. The letter was addressed to his brother serving on a U-boat in Hunter Fleet 41487. Considering his rank and his unit identification, his comments are hardly a surprise. For more information on SS Oberscharführer Lehmann, see page 386.

Letter #1

From Russia June 14, 1942

My Dear Brother.

Thank you for the letter from May 25, how are you? I hope all is well. I am fine and always in a good mood and full of mischief. Father gave a comrade a parcel to deliver to me, with cake and something else to stay warm here in Russia. Here at 1:45 AM its daylight and it gets dark at 8:30 PM. Well, the SS like it like that for their seasonal celebrations in June. ⁴ In the Reich, you have the Gestapo, the SD, and each one has a big job to do to keep the Nation in line. Our Reichsführer SS has a great responsibility; our Führer's pillar is the party. I hope you understand that. Life is like that; some men end up with a bad name even if they have achieved a lot. In the case of the SS, the big enemy is the Jew or better the blacklisted, and what they do is certainly a crime. Later I will tell you a few stories, and you will see how important our SS is. I know that on a ship in the high seas, life is not easy but you carry on like that, we will reach our goals one day. We shall do all we can, you can count on that. There is a huge cleansing thunderstorm gathering over Russia, the Führer knows what cards he has to play, ahh well, later we will learn all the news. When the order comes 'panzers advance', be ready; don't listen to your comrades, they will be glad to have a few extra hours sleep. I know it from my experience. From home I hear only good news, Mother will have a restful time in Erlenholf, and Father will wait until you come home on furlough. For me, the signs are not good for furlough, but I don't mind, first the duty, then the furlough. I also expect you to think only of your duty towards our Führer and Fatherland and your home and family. We both want to fight to reach the goals that our Fathers and old comrades never achieved. All for our Führer, all for Deutschland.

Greetings,

Heil, and Sieg!

Your Brother, Heinz

Immediately after the war, what was left of the German Nation and the German people were held accountable, not just the guilty but the innocent as well. As time passed and one-time enemies became friends, feelings began to change. This process was of course greatly enhanced by the advent of the Cold War, but no amount of shared ideals and anti-Soviet policies could erase the deeds of the Nazi regime. When confronted with the universally acknowledged evils of National Socialism, it is only human nature to react strongly; but in our haste to condemn the guilty, we must not condemn the innocent as well.

Translation and Acquisition of the Letters

One of the most difficult aspects of this project was translating all the letters and documents, not because German is a particularly difficult language to translate, but because of the Sütterlin Schrift handwriting style, which was used extensively in Nazi Germany. It is truly beautiful but almost impossible to read, even for native-born Germans. Only those individuals educated in the Volksschule before 1941 can read it. About 85% of the letters in the collection were written in Sütterlin Schrift⁵.

All of the letters and documents are the property of the author. They were purchased by a third-party at estate sales in Germany. At the time of purchase, a good faith effort was made to locate the families of the major individuals referenced in this book. In addition, subsequent attempts have been made, especially if wartime addresses are still valid.

I must say that after reading the first few letters, it was hard not to feel like an interloper, in the sense that these letters were never intended to be read by others. This creates an odd feeling of both closeness to the people involved and a sense of intrusion and trespass into their most private of memories. It is a feeling very similar to what I've experienced during archaeological fieldwork. Whether I am excavating a Roman burial, making sense of an ancient inscription, or translating a barely legible German letter from the Russian front, the feeling, in many respects, is the same. In the final analysis, however, the greatest tribute that one can make to these people is to tell their story.

Why use letters?

Much has been published on the subject of the Third Reich, almost always based on the analysis of official histories, documents, interviews, and, recently, secret recordings of German prisoners of war made during the conflict. Documents and official histories by their very nature are likely to be used as vehicles of official propaganda, and post-war interviews don't necessarily reflect the true feelings of the people being interviewed. Also, secretly taped conversations are suspect as well, especially those that were facilitated with the use of an Allied agent to direct the conversation. This is the case because soldiers in that situation would frequently brag and exaggerate about both good things and bad. Whereas all of this information is certainly valuable and potentially accurate, I believe that letters, personal letters, although imperfect, are a more accurate source of information about the war. They capture a moment in time. They are far more likely to present an accurate account of what life during World War II was like for the typical German family, as well as what Germans thought at the time and how they coped.

For many years, because of the nature of the war and its aftermath, the topic has been taboo. And to a degree, it still is, it is, however, impossible to understand the war and its importance if you continue to dismiss the perspective of half of the participants. Research into German war letters is necessary to fully appreciate the nature of the common soldier's participation in the conflict. Unfortunately, there are now only an estimated 120,000 to 150,000 surviving letters out of the approximately 30 billion to 40 billion that were mailed during the war⁶. One of the most important aspects of this book is the fact that all of the letters and most of the documents are previously unpublished primary sources. The total number of letters included in this study collection stands at 544, a little under .5% of the estimated total.

This book is intended to be more than just another military history of Germany during World War II. Of course, the inclusion of information about the war in general, Nazi culture, and the German/ Soviet War in particular is necessary to put the letters in their proper historical context. Throughout the book, the wartime stories of the families and individuals involved will be intertwined with the history of the conflict. The result provides the reader with a unique perspective on the war from the point of view of typical German soldiers and German families during the war, not 75 years after the fact. The letters contain a considerable amount of commentary on battles fought, which can supplement existing histories, and they also provide a treasure trove of information about life on the front lines in Russia.

The Feldpost

Soldiers serving in the German military during the war were on occasion transferred from one division to another, but more frequently, from one to another field army. In most cases, the one thing that stayed consistent was the soldiers' regimental affiliation. Regimental identification was indeed the key to finding the location of an individual soldier at any given point in time during the war. This, of course, was important for the sending and receiving of personal as well as official correspondence. All of this was made possible through the use of the Feldpost number. The number functioned as a sort of ZIP code. A new number would be assigned to a soldier each time he changed regiments, or, in some cases, battalions. Since the soldier's name and number were the only necessary address, the system had the added benefit of helping keep military base locations secret. The Feldpost number can be found on any letter sent by German military personnel outside the Greater German Reich. It is typically found on the outer envelope or cover, located within a stamped circle, which also contains the national emblem, an eagle, with a swastika within a wreath. In the example below, the number was stamped on the card with red ink. The stamp for the Feldpost number can sometimes be confused with the postal cancellation mark, located to the right (see Image #2).

Image #2. Postal card with both the Postal cancellation mark and Feldpost number.

By any estimation, the German Feldpost provided a remarkably efficient service for the men of the German military. The post was always given the highest priority in transportation, both in the air and on the ground. An amazing example of the Feldpost's ability is the fact that the German 6th Army, surrounded at Stalingrad, continued to receive mail up until January 18, less than two weeks before the surrender of the garrison. German commanders understood the importance of morale and how morale is maintained by a constant flow of mail from home. Before military engagements, a great effort was made to get the mail to the troops.

Image #3. Depicted in the photograph to the left is all that remains of a postal seal that was used by the Feldpost detachment serving with the German troops encircled in the Kurland pocket, Latvia in 1944 to 1945. The inscription and the FP number are still visible.

Censorship

Military Regulations and Censorship

As a result of the mutiny of the German Military at the end of World War I, the German High Command became very concerned about the possibility of a recurrence in the war that they had been told to anticipate; therefore the KSSVO (Special War Crimes Ordinance) was passed into law. On August 26, 1939, the directive went into effect. This ruling was primarily directed against those who were guilty of the offense of demoralization of the Armed Forces but it also included those who refused military service. The law was designed to protect against what the Nazis viewed as subversion of the war effort, undermining military morale, and sedition and defeatism.⁷ Actions forbidden by the new legislation included but were not limited to the following: remarks critical of Nazi party ideology; expressions of doubts about the legitimacy or possible failure of the national struggle; dissemination of news about battlefield losses, poor or declining morale,; desertion; and casting doubt on the accuracy of official military reports. Penalties for violation of this legislation were severe: a very lengthy prison term or a death sentence.⁸ The decree itself applied to the military as well as civilians.

It also stated that anyone who attempted to evade military service completely, partially or for certain periods of time by means of self-mutilation or by means intended for deception or by any other means⁹ should be sentenced to death. Over 3,000 military judges¹⁰ further defined the law and established the death penalty as the standard punishment for conscientious objection as well. Therefore, anyone who did not comply with the draft after mobilization of the German Armed Forces, could expect to be sentenced to death and subsequently executed.¹¹ By war's end, military courts ordered the execution of approximately 50,000 men.¹²

Denunciations and incriminating letters seem to be the primary method the Gestapo used to bring charges against subversives in both the general population and the military.¹³ Current estimates place the number of individuals - both civilians and members of the German military - that were charged at approximately 3 million. ¹⁴ The most famous victims of the law were the members of die Weiße Rose (the White Rose) student rebellion in Munich, which included active members of the German military as well as civilians.

There were, three different, but related, types of censorship that had a profound effect on the way the letters were written and even how they were sent:

1. Political, which was intended to stop negative comments made by civilians or military personnel about the Nazi party or the operation of the government.¹⁵

2. Military, which was intended to stop comments that would undermine morale and the command structure, or unintentional comments that might provide usable information to the enemy. Spreading rumors of all types was banned, as was the taking and mailing of photos and illustrations that showed military installations. The dissemination of propaganda of the enemies of the state, Allied (primarily the Soviet Union) and domestic, was forbidden.¹⁶

3. Self-censorship, which occurred when members of the military were less than honest with their family members at home about the true nature of their situation. This usually occurred when the soldier in question was trying to shield his relatives and friends at home from the realities of the war.

The fact that these letters traveled such substantial distances in a relatively short period of time indicates that the letters were inspected by the military itself before being put into the post and that only a small sample of letters were selected for inspection. This would allow the Officer in Command to potentially know quickly of any serious violations, which almost certainly would have been the inclusion of information that was deemed classified or defeatist by the military.

All letters sent through the military Feldpost system were subject to inspection.

When a letter was censored, it was at first marked 'for further processing' and forwarded to the intelligence officer. Critical comments constituted the Offence 'subversion' under National-Socialist law and the perpetrator could be punished with imprisonment, penitentiary or death sentence. Although the contents of private letters could not be compared to subversive activities and there was no legal basis for prosecution, the total numbers of sentences due to 'subversion' against the authors of war letters is estimated at 30,000 to 40,000.¹⁷

Even though the censors only controlled a small portion of the letters, censorship received a lot of attention in the media. This could have convinced the soldiers that it was more pervasive than it actually was.¹⁸ Despite the risk, a surprising number of letters in the study collection (almost 10%) contained forbidden comments that were in some cases treasonous; this almost certainly indicates the growing contempt that the average soldier had for Nazism, regulations, and the way the war was being fought. In addition, as the war progressed, soldiers discovered ways to avoid the military censors altogether.

Censorship of Civilian Post

Though all German mail was in theory subject to inspection, very little domestic mail was actually checked. Much of the German censorship effort was directed at international mail leaving the Greater German Reich. This was, however, not the case if an individual was suspected of being in violation of Nazi policies. Starting in 1939, any German citizen wishing to send mail overseas was required to apply for a postal control card. When sending a parcel or letter, one had to present the item for inspection along with both the postal control card and identification papers. The postmaster would then affix a stamp to the back of the card. Each card had room for 24 stamps; when it was full, it was necessary to acquire a new card at the local police station.¹⁹ The mail would then be sent from local post offices to the Foreign Letter and Telegram Examining Station in Berlin. It was soon discovered that one facility would be totally inadequate and subsequently additional offices were established throughout the Greater German Reich.²⁰

Degrees of Noncompliance to the KSSVO Regulations

Several points should be made about compliance with these regulations. From reading the letters, it is apparent that most new conscripts obeyed the KSSVO. It is impossible to say if this was done because of the policy itself or because of an unwillingness to discuss the harsh details of war with their family members. The converse is also true; veterans of the Russian Front tended to be more straightforward in their correspondence and much less concerned about potential violations of censorship regulations and indeed in some cases they held them in contempt. The general feeling was that because the soldiers were already serving on the Russian Front, there was very little that the authorities could do in the form of additional punishment; if they chose to enforce the law to the letter it would have had a profoundly negative effect on what was left of German morale in the East.²¹

Letter #55 is Missing!

As you start to read the letters, you will notice that some of the families (especially the Ketschaus) are obsessed with counting letters and packages; there are even some letters that are almost exclusively devoted to the topic of counting postal items sent and received. Of course, to the people at the time, every letter was extremely important, and despite the fact they could not track their mail like we can today, they could at least keep track of which letters were missing. It does, however, become a bit tedious at times and probably far more confusing than it needed to be.

German Military Mobilization

In addition to following the military careers of the individuals who wrote the letters, it will also be necessary to follow the history of the units in which those individuals served. This will require the examination of the regimental and divisional histories of the units involved. Before starting with the bulk of the letters, it is important to have some basic background about the structure of the German military at the beginning of the War.

German military mobilization in both World War I and World War II was organized and carried out utilizing a system of military districts that came into existence during Imperial times. The German military district, Wehrkreis, system worked very well in World War I and during the Republic. It was one of the few governmental programs of the Weimar Republic that was retained by Hitler after the Nazis came to power in 1933. Originally under the command of the OKH (Oberkommando des Heer) the Wehrkreis worked from 1933 until August 1939 to substantially expand the size of the German military. In September 1939, the Home Replacement Army was established to take over military mobilization utilizing the system.²²

As the war progressed, the number of districts grew from seven before the Nazis came to power, to 19 in 1943. These districts were primarily responsible for rebuilding and refitting divisions after losses in battle, providing basic military training, and most importantly raising replacement units. Each German division relied on a particular military district to provide it with not only new troops but also with reinforced older units that had undergone attrition and now were back to full strength and ready to return to the fight. Typically, a German recruit would spend six months to a year in the German Labor Service or RAD, and then would report to his regional district to begin his official military training. German recruits were segregated by year of birth. The men would stay together as a unit through training and then would be deployed as a unit to the front.²³

The Evolution of German Divisions during the Course of the War

The composition of the divisions in the German military changed considerably during the war. In the early years, during the Polish and French campaigns, there was little if any change in the structure of the typical German division. After the French campaign, the number of tanks in all panzer divisions was reduced. This was done to have enough armored units to increase the number of panzer divisions overall. Similar changes, for the same reasons, were made to all remaining divisions after 1941. This was done by reducing the number of soldiers in each division. For example, after the failure of Barbarossa, the number of men in a typical German infantry company was reduced from 180 to 80. In 1943, the number of regiments in a German division was reduced from 3 to 2. In 1944, an additional change was made which reduced the number of battalions from 3 to 2. The net result was that a German division in 1939 consisted of nine battalions made up of companies of 180 men each; while in 1944, a typical division consisted of four battalions made up of companies of 80 men each.²⁴

Introduction Summary

The following pages contain hundreds of randomly selected letters written by German soldiers to their families at home and in some cases from their families back to the men at the front. It was my intention from the beginning to preserve this collection of letters and documents and to provide public access to them for research and study. Too many times historians select sources that facilitate the desired results. Information is presented and analyzed but only very rarely is there any description of how the primary sources were chosen. In some cases, the total number of sources are mentioned, but inevitably only a fraction will be included in the publication. This type of research has resulted in broad sweeping statements such as the Wehrmacht was a criminal organization and a facilitator of Nazi policy;²⁵ the implication of such statements is of course that not only was the Wehrmacht criminal, but so was each person in it. However, since the majority of the Wehrmacht consisted of conscripts, who were not Nazi Party members, the above assumption is hard to substantiate. Were there Nazis in the German military? Of course. Did members of the regular German military participate in the Holocaust? Yes. These men were criminals and have been branded as such by history; but what about the others, the ones who were forced to fight, the ones who made up the rest of the German army?

In this study, in order to maintain a statistically valid sample, none of the letters were translated before being included in the corpus. I wanted to see for myself where the story would go. I wanted to give voice to those who are gone, the men who were drafted into the German army and served their country, only later to be forgotten by it. There is no question that both Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union were the two most evil regimes in modern history. However, the Nazis were legally elected; they were the German government; and they compelled millions of German men and boys to serve in the military. After the war, a new German government disavowed the past and any connection to the war was ignored, forgotten or forbidden. Unfortunately, this included the German veterans as well. Hopefully, in a small way, this volume will help set the record straight and bring about a better understanding of the role of the average German soldier in World War II. Read the following letters with an open mind and decide for yourself.²⁶

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¹ http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/.

² Birley, Vindolanda, a Roman Frontier Post on Hadrian's Wall, figures 79 and 80.

³ Frequently, they were identical or almost identical multiple letters sent to different family members, typically on the same day.

⁴ Fundamental to the indoctrination that all SS men and especially the officers underwent while still in training was the official Nazi effort to bring back as much of the ancient German past as possible. This was to include, not only the elimination of Christianity but also the reintroduction of the warrior religions of the pagan Norse. This program was the brainchild of Heinrich Himmler; much of the information that was taught to the SS inductees was fabricated, but some was based on archaeological and historical research. The nocturnal festivals that Heinz is talking about were a series of annual torchlight celebrations celebrating the summer solstice and occurred between June 20 and 22. The Occult History of the Third Reich. Directed by David Flitton. Narated by Patrick Allen. 1991.

⁵ I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Wilhelm Gehlen. He attended German Volksschule prior to 1941, and translated all Sütterlin Schrift documents.

⁶ Kilian, Katrin. The Medium War Letter as an Object of Interdisciplinary Research. Archives, State of Research and Processing of the Sources from the Second World War. Dissertation. 2008. http://warletters.de/english/index.html.(accessed March 6th, 2017).

⁷ Dear and Foot (Eds.), The Oxford Companion to World War Two, pp. 365 – 367

⁸ Special War Crimes Ordinance (KSSVO). http://mobile.lexexakt.de/glossar/kriegssonderstrafrechtsverordnung.php (accessed March 6th, 2017).

⁹ Garbe, Between Resistance & Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich, 2008, pp. 358 – 359.

¹⁰ Stolleis, The Law and the Swastika: Studies on Legal History in Nazi Germany, 1998, pp. 151-152.

¹¹ Garbe, pp. 358 – 359.

¹² Stolleis, pp. 151-152.

¹³ The Nazis: A Warning from History. Directed by Laurence Rees. Narated by Samuel West. 1997.

¹⁴ Stolleis, pp. 151-152.

¹⁵ Ibid.

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ Kilian, Katrin. The Medium War Letter as an Object of Interdisciplinary Research. Archives, State of Research and Processing of the Sources from the Second World War. Dissertation. 2008. http://warletters.de/english/index.html. (accessed March 6th, 2017).

¹⁸ Ibid.

¹⁹ Cowdery and Cowdery. Papers Please! Identity Documents, Permits and Authorizations of the Third Reich., p. 88.

²⁰ www.postalcensorship.com

²¹ This is a view that is supported by additional recent research (see Tubach & Tubach, German Voices, page 202).

²² Mitcham, German Order of Battle, Volume 1, 1st – 290th Infantry Divisions in World War II, p. 17.

²³ Reference was made to this practice in a number of the Ketschau letters.

²⁴ Mitcham, German Order of Battle, Volume 1, 1st – 290th Infantry Divisions in World War II, pp. 3-4.

²⁵ It is a recognized fact that to a greater or lesser degree the Wehrmacht supported and facilitated the racial policies of the Third Reich. This does not mean that all higher officers were Nazis or supported them, and it certainly doesn't mean that all of the enlisted men were culpable.

²⁶ When translating, an effort was made to change as little as possible in the letters. This practice sometimes results in awkward wording and inconsistent grammar and punctuation. When this occurs in the translations it is a reflection of the original document.

Chapter 1

The Invasion of Poland

In Europe, World War II started with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. Unfortunately, none of the letters in the corpus were written during the actual military campaign in Poland. However, included in the general collection of letters was a typed manuscript of a wartime diary that covers the entire Polish campaign.

It is an interesting and important document. The diary is included here in its entirety. It was written by Edi Moser, who, as I discovered, served in the 45th Austrian Infantry Division, most likely as an NCO (non-commissioned officer). Fortunately, Edi Moser was particularly accurate in his diary entries, but at no time in the journal did Herr Moser mention the identity of the unit in which he was serving. Based on operational maps of the Polish campaign, it is apparent that he was assigned to the XVII Army Corps of the 14th Army, of Army Group South. This assessment is based on the place names and dates he mentioned in his diary. At the time, there were three infantry divisions attached to the XVII Corps: the 44th, the 45th, and the 7th. Both the 45th and the 44th were Austrian divisions, while the 7th was German. Each division was raised in its own military district (or Wehrkreis) and within each district there was a home station, typically the largest city. For the 7th Division, that city was Munich; for the 44th, it was Vienna; and for the 45th, it was Linz.²⁷ After reading the first five diary entries, it was apparent that the 45th Infantry Division was the unit in question. The first-place name mentioned in the document is the city of Wels (see the diary entry for August 28). Wels is located in northern Austria, only about 25 km from Linz.

Herr Moser’s diary is concise and accurate. It is an excellent narrative of the swift advance of the 45th Infantry Division and illustrates the massive advantage that the Germans (and Austrians) had in men, matériel, and tactics (see Map #1). It is interesting as well because it references the division crossing into and retreating out of territory that was soon to be occupied by the Soviets.

One ominous entry occurred on October 15 when Moser describes the city of Chelm as a city of 33,000 inhabitants, 17,000 of which were Jews. Initially, after the fall of Poland, the city was under Soviet control. The Soviets installed a pro-Soviet civilian government under a Jewish mayor who was a Soviet sympathizer. On October 9, 1939, the city was ceded back to the Germans. As the Russians retreated, a large number of the Jewish residents also fled, fearing retaliation from the Polish population. Immediately after the Red Army left, the Jews who remained were indeed attacked by groups of outraged Poles.²⁸ Under Nazi control, the situation went from bad to worse for the Jews of the region. In December 1939, approximately 2,000 Jews died during a forced relocation. By October 1940, the Chelm Ghetto was established. The history of the city throughout the rest of the war is beyond the scope of this volume. However, the Holocaust will be addressed in part in Chapter 11 below.

Document # 1

War In Poland, 1939

August 25, call up of all reserve units.

August 26, the arrival of the first reserves, collecting of items not for war, gas mask testing, packing, etc.

August 27, ammunition issued, loading up, the last visit to town from 3 to 11 PM.

August 28, final packing, marched in front of barracks, the takeover of the barracks by the Wehr Council (Defense Council). 10 AM departure for the railroad station, noon: loading the 9th, 10th and 11th companies at the freight station in Wels. Departure to Linz, Vienna, Lundenburg.

August 29, journey through the protectorate, arrive 10 km south of Mährish Ostrau, 2 PM detrain, then we march via Friedeck, Mistek to Palcowice.

August 30, a day of rest in Palcowice.

August 31, all sergeants assembled company headquarters at 12:30 PM, the commander tells them that by tomorrow the war will start. 7 PM, high alert, 7:20 PM company is ready to move out, chief explains attack against Poland. The Battalion proceeds at 7:30 PM towards the Polish Frontier.

September 1, 2 AM arrived 300 m from the frontier. Two heavy machine guns will secure the advance. At 3 AM we hear a Polish machine gun firing. At 4 AM the order arrives, the attack will start along the entire front at 4:45 AM. At 4:45 AM the company moves out. German planes above us are crossing the frontier at 5 AM; we hear explosions set off by the fleeing Poles. German soldiers are greeted with joy by the population. At 11 AM the 11th Company runs into artillery fire, one man is killed one is wounded. We deployed across the fields to continue our attack. On a hill in front of Teschen we rest, our artillery fires on Teschen, and then a message arrives, "Teschen has been taken by the 135th Regiment (of the 45th Infantry Division)". Searching for a place to stay overnight our company left earlier so we lost them. The Sgt. with nine men went searching for the Company at 7:30 PM, at 9 PM we locate the 12th Company and join them. The direction of the march is Skeszew. We receive flanking fire from Polish troops during the night.

September 2, from 12:30 AM until 1:30 AM we rest under the stars. At 4 AM explosions start in the distance, it seems the bridge across the Vistula River was blown by the Poles. We arrive at 4:30 AM on a forest edge near Skeszew. The company starts reconnaissance, 12 men go ahead, and nine stay behind. 7 AM the Poles attack, estimated enemy strength: one Battalion. Enemy beaten back. We had one wounded. At 8 AM we assemble by the cemetery on a hill. At 9 AM we take Skeszew, the Burgermeister of the town hands over the affairs to Capt. Müller. The population welcomes us with flowers and candy. We take a rest by the Vistula. As an enemy plane circles over the town, infantry regiments 131 and 134 (both belonging to the 44th Infantry Division) march through. Enemy artillery fires on our position, they continue to fire for two hours until they are silenced by our own guns. Some of the civilians in town fire on our troops as we march through. We move into a new house for deserved rest. At 5 PM another enemy plane appears above the town but gets chased away by our flak.

September 3, early morning searching for the Battalion in the direction of Bielitz, we see a field kitchen for the first time. We receive coffee and canned food. Later we find a supply wagon from our Battalion. We cross the Vistula, lunch at noon, our captain is happy to see us, do you want me to kick your ass or do you want me to give you a warm welcome? In the evening we march through Bielitz Biela, where we get fed, and then another 12 km of marching to find quarters. Burning houses all around us. The Poles set fire to them.

September 4, we find a sow running loose, we march all night; move out at 10 AM to Wadowice.

September 5, 9 AM, and another rest to 11 AM marching through Wadowice.

September 6, march until 2 AM, rumors the enemy line is 3 km ahead. We send out a patrol; we are told a PAK (antitank gun) company was wiped out by the Poles.

September 7, the enemy in front of us has retreated, we march through Skawina, Kraków was taken this day by the 44th Infantry Division. We bypass Kraków; take quarters, a small skirmish somewhere, Polish prisoners.

September 8, march through Wiielizes (Wleliczka), Lunch in Bechnia (Bochnia), staying for the night in Bechnia.

September 9, continue advance via Bezesco, later found quarters.

September 10, continue the advance, in the evening, singing as we march but tired, move through Tarnow, found a place to rest in a factory.

September 11, we rest until noon and receive a bottle of beer. At 1 PM we continue our march. Pilzno, Repeszyce, where we stay for the night.

September 12, the direction of our march is Rzeszew, one hour of rest, then forward again.

September 13, via Lancut - Przeworsk to Jaroslaw, arriving there at 4 PM. We take quarters in an old Pioneer camp. In the evening, we swim in the River San.

September 14, via Lubaczow, and stay overnight in the village, enemy troops are supposed to be nearby; we are on alert.

September 15, early morning we are off again, past the forest of Oliszyee, without 12th Company. On the road near Uscowsce, we received fire from Polish positions along the forest line. We attack, the Poles defend desperately, enemy artillery fires on us, we retreat, we dig in for the night and expect counterattack by the Poles. Later a big thunderstorm arrives, and all fighting has to stop in the downpour.

September 16, at 1 AM we get food, the Battalion assembles, at 4:15 AM the next attack starts. We cross the creek outside of a village and take up positions. Our artillery had registered in the area during the night and opened fire at 4:30 AM. A full-scale skirmish developed with the assistance of our artillery, mortars, and heavy machine guns. Spotter plane overhead directs the firing. At 9 AM the forest is taken, and looks terrible, there are many dead Poles. From our company we lost Sgt. Mader, Pvt. Ostermann and Pvt. Haidinger. We continue our march to Futory. At night, several shots are fired in the area, maybe Polish civilians.

September 17, the first day of rest, late afternoon we bury our dead comrades, our Battalion had 23 dead 22 wounded.

September 18, advance toward Lemberg (the City of Livi, in the northwestern Ukraine), stopover in Niemery (Nemyriv) for the night.

September 19, advance through Magierew to Dobresin, the enemy had tried to break through there, we stayed for the night.

September 20, a 3 km march north to Rawa Ruska.

September 21, we retreat to the San River, because this area will be taken over by the Russians, we stay outside Magiero. During the night, our guard, comrade Pollesbeek was shot and killed.

September 22, at 5 AM, on alert, the enemy tries to break through, we dig in on a hill, but the enemy has given up.

September 23, a day of rest in Hruszow.

September 24, made an early start and arrived at 3 PM, made camp, got hot food and then stood guard.

September 25, got back from guard duty at 1:30 AM, resumed march to Jaroslaw, 7 km further we take quarters.

September 26, we change the direction of march and go northward along the San River, 24 km we march, Capt. Kraft, Sgt. Wüpper and Pfc. Lange is transferred. We put up guards; there are supposed to be Polish soldiers near us in the Brickyard.

September 27, via Lezaisk-Sarzina to Rudnik, rest in Rudnik.

September 28, continue to march to Wolin, and we stay there for some time.

September 29 to October 6, we stay in Wolin, guarding the San River and villages, guard along the demarcation line, on October 1 we had our first church service in Realawice. The Col., von Dünau was present.

October 7, depart at 6 AM and march to the second demarcation line by the Bug River, via Rudnik-Kreszew, into a small village, the roads are in bad condition, much sand. Several groups are formed to push vehicles through the sand.

October 8, we continue our march.

October 9, we continue our march through Bilgorei, a short rest, and then on to Szames, we arrive soaking wet in a village at night time to take up quarters.

October 10, march toward Szames, Teraspol, and Zawade. Here we encounter our first snow.

October 11, continue marching at 4:30 AM, at 7 AM we march through Szames, we stay the next night in Werbkowice.

October 12, via Hostnesc and Hrubiezcew, Sergeants Moser and Köhler, who were detailed for weapons school, have left.

October 13, a day of rest in Terebin, the roads are in a bad state.

October 14, continue to march to Chelm, stay for the night in Terezin.

October 15, a beautiful fall Sunday, we march 7 km, and then we boarded trucks. Chelm is a city of 33,000 inhabitants, 17,000 of them are Jews.

October 16 to October 27, we stayed in Chelm, our Lt. Col. became town commander, we guard the railway station the factories and the power station.

October 28, we load our gear at 12:30 AM and go by train to Pulawi; we cross the Vistula River and found quarters.

October 29, early morning we set off again on a march to Grabow, we find quarters; Staff Company settles down further away.

October 30, 7 AM departure, march via Zwolen to Radom and stay outside the city.

October 31, continue to march Skeryszew to Odeschew, and we stay there until we are transferred to the West.

November 1 to November 12, we stay in Odeschew, and then on the 12th at noon we march to Radom. We board the train at 5 PM and departed 11 PM for the West via Kattowitz-Frankfurt, Berlin, Dressau, Kassel and Gemünden.

November 15, new quarters occupied in Haina Hessia.

Edi Moser

Signed

15/10/39

Later History

Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate any information about the post-1939 history of Herr Moser. He is not listed among the German war dead, but this could simply be because he was Austrian. However, following the history of his division is another matter entirely. After the Polish campaign, the 45th participated in the conquest of France and remained in Belgium on occupation duty. The unit stayed in the West until about a month before Operation Barbarossa. During the offensive, they fought at Brest-Litovsk, Minsk, and at Tula. During this time, the 45th Division was part of the 2nd Panzer Army in Army Group Center. In December 1941 the division suffered greatly, like every other German unit on the Russian Front. In response to the Soviet counteroffensive, they put up great resistance but were eventually forced to retreat. Despite sustaining substantial casualties they stayed on the Eastern Front but were transferred to the South to the city of Orel. The unit remained in this area throughout all of 1943; their next major engagement was the Battle of Kursk in July of that year. After the failure of the Kursk Offensive, the 45th Division fought during the long retreat until it, and the bulk of Army Group Center were finally destroyed during the Russian Summer Offensive of 1944.²⁹

---

27 Mitcham, German Order of Battle, Volume 1, 1st – 290th Infantry Divisions in World War II, p. 17, pp. 87 and 89.

²⁸ Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority. 2016. http://www.yadvashem.org/(accessed March 6th, 2017).

²⁹ Mitcham, German Order of Battle, Volume 1, 1st – 290th Infantry Divisions in World War II, p. 17, p. 90.

Chapter 2

The Heller Family

The Heller family lived in the farming community of Großbothen, Germany, and consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Heller; their two sons Gerhard and Hellmut; and a daughter, Traudel. Both Mr. Martin Heller and his eldest son, Gerhard, served in the German military. The letters from the Heller family are some of the oldest in the collection. Unfortunately, many of them do not have the outer envelope, nor do they reference a Feldpost number. However, there are two surviving envelopes with Feldpost numbers that were written from Gerhard to his younger brother, Hellmut, and so we know that he (Gerhard) served in the 515th Infantry Regiment of the 294th Infantry Division.³⁰

The same information was far harder to come by when it came to Mr. Heller. Despite the fact that we have no unit identification for him, it is almost certain that Martin Heller served in the 223rd Infantry Division. This conclusion is based on the operational structure of the German recruitment system and the few dates that we know that pertain to his military service. All recruits from Saxony went to the training facility at Leipzig and later, Dresden. Hellmut's first letter to his father is dated November 28, 1939, while his last letter is dated November 2, 1940. We also know from a third letter, written from Hellmut to his brother, Gerhard, that Martin Heller was back on the farm by October 26, 1941.³¹

The 223rd was a Landwehr Division, which means that it consisted of older men. The unit was called up in August 1939. Upon completion of training, the men were sent to the Sarr in September 1939. After that, in November, they were sent on occupation duty to Podzun, Poland. Based on the official German records of the division, it spent November 1939 through December 1940 on garrison duty in occupied Poland. Letters #2, #3, and possibly #4 were all written during this time. As part of the 6th Army, the division served in France and Belgium during the early stages of the invasion and remained in France until late 1941. It was during this time that the division was restructured. Younger men were brought in, and older ones were discharged. It was, most likely, during this period that Pvt. Martin Heller was allowed to return to his farm and family.³²

The Heller letters fall into two distinct groups: those written from Hellmut to his father between November 28, 1939, and April 1941, and those exchanged between Hellmut and his brother Gerhard between October 26, 1941, and February 12, 1943. Letters between immediate members of the Heller family end in mid-February 1943. However, Bruno Arnold, Martin's brother-in-law, sent a letter very late in the war (January 26, 1945), which is in the corpus. This correspondence can be seen below in Chapter 9.

First, we will deal with the correspondence between Hellmut and his father; it is a rare opportunity to be able to read a child's wartime letters to his father. Unfortunately, none of Mr. Heller's return letters to his young son have survived. From references in the letters, Hellmut is probably nine or ten years old when he starts writing. He includes multiple examples of artwork in the correspondence to both his father and his brother, all of which you will see below. The affection that Hellmut had for his family is apparent in his letters and is touching, to say the least. It is uplifting to see that despite being educated completely in National Socialist Germany and serving first in the mandatory Deutsches Jungvolk (for 10- to 13-year-olds) and then in the Hitler Youth (for 14- to 17-year-olds) that Hellmut was a typical little boy; not at all the hard and angry stereotype that is so often used to depict German children in the Third Reich. There are also some surprising religious references in some of the Christmas letters as well as the description of a few required Nazi events that Hellmut, or his sister, participated in. Letters #2 through #10, presented below, were written from Hellmut to his father.

Letter #2

Großbothen, November 28, 1939.

Dear Vati! (Daddy)

I read your letter when I came home from school. I was glad to hear from you. How big is your room? I would love to see you again, mother's hand is better again, but it still hurts a bit. Did you