[Hagen]

Gunter Schmidt was an officer of the 272nd Volksgrenadier Division who fought in the Hurtgen and Westwall battles during 1944/45.

The 272 Volksgrenadier Division In Action In The Eifel

1944/45

By Gunther Schmidt



On September 11, 1944, I arrived as the pre*command with the train at Dallgow, and reported at the major's office, where a Haupfeldwebel was already Ieading the newcomers to the barracks of their companies. I received beautiful private quarters at the family Wegener at Dallgow. I already received a message that I was going home for two weeks, like all the others of our Division who came back from the front at Normandy. I was the only officer left from our 2nd Battalion 982, together with a few men.

When I came back after my nice holiday, I lived in the Wegener quarters. They were very kind to me. Mr. Wegener was the county constable of the village and sometimes he went hunting. From time to time they in*vited me for dinner when he caught a rabbit or a duck.

Our new Battalion commander, Hauptmann Schnei*der and his adjutant, Lieutenant Peters were very busy with the set up. Several officers of our battalion were new and unknown to me. Every day some more new*comers came; many in Gray/Green Marine uniforms, or in Blue/Gray Luftwaffen uniforms. Most of them had only a short insufficient training. That's why the companies were mostly outside in the field and at the training range, to teach the men how to be infantrymen.

I was always on the move on a bicycle, having to visit shooting ranges at the training field and having to make suggestions. These were coordinated at the Battalion and passed on as orders to the companies. I was al*ways on the move on my bicycle to check the area for our planned training.

On a beautiful sunny day I saw a daylight attack of one thousand enemy bombers at the nearby "Siemens*city" at Berlin. Soon the sky got dark with black smoke and the sun couldn't be seen anymore. At the end of this there was a fire training of all the heavy infantry weap*ons, mortars and infantry guns at the firing range. It was very impressive to see how tremendous such a concen*trated use of the guns must be to an attacking enemy.

During the fighting in Eifel we always used it like this and the enemy suffered many losses because of it.In the last weekend there was a twenty-four hour regiment training, that reached to the Wannsee (Wann Lake). I received a horse and was always in the fields. It was pretty interesting to train to work together in such a big group.

The training of the troops couldn't take that long any*more. The moment that we were going up front was coming closer. The troops consisted of about twenty percent skilled infantrymen and the rest were former Marine, or Luftwaffen members. Officers and Non* Com's were mostly from the Infantry and you could eas*ily recognize their experience from their medals. On October 30, the Battalion got on the train and in the dark we left the railroad station at Dallgow. We rode from Magdeburg and Paderbom in a westerly direction.

At Cologne-Muhlheim there was an air-raid warning. The train stopped between houses, no one was allowed to get out of the train. It was a strange feeling when the FLAK started to shoot and some bombs fell in the dis*tance.

In the early moming, the train stopped before it en*tered the Duren railroad station. From time to time heavy enemy artillery fired at the railroad tracks. Every few minutes an enemy "greeting" came rushing in, but it didn't cause that much damage. It took about an hour before we finally got on to Vettweiss.

There our train was unloaded under the protection of light-Flak. Shortly thereafter enemy planes appeared and they threatened the whole area. Our companies were marching in a long stretched column in the direction of Nideggen while using every cover that we could find.

In the distance we could hear the rumbling of the front very clear. After marching for a while, we recognized the explosion of every single shell. No one knew what was going to come the next day, and the men were in a de*pressed and quiet mood.

Once in a while we meet civilians with all their belong*ings, some with horse-drawn carts, hand carts and even with baby carriages or bags and backpacks for their most important things only. Their faces expressed what they had to live through, having to leave their home and belongings.

The "front-thunder" was coming closer, we could hear the bursting menace of the exploding shells. Our tension grew when the front came closer.

I marched with our Commander Hauptmann Schnei*der at the lead of the battalion. At the crossroads at Bruck I stopped a truck to ask for the road to Harscheidt. I/v'hen the truck drove on, I saw what it had loaded. The legs and boots of about twenty dead soldiers could be seen under the canvas. Some officer’s boots were among them also. We shivered thinking about the reality.

After we walked the road uphill, we finally reached hill 366 at the woodsline of Harscheidt. The lead of the col*umn waved for the rest of the men. Rest! The impact of the enemy artillery was very close; they were coming from the direction of Bergstein where the truck had come from.

Hauptmann Schneider ordered me to the Regimental command post which was on the edge of the village of Schmidt at the road to Heimbach to return with further orders and a runner. It was already dark. We barely reached the first houses of the village and were standing between some horse carts when the first shells came in and exploded very close. We quickly jumped into the ditch for cover.

There was a lot of confusion in the street, horses reared, we heard screams from the men that were hit. Before we could think about what to do, the next round was falling into the moving column. I decided to go around the village on the left side through the fields, which wasn't difficult because of the clear night. Soon we reached the hunting lodge while Schmidt was still under heavy artillery fire. We quickly got back to where we came from with the orders for the release while shells were coming in only a few hundred yards away at the village of Schmidt.

Our battalion moved through Schmidt and into the defenses around Rollesbroich. I talked with the Com*mander and suggested that only the vehicles and carts should go through Schmidt because of the artillery that was coming in on the village. The men shouldn't go through.

We started marching in a long stretched column and went around the village. After crossing two valleys we safely reached the road at Gerstenhof. We rested for a short while and marched along in the direction of Strauch. At the woodsline on the right side we were to meet some runners at a pillbox who would lead us to their line of defense, but we couldn't find these men.

Finally our Hauptmann ordered us into a firebreak to the right and we kept walking downhill. I had a bad feel*ing about this. I thought something stinks. That's why I suggested we walk back to the main road. If we would have followed this firebreak, we would have walked right into Simonskall.

The next day the Americans started their attack from the Kall Valley to Kommerscheid and Schmidt. After another search along the road to Strauch we finally round the spot where we were to meet the runners.

In the meantime our vehicles had crossed the village of Schmidt. They had some wounded. The pillbox 139/40, which was located a few hundred meters inside the forest was our Battalion command post and the other half of it was a first-aid post. We were glad that we finally found it.

A Sergeant of the unit that we were to replace called my name. In September we put up an Alarm Company together at Venlo in Holland. This was just a small experience but it helped to make me familiar with the new circumstances.

The burning logs in the mall stove gave a comfortable heat. Our predecessors informed us about our new tasks. They showed us on the maps where several companies were, the heavy weapons and the communi*cations. Communication wire was partly dug in and the rest was lying on the open ground. The other. half of our double pillbox was used as a first-aid post. Inside was the assistant doctor, Dr. Egel. It was still night when our companies were brought into their new defenses.

The old troops were released and they were gone when daylight came. Our communications unit was not far away from us at pillbox 142. It was coming and going at our command post. The telephone kept ringing and the runners were coming in from all directions while oth*ers were going again.

At daybreak we could see the steeple of the Lammersdorf church. The Americans had a observer posi*tioned there and every imprudent movement at our woodsline resulted in a few incoming rounds.

Today is the 2nd of November. The weather was wet and foggy, temperature around 32 degrees. It was pretty miserable outside. Parts of the 983 Infantry Regi*ment on our right side were involved in a heavy fight to defend the Forestry Raffelsbrand with the pillboxes 372, 372a, 362, 363 and 22. We could easily hear the fighting in that area.

During the next days there was a hard and tangled fight for Vossenack. The Americans pushed through the Kall Valley to Kommerscheid and Schmidt. At first we didn't know what was going on.

On the morning of November 2nd we sent four runners with bicycles by way of Schmidt to our supply unit at Heimbach to lead the carts with supplies and provisions to our new defensive positions. We waited in vain until the next morning for the return of our runners and our supplies.

During the next day we were informed by the unit on our left side that the Americans had taken Schmidt and about the hard fighting behind our backs.

The supplies still didn't come on the second night. After a few days we were officially informed by the Regiment about what happened behind our backs at Kommerscheid and Schmidt. They found the bicycles of our runners east of Gerstenhof, but the men couldn't be found. When I look back, I must say that it was unjustifi*able of the Regiment not to inform us about the happen*ings at Konnerscheid and Schmidt.

We should have protected the backside of the road to Gerstenhof at once. If the Americans were a bit faster, they could have pushed through the front to Simmerath without meeting any resistance.

The Kall Valley south of Raffelsbrand was under heavy mortar fire day after day. The unit on our right side told us that there was tremendous losses. In the meantime our companies became familiar with the half finished defense positions. Our heavy infantry weapons, mortars, infantry guns as well as our artillery had ranged in their guns in certain areas. When enemy attack took place, our battalion gave messages to the fire command and a little later our shells were on their way to the Americans.

We didn't have much rest at night either. Engineers were working at the defenses. Barbed wire and mines were brought at night. A whole battalion of Russian vol*unteers were digging trenches every night.

During daylight, the Americans at the Lammersdorf church steeple could see every little move that we made. Our area looked as follows: 5th Company at the road Schmidt-Simmerath, west edge of Rollesbroich, 6th and 7th Company at the southem height of the Kall Valley dam till the road Whs. Kallbruck. The 8th company with heavy machine guns and mortars were west of the Tiefen Creek.

Our working on our defenses was quickly recognized by the enemy. Their nightly artillery fire at our lines was getting stronger and stronger.

One day the Russians mutinied and didn't go out front to dig trenches because of the high losses on dead and wounded.These dead were buried in a small cemetery at the woodsline south of the road Schmidt/Strauch.

Within a few days the enemy attacked at the east bank of the Kall Valley dam. North of Rollesbroich and at the dam itself the Americans succeeded to take the east bank of the Kall Valley dam. At late afternoon the enemy forces were pushed back again by our counterattack. We didn't have too many losses. The Americans probably didn't expect a counterattack and they fled back.

The next day our battalion Commander Hauptmann Schneider and myself visited the defenses of the 8th Company at the Tiefen Creek Valley, pillbox 510, our front-line at Rollesbroich and the retaken east bank of the Kall Valley dam. Everywhere we found a lot of equipment that the Americans left - weatherproof sleeping bags, little tents, cans with rations, little cookers, coffee, tea and cigarettes. They were probably digging in and preparing for the night when our counterattack took place.

Our own losses in the first two weeks were about 15%, mostly by artillery fire. Our first aid post in the pill*box beside us was a great help during those days. From there the wounded were transported by first-aid trucks by way of Schmidt and Meimbach to the first-aid center at Mariawald.

On the 15th of November our battalion was shifted to the right. The 7 Company stayed in their old defense at the east bank of the Kall Valley dam in the area of the dam itself. The 5 Company at Whs. Kallbruck (the Pub), pillboxes 111, 112, 113 and 115. 6 Company - pillboxes P2, 22, IG3, 372 and 372a. From this area there was no connection to other units until the clearing of pillbox 372 at the end of January 1945. Unit 8910,that was to be released, had tremendous fighting in this area since No*vember 2 and was seriously weakened because of heavy losses.

We were just getting used to our new defenses when on November 16 the enemy attacked pillbox 111 and held it for a short period. Oberleutnant von Ruden, who cleared the enemy at the Kall Valley dam was very fast on the spot and was able to retake pillbox 111 without too many losses after a counterattack.

Only a few Americans escaped. The rest were taken prisoner.

Although we had some snipers in the area, imprudent Americans kept crossing the firebreak in front of pillbox 22 day after day.

During clear nights, Hauptmann Schneider and myself often checked the defenses from pillbox 124, via 111

to 372a. This wasn't possible during daytime because of enemy observation. The pillboxes were connected with trenches. In front of the trenches there were mines and barbed wire. Between all this lay the rest of the com*pletely destroyed fir tree forest.

Inside the pillboxes the men could rest after their duty in the trenches outside, but most of all they were safe from the constant incoming shells. It really wasn't an easy task for an attacking force.

Our heavy infantry guns, mortars and artillery had zeroed in very well at areas directly in front of our de*fenses. Most of the pillboxes were connected by tele*phone with wires buried deeply in the ground. Wires in the open field were only laid in short lengths between the concrete wire connecting pits behind our front. Besides that, we had several field radios with the forward observ*ers.

In the next days the Americans attacked pillboxes P2, 22 and IG3. Most of the attacks ended in front of the barbed wire because many of their men were lost in the mine field and because of our soldiers defense aided with our heavy weapons.

The supply of the 5th and 6th Companies gave tre*mendous problems. The horse drawn carts with the supplies were coming from Heimbach by way of Schmidt to pillbox 124 alongside the road to Kallbruck. From there we had to carry all the supplies by hand to the front back again inside the old command post, pillbox 125. The release went without any problem.

Until the 10th of January it is real quiet at our sector. Only now and then the Americans fired into our posi*tions. We could almost believe that the war had ended.

The Ardennes offensive had insecured the enemy, which gave us a bit of relief. On a clear night I walked with Hauptmann Schneider and two runners to the de*fensive positions in front of pillboxes 111 to 372. We wished all the men a happy New Year and everyone received a small present - cigarettes, chocolate or al*cohol. That night there was hardly any firing. The look of the snow covered forested landscape could almost make you dream.

It took us till early morning before we were back at our command post pillbox 125, by way of the fire break at pillbox P3.

The quietness seemed to last too long and we started to worry about it. We could see that the enemy was or*ganizing large scale firing exercises behind their front at Roetgen. Every day we could see an increasing number of vehicles that were taking the road from Lammersdorf to Germeter. There were hundreds of them.

Our own artillery fire didn't trouble the enemy that much. During those quiet days we prepared our de*fenses some more. We checked a second defense line on the right side of the Kall River at Buhlert and with the support of an engineer and alarm company, we started to work. Besides that we were working on a plan to get the two foremost companies at Ochsenkopf (Oxhead) over the Kall River in case of a flood caused by a possi*ble blowing of the Kall Valley dam. Engineers stretched a cable from pillbox 122 to pillbox 121 and we placed two rubber boats at this spot.

The snow stays till the end of January. On January 10th it happens. The enemy attacks the whole sector of our 5th and 6th companies, but the attack is stopped in the minefields after the concentrated fire of all.

After about an hour the enemy concentrates the at*tack at pillbox 22. Our men keep fighting from inside the pillbox for half an hour. Till the very last moment we have the men inside the pillbox on the phone. Suddenly there is a crack in the line and it's over.

From there, the enemy moves to pillbox IG 3 and starts pressing on it from all sides. In about an hour this pillbox has the same fate as pillbox 22.

The enemy stopped its unsuccessful attack under heavy losses around noon at the sector of the 5th Com*pany. During the night our reserve company arrived to try to retake the old positions in the early daylight in an attack from pillbox P2 and 119. Twice these attacks were repelled under severe losses for our troops. In the meantime they pushed in another reserve unit who at*tacked a third time without the support of heavy weap*ons. As it was meant as a unexpected attack, it was a costly failure as well.

The next day the Americans attacked again and managed to take pillbox P2 pretty fast. Pillboxes 372 and 372a kept on fighting.

On the 12th of January another battalion arrived with about a hundred men. Their winter clothing is not suffi*cient enough. We placed our battalion command post inside pillbox 119 where I stayed with our commander. At 9 am our heavy weapons started firing. After a successful beginning our attack broke down in the heavy enemy fire. In some places the enemy pushed us back to our line of departure.

We had severe losses. Our men were lying in the snow in the open. Without foxholes to hide, they were exposed to the strong enemy mortar fire.

Our losses are tremendous. After a short while our command pillbox 119 changed into a first aid post. Se*verely wounded were carried inside - the wailing and groaning - medics tried to dress the wounds.

Severely wounded soldiers were dying. They were carried outside and new ones were brought in. At noon there were about fifteen dead piles up at the hollow road in front of the entrance. Other wounded were trying to help each other while they were going downhill into the Kall Valley.

It was late afternoon before the severely wounded could be transported down into the valley. The badly mauled and beaten stayed in their defensive positions. I stayed with a few men inside pillbox 119 until morning.

The work on our defensive positions went on night after night. Engineers brought up our weapons.

A few days later the enemy unexpectedly started its attack at pillbox 115. They succeeded to blow the pillbox with a special charge, but they didn't destroy it completely. A reserve force is sent up front to retake the pill*box which is now manned by the Americans. The attack is a failure despite the support of our heavy weapons. We lost a lot of men.

We received another order from our regiment at noon. Pillbox 115 is to be attacked again the next day and to be retaken.

Our Hauptmann Schneider tells the commander of the regiment Kdr. Rosener that another attack on pillbox 115 wouldn't make any sense and is unjustifiable. Our men were lying in their foxholes in the snow between pillboxes 119 and 372 at Ochsenkopf (Oxhead). Our last men were lost at pillbox 115. The rising open ground wouldn't give a chance to be successful in another attack.

Hautmann Schneider asked the Regt. Com. to come over to have a look himself at this area. Finally the Divi*sional Commander, Gen. Konig came on the line and said that it was an order from the Fuhrer Headquarters to retake pillbox 115 and that this order must be obeyed, even if it seemed impossible.

Hauptmann Schneider said that he couldn't take the responsibility to waste his men for a useless attack, that we were already too weak for the defense. .

It was suggested not to start the attack. They would tell the Fuhrer Headquarters that the new attack had failed.

Our Regt. Commander said that he would come up front to see that the attack started as ordered. And that's how it went. He watched how not a single one of ten men came back and how they all got killed.

This was a big impact on our Hauptmann Schneider

The enemy tried to take pillbox 510 in front of Rolles*broich for several days. These attacks resulted in great losses for the enemy. Once the Americans asked for a

cease fire to get their wounded out and that's indeed what took place. Finally the Americans fired for several days with a big gun directly at pillbox 510. Some men inside were wounded from pieces of concrete that were falling off Another infantry attack was repelled again.

Since the 1Oth of January we had very little sleep. There was always something going on. We slept in turns. Mostly I slept between 6 and 9 am.

Enemy observation planes could easily make out the paths that we made through the snow between pillboxes and the defensive positions. The result was the enemy mortars fired at the entrances of the pillboxes continu*ously.

Since January the Americans were also shooting with White Phosphorus, but with no great effect because of the snow.

Enemy artillery increased from day to day along the whole front. On February 2nd we received orders that on February 3rd we were to clear several of our defensive positions. Our engineers were to blow or to mine the pillboxes.

We could get out without any problem or difficulty. The new sector went from the road Schmidt/Strauch *pillbox 190, along the line of pillboxes to pillbox 128/129 and from there on the right bank of the Tiefencreek to Kall Valley. The men dug in as good as possible. Some rested in the snow lying around.

The fighting at Raffelsbrand weakened the companies severely during the last few weeks. After heavy losses the strength of our battalion is about 20 to 25%.

The enemy artillery kept firing day and night along the whole front and only increased. Our new battalion command post is now inside pillbox 136.

On the night of February 5th at 3 o'clock we received orders to increase the battalion sector for another 800 meters to the left. This order widened the line even more and severely weakened our front. Some company run*ners were called immediately. A written order had to be made for every company.

It was pretty late to accomplish such a difficult change of front lines. It took till the early morning before all companies reached their new sectors. The consequence was that we did not even have enough men in our sector to man all the pillboxes. We repositioned our battalion command post in the early morning to pillbox 220/21 south of the road from Schmidt to Strauch. The first aid post stayed inside pillbox 139/40 and in the main line of defense.

We had hardly arrived at our new pillbox when we received the first shocking message. This first message was made by telephone and came from the RAD lager (the barracks) where our mortars and infantry guns were positioned. The enemy suddenly appeared there by the hundreds from the direction of Simonskall. There was some short fighting. It didn't take long. No more mes*sages from the RAD lager (the barracks). A bit later a message from our first aid post told us that the Americans had broken through the defense almost without any sound. We must give up!

Now the enemy came from the RAD lager and attacked along the road to Strauch without much resistance. Finally our communication pillbox 717a near the road was involved in the fight. I didn't take long until the Americans take this pillbox. We could talk to them on the telephone!



The enemy took the pillboxes along, and north of the road to Zaunchen at noon. In the aftemoon, the enemy pressed against the pillbox that is armed with a 75mm PAK (anti-tank gun) to the north of us. They pushed through the forest to the south and until they could open fire on the backside of the pillbox. This pillbox is manned only by an officer and three men.

They ordered me with three rnen to go and reinforce that pillbox. The firing compartment was pointing in the direction of the dragons teeth and Steckenbom. With binoculars we can see that a fight was going on in the village, but we couldn't discern friend or foe.

The dragons teeth to the road at Zaunchen was still free of the enemy.

The enemy fired at the backside of the pillbox from a distance of about 120 meters in the forest. From a fox*hole at the emergency exit the defenders fired back into the forest. Finally the gunner was killed by a shot in the head. In the meantime they were firing also at the big steel door on the backside.

Our way back over the open fields to our command post was cut off. We were trapped. We destroyed the breech of our gun - we couldn't blow the gun because we didn't have any explosives.

The hammering of the bullets on the steel back door became unbearable. We crawled out of the firing com*partment in the open and became prisoners. Two of our men were wounded by a shot in the arm when this oc*curred.

The rest of our battalion staff gave up their pillboxes at dawn and gathered in front of Gerstenhof.

The enemy attacked the next morning with tanks and infantry alongside the road. After a short fight these men surrendered to the enemy.

So the next day in a cellar of a house in Roetgen, I met our Commander Hauptmann Schneider, Adjutant Un. Peters, as well as Un. Mobus and Un. Matzkewitz from pillbox P3 again.

Our losses in the last few days were so tremendous that our battalion didn't exist anymore.

After this the regiment gathered all men that were left in a small group. The last of this group was destroyed later in the area around Leipzig.

That's how the costly fighting our battalion had found a tragic end.



Hameln February 2, 1996

Gunther Schmidt

[Tom Houlihan]

Sounds like you need to order a copy of Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp!!

[Doug Nash]

Guenther Schmidt is still alive, by the way. If you want to see his picture, it can be found in my new book "Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp: With the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division from the Hürtgen Forest to the Heart of the Reich."
Also, I have a number of individual memoirs I used in putting the book together and can add some of those here.
Cheers,
Doug Nash

[Doug Nash]

Here's the account by Leutnant Johann Reinecke, who fought in the Battle of Kesternich from Dec. 13 - 18, 1944. He was a member of the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division. (this is the abbreviated version of the letter he wrote to the people of Kesternich in 1957).

"On December 12th, 1944 a new Alarmeinheit (Alarm Unit) was instructed to take on the job of defending Kesternich. We marched with approximately 150 men from Strauch and Kesternich. It is already dark, when we found ourselves in the proximity of a farmstead on the Kesternich-Rurberg road. The road is under bombardment, and flares keep the area in local spots as bright as daylight. We make it to the battalion command post in a cellar near the eastern entrance into town (now Federal Highway 120). I am assigned the left side of main street and Second Lieutenant Schmidt takes the right side.

We advance loudly toward the forward position along main street. It is laborious to move forward over the bomb craters, and along the twisting paths through the piles of clay bricks from the fallen walls, shot-up trees, branches, and dead men! We are not sure if they are friend or enemy. And over the disorder, the parachute flares of the Americans throw their pale light on the ruins of the half houses; there are no more intact houses. In Kesternich, the fighting has been going on for weeks. We try not to notice the dreadful fire of the remote batteries of the enemy.

Several positions are hit by incoming fire from the east. In front of us the incessant flashing of the distant guns and on the right and left the resulting explosions. The sounds of rifle and machine gun fire batter loosely around us. At the center of town, we turn left into a narrow passage. Before us, on the right, is an open area, and in the background a few buildings, or better yet what remained of them. Now we turn again, this time to the right, we come to a group of houses where the command post is. We have achieved our objective.

I stumbled into the cellar (today, I know that I was in the Falter’s house!). A Technical Sergeant transfers command of the position to me. He then tells me that the front cannot be seen here. The front is, he says, where one is. It is a game of cat and mouse! I ask where the American positions are and he lifts his shoulders. He is only sure that they are at the sawmill, some hundred meters away in the thick mist. For such information I am grateful. When the Technical Sergeant took off, I feel carefully forward with a patrol. The houses are enemy-free. We set up outposts concealed in the hedges, becoming like hedgehogs, in order to protect ourselves from a surprise attack.

Around 9:30 in the morning I am awakened by someone sounding the alarm that the Americans are attacking. I see a formation of Americans coming up from the ravine. Their target seems to be the sawmill that I can now see well. Even though I thought the enemy occupied it, I now believe that it might be enemy-free. With 5 or 6 men we move forward, running in leaps and bounds, to the sawmill. We must defend it, because otherwise our position cannot be held. The Americans succeed in coming to within 70 meters of our position. Our forces fire on them and they immediately dive to the earth. Now we have the advantage. They have the advantage in numbers, but our field of fire now evens the odds. The first Americans strike off and disappear into the ruins of main street, saving themselves. The rumbling sound of the tanks is near. Things become uncomfortable. We have no Panzerfausts, and no ofenrohr (bazookas). Behind the tanks the infantry moves in a new maneuver. Three of the six tanks break into the gardens and move toward the Falter’s house. The other three want to occupy our space. They move into a firing position and the first shot hits somewhere in the building or in the sawyer. It cracks hellishly; but it does not do anything to us.

We can hold the accompanying infantry in check, but not the tanks. Strangely, the tanks shoot here and there, seemly without targets. They only needed to fire two or three shots at the house, into the cellar spaces, and our ability to resist would be over. They do not do it. They turn off. The tank moves off with a crumbling sound and disappears between the ruins in the direction of main street. The accompanying infantry disappears with them. Hurray! We were great heroes! But we find ourselves trading stupid looks. In our thoughts of heroism, we are really a little naive, because the attack moved on and we did little to repel it.

Suddenly we were surprised by a frightening noise. From the cellar a strange, complaining noise roars, alerting our tender nerves. Now it repeats itself more thinly. It is a cow. It is standing with us in the knee high water of the cellar, and it gawks at us asking for assistance. It is an emaciated skeleton. Heaven knows how it came to be in the cellar. Actually this is not really a mystery. It had nothing to eat or drink, and became too uncomfortable outside with the artillery fire and the wild humans. It had found the cellar a more advisable place to reside. And, now it is here. We decide it must be shot, but who will shoot it. I do not want to give the command and I cannot do it myself. Here we are in a war, and in such a position we shot other human beings as a matter of course. But here is a poor miserable cow, and we cannot shoot it. We look at each other asking who will finish it. I finally jerk myself up and say: "I will do it! The animal is getting to me." Later, we all spoke of the cow. It was the only thing of "civilian" nature in Kesternich.

The tanks have moved on and with them the opposing force and for a short time peace prevails. Soon however, an artillery bombardment covers us and explosions surround us. We withdraw into our "hero cellar". The American fire continues and always on our group of houses. After a quarter hour it became quiet. Almost with the last explosion, we are outside again. The Americans do not attack again; it seems they are not in our sector of the town. One does not know what will happen next. Over our heads, the Americans have transformed the house to a half ruin. The neighboring buildings are the same. The narrow way to the sawmill is almost impassable; shot-up trees and tangles of branches block the way.

We worry about our wounded. The medics try to decide who should be the one to show the Red Cross flag. If the Americans acknowledge it, and adjust their fire, we could evacuate the wounded without danger. We try it and ten minutes later a cessation of hostilities prevails. A Krankenträgerkommando (litter bearer command) without weapons carries the wounded to the rear. We see that the Americans also use this opportunity to return their wounded. Humanity in the war! It is a scarce quality. During this break in combat I think: "Why do we kill each other?" I believe all soldiers ask themselves this question. We are equal whether we are on this side or the other. Hardly had the wounded reached the safety of the rear when, once again, fire erupts from both sides.

Hours go by with occasional fire fights. At about eleven o'clock in the evening, an officer appears. He has verbal orders for me. I become the Kampfkommandant (combat commander) in Kesternich. Now the right side of the road is also under my command.

I give up the sewing factory, because I must hold the village center and I need the main body of the men. Here in Kesternich we make are to make a stand. Later, I must evacuate the group of houses around the Falter’s house. I must make the combat line short, and build on it so that the Americans will not make a serious attempt and will not simply go around us into Kesternich. At about the location of the gas station we establish ourselves along the main road. I still have approximately 80 men under my command. I establish the command post in the solidly built cellar of the second house from the intersection of Federal Highway 84 and the main road.

On the 15th of December a command is given in Einruhr for the complete recovery of Kesternich. From one hundred guns of all calibers the artillery preparation begins. Three tank destroyers and a self-propelled flak gun drive from Einruhr arriving at Kesternich at 1530 hours. They hold the American soldiers of the 309th at bay and a Sherman tank is destroyed. We capture approximately 300 American prisoners, including 9 officers. On the 17th of December nothing occurs. On the night of the 18th and on the 19th of December 1944, my men are relieved and take off to their units. I remain an additional day as an adviser for the new troops in Kesternich. On the day before Christmas I am reassigned to the Raffelsbrand Forest. There on the 10th of January 1945, I am badly wounded and come into American hands.

[Hagen]

Tom Houlihan said:

Sounds like you need to order a copy of Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp!!

I have Doug's marvelous book, I pre-ordered so got a signed copy. When I first heard of "Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp" I did a little searching of my own on the 272 VGD. That is where I found the above story by Gunter Schmidt. It appears to have been a correspondence between Schmidt and a member of 'A Co. 303 Engineers USA'.

For anyone interested you can find the book here at The Aberjona Press If you have any kind of interest in Germany's Volksgrenadiers I don't think you'll be disappointed.

And Tom, great job on the maps.

[Hagen]

Doug Nash said:

Also, I have a number of individual memoirs I used in putting the book together and can add some of those here.
Cheers,
Doug Nash

Hi Doug

First off, Great Job on your book!! I'm really enjoying it. Also if you have the time, I for one, would really enjoy reading more of the memoirs.

Thanks again
Mike

[Jim O]

Hagen said:

...if you have the time, I for one, would really enjoy reading more of the memoirs.

As would I.

[Tom Houlihan]

Thanks, Mike! But like I told Doug, he had the hard part! I just drew pitchers!

[Doug Nash]

I'll post a few more in the days ahead...just got back from 2 weeks on the road so there's some catching up I have to do.
Cheers,
Doug

[Hagen]

Doug Nash said:

I'll post a few more in the days ahead...just got back from 2 weeks on the road so there's some catching up I have to do.
Cheers,
Doug

Sounds good to me!!

[Doug Nash]

Remembering Kesternich/Eifel, December 1944 (15. & 16. of December)

Eyewitness account by Grenadier Arnulf Wöstmann, 1st Battalion, Gren.Rgt. 753, 326th VGD

Translated by Hans Stefan Wegener

"As a Grenadier age class 1926 with the 326th Volksgrenadier Division, I came in long night marches from the railway station Hermeskeil/Hunsrück, to Bitburg, Prüm and Schleiden about the 15th of December 1944 in the morning to Einruhr near Kesternich. Seeing from Kesternich to the east we stood on the right side of the road Einruhr -Kesternich (B266) in a little quarry (Weissbachtal). As a runner of the company leader, I got the first orders. It would be my baptism of fire.

At about 2 p.m, the German artillery fire fell for 30 minutes on the positions of the US soldiers in the village Kesternich, occupied by the GIs. Then came the order to attack: Sprung auf, marsch marsch and we ran into the artillery and machine gun fire of the US soldiers. The earth was light frozen, the fields and meadows on the eastern border of the village - and we ran against the US front line. Here we had the first losses, among them our battalion’s commander. With the aid of anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns on vehicles the positions of the US soldiers were eliminated and the US tanks were suppressed, so we entered the village.

Here I got the order of my company leader (Oberleutnant Wittekind) to seek connection with the 2nd company, which had attacked on the left side of the road Einruhr - Kesternich.. Through furrows ice and mudder I crept then jumping like a hare over the earth and landed under machine gun fire after some prayers in an icy draintrench of the B266. Then I crept forward to the crossroad of the B266. Chimneys of burned out houses stood there spookily.

Our attack reached the center of the village Kesternich. Of the church I saw only the rest of the walls, no steeple. I crept forward till to the green park (today here is the monument). Her stood burning a US tank. In a destroyed house stood a German soldier. He cried: Here we are! We are of the Second Company! - I had found the 2nd company on the left side of the B266. Meanwhile the nightfall came at 4 or 5 p. m. I crept back to the commanding post of my company leader, who praised me and offered to me a great "Schnapps". This warmed my bones and my belly.

The night was "quiet"- no fire neither artillery nor gun fire of both sides. On the one side we had reached the center of Kesternich, on the other side we had got the order to gain all the village. We had to inspect all cellars and we found many US soldiers there, who had retired there. Our medic had much to do, there were many wounded Germans and GIs, he cared for them and I helped him. In the early morning the US soldiers began to fire. They fired on all, on each movement. So our medic got a shot into his belly. I brought him with the help of 2 captured GIs to the east end of Kesternich. Here all wounded and prisoners assembled.

The struggle for Kesternich continued all the day, the second day of the battle. Then I was ordered to bring about 70 US captured soldiers back to Einruhr and Gemünd. After my return on the 3rd day of the battle, we had gained back nearly all the village. But the houses all the houses were only debris. All the houses were damaged, burnt down totally damaged. You saw only ruins, the walls came down only the chimneys stood upright. On the 18th of December our company was relieved and we marched back till to a pill box near Imgenbroich."

[Doug Nash]

Here's another excellent account of the action of the 272nd VGD in the Huertgen Forest ---
Doug Nash

Reestablishment of the 272nd VGD at Döberitz - Action in the Eifel

By Otto Gunkel. 8th Kompanie, 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Regiment 981 of the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division.

The "Cathedral-Barracks" at Goslar, where the famous "Goslar Jägers" used to stay in the old days, was overfilled as all other military barracks were at the end of the war. The men of the 272nd ID that came back from their stay at the hospital or from their sick leave were brought into a big hall outside of the barracks area. More men came in every day and we welcomed a lot of our comrades from the old units.

After all the formalities were finished and we receiving new clothing, we were transported by military freight train to Berlin / Döberitz on 22/9/1944. We needed two days for this trip. On the 24th of September we had an air raid at the Berlin shunting station, but this didn't cause any losses. In the evening we arrived at the former Olympic village of Döberitz where we met our Division, which was called 272nd VGD now. (Volks-Grenadier-Division) Again I went to the 8th Company and the Feldwebel placed me at the orderly room of the Company right away. There I would stay for the next 5 weeks, until we would be transported to the Eifel. We took up quarters at the former N.S.K.K. school at Elstar. At the end of September the following men from the old Company detachment were there: the company commander, Feldwebel Holler and myself. Two runners and a man from communications came back in October.

The new set up of the Division was supposed to be finished in mid October. Replacements came from the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine - Well fed guys who were equipped as if it was peace, and who were not very fond about a duty as an Infantryman. They first had to resign themselves to their fate and then they would become good and loyal infantrymen.

Our Company went into the village of Priort at Döberitz on the 2nd of October, where our orderly room found quarters at the Jänicke farm. The Feldwebel and myself shared a room to sleep. The people where we were billeted took good care for us, and this helped to fill up the lack of rations that we had. They even washed for us and repaired our clothing. There was also a cinema at the Olympic village, but it was difficult to find a seat because of the mass of soldiers. It was difficult to go to Berlin because it was too far away and it took a lot of time to get there.

Both times when I went to Berlin, there was an air raid and I couldn't get back to Döberitz till early morning without having any sleep. On the 23rd of October we received message that our Division would get in action on the western front, to which we would be transported by train in the next few days. On the 3 0th of October I was promoted to Obergefreiter, backdated from the 1st of October. Now I was one of the "older" soldiers. We celebrated my promotion in the evening at the farmhouse where we were quartered and the next day we said goodbye.

We were transported from Döberitz, by way of Magdeburg, Kreiensen, Hoxter, Soest, Schwelm, Neuss to Kall at Gemünd at the Eifel, where we arrived in the morning of November 4. Because of the cloudy November weather there were no enemy fighter planes or reconnaissance planes. We easily could hear the artillery firing on the approaching front - We were back in the war again!

After the unloading we marched in a stretched line through Gemünd, and uphill by way of Herhahn to Einruhr at the Roer valley. In the afternoon we marched to the Forester’s lodge Rothekreuz at Hofen to the north of Monschau to take over the prepared positions of the 89th ID. Packed with all equipment and all weapons we marched by way of Erkensruhr and Wahlerscheidt to the front. Our arrival at the front and the movement of our troops went not unnoticed by the enemy --- it was Americans this time --- and during this night they covered our sector with their artillery. We manned the pillboxes at the German / Belgium border.

As a runner, I was most of the day out in the woods with our Company commander to check the area and the front lines. We found good covering because of the forest. We could see the little village of Monschau, which the enemy had occupied already, and we also could recognize the American Infantry positions at the high plains across the border. There were several small fights and we could get used to the front again without any losses. The Regiment 980 took over our positions the next day and we were to take over some other positions to the north at Simmerath. This was the center of the sector that our Division held. The sector that our Division was to hold went from Kall - Schleiden - Hofen on our left side then to Heimbach - Schmidt - Vossenack on our right side. We would stay in several places in this sector until the end of February 1945: During all this time we were within reach of the enemy artillery and we never could feet safe during this period. - No matter if we were eating, sleeping or during any other activities.

The relief took place during the dark night in the rain. This relief was pretty difficult on such bad forest roads in an unknown area, especially because of the incoming artillery. Soaking wet and tired we arrived at Einruhr. The next day several of the double-bodied "Lightnings" attacked - We could remember them very well from Normandy. A lot of artillery came in at Einruhr when we prepared to march off in the evening - Our Company had its first losses of men and horses. The company detachment lost their runner Leonard because of the shrapnel.

During the night we reached Eicherscheidt by way of Rauchenauel, Dedenborn and Hammer and we went into a pillbox at the edge of the village. This was a communication-pillbox - Our men of the 8th Company manned this pillbox with the men of the communications unit. Because the communications and the repair of broken wires needed to be secured day and night, even the runners had to do this work. A crash course from the men of the communications was all I needed to do my duty at the communication pillbox. I also went out to repair the broken wires - Especially during the nights this was a dangerous and exhausting job.

The Battalion Headquarters was inside of a pillbox on the other end of the village Our 3 infantry Companies were positioned in the pillbox and trenches at the border, alongside the road from Aachen City to Monschau between the villages of Simmerath and Imgenbroich. Our heavy machine guns, howitzers and mortars were positioned in and around Eicherscheid and Huppenbroich.

All these defensive positions were connected by telephone, partly the ground wire of the Siegfried Line and partly field wire, which was destroyed often by the enemy artillery. We always sent 2 men to repair the broken wires. This was very difficult in the dark November nights because the destroyed wire was mostly blown away quite a distance, and it often was broken in several places. We needed to crawl on hands and feet in a circle of 50 yards or more to search for the broken wires. We needed to do this job almost every night - During a pitch-black rainy night we even needed to go out 6 times!

There wasn't any fighting. The use of heavy weapons and tanks was almost impossible in the hilly landscape. It was a static war that lasted for about 3 weeks. Life in the wet, cold pillboxes wasn't very comfortable, but it was safe behind the big concrete walls. Winter brought us the first snow in mid November. The noisy V-1 rockets were flying overhead in the direction of Antwerp and London from the 16th of November on -- The wonder-weapon that would bring victory for Germany, as Secretary of propaganda Goebbels had told us.

While it stayed quiet in our sector, the Americans increased the strength of their attack on our right side at the end of November. They were planned to break through from the Aachen / Stolberg area to Düren to reach the Cologne plain and the Rhine River. , This fight raged at the forested area around Hürtgen - Bergstein - Vossenack; And the Hürtgen Forest, which would be mentioned almost daily for 3 weeks in the Wehrmacht accounts, would get its sad and bloody name in history because of this fight. On the 27th of November 1944 our Regiment was to support the harassed 89 ID and 344 VGD in that area.

We marched by way of Rauchenauel, Kesternich, Strauch, Ruhrberg, Woffelsbach, Steckenborn, Schmidt, Nideggen, Kreuzau at Duren and Horn to our Sector and went into position between Birgel and Gey. It was very hard for us to hold position in the trenches in the open after we stayed for weeks in the dry pillbox, the more because we didn't have sufficient winter clothing. The melting snow and the rain that lasted for days made the soil marshy and our defensive positions got full of mud. We were looking like pigs after a few days. It made us shudder to think about the coming winter months, in which we often needed to struggle for bare survival.

On the 2nd of December, the Americans broke through our defense at several places in Gey and Strass. Our Regiment was ordered to counter attack on December 3rd to restore our lines. At daybreak the 1st Battalion rushed to the direction of the Hubertus height, and our 2nd Battalion attacked Gey after an artillery preparation and the help of our assault guns. We were able to push the enemy back and the resistance wasn't very stiff during the start of our attack. But then they increased their resistance and our attack broke down. We started to make a new line of defense during heavy enemy fire. Our companies had dug in on both sides of the road, uphill from Gey to Kleinhau and Hürtgen. Our heavy machine guns were positioned right behind them at the edge of the village of Gey. The command post of the 8th Company was positioned in a cellar at the crossroads at the center of town, our mortars behind hedges and in hollow roads behind Gey, and our howitzers were positioned at Horn.

We held this line for the next 7 days; It was a horrible situation because the Americans were looking right into our positions from the edge of the forest on the height outside of Gey. The enemy observer recognized even our smallest move, and they threw in more artillery and mortar fire than they ever had done before. They even used phosphorus to smoke us out -- A really nasty thing. Feldwebel Kohler got wounded on the day of the attack: He had been with us at Normandy. Two days later we lost Jaeckel, Kroll and Emmerich from the communications unit while they were working on a telephone wire.

One of our mortar crews was killed by a direct hit. Three of my comrades were killed when they were trying to recover our fallen soldiers in the "no-man's land" between the lines -- Two more got wounded. The number of men in our units decreased fast because of our daily losses, and it became more and more difficult to put up a good defense. Our Battalion lost 194 men in the period from 29/11 till 6/12 1944 (dead, wounded, missing). On the 6th of December we had only 164 men left. I got lightly wounded by shrapnel again - This time it hit me above the knee in my right leg. But again it was not serious enough to get me into the hospital. After treatment I would stay with my comrades.

During the night of the 10th of December I spent hours outside as a runner with our company leader. We went along all our machine gun and mortar positions to inform them about a possible attack. We saw a lot of activity at the enemy lines, which could mean another attack was being prepared. Around 2 o'clock we were back at our cellar again. I talked a while with Walter Eckhardt, who was also a runner and an old comrade from out time in France. He was on duty at our command post and I went to sleep in a corner of the cellar. It would be our last conversation, because Walter died a few hours later by shrapnel in his chest while he was bringing a message to one of our mortar positions.

The expected enemy attack took place in the early morning. The Americans pushed through the thin defense line of our infantry and got inside the village. There was house-to-house fighting - They fought man to man. Feldwebel Holler, another 2 comrades and myself succeeded to overrun a group of American infantrymen in the guesthouse "Brauner Hof" and to take them prisoner. We locked them up in the cellar so we would be easier for us to guard them. Our situation became more precarious during the day, but then we received reinforcements and in the night some units of the 89th ID relieved us.

A sad little group of tired soldiers, dirty, unshaved and torn uniforms, marched on 11 December upstream of the river Roer through Kreuzau, Drove, Soller, Thum to Vlatten at Heimbach. - It was the last men of our 2nd Battalion, GR 981. It was only one third of our original strength. Our company HQ detachment had only 4 men. Both our heavy-machine gun platoons were decreased to squads. The 5th company was wiped out; -- wounded, dead, or taken prisoner. This was the horrible result of only 10 days Hürtgen Forest, even higher losses than during the first 10 days in Normandy. The Battalion never completely recovered from these losses until its disbandment at end of March 1945 - The few replacements never could fill up our lack of men. I walked behind the horse-drawn cart that was loaded with our dead of the day before - Walter Eckardt was also among them. We buried them the same day on the cemetery of Vlatten, beside the church. Today they are buried at the cemetery of the German war-graves-commission at Gemünd/Eifel.

In the same night we were to march by way of Hergarten downhill the curvy road to Gemünd, where we had a few days rest and needed to wait for replacements. But on our way to Gemünd we already received new orders - The Regiment has to take over the positions at Simmerath and Huppenbroich immediately. We couldn't understand this, because the woods around Gemünd and all the other small villages were full of soldiers from newly arrived units. These men were well equipped with winter camouflage uniforms, winter-boots, fur-hoods, etc, etc. Long convoys of armored vehicles, assault guns and artillery were standing along the roads. But we didn't know that these troops were preparing for the "Ardennes Offensive" that would start on December 16 and that was meant to turn the tide of war for Germany.

At Gemünd we could gather our equipment and weapons in a makeshift. They sent us some workmen and other specialists from the supply units and other services behind the lines as reinforcements - a measure that would end up in a deadly fiasco 2 days later. In the night we marched to our sector on the same roads that we used 5 weeks ago and we reached our defensive positions before daylight on the 14th of December.

The American 78th ID captured the village of Kesternich and the height in front of it a few hours later. We picked up our retreating troops. This enemy action brought us in a precarious situation, because from the heights at Kesternich they had a perfect view into our lines and they could fight us easy from that position. Our decimated Regiment was ordered to counter-attack. A Battalion from another Division (the 326th VGD) reinforced us. On 15 December at 3 o'clock afternoon, our artillery opened a short but heavy fire on the enemy position east of Kesternich, before we attacked from the valley between Huppenbroich and Kesternich. Then our artillery was directed to the west side of the village, to prevent the enemy tanks to intervene in the fight. 3 tanks and quadruple FLAK supported our attack.

There was only little resistance and the Americans retreated to the old positions west of the village; this was a new experience for us: The Americans avoided infantry-fights when they could use their supremacy of material to save human lives. They indeed had an enormous amount of bombers, guns and tanks - They overpowered our strength by far! We brought in about 300 prisoners after a search through the village - among them were 9 Officers. The war was over for them after only a few weeks on the front. We had only few losses - only a group of men from our supply unit had walked right into the fire. Six of them were lying side by side; killed by a machine gun. They were all older men and were probably married. The other men of this group got wounded - Senseless victims -- like so many in this senseless war!

The frontline was restored in the evening of this day. The Company HQ detachment went inside pillbox 56, next to the Forester’s Lodge Hohenau on the road to Simmerath. Having surviving this attack, I had earned my "Infantry-Assault " medal, because it was my 3rd attack into enemy lines. The next morning at 5 o'clock the Ardennes-Offensive started from the frontlines south of Monschau. This would dominate the war at the Eifel until the end of the year.

It was quiet in our sector for the next 2 weeks -- there was only little artillery fire because the enemy brought many of their guns to the Ardennes to use in the defense against the German thrust -- We could see them doing this during daylight. On 23 December we brought our command post into the school of Huppenbroich, again together with the men from the communication unit of battalion headquarters. In the meantime it had become winter again with a lot of snow and ice. We had a pretty easy time between Christmas and New Year at Huppenbroich.

Some Huppenbroich civilians came back to their village around these days as well. Walter Eckardt had introduced me to them in November. It was Mrs. Schroeder from the Schroeder guesthouse with her daughters Maria and Gretel, Mrs. Loehrer (nicknamed "Aunt Anna") from the house next door, and her niece Hilde from the Forester’s Lodge Hohenau.

Shrapnel killed Mrs. Schroeder's husband the past October when he was working in his garden. He was temporarily buried at the crossroads only few yards from the house. In fact it was not allowed for civilians to stay near the frontlines, but our "Boss" was generous to them. We had some advantages because of them as well, like cooking, doing our washing, etc. From our side we helped them to save their furniture and other belongings and bring these to Einruhr and Gemünd. The women could stay until New Year because it stayed quiet on the front, but than they had to go - only "Aunt Anna" came back secretly and she was still in her house when the Americans took Huppenbroich on the 31st of January 1945.

After the war I exchanged letters with the Schroeder Family and I visited them twice. It was a wonderful reunion and we exchanged many memories about the days that we shared in the winter if 1944. Especially Mrs. Loehrer, a very old woman now, could clearly remember how we survived an attack of an enemy fighter plane on second Christmas day. The women had made fire in the stove during daytime carelessly. The smoke went through the chimney into the clear winter sky and the Americans on the other height probably saw this. Not much later an American fighter-bomber came circling above Huppenbroich; and after the enemy artillery fired a few smoke signals near the house, we saw the plane coming down on us. "Aunt Anna" quickly extinguished the fire with a bucket of water. We pressed ourselves against the wall in the cow-stable next door and we waited for the bombs to fall.

The first bomb hit right in front of the house and ripped open the wall with the front door -- The guesthouse was literally "open" now. The other bomb hit the stable. As soon as the bomber pulled up again, we ran through the garden into the house next door. We survived again, but it also could have ended up in another tragedy of this useless war.

The enemy increased his activities with the beginning of the New Year, and their artillery fire increased as well. The Ardennes-Offensive was stopped and the German defeat in the West could only be a matter of time. The Americans began to push through our defensive lines with local strong attacks. A heavy fight with severe losses raged for the pillboxes 24 and 27 at Simmerath.

We finally received our communication gear and because I was connected with these pillboxes by phone, I could hear exactly what was going on. Our "Dora"- communication gear was not very useful because of its bad quality or because sometimes they didn't even have batteries. We were relieved on January 7th 1945 and than we were ordered to Herhahn on the road from Einruhr to Gemünd to have some rest. We received replacements and we also could get us some new weapons and equipment. We had severe problems because of the harsh winter with its low temperatures and all its snow. We were not allowed to make a fire during daylight because of the enemy planes and we didn't have sufficient winter clothing. Completely frozen we awaited the darkness so we could warm ourselves at a stove. Our life on the front became harder the longer this winter lasted, but there still was no end in sight.

The enemy succeeded to break through our lines in the sector at Strauch/ Schmidt on the 11th of January, so on the right side of Kesternich at the sector of the Regiment next to us. This meant the end of our rest! We just reached the mill at Einruhr to get rid of our lice when the order came to march back to the front again. We were transported by trucks, which drove like crazy via Gemünd, Foresters Lodge Mariawald and Paulushof to Ruhrberg.

We went into position near Steckenborn during the night, but we didn't have to support in the attack the next morning. We stayed in the pillboxes 135 and 137 as a reserve. During the night of January 15, I had an experience that I still recall as one of the most impressive and most beautiful moments in my duty as a soldier. Feldwebel Holler and myself were ordered to get some badly needed supplies at the supply unit at Herhahn. A sledge, drawn by 2 horses waited for us at Woffelsbach at the Roer River dam. We covered ourselves with blankets and we had a ride for several hours through a wonderful moonlighted winter-landscape along the Roer River lake. It was like a winter fairy tale and it was like I could forget the whole war. But the incoming enemy artillery always brought back the cruel, deadly reality. The next night we drove back on the same roads with our loaded sledge.

We also had severe lack of drinking water during this January. The wells and water pipes in the villages in the battle area were all frozen. We needed to melt lots of snow to get our drinking water, but without sufficient fireplaces and jars this was a huge problem. The increasing use of phosphorus grenades by the Americans poisoned the snow and this only added to the problem. It wasn't very healthy to take shelter in the snow for the incoming artillery. We also got health problems because there were no minerals in the snow that we melted. Later we received salt-pills to lessen these problems.

On January 20 we went to Woffelsbach, partly because of refitting but also because we would be trained in the use of new anti-tank weapons, like the Panzerschreck and the Goliath. The Goliath was a very small remote controlled armored vehicle loaded with high explosives, which was invented to destroy enemy tanks. I was the runner of a group of company and platoon leaders who were checking the wooded area at the "Kermeter' hill on the right banks of the Roer River Lake from January 24th on. They were checking where to make the new defensive line, which Engineers and forced laborers - even Russian women were among them - had to dig. We crossed the whole forest from the cloister Mariawald by way of the Foresters Lodge Mariawald to the Schwammenauel Dam during these days - This wonderful wooded area would be our sector for the coming 3 weeks of February 1945.

We already awaited the American attack for several days and it started on January 30 along the whole front from Düren to Monschau. We woke up from the sound of battle that was coming from the direction of Kesternich - Simmerath, and we were alarmed a short time later. We marched to Einruhr through a cold winter-landscape on the same roads that we used during our nightly sledge-ride. The chaotic -situation that we saw there was beyond every description. Military convoys from several direction, horse drawn and motorized vehicles, route columns, Red Cross vehicles with wounded from the front - They all ended up in a giant traffic jam at the bottleneck in front of the only bridge across the Roer.

The enemy had recognized this and their artillery fire on this spot caused a slaughter among our troops - dead and wounded men and horses, burning cars and houses, overturned vehicles. We succeeded to cross the bridge during a pause of the firing and at sundown we continued our march to Huppenbroich on the roads that we already knew. The enemy attacked Huppenbroich on January 31 from the direction of Simmerath and Eicherscheid.

They forced us to retreat and at the afternoon we defended at the edge of the village in the direction of the Tiefenbach-valley. We were lying in the snow behind hedges and fences. The ground was frozen, which made it impossible to dig a foxhole. By taking turns we went to a house at the slope of the hill to prevent freezing. When I was inside of this house at sundown, an enemy tank came suddenly from the village into our direction. I jumped out of the window into the snow, and this probably saved my life because a tank-grenade destroyed the room right after I jumped out. For the next 3 days we would hold the heights at Dedenborn and the Tiefenbach-mill, which would be our command post.

On the 3rd of February we were forced to retreat from Dedenborn to Schöne Aussicht (nice view) because of the increasing pressure of the Americans. Now they could use their tanks because of the frozen ground. Our mortars at Dedenborn still caused severe losses to the enemy when they attacked the village, but then our mortars were completely wiped out. We had directed the fire of our mortars by telephone from a house at the other slope of the hill, and we could observe its effect on the enemy. During these days we lost also our last 2 heavy machine guns and all our howitzers at Einruhr. We retreated by way of the Roer River dam on the 5th of February, and we manned the defensive positions that we dug here about 10 days ago. The Americans followed and waited on the left banks of the Urft and Roer River dams.-Both sides could have a short rest.

The remnants of the Battalions were changed into Kampfgruppen. The 8th Company received light howitzers as a replacement for their lost heavy weapons. The reinforcements that we got were from supply and reserve units. Whole groups of men from all kind of units behind the front were brought in. "Men were needed!" - And many men that had no front-experience at all ended up as gun-fodder shortly before the end of the war. It was a horrible, voracious war!

Although a heavy battle raged on the north and the south side of the lakes where the Americans gained ground, it stayed quiet in our sector. -- The mass of water of the 2 lakes was a natural barrier. But the enemy artillery was covering our whole wooded area, which caused us severe problems. Their artillery rounds exploded high in the trees and its effect was horrible - the forest was completely destroyed and we had many losses - like our Company commander. On the 10th of February I wrote in my dairy - "Poor suffering homeland - forest from Paulushof to Mariawald".

Our Battalion command post was at the Foresters Lodge of Paulushof and our Company was manning the bunkers and trenches around it. The Regimental command post was at the Foresters Lodge Mariawald and the Division with our main first aid post was at the Cloister Mariawald on the height above Heimbach. During these weeks I was on duty as a runner and was mostly on my way through the woods - to the Foresters Lodge - to the Cloister - to our observation posts along our side of the river. I spent several nights at the cloister and had a good rest behind its thick cellar walls. I also drank some of the beer of the cloister. The monks suggested that we should drink the beer, before the Americans would drink it. The cloister and monks were of the order of the Trappists. Some of our wounded died at the first aid post of the cloister, like our good friend Fridolin Schweizer from the Black Forest - Now they are resting at the military cemetery at the edge of the forest on the height above the cloister. During these weeks my comrades gave me a nickname, which I'm still proud of. I was called "The Stubborn Runner of the 8th", and this "Stubborn" was because of my permanence and reliability, because of my comradeship.

But this comradeship was the only thing that kept our hungry, beaten and abused soldiers together, and it enabled many of us to survive.

End of February -- The winter was over and the temperatures were like springtime. The enemy attacked from the area around Gemünd - Dreiborn. Our new Howitzers were a big help during the defense of these attacks. On the 1st of March, we defended the cloister area from the trenches on the heights above the cloister, where now the cemetery is. We were forced to retreat, and in the evening we went into defensive positions at Heimbach on the road to Vlatten. We had heavy losses during the next few days, and our Howitzer- group was taken prisoner. On the evening of the 2nd of March 1945, Feldwebel Holler and Obergefreiter Gunkel were the only ones from our Company HQ Detachment / 8th Company that were left.

The Americans broke through our defense on many places on the 3rd of March 1945. Their tanks - that weren't very useful in the hills of the Eifel - rolled unhindered into the open plains via Euskirchen and Rheinbach to reach the Rhine River. We defended desperately while often the enemy tanks had already passed us. The Division retreated by way of Berg / Vlatten, - Weisskirchen / Obergarten, Billig at Euskirchen, - Kreuzweingarten, and in the evening of March 5th we reached the area around Münstereifel. We had an orderly retreat via Scheuren, Altenahr and Ahrweiler to the Rhine River, which we reached around noon on the 7th of March. The Americans had already some tanks at the bridge of Remagen, and they put up a bridgehead on the right side of the Rhine River on the same day.

From this bridgehead they would push further into the center of Germany. We marched upstream along the Rhine to find a place where we could cross. All roads that were coming from the Eifel and the left side of the Rhine were overfilled with retreating German troops. The cloudy and foggy sky prevented the enemy planes to get in action;-otherwise it would have caused thousands of dead on the roads. We crossed the Rhine River over the railroad-bridge at Engers during the night. For the next 2 days we were at Isenburg at the Westerwald, where the rests of our Division were rallied again. It was a long, long way through the Eifel, along the River Ahr and Rhine into the Westerwald, and my boots were completely worn out.

They set up Battle-Group 981 from the remnants of the Regiment, reinforced by some men that were stopped during their retreat and brought in by the Field Police. It was one mixed up bunch of soldiers -- men from all kinds of units with lack of equipment, some of them were even unarmed. They were completely unknown and distrustful to each other. This group marched on 13/03/1945 from Oberdreis to get in action somewhere in the woods between Waldbreitbach and Hönningen. -- no one could tell where exactly! They told us that we would find the front without any problem: -- "You only have to follow the sound of battle" as it was written in Field-Marshall Model's order to stand fast. We were to sign that order, which told us that -- "Everyone who retreats from the front will get death sentence by hanging"!

We went from Willroth on the autobahn to the area at Waldbreitbach at the River Wied. The road is running on the left side of the river and has steep rocks along its side, with a bridge that leads to the direction of Hausen. Over here we found the same bottleneck situation as in Einruhr -- everyone had to take this bridge to get to the other side, while the enemy artillery was coming in. The enemy planes crossed the sky above the valley. The rounds hit the steep rocks behind the bridge and its effect on the men that were waiting to cross the bridge was terrible - It was a race against death to get to the other side. We went in small groups close to the bridge, using every shelter we could find. We waited for the right moment to run across the bridge -- again we had losses. Our wounded were brought to a nearby cloister, which had also a clearly marked hospital behind its walls. An older man and a young boy were lying on the bridge while we ran across.

We took shelter for the enemy planes at the church of the village. It was a "cat and mouse game", in which the enemy planes chased us several times around the church. I almost got hit when the rounds missed me by only a few inches and their impact sprayed a fountain of dirt in my face.

We marched on by way of Hausen and Frorath and we clearly could hear the increasing sound of battle. Than we went into position in a patch of woods at the village of Weissfeld.

The 14th of March went by quietly -- Our recon-troops checked our frontline areas. On the 15th of March we could hear that a heavy fight was going on around Hönningen, and around noon we saw the Americans in front of our forward positions. They didn't attack, but pushed through on the left side of our positions in the direction of Frohrath. In the evening our Company leader ordered me to search for the Battalion command post, which was yesterday in a quarry between Hönningen and Frohrath. There I would receive our new orders. It must have been around 7 p.m. not far from this quarry, when I ran straight into a group of American Infantrymen. When I heard "Hands Up", I dropped my carbine K98 and raised my hands. Resistance was useless and would have been suicide. I was a prisoner of war!

Written in December 1986 by Otto Gunkel.
Translation by Merle Hill

[Hagen]

Excellent story by the "Stubborn Runner of the 8th" Thanks for sharing it with us Doug.