June 24th, 1944
Vistula-Oder
Siegfried
East Prussia - Baltic Front - The fighting continues in the rain between the XXVI. ArmeeKorps (Willibald von Langermann und Erlencamp), which is well entrenched but isolated and under heavy pressure, and a 4th Army (Nikolai Gusev) that is gradually tightening its grip around Tilsit (Tilžė). Today, in the absence of aviation, Gusev relies heavily on the tubes of the 12th Armoured Corps (Vasily Butkov) - which take advantage of the bad weather to advance without fear to the riverbanks, where its howitzers are practically direct fire.
The 217. ID (Friedrich Bayer) is trapped, to say the least - if it abandons Tilsit, the Reds could be considered to have crossed the Niemen. If it stays put, it deliberately places itself at the mercy of the enemy, with no guarantee that its team-mates, the 206. ID (Alfons Hitter) and 61. ID (Gunther Krappe), could get it out of trouble. What strategy should they adopt in the face of this dilemma? Obviously, in the Reich of 1944 and on German soil, the answer is self-evident, with or without orders. But that doesn't offer him any prospects.
Little by little, the villages fall, defended in a purely static manner: Wargen (Kotel'nikovo) and what is today Akulovo to the east (the sector of the 61. ID), Klein Schönau (Oktyabr'skoe) to the west (the sector of the 206. ID). As anticipated, Gusev is certainly aiming to surround Tapiau (Tepliava) by road. Worse still, as night falls, Gunther Krappe announces that he would have to regroup his forces as Ragnit (Neman) is under threat... which is not good news, of course. As for Willibald von Langermann, who is supposed to coordinate the three divisions... he was killed by a 152 mm shell.
Around Lasdehnen, Alexey Krutikov continues to infiltrate... vigorously against the 11. ID (Siegfried Thomaschki) and the 21. ID (Gerhard Matzky). Everywhere, the 7th Army moves around, tests, submerges and then reduces, if necessary, in a gigantic game of draughts through the woods that forces the Heer to allow itself to be enveloped or to retreat - the latter eventuality of course not being authorised by the command. Gradually, the threat of Lasdehnen being enveloped from the south, at Sheykino - the junction of Thomaschki with Matzky, who is defending Pillkallen - begins to emerge. But the Red Army is still a long way from its objective, and in the groves to the west of Schillfelde (Pobedino), the ground is as waterlogged as it is bloody.
The same strategy is at work around Gumbinnen for Ivan Morozov's 42nd Army - still attacking the line from Mallwen (Maiskoe) to Lipovo (Ohldorf), now held by the 59. Volksgrenadier (Rudolf Sperl) to the north and the 226. Volksgrenadier (Franz Sensfuß) to the south. But there are no significant breakthroughs or advances to report here today. Galvanised and with their backs to the threshold of the Vaterland, the People's Grenadiers are still fighting fiercely.
In the Goldap sector, on the other hand, the 64. Volksgrenadier (Fritz Warnecke) is under very strong pressure from the 7th Guards Army (Nikolai Berzarin) and the 34th Army (Anton Lopatin) - which are beginning to really eat away at its front lines, under the weight of their numbers and their steel. As a result, by pushing HG Nord, Georg Lindemann manages to get the 1. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division (Rudolf Petrauschke) and the 185. StuG Abt (Major Fritz Glossner). It is about time: on the left, the Reds are ever closer to the road from Goldap to Gumbinnen and there are even several reports of ambushes set up in the rear by infiltrating paratroopers. On the right, Bronisze and Babki come under enemy fire - practically Warnecke's second line of defence.
East Prussia and Poland - 1st Byelorussian Front - In the Wolkowe and Pełty sectors - still the outer perimeter of the Friedrichshof defence - the 12. ID (Kurt-Jürgen von Lützow) stands firm, stoically, against all odds. Ivan Chistiakov - who, barrage after barrage, sends wave after wave of his 1st Guards Army into the assault - asks the 10th Armoured Corps (Alexei Popov) to commit several platoons of machines, in particular flame-throwing tanks to clear the bunkers. The task is as risky as it is thankless, of course. But someone has to do it, or we'll never get through!
Further south, the 3rd Guards Army (Ivan Zakharkin) fights as fiercely as ever for Surowe - i.e. Willenberg - while trying to overrun through Zaręby (since it seems that the fascists in this sector had retreated...). Once again, the XXVIII. AK (Herbert Loch) cedes only a few insignificant positions among other worthless positions, at the cost of a serious outlay of German blood. For the Soviets, it isn't as bad on the scale of the conflict.
Along the Narew and Vistula rivers - 2nd Belarussian Front - In fact, in view of the disaster that the 2. Armee (Carl Hilpert) is suffering, it is not certain that the most advanced positions of the HG Nord would retain their value for much longer.
At Ciechanow, the LXI. AK (Ferdinand Neuling) - essentially a half-division commanded by Alfred Philippi, reinforced by the 325. StuG Abt (Major Oskar Vogler) - is cut to pieces by the 3rd Shock Army (Mikhail Purkayev). The survivors who are still able are pushed back towards the forests on the Ojrzeń road and owe their survival only to the broad sweeps carried out by the Soviets - whose doctrine now advocates bypassing and then enveloping obstacles or strong points, including towns, in all circumstances. The Red Army knows what it costs to fight hard in an urban or semi-urban environment! But for all those who at one time thought they had found salvation around the former HQ of the 2. Armee - Carl Hilpert has since yesterday retreated to Płock - this is of course only a postponement. Especially with the imminent arrival of the men of the 1st Polish Army (J. "Radoslaw" Mazurkiewicz)...
For a moment, the Landsers could believe that their salvation would come from the north. On the personal instruction of Heinz Guderian, the XLVII. PanzerKorps (Hans von Funck), but also the XLI. PanzerKorps (Hellmuth Weidling) - both under Herman Balck's 3. PanzerArmee - leave their positions at Grudusk and Bugzy Płoskie last night to join the attempt by the VIII. ArmeeKorps (Gustav Höhne). This could threaten the Soviets, if Purkayev's forces were not so massive... and if the 14th Armoured Corps (Ivan Kirichenko) had not itself bypassed Ciechanow and moved up to Humięcino, on the road to Mława. As a result, the 14th AC collides with the 4. Panzer (Dietrich von Saucken) as it was gathering before marching south. In the rain and in the dark, Funck's forces are thrown into confusion, while Kirichenko - who has realises that he has a worthy adversary here - scrambles and maneuvers to push the enemy back.
Finally, Gustav Höhne's Landsers set off alone to the rescue of Goldap, late and poorly supported by the only 20. Panzer (Hyazinth Strachwitz), which does not arrive near the Czernice Borowe crossroads until mid-afternoon. In the absence of air support and without the slightest coordination with the VIII. AK, it would be an understatement to say that the German effort is compromised. Like the Allied armoured counter-attacks in May 1940, the German attempt poses absolutely no serious threat to the flank of the Soviet advance. Mikhail Purkayev simply detaches reinforcement units to this side as and when they arrive in the area. The panzers inflict losses, it's true - but they suffer just as many, while the T-34s twirl, envelop, threaten and - already! - resume their advance towards Mława, which in the evening is less than 10 kilometres from the front. If it fell, Balck's entire rear at Hohenstein in Ostpreußen would be threatened...
Worse still, to the south, the advance of the 13th Armoured Corps (Boris Bakharov) is unstoppable. The efforts of the LIII. ArmeeKorps (Friedrich Gollwitzer) - basically, the attack by the 102. Volksgrenadier (Otto Hitzfeld) and 129. Volksgrenadier (Alfred Praun), who are forced to leave their positions on the Narew anyway - come up against the solid rearguard of the 15th Army (Georgiy Zakharov) around Winnica. The two divisions, recently formed, still poorly welded and designed for defence, cannot seriously threaten the Reds. Taking advantage of the fact that Georgiy Zakharov's attention is still focused a little to the south - the remnants of the 293. Volksgrenadier (Karl Arndt) have to be digested! - so they begin to slip westwards at Świercze, counting on reaching Płońsk to escape a fatal envelopment. Which would be possible... if the T-34s of the 13th Armoured Corps (Boris Bakharov) weren't already there.
Further down, on the other side of the Vistula, the 4th PanzerArmee (Kurt von der Chevallerie) ducks and withdraws - still faster, and with considerably more damage than the day before.
The Red Army is still manoeuvring in and around the great desert of rubble that is Warsaw. The 2nd Shock Army (Kuzma Galitsky) is hot on the heels of the XL. PanzerKorps (Eberhard Rodt), fleeing across the Wiskitki crossroads.
In the process, the Soviets - if they were not held up by the so-called Festung Warschau, whose creation had certainly been ordered by Hitler, but whose foundations had not even been laid - also make some surprising discoveries: emerging from the cellars, half-filled sewers and piles of rubble, around two thousand ragged wretches come to meet them, under the lenses of the war photographers. Bedraggled, skinny and dirty, having withstood the cold, hunger, disease and the enemy against all odds, they look like ghosts. Jerzy Tomaszewski's famous shot* of a mother emerging from the silence and the abyss, her newborn baby in her arms, causes a sensation. Not that the Russians will be slowed down by this, as they enter Wiskitki this evening.
To the right of Kuzma Galitsky, the 63rd Army (Vasiliy Kuznetsov), which has turned towards Sochaczew, collides in the afternoon with the rear of the LXXII. ArmeeKorps (Anton Grasser), which has just emerged from the Kampinos forest! This little ride - it's true that the Red Army is now much better motorised than the Wehrmacht - costs the Germans dearly. The 359. ID (Norbert Holm) suffers heavy losses, with nothing to look forward to and nothing to do but press on.
Further upstream, the LXII. ArmeeKorps (Carl Rodenburg) continues to withdraw at high speed from the banks of the Vistula towards Litzmannstadt. Having managed to evade - if not lose - the 54th Army (Sergei Roginski) at Pniewy and the 2nd Guards Army (Leonid Govorov) at Mogielnica, it crosses the plain as far as Rawa Mazowiecka.
On the other side of the all-too-famous Pilici, the 29th Army (Alexander Gorbatov) is in Głowaczów, behind the LXIII. ArmeeKorps (Ernst Dehner). The latter is in Odrzywół and flees towards Tomaszów Mazowiecki, with the XLVI. PanzerKorps (Franz Westhoven) in between, at Białobrzegi.
Once again, Rokossovski has to give way to someone else for the liberation of Radom... But, in addition to his already real successes further north, this is only a temporary setback. The Germans may have escaped destruction on the banks of the Vistula, but behind them, the Reds have finished crossing. The 1st Guards Mechanised Corps (Mitrofan Zinkovich) and the 7th Armoured Corps (Alexei Panfilov) are now charging straight towards Grójec and Białobrzegi, ready to cut the Fascist's teeth all the way to Łódź.
Along the Vistula - 3rd Byelorussian Front - On the side of the famous 1. SS-PanzerArmee, the situation remains very fluid - which in no way makes up for the Heer's setbacks to the north and south of its sector. Threatened with envelopment or fragmentation - exactly as the Stavka had predicted - Paul Hausser is forced to make ever faster and bolder maneuvers to save his troops from an ever-widening encirclement.
The 18. Panzer (Erwin Jollasse) is still being pursued by no less than three Soviet armies! It consequently jumps from Gózd towards Orońsko, in search of reinforcements from the AG reserve - the 108. Panzerbrigade [Panther and JagdPanzer IV] (Oberstleutnant Friedrich-Heinrich Musculus) and the 501. schw. Pz Abt [Tiger and Löwe] (Major Erich Löwe) - which at the same time move up from Piotrków Trybunalski towards Keltz (Kielce). Behind them, the Red Army deploys: the 64th Army (Mikhail Sharokin) is in Jedlnia-Letnisko, the 10th Guards Army (Vasily Chuikov) in Tczów and the 69th Army (Mikhail Kazakov) in Kazanów. A huge mass sweeps through Radom, which is liberated that evening and which the Nazi occupiers did not have time to really destroy. In the process, the Red Army also gets its hands on a particularly active AK recruitment and training centre - it is here that most of Warsaw's survivors had gathered after the failure of the insurrection. The Soviets are sure to make good use of it, for the common good in general and for the new 1st Polish Army in particular. As for the 3rd Tank Army (Pavel Rybalko), ignoring these urban and political contingencies, it races as far as Skaryszew, heading for Piotrków Trybunalski.
The 107. Panzerbrigade (Major Fritz von Maltzahn) and the 905. StuG Abt (Major Jobst Veit Braun), the cat and bear game continues: the feline zigzags as far as Skarżysko-Kamienna, while the heavy legs of the plantigrade - the 50th Army (Konstantin Golubev) and the 4th Guards Army (Ivan Muzychenko) - continue to strike towards Wierzbica and Mirzec. Fortunately for the Germans, this charge is hampered by what is happening to the north, towards Radom... for the time being.
That left the Fallschirm-Panzer Hermann-Göring (Paul Konrath), the only unit able to hold back the Soviet advance (at least a little). It withdraws as far as Baćkowice via Opatów - Fritz von Maltzahn's information is in no way reassuring. This would be the link with the Totenkopf and GrossDeutschland. Behind them, the 8th Guards Army (Sergei Trofimenko) and the 60th Army (Ivan Kreyzer) advance as far as Ćmielów (Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski for the more adventurous elements) and Lipnik, pulling away from each other and somewhat cutting off Konev's forces coming up on their left. But room has to be made for the 1st Tank Army (Mikhail Katukov), which is being injected towards Opatów without anyone on the German side suspecting its arrival.
And on the evening of the third day of the Bolshevik offensive (only!), somewhere in the region of Keltz (Kielce), the leader of the 1. SS-Panzerarmee, looking quite embarrassed, unfolds his maps in the back of his commanding Opel Blitz Omnibus. Normally, Hausser would have concentrated the bulk of his army here (including his precious right wing) to inflict a decisive blow on the Reds before moving north, while Kurt von der Chevallerie would have turned his 4. Panzerarmee from Litzmannstadt... but the complete dislocation of the 6. Armee reduces this fine plan to nothing. Now, instead of rallying, his right wing would have to withdraw towards Częstochowa to keep the gateway to the Vaterland open - and no doubt contribute to its defence - leaving a small half of his army to face the Red Centre alone! In these conditions, he has little choice: he has to abandon Keltz (Kielce) to move westwards, reform an armoured fist and send it into the heads of the most adventurous Reds. All this, of course, while waiting for the 4. Panzerarmee and reinforcements from... everywhere. Hausser has made up his mind - he would fight at Piotrków Trybunalski or nothing.
Between the Carpathians, the Vistula and the Dunajec - 3rd Ukrainian Front - Konev's right wing finishes crossing the Vistula. The Vistula is no longer defended by the 1. SS-Panzerarmee: its units - 104. Panzerbrigade (Oberst Kurt Gehrke), 3. SS-Panzer Totenkopf (Hermann Priess), Panzer-Division GrossDeutschland (Hasso von Manteuffel) and 102. SS-schw. Pz Abt (Anton Laackmann) - are all in retreat towards Keltz (Kielce) and Lechów in favour of Hausser's stillborn project.
As a result, the Red Army makes much better progress here than expected: The 5th Army (Mikhail Potapov) more or less clashes with the 60th Army (Ivan Kreyzer) around Lipnik - which results in dozens of deaths from too much 'friendly' fire... Further west, the 9th Guards Army (Nikolai Pukhov) advances as far as Bogoria and, above all, the 3rd Airborne Corps (Vasily Glazunov) practically single-handedly liberates Staszów, which had not been planned at all! The fascists are clearly in the throes of collapse: Moscow propaganda is sure to see this as proof that the much-vaunted Wehrmacht edifice has never been anything but a rotten house!
In Krakow, the show goes on. The 9. Volksgrenadier (Siegmund von Schleinitz) has been almost destroyed the day before - the 4th Shock Army (Ivan Maslennikov) completes its dislocation in the Skalbmierz sector, reducing its capabilities to nothing and capturing its leader. Now the improvised barrage at Niepołomice by the 4 Luftwaffen-Feld-Division (Hans Sauerbrey) and the 210. StuG Abt (Major Herbert Sichelschmidt) is... bypassed by the 4th Tank Army (Dimitri Lelyushenko), which cuts straight west from Nowe Brzesko, visibly planning to leave Kraków to the infantry. The 7th Guards Armoured Corps (Ivan Vasilev) opens the march towards Węgrzce. It reports encountering nothing but strays and terror-stricken stragglers, which it disperses ruthlessly.
Further south, the 1st Guards Tank Army (Sergei Bogdanov) does the same: it advances at high speed in the rain towards Bochnia, leaving the 5th Shock Army (Ivan Chernyakovsky) to halt its advance at Brzesko in front of the 274. ID (Eugen Wößner) - although this is hardly a threat. In front of it, the 7th Mechanised Corps (Ivan Tutarinov) feels out the German defences on its right at Podłęże - which do not prove very formidable, it should be pointed out...
Behind, Grossman notes: "Crossing the Dunajec. We blew up the embankments and crossed on the bottom, gaining two or three hours in the process. All the water rose up in a huge mountain in front of the tanks and fell back with a terrible crash. Then came anxiety at the prospect of fighting in towns, which they tried to avoid at all costs: "In the conditions of a pursuit in densely occupied areas, the most dangerous thing for tanks is 'infantry-faust' [sic]". On the other hand, outside towns, we go for it! "There are days when we advance 70 or 80 kilometres in twenty-four hours. Our tanks are moving faster than the trains from Berlin!"
And Moscow's orders are clear: recover Krakow intact, as far as possible. That would please his new friends so much!
At the foot of the wall
Chancellery (Berlin) - In the rainy, increasingly bombed-out capital of the thousand-year-old Reich (and it's starting to show), Adolf Hitler takes the time to make a long speech to all his governors, who have gathered - with difficulty - for a congress to go and spread the National Socialist word to their flocks. Of course, some of these henchmen no longer really have a grip on their fiefdoms - like Robert Heinrich Wagner, whose Elsaß-Lothringen these days is becoming more and more... Alsace-Lorraine. But that's just a detail. Another detail is the many questions raised by the population, which the Gauleiters obviously do not share, but which they must nevertheless try to answer, at least a little. A simple question of efficiency.
But they can rest assured. After a brass fanfare, amidst the de rigueur swastikas and after the customary salutes, the Führer will calm their slightest worries. At the very most, his stage presence was less rich than before, although it still brought back fond memories for the stunned spectators...
"The infamous attempt on my life and my sense of duty prevented me from being with you to celebrate the twenty-fourth commemoration of the date on which the fundamental programme of our movement was proclaimed and approved in Munich.
The evening of February 24th, 1920 was, under the auspices of Providence, an event whose significance probably only now appears to us in its terrible meaning. Even then, irreconcilable enemies were united in their struggle against the German people, as they are today.
The unholy alliance between exploitative capitalism and destructive Bolshevism, which today threatens to strangle the whole world, was the enemy against which we threw down the gauntlet on February 24th, in order to safeguard the existence of our Nation. Then, as now, the apparently contradictory cooperation of such extreme forces was merely the expression of the single desire of a common instigator and profiteer. The international Jewish community has long used both political forms to annihilate the freedom and social well-being of nations.
However, there is a huge difference between Germany in 1920 and Germany in 1945. Germany in 1920 was completely paralyzed. Today's Germany is defending itself with the utmost fanaticism! The social order of 1920 was obsolete and doomed to collapse. Today there is an unshakeable popular community!
If the old Germany had possessed only a small fraction of the capacity for resistance that inspires the Germany of today, it would not have capitulated. If today's German people suffered only a fraction of their former weakness, they would have ceased to exist long ago. February 24th, 1920 would later be regarded as a milestone in the history of mankind. Without German National Socialist reconstruction, there would be no German Reich or German People today.
Providence shows no mercy to weak nations. Only strong and healthy nations have the right to exist. The fact that the National Socialist movement succeeded in 1933, after thirteen years of struggle, in seizing power by legal means, was the result of a fierce and often seemingly hopeless struggle.
Who would dare to deny that even the strongest will would not have been enough to defy the diabolical coalition that threatens us today without the successful material rearmament of Germany after the National Socialist revolution? No one, with the exception of the foolish bourgeoisie, can believe that the deluge from the East would not have occurred if Germany had obeyed theoretical international laws instead of equipping itself with weapons, tanks and aircraft.
Just as the onslaught of the Huns could not be repelled by pious wishes or fair warnings, just as the invasion of our country from the south-east over the centuries was not repelled by diplomatic tricks, and just as the Mongol onslaught did not spare the ancient monuments of our culture, the present danger will not be overcome by Law in itself, but only by the Force that supports Law. Law itself is nothing other than the duty to defend the life entrusted to us by the Creator of the world. It is the sacred right to self-preservation. The success of this self-preservation depends solely on the greatness of our efforts and our willingness to make sacrifices to preserve this life for the future.
Attila's power was broken not at a meeting of the League of Nations, but in battle on the Catalaunian plains. Bolshevism will not be defeated in a talking shop in Geneva or at any other convention, but only by our determination to win and by the force of our arms. We all know how difficult this struggle is. Whatever we lose, it will not be what we lose, not by a long shot, if this struggle does not succeed. Bolshevism is now present in many parts of eastern Germany. The crimes committed against our women, children and men by this Jewish plague constitute the most terrible fate ever devised by human beings. This Jewish Bolshevik annihilation of the Nations, with the help of its pimps in Western Europe and America, can only be fought in one way: by using every ounce of strength with the extreme fanaticism and stubborn firmness that merciful God gives to men in difficult times in defense of their own lives.
All those who falter must be crushed and left to rot. Just as in the past the cowardly bourgeois compromise parties were first overwhelmed by the Bolshevik wave and then swept away, so tomorrow all these bourgeois states will disappear, while their stupid representatives today think they can make a treaty with the Devil, cherishing the hope that they will be more cunning than he is satanic. It is a horrific repetition of the process we went through in domestic Germany that is now taking place in the gigantic global political field of today's war.
But just as in the past we overcame the narrow-minded particularism of the parties and overthrew the Bolshevik adversary in order to create a National Socialist People's State, so today we shall win a victory over the contamination of the State by bourgeois democratic conceptions, and we shall crown this victory with the annihilation of Bolshevism. Just as in the past all the bourgeois parties, gnawed away by compromise, were swept away by the Bolshevik flood, so tomorrow all the bourgeois States will disappear. Their misguided representatives believe that they can deal with the devil in the hope of thwarting him. It's a horrible repetition of what once happened in Germany, but on a global scale! Just as we then crushed the Bolshevik enemy in spite of petty-bourgeois particularism and created a National Socialist State, so too will our victory be ours today in spite of bourgeois democratic states. The greatest king in our history, Frederick II, was in danger of succumbing to the superiority of a global coalition, and it was only thanks to his heroic soul that a nucleus of the future Reich was created and ultimately triumphed.
All peoples whose statesmen have made a pact with the Bolshevik devil will sooner or later become its victims. But there is no doubt that National Socialist Germany will continue this struggle to the end, and that will be the case this year, when the historic turning point comes. No power in the world will weaken our hearts.
Our enemies have destroyed so much that is beautiful and holy that we can now only live for one task: to create a state that will rebuild what they have destroyed. It is therefore our duty to maintain the freedom of the German Nation for the future, not to allow German labour to be taken to Siberia, but to mobilise it for reconstruction on behalf of our own People. What the Fatherland has to endure is appalling and the tasks at the front are superhuman, but if a whole people has to rise to such suffering, as our Nation is doing, then Providence will not ultimately deny it the right to survive.
We have suffered so much that it only spurs us on to the fanatical resolve to hate our enemies a thousand times more and to see them as the destroyers of an eternal culture and the annihilators of humanity. From this struggle comes a holy will to oppose these destroyers of our existence with all the strength God has given us and to crush them in the end. In its two thousand years of history, our People have survived so many terrible times that we are convinced that we will also be able to overcome our current difficult situation.
If the Fatherland continues to do its duty and does even more, if the soldier at the Front takes his valiant Fatherland as an example and risks his life for it, then the whole world will be broken in its assault on us. If the Front and the Fatherland are determined together to destroy those who renounce this law of self-preservation, those who act like cowards or those who sabotage the struggle, then they will save the Nation. Then, at the end of this struggle, there will be a German victory and we will enjoy our good fortune.
When this war is over, we will place Victory in the hands of the younger generation. This youth is the most precious thing Germany has. They will be an example to all generations to come. This too is the work of National Socialist education and the result of a challenge issued in Munich twenty-four years ago.
My own life is of value only to the unshakeable work of the Nation to re-establish and strengthen our Fronts of Revenge and Attack, to create weapons of proven as well as new design, to put them into action to strengthen the spirit of our resistance and, if necessary, also, as in the past, to eliminate all those parasites who do not want to participate in the preservation of our Nation or even oppose it.
I recently read in the British newspapers that the Allies intend to destroy my Berghof. I almost regret that this has not happened so far, for my personal property is no more valuable than that of other Germans.
I will be happy, insofar as it is possible for everyone, to put up with whatever others have to put up with. The only thing I could not bear would be the weakness of my Nation.
But what makes me very happy and proud is the conviction that the German People, in their greatest distress, show their toughest character. During these weeks and months, may every German remember that it is his duty to sacrifice everything for the preservation of the German Nation for centuries to come.
Those who suffer should know that many Germans have lost more than they have. The life we have left should serve only one purpose: to right all the wrongs done to our nation by the international Jewish criminals and their cronies. Our unshakeable will must be to think only of Germany until our last breath. Man after man, woman after woman, in town and country, we shall live only to free our Nation from this distress, to rebuild German culture and its National Socialist life.
We are determined never to cease working for the true people's community, far from any class ideology, firmly believing that the eternal values of a nation are its best children who, whatever their birth and rank, just as God gave them to us, must be educated and employed.
Twenty-four years ago, I predicted the victory of our movement. Today, filled as ever with confidence in our Nation, I predict for its twenty-five years the final victory of the German Race."
Special forces
Waltz or polka?
Schloß Friedenthal (Sachsenhausen bei Oranienburg) - The 502. SS-Jäger-Battalion under SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny leaves in a hurry for the east to carry out the sabotage and destruction necessary to halt the Russian advance. Operation code name: Walzer. It is to become Polka beyond the Carpathians, as Skorzeny learned that the scorched earth would be extended to the whole of occupied Poland, right up to the borders of Silesia.
This urgent and imperative injunction is a little frustrating for the SS: its resources are hardly stretchable. But the Reich's survival depends on it. So two groups of 50 men each set off for the front...
Proletarian aviators of all countries, unite!
Hangover
Łomża - "After two days of walking and conciliating and a night in a farmhouse with peasants trembling with fear, the commander of a Po-2 group had me given mechanics and petrol. On June 24th, after walking more than twenty kilometres, I managed to get my MiG up and running again and returned to my base. I was exhausted, dead tired and half sick. But the first thing Maior Vdovin said to me was: "So, you're a tourist now? What have you been up to?"
Exasperated, I barely replied, apologized for arriving intact and hurried off to make my report. That evening, major Vdovin, who had been informed of my odyssey, gave me a hug: "Karacho rabot tovaritch de Geoffre" (Good work, comrade de Geoffre). And Matras summed up the mood of the squadron by telling me: "Baron, we'll never be able to sell you off, the more time goes by the better you are!"
On the same day, my friend Marchi shot down two Messer 190s in a single battle, and the Besançon achieved its hundredth official victory".
(Captain François de Geoffre, Escadre Franche-Comté/Vistule, Charles Corlet ed. 1952, republished by J'ai Lu / Leur Aventure 1963 under the title Franche-Comté/Vistule)
Hungary, whatever the cost
After Schwabenwall - The race for the Danube
1st Magyar Army and German tanks, the Guruslau depression - The tanks of the 17. Panzer (Karl-Friedrich von der Meden) and the 11. Panzer (Wend von Wietersheim) reconcentrate at Frauenbach (Nagybánya, Baia Mare). As soon as they have regrouped, they immediately set off in the rain in the direction of Debrecen, which they should reach in three or four days... hoping that the tracks held and that the air force don't get involved!
Once again, the Germans strand the survivors of the Honvèd, who have few illusions about the future.
Major-General Jenö Halmaji Bor assembles the remainder of his 8th Army Corps [8th ID (Árpád Maltary), 1st Mountain Brigade (Ferenc Lóskay) and 2nd Mountain Brigade (Lajos Rumy)] and prepare to withdraw towards Szatmárnémeti (Sathmar, Satu Mare), more or less in agreement with the 8. Armee and while the Soviets still allow it. When the Hungarians leave, they are followed by a crowd of refugees and settlers in panic. The Reds are not far behind... The 16th Armoured Corps (Andrei Getman) tests the Mesteacăn Pass, defended by stray troops and rearguard elements, while behind it the 59th Army (Ivan Korovnikov) joins the 9th Mechanised Corps (M.I. Savelyev).
For the 6th Hungarian Corps (Kornél Oszlányi), however, it is the end - or almost the end. The remnants of the 10th ID (Frigyes Vasváry) and the 27th ID (András Zákó) are overtaken on the road to Zsibó (Siben, Jibou) and the Mesteacăn Pass by the 4th Armoured Corps (Mikhail Fomichkov) - which, fortunately for the Magyars, is understrength. The Hungarians disperse - their commanders disappear ahead, on the road to the Danube. Over the following days, hundreds of men try to reach Budapest on foot, dodging the Soviet columns as best they can. Few succeed: the frontovokis on patrol regularly pick up Hungarian soldiers in rags, exhausted and almost dead of hunger.
Kornél Oszlányi is left with only the 1st ID (Gusztáv Deseö), which has reached Bobota and is now marching towards Nagykároly (Großkarl, Carei) to join his compatriots there. Ahead, at Trestenburg (Tasnád), the 19. Panzer (Hans Källner) and the 502. schw. Pz Abt (Major Horst Richter-Rethwisch) follow the same route! Behind them, the 8th Mechanised Corps (Vladimir Baskakov) repairs its vehicles, having clearly given up the idea of really pursuing, perhaps for fear of a violent return by the Fascists.
Finally, on the right flank, the 13. Panzer (Helmutt von der Chevallerie) and 560. schw. PzJ. Abt (Major Rudolf Markowz) do not stray far from Körösfeketetó (Neumarkt, Negreni). He waits for his comrades to pass behind him, and the 38th Army (Kyrill Moskalenko), tired, does not rush him.
Front of the 11. Armee, Apuseni Mountains - The urgent retreat of Georg-Hans Reinhardt's army continues: the remnants of the XLII. AK (Frank Mattenklott) is at the Ursoaia pass while the XXX. AK (Philipp Kleffel) is at Câmpeni and Abrud. The first phase of the manoeuvre has been completed - now it is time to move back towards the Vârfurile and Vârtop passes, taking all the stragglers with them. Year in, year out, the Saxon continues to hold on to what remains. The defenders of the Valisoara pass are not reporting any significant activity on their side. So far, so good!
Front of the 17. Armee, Iron Gates region - Mechanised elements of the 17. Armee - in fact, more or less all that remains of it - cross Temeschwar (Temesvár, Timișoara), and thus joins the rear of the 12. Armee, more precisely the XXII. Gebirgs-Armee-Korps under Gustav Fehn. Fehn has every reason to be concerned when he moved to the 11. Armee last month...
So it is without a hint of organisation that all the German units withdraw towards Szeged, with the 6th Guards Armoured Corps (Alexander Shamshin) hot on their heels, attempting to bypass the town to the north at Giarmata. In this very adventurous position, it counts on the support of the 3rd Guards Armoured Corps (Mikhail Panov), which is itself considerably dispersed.
Behind, the 14th Army (Valerian Frolov), the 6th Guards Army (Pavel Batov) and the 62nd Army (Vladimir Kolpakchi), between Lugoj (Lugosch, Lugos) and Caransebeș (Karánsebes, Karansebesch), crush the 335. ID (Siegfried Rasp) and the 95. ID (Gustav Gihr). Rasp manages to escape across the mountains towards Serbia - he was later captured by the men of the Yugoslav 1st Corps**. Gustav Gihr is caught wounded by the Soviets. Apart from the remnants of the XLVIII. ArmeeKorps (Wolfgang Lange) and the 190. StuG Abt (Hauptmann Dieter Bender) - on the run towards Arad, they are pursued by Andrei Gretchko's 18th Army from Lipova (Lippa) - the Axis has nothing left in the region.
The powerful German army seems to be scattering and dissolving in the vastness of the plain to which it had been thrown.
* Reporter and AK resistance fighter, he managed to escape during the pseudo-truce of March 15th.
** After the war, Siegfried Rasp admitted that he was "quite relieved to be quickly transferred to a British camp".
