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    Landser: One German Soldier’s Story of the War on the Eastern Front
    Landser: One German Soldier’s Story of the War on the Eastern Front
    Landser: One German Soldier’s Story of the War on the Eastern Front
    Ebook97 pages1 hour

    Landser: One German Soldier’s Story of the War on the Eastern Front

    By Steve Stone

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    About this ebook

    I volunteered to sneak up and throw a grenade into the bomb crater containing four Red Army soldier’s as the rest of the company gave me some covering fire. At about five metres away, I threw in the grenade and it exploded. You can imagine the mess. The lone surviving Red Amy soldier stood up with blood pouring from his mouth, nose and ears. He stood there with rifle in hand - before I had time to shoot - he fired at me and I was hit in the shoulder. The force of the round knocked off my feet and I hit my head on some rubble as I fell backwards. I heard the sound of more gunfire as the soldier who had shot at me was shot straight through the head. I heard the loud crack as the bullet hit his head piercing his helmet.

    Landser was the name used for the lower ranks of the German Army. Often overlooked by the more glamorous Lutfwaffe or Kreigsmarine, or even be at the cutting edge technology wise. But, the German infantry played a huge part in the success of Germany in the opening and later battles. They provided the strength and staying power for the German war machine. Even during the famed Blitzkrieg attacks the final outcome was often decided by man against man. Fighting from foxholes, ruined buildings and shattered woods to either defend or take new ground. German infantry fought a tenacious war still remaining an effective force even after heavy losses.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigital Dreams Publishing
    Release dateFeb 27, 2016
    ISBN9781310284946
    Landser: One German Soldier’s Story of the War on the Eastern Front

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      Book preview

      Landser - Steve Stone

      LANDSER

      One German Soldier’s Story of the War on the Eastern Front

      STEVE STONE

      Copyright

      © Steve Stone 2016

      Steve Stone has asserted their rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

      Introduction from the author

      German infantry during World War Two was the most highly trained infantry in the world. They trained hard and fought even harder. These individuals had a very tough job fighting through cold winters and the rainy season when the ground became a quagmire when they had to live and fight in thick mud. The Red Army fought back just as hard and in the end had the numerical advantage which turned the course of the war as stretched supply lines and a lack of manpower conspired against the Germans.

      At times this is a very graphical and violent read that some may find disturbing. But, then to truly appreciate what those fighting had gone through. I would rather use the frank and at times graphical accounts from those who had first-hand experience of the true horror of war. A picture that paints the chaotic and violent nature of war and what soldiers went through to both survive and fight in some of the most violent battles.

      Steve Stone

      February 2016

      FOREWARD

      Landser was the name used for the lower ranks of the German Army. Often overlooked by the more glamourous Lutfwaffe or Kreigsmarine, or even be at the cutting edge technology wise. But, the German infantry played a huge part in the success of Germany in the opening and later battles. They provided the strength and staying power for the German war machine. Even during the famed Blitzkrieg attacks the final outcome was often decided by man against man. Fighting from foxholes, ruined buildings and shattered woods to either defend or take new ground. German infantry fought a tenacious war still remaining an effective force even after heavy losses. Analysis after the war showed that German troops inflicted 50% greater casualties than they received. This was the same if they were attacking or defending. In the end it was the massive allied numerical advantage and air superiority in the later stages of the war that saw German infantry final defeated.

      It was unit cohesion and working as an effective team more than anything that led to the German infantry success. Even with huge losses they could continue to fight as an effective team. Without falling into the trap of self-preservation. The ability to form Kampfgruppen or improvised battle groups. These proved to be highly effective even though often composed of survivors, support troops, non-combatants and even stragglers. German infantry came from diverse backgrounds. In many other armies’- class more than anything else often lead to the allocation of manpower. Education and abilities also played a part in selection processes. Instead the Germans had personnel officers who evaluated each recruit’s entire personality including spiritual qualities and emotional abilities. One element that was keenly sought was a presence of mind to be single minded towards a single task, using all their will power to reach the end goal. This meant that the typical Landser was not made up of those that would not qualify for anything else. Although, towards the end of the war the Germans had no choice but to take in anyone willing to fight.

      The structure of a German infantry battalion was reorganized several times during the war. The overall structure of the battalion and company remained pretty much the same to the end of the war. A rifle company consisted typically of three rifle squads. Each squad had a machine gun group of four men. Along with three rifle squads a company had a Company Q consisting of an officer and 11 men. A Company supply chain consisting of 24 men. A light motor section of four men and a Platoon HQ of one officer and three men. The Platoon HQ officer is in charge of the three rifle squads.

      PROLOGUE

      I had no idea when I joined as a Landser, I would end up holding a comrade whose guts were spilling out of his stomach. As he lay in my arms he kept saying kill me, kill me before dying. That I would have to pull the remains of my commander back into a trench after he had been hit directly by a mortar. That I would stare into a half-track containing eight men, all of them beheaded by a shell. The most powerful and lasting images are still those from my first few days in combat. Witnessing the horror and sheer terror of war wondering if I would even make it to my next birthday. You experience so much death and destruction on a daily experience that you become almost desensitised to it all.

      It was July 1942; we had seen some great victories under the guidance of our Fuhrer. He had made Germany great and I was proud to be a German solider fighting in the best Army in the world. Our Company had just been ordered to set up an ambush along a main track in Russia as part of a larger operation to mop up any Red Army pockets. Our objective was to ambush any Red Army patrol or armour that passed us, once we had got into position and dug in. Command wanted us there because of the high enemy activity. We had artillery support if required, but they were pretty much tied up dealing with the Red Army armour in their own locality. The area we were to mount an ambush from was from a dense wooded area. Made up from pine trees set back about four feet from the rough track that went straight through the centre of the forest. During the build up to Operation Barbarossa we had been lead to believe Russia was just flat with vast plains without the vast forests and numerous rivers we have come across. The forest themselves are often very dense. As soon as you got more than a few feet into the forest any daylight was almost completely blocked out and it became quite a gloomy place to be. But, it was a break from the heat of the Soviet summer.

      We got ourselves into a line facing towards the track and used our entrenching tools, to dig in the hard soil - which then just turned to dust the moment you dug into it. Finally, we checked our weapons and equipment. My main weapon was my Gewehr 41 some of the soldiers in my company carried the Karabiner 98 kurz bolt action rifle. In total we were two rifle companies with twenty rifle men, four machine gunners with the Maschinengewehr 34, or MG 34 and we had four men on light mortar.

      All we had to do now was to lie in wait for the Red Army to turn up. We would wait until they were all square onto us before opening fire before pushing forward to finish them off. We lay down in a prone position and waited for a couple of hours in near silence. German army discipline was second to none and one of the reasons when in battle we worked as such a cohesive team. As dusk approached we heard the sound of marching boots. Quite faint at first but steadily they got louder and louder as they became closer. We all gripped our rifles and waited for the order to open fire. We had already made ready so any approaching enemy would not be alerted to us cocking our rifles and machine guns. I could feel my heart racing as I waited. There is nothing natural about killing another man. Over time you just see an enemy uniform and fire at it, without thinking. It is not until long after - in my case years later that the full sense of guilt of those that I had killed and seeing the death of many comrades and friends.

      Finally, as the

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