A few days after our arrival, Hauptsturmführer Bannich replaced Poulsen as company commander. Bannich was a former Danish naval officer and an exceptionally fine man.
He became greatly liked by all of us, but we still had to work on improving the positions whenever things were quiet. That was his main concern, and he was somewhat mocked for it, but later—how right he turned out to be, and how grateful we were for our shell- and bulletproof bunkers. They saved many lives.
My group began by building a large bunker for the entire group inside the forest. It was to be used by the off-duty men for sleeping day and night, as well as for storing the group’s equipment, supplies, and so on.
It took several days to build, but it became large and secure against bullets and shell fragments. We had to construct it entirely above ground, because the water in the swamp lay just beneath the surface.
The pioneers had a small portable chainsaw. It was made of light metal with a small petrol engine at one end, so small and light that one man could run with it wherever it was needed; it would cut through the thickest trees in five seconds.
With it they felled the trunks, which we then chopped and used to build the sides and roof of the bunker. Afterwards, a thick layer of earth was piled onto the sides and roof.
Inside, we made a floor of thin logs laid tightly together, creating a smooth and even surface. The walls were lined with our dismantled tents.
Outside the entrance we built a small enclosure and also laid a floor there. We set up primitive tables and benches made from thin, straight birch trunks.
The entire structure was completely hidden from both air and ground view by dense undergrowth. There were only a couple of narrow paths leading out to the outside world.
Finally, a birch board was placed above the entrance with the inscription “Bombely,” and thus the group’s “home” was named.
It was pleasant to lie inside there at night, knowing that the guards were alert out in the positions. It truly felt like a place of refuge, and Bennich was satisfied.
Almost every night a couple of “coffee grinders” came and dropped some bombs around us. For a time it was almost as certain as sunset: as soon as the sun had gone down, their droning would begin in the distance.
It could be a bit eerie lying in “Bombely” when they dropped their load too close, but against shell fragments it was safe enough—though a direct hit would have gone straight through down to us, and then we could have said goodbye to both “Bombely” and ourselves.
These “coffee grinders” were, incidentally, poor at navigating, and it often happened that they dropped their entire bomb load in the Russian lines themselves. Then we were greatly amused.
Writing exercise VI, June – 17 July 1942
The bathing beach at “Bombely”
17 July 1942 – at Point 33-4
One night a bomb fell right nearby at the edge of the forest, and since the water level in the soft swamp was very high, the crater immediately filled with water to the brim.
This hole was more than two metres deep and five to seven metres across. The entire company thereafter used it for bathing.
Writing exercise VII, 17–18 July 1942
17 July – Dinner in the bunker town
18 July – Before the evening battle
We took the plunge and made it safely through the barrage back to the bunkers.
There I met Peder and Lorentzen in our bunker; they were sitting and smoking tobacco while looking out through the entrance hatch at this rain of fire and steel.