While we had been away on this mission, the 1st Company had been engaged in very heavy fighting and had been dealt a severe blow.
Several men had been killed and wounded, and the rest were greatly exhausted from this hard first engagement.
It was evening, around 1900 hours. My company (2nd Company) was now to take over part of the sector of the heavily battered 1st Company, and we were led to the front lines.
But we were so tired from the day’s hardships that we hardly knew what was going on, and when we reached the H.K.L. (Main Line of Resistance), we threw ourselves down beneath the wet trees\u2014it had rained all day and was still raining\u2014and we were dull and indifferent to everything. <\/p>\n
We paid no attention to the machine-gun bullets and shells that were still flying around our ears, even though it was the first time we were truly in the H.K.L.
But alas, it was too early for us to give in to fatigue and indifference, for it now became clear that we were only just beginning.
Now the merciless and inhuman demands of front-line life began to be placed upon us. But at the same time began the period when we discovered that a human being can endure almost anything that is unavoidable.
Before that time, I would have sworn that it meant certain death to subject one’s body to the demands that we now had to make of it.
But a human being can be trained to do the unbelievable. One did not even catch a cold from lying outside at night and being soaked and freezing for several days. <\/p>\n
Shortly after darkness fell, we relieved the 1st Company in the foremost foxholes.
This was done silently and without much talking, only an occasional whisper about the situation and the enemy.
There was a stillness of battle in the darkness.
The Russians had attacked throughout the day, but the Danes had held every metre of ground.
It was to be expected that the enemy would use the night to send reconnaissance patrols forward and then launch another attack as soon as daylight began to return the next day.
The foremost foxholes that we now occupied had been dug at the edge of the forest, with an open area about 500 metres wide in front of them, and beyond that there was forest again.
There the Russians had their forward positions, so we were not far from one another. <\/p>\n
They were terrible holes in which we had to lie, full of water and mud, and the rain poured down all night.
We could not leave the holes because of guard duty, and since bursts of fire from the enemy’s machine guns were still flying over us, we could not even stand up in the mud. We had to spend the entire endless night lying on our stomachs in the worst mire, cold and soaked to the skin.
And we had to remain alert every second so that enemy reconnaissance patrols would not catch us by surprise.
It was a hard night, and what thoughts did not pass through one’s mind.
Between the rifle bursts it was dark and silent as the grave.
Behind us and on both sides was forest, and one felt completely alone and abandoned. We saw none of our own men throughout the entire night and scarcely knew where we might find friends. It was as though one had been left alone in the wilderness.
Only the enemy did not leave us in peace. At short intervals, a burst of fire would pass over our heads, which was then answered by our own side with even more bursts. <\/p>\n
I lay perfectly still beside my machine gun, with my assistant gunner on the other side.
We did not fire a single shot throughout the night, so as not to reveal our position.
A few times, Kling came creeping out of the darkness and over to us and asked how things were going. By now the tension had brought us back to life again, and we were all waiting anxiously for the moment when the attack would thunder against us and we would have to begin fighting in earnest.
A couple of \u201ccoffee grinders\u201d roared over us and dropped a few flares (a flare is a light suspended beneath a parachute and can remain hanging in the air for 5\u20137 minutes. It illuminates so brightly that it is almost as light as daytime).
Afterwards, they dropped a few bombs on us here and there, but strangely enough we paid them no attention, and they rarely caused us any harm. <\/p>\n
We were not mistaken in assuming that the enemy would attack at daybreak.
As soon as it began to grow light early in the morning, the Russians launched their attack against us, and now followed some hard hours\u2014indeed, even days.
In the growing daylight, we could now clearly see \u201cIvan\u201d creeping toward us, cautiously and silently, advancing in short bounds from cover to cover in order to reach the assault positions from which they could charge against us in a coordinated attack.
At the same time, as this was taking place and the day was breaking, the heavy weapons also began to speak their dreadful language.
Our heavy machine guns were already rattling away at the hiding places of the creeping enemy\u2014in shell holes and behind bushes in front of us. <\/p>\n
At last the enemy advanced far enough toward us that he believed he could launch an assault (about 150 metres away).
Then we suddenly received a barrage from his heavy weapons, which always preceded a major attack.
Shells from mortars and infantry guns rained down upon us. One explosion followed another around us, tearing trees, bushes, and earth high into the air and leaving craters in the ground.
A German squad equipped with a field radio, which was lying in a foxhole just behind us, received a shell directly into their position and was blown to pieces. Not one of them escaped with his life.
They were the first dead men I saw, but we had no time to let this terrible sight make an impression on us. We were swept up in the battle and no longer thought about such things.
The mind held only one thought: resistance.
Now \u201cIvan\u201d came charging forward in great waves, shouting, yelling, and firing wildly.
For the first time in Russia, my machine gun spoke\u2014a weapon that would become a faithful companion to me throughout the rest of the campaign.
The air was now filled with explosions, screams, and commands.
Hundreds of Russians had to give their lives in front of us, and we held every inch of ground.
Some of our own men surely fell as well, but I did not see much of that.
For three to four hours the enemy continued to charge forward, with short pauses in between, but without succeeding in forcing us inexperienced soldiers to give way. <\/p>\n
We had received our baptism of fire and passed the test with distinction.
Until about midday, my group was still at full strength. Thanks to the protection provided by the foxholes and the trees, we had avoided losing anyone.
I shall never forget the sight of Mads Madsen Christensen, a sturdy and fanatical South Jutlander.
He stood upright behind a tree, without ducking, and rested his sharpshooter\u2019s rifle among the branches of the tree. Hour after hour he stood completely calm and took careful aim.
Time and again he fired, and each time a Russian had to \u201clie down.\u201d
I believe he accomplished more with his rifle than many of the rest of us who had the rapid-firing machine guns. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2273,"template":"","personer":[104],"class_list":["post-2714","litteratur_og_kilder","type-litteratur_og_kilder","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","personer-aage-mariegaard"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/litteratur_og_kilder\/2714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/litteratur_og_kilder"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/litteratur_og_kilder"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"personer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/personer?post=2714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}