Sv\u00e6rdborg speaks. Baptism of fire on the Eastern Front. <\/p>\n
\u201cImmediately assemble in field uniform in the barracks yard,\u201d the order says as we are woken up.
It is only two o\u2019clock in the morning, and the date is 7 May 1942. Half asleep, we stumble out of our beds. We have only slept for a couple of hours. Yesterday we were on a demanding field exercise. In the evening we held a comrades\u2019 gathering with bonfire, songs, and plenty of tea with rum.
Another night ruined by alarm exercises, I thought somewhat annoyed as I got ready.
But when the armourer issues live ammunition to us, I realize that this time it is serious. <\/p>\n
At the \u201cfourer\u201d \u2013 the NCO responsible for issuing rations \u2013 each man receives a package.
\u201cIt may only be opened if you are cut off from your own lines,\u201d we are told.
We go by truck to the railway station in Posen. We are excited and in high spirits. At last we are on our way to the war we have been trained for. Freikorps Danmark is about to perform its \u201cfinal test\u201d\u2014where the law of the jungle applies: kill or be killed. To the front.
Our opponents are no longer cardboard targets, but real \u201cIvans,\u201d as we call the Russian soldiers who shoot back.
In K\u00f6nigsberg in East Prussia, the railway wagons are driven directly onto an airfield. Only then are we told where we are to be deployed: the Demyansk pocket.
This is the place which Hitler\u2019s propaganda minister Goebbels prefers to describe as the \u201cDemyansk fortress.\u201d But the reality is that around 80,000 German soldiers have been surrounded and encircled by Soviet forces in this area\u2014about the size of Funen\u2014since last autumn.
All supplies and reinforcements can only reach the troops by air: the first air bridge in history.
While waiting at the airfield, we are served hot food from the airfield kitchen. But it is almost wasted on us. For most of us, it is the first time we have been aboard an aircraft, and the food barely settles before it comes back up again.
We are two squads with full equipment in each plane, so the aircraft are heavily overloaded. In the border town of Pskov, in the former Baltic states, we switch to armed aircraft and are given fighter escort. <\/p>\n
Now we are flying over Russian-controlled territory.
On this stretch we fly so low that we can clearly see the landscape beneath us. The sight is anything but uplifting. As far as the eye can see there is destroyed equipment, shot-down aircraft, scorched trees, and bomb and shell craters\u2014a clear testimony to the fighting of the autumn and our first encounter with the harsh reality of war.
The war we are about to feel in body and soul, I think.
After landing we are told that our fighter escort has shot down two Soviet aircraft along the route.
At the airfield in Demyansk we are received by the commander of the \u201cTotenkopf\u201d division. The corps is to be incorporated into this division as a battalion. <\/p>\n
The commander, \u201cPapa Eiche\u201d \u2013 as the soldiers somewhat disrespectfully call him \u2013 welcomes us to the division. His words of welcome are surely sincere. Any commander must be pleased to suddenly receive a fully equipped battalion of fresh and combat-ready troops.
We are transported to various Russian villages, where we are to be quartered for a couple of days before being deployed to the main combat line at the front. Each company is stationed in its own village.
Mine, the third, is assigned to the town of Zemena. <\/p>\n
The villages all look alike, with two rows of houses facing each other. Between the rows there is what in peacetime would be called a road. But during the autumn battles the road is completely packed with heavy German equipment.
By laying tree trunk next to tree trunk, tightly side by side across the road, German engineers have created a kind of driving surface. It is called a \u201cRollbahn\u201d \u2013 a rolling road.
It is vital for the German troops, because all supplies from the airfield in Demyansk are transported along it to the various units at the main front line.
In some places the Rollbahn is so narrow and so close to the enemy lines that signs have been posted: \u201cCaution \u2013 enemy observation!\u201d
The caution consists in driving at full throttle.<\/p>\n
For the Russians, the goal is to disrupt the Rollbahn as much as possible in order to prevent the Germans from using it. This is done through shelling and attacks. Since the winter, the Rollbahn has been completely closed.
One of our first tasks becomes reopening this vital supply route. We are given a couple of days to adjust to the thought and the area.
My first encounter with the civilian population is a strange experience.
When we are issued our daily ration of hot food and dry supplies at the field kitchen, the villagers line up in the hope of receiving leftovers. It happens that some of the starving people manage to get a piece of bread from a soldier\u2014mostly young women with children are the lucky ones.
One day I notice an old woman standing slightly apart from the others. The thought that it could be my own mother standing in such a humiliating situation suddenly strikes me.
On a sudden impulse, I walk over to her. With gestures I make her understand that she should hold out her apron. At first she looks at me in confusion, but then she understands and holds it out.
I pour the entire ration of dry food into her apron\u2014bread, sausage, margarine, and a tin of canned food. Only when I help her arrange the supplies does she realize it is meant for her.
Then something happens I will never forget. The woman falls to her knees in front of me, trying to kiss my boots. Quickly I help her up again, because I feel it is humiliating for her to kneel before me.
Instead, the old woman makes the sign of the cross and says a lot in Russian, which I naturally do not understand.
By coincidence, our interpreter comes by, and I ask him to translate what the woman is saying. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe has prayed for you and blessed you because you were kind to her,\u201d the interpreter says. \u201cShe also foretells that you will return to your country after the war, and that you will be wounded four times.\u201d
I am curious and want to know how old I will become.
\u201cShe will not answer that,\u201d the interpreter explains.
But after looking at me for a moment, the woman says:
\u201cYour fate number is two identical numbers\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n
Nothing more can be made out of the old woman by the interpreter. Once again she makes the sign of the cross over my chest and then slowly hobbles away.
I do not consider myself superstitious. But I do believe there is more between heaven and earth than we humans can\u2014or should\u2014understand.
That is why I cannot help but think about the woman\u2019s words regarding my \u201cfate number.\u201d
My soldier\u2019s number is 88.
The day I decided to volunteer for the Freikorps was 22\/6\/1941. <\/p>\n
Adding these numbers together\u201422 + 6 + 19 + 41\u2014gives 88\u2026<\/p>\n
But I do not get to continue philosophizing about numbers. Suddenly, a general alarm is sounded.
Russian soldiers have been spotted at the edge of the forest a short distance from the village. A patrol is sent out, and the company takes up positions. It turns out to be a false alarm.
Strangely enough, my comrades and I do not feel afraid at the prospect of this first encounter with our opponents. On the other hand, the villagers are terrified. They apparently fear their compatriots from the Red Army more than they fear us.
From Zemena we are moved directly to the combat area, where we are to remain in reserve until we are called to relieve positions on the main front line.
Third company is constantly changing positions. The Demyansk pocket is swampy terrain with forest and brush. Apart from the Rollbahn itself, we are constantly wading through water up to our ankles. Our feet are always wet.
\u201cThat at least has the advantage that we don\u2019t get sore toes,\u201d says a comrade.
After another week of constant wading, he adds: \u201cWe\u2019ll probably be wading around just as long as Moses wandered in the desert. But Moses would probably have been happy to have some of our water\u2026\u201d
Suddenly things become serious for third company. First and second company have already been in combat and are now holding positions on the main front line.
Reports come in of Russian forces between the front line and the Rollbahn. Under no circumstances can they be allowed to operate there. Our task is therefore either to take them prisoner\u2014or destroy them. <\/p>\n
Now everyone is nervous. After all, this is the first time we are going into combat. Our baptism of fire is now clearly imminent.
\u201cForm a skirmish line,\u201d comes the order.
We move forward through the terrain in a line next to each other, with four to five metres between each man. Bayonets are ordered fixed to the rifles.
A moment later we make contact with the first Russians. They surrender without a fight.
Suddenly we come under fire. Then it is a matter of hitting the ground immediately. <\/p>\n
In this manoeuvre my rifle scope slides off its mount and falls into the swamp water. I have been appointed the platoon\u2019s marksman. But there is not much marksmanship left in me when I finally manage to find the scope in the mud.
When I look through it, it is like looking through a car window in the rain when the wipers are not working.
While I am fumbling with the sight, my comrades have moved further forward, and I have no idea which direction they have gone.
I hear machine-gun fire and follow the sound. I am relieved when I see our company commander. He is just as relieved when I report back and explain what has happened.
\u201cIt\u2019s good to have a marksman at hand, so you can stay with me,\u201d he says.
That satisfaction I unfortunately have to take away from him by telling him that as a marksman I am no longer worth a damn.
\u201cTry looking through the sight yourself,\u201d I say.
\u201cThrow the damn thing away if it\u2019s only in the way,\u201d the commander replies.
The strange battle continues. We are being fired at by opponents we cannot see. But we return fire and shoot at the muzzle flashes. When the machine guns fall silent, we know we have hit the mark.
The only Russians I see that morning are either dead or taken prisoner.
The prisoners say that their unit had been about the size of a company\u2014around 100 men\u2014and that they have many dead.
So it is possible to kill even when you cannot see the enemy, I conclude.
Our task\u2014to clear the area between the Rollbahn and the main front line\u2014is essentially completed. For we have reached our own main front line, which in this sector is held by Wehrmacht soldiers. <\/p>\n
They shake their heads as we pass through their positions.
Now we are attacking the Russian main battle line. The machine-gun fire from it becomes heavier. From the edge of the forest suddenly comes: \u201cRyki verk!\u201d\u2014surrender!
\u201cI\u2019ll damn well give you monkeys \u2018ryki verk\u2019,\u201d the company commander shouts and orders all machine guns to open fire on the Russian positions.
Whenever we see something move, we fire wildly with all weapons.
A message comes over the radio ordering us to cease fire and return to the Rollbahn. Our task is completed\u2014and successfully so. We have been baptized. We are now real front-line soldiers.
On the way back we pass some comrades. They are in the process of bandaging an officer. It is Norholdt. But there is nothing to be done\u2014he has been hit in the stomach by a dum-dum bullet.
Norholdt lies with his eyes closed. Not a sound comes from his lips, although the pain must be unbearable.
\u201cYou can save yourselves the trouble. He is finished,\u201d I say.
At that moment Norholdt opens his eyes and looks up at me. In that gaze lies the question: \u201cWho are you to decide over life and death?\u201d
A moment later he dies.
Norholdt is right. I will never forget that small, ugly moment and that look.
Up on the Rollbahn the comrades say that our group leader shot a Russian during our advance. The man was sitting in a tree. But he did not fall down because he had been tied to it.
Through the interpreter the prisoners say it was their political officer\u2014the commissar\u2014who had ordered the soldier tied to the tree so he could not escape.
Von Schalburg greets us with a few words of approval. At the same time we are told that already the next day we are to relieve a Wehrmacht company at the main front line. Our wandering existence is over with the baptism of fire.<\/p>\n
It is 22\/5\/1942.
If I add these numbers together, they also give my \u201cfate number\u201d: 22 + 5 + 19 + 42 = 88\u2026
Source: SS volunteer. Sv\u00e6rdborg fort\u00e6ller. Bogan, 1985. <\/p>\n
In the following text, there may appear passages or viewpoints that could be perceived as glorifying what happened. These texts\/views are the author\u2019s, not mine. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2768,"template":"","personer":[121],"class_list":["post-2767","litteratur_og_kilder","type-litteratur_og_kilder","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","personer-svaerdborg-alias-svend-aage-jensen"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/litteratur_og_kilder\/2767","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\/2768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"personer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fkdanmark.simsoft.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/personer?post=2767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}