Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Orders for Russia

(Source)
Fahnenjunker-Unterfeldwebel Jürgen von Lüttwitz looked up from the letter he was writing to see his platoon and company commanders walking up the path to the squad's quarters.

"Well, I'm sure this isn't good news." he muttered to himself, getting to his feet.

"Jürgen, sit down, no need for formalities."

Newly promoted Hauptmann Ferdinand Busch waved von Lüttwitz back to the bench he had been sitting on.

"What are you working on?" he asked amiably.

"Just a letter Sir, to my parents."

"Very good, you might have the chance to see them soon."

"Sir?"

"We're entraining for the East, tonight." Busch said.

Von Lüttwitz looked at his platoon commander, Leutnant Fritz Acker, who nodded. "That's right Jürgen, back to the east, but not Poland this time."

Von Lüttwitz remembered when the unit had been sent to Poland, very near the demarcation line with the Soviet occupied zone, where they had spent a rather cold winter, before being shipped back to France. The division had originally been allotted to the invasion of Russia, but had never left France, most of it.

Von Lüttwitz's battalion had been sent east, anticipating the deployment of the entire division. That had not occurred as partisan activity within France had been increasing. So back west they went.

Now the fighting in the east was getting even more intense and the vast distances required more and more infantry. Though thousands upon thousands of Soviet soldiers had been captured, thousands more were still behind German lines, attacking communications lines and further increasing problems with the Wehrmacht's logistics.

"Which part of the front, Sir?" von Lüttwitz asked his company commander.

His platoon commander answered, "Heeresgruppe Nord¹, the drive on Leningrad."

"Very well, we'll be ready." von Lüttwitz rose to his feet again, this time Hauptmann Busch didn't say anything, but he did nod at Leutnant Acker with a grin. Von Lüttwitz cocked his head and looked at the two officers.

"You're out of uniform, Feldwebel. Get these on your uniform immediately!" Acker tossed von Lüttwitz a set of shoulder straps. Each bore a single star marking his new rank of Feldwebel. Technically he was a Fahnenjunker-Feldwebel as his epaulettes still would have the two silver loops indicating his status as an officer-aspirant. He was starting to wonder if that jump would ever occur.

"Why so glum von Lüttwitz? Mad because you're not an officer yet? Don't worry, you'll get there. Provided you survive."

With that the two officers departed. That last comment by Busch made von Lüttwitz ponder, many were dying in the east. The communiques spoke of the vast distances conquered, the prisoners taken. But they said nothing of the German casualties which Army rumor said were starting to climb.

"Sepp!" his assistant squad leader had been lurking nearby. "I'm sure you overheard everything, best set the men to packing."

"Already on it, Herr Feldwebel." Obergefreiter Sepp Wittman grinned when he said that. Then continued, "Before you know it, you'll be an officer Jürgen, please remember us little people."

Wittmann ducked when von Lüttwitz threw a cleaning brush at him.

"Make sure the lads bring all of their gear. Greatcoats as well. You remember the cold out East, and we'll be heading further north."

"Ja, Leningrad, I've been there in the spring and the fall. Weather was cold at nights then, I can't imagine what it's like in the winter!"

"Well, we shall know shortly." von Lüttwitz said as he placed his new epaulettes on his tunic. Now he needed another set for his greatcoat.

He shuddered, heading to Russia just when the early fall was setting in here in France. A lovely time of year.

"Sepp!"

"Yes?"

"See if we can't smuggle some wine with us, I know the lads would like that."

"Already done, Herr Feldwebel. Already done."

Fahnenjunker-Feldwebel shoulder board.
(Source)




¹ Army Group North

28 comments:

  1. Leningrad.....oh my......a two and a half year siege coming up..... good luck to those landsers Sarge.

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  2. "Knowing now what that they did not now then..." Leningrad. Yikes.

    The Sepps of the world are invaluable.

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    1. Yes, indeed they truly are invaluable. There are far too few of them in many places.
      "A lovely time of year" in France.
      Good timing, Sarge. Just had geese fly over; it's said this winter will be a cold one.
      Boat Guy

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    2. TB - The Sepps of the world are what keeps things running, even when incompetence seems to rule the day.

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    3. BG - I get the same feeling about this coming winter being a cold one.

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  3. And the Baltics. No fun there, either, particularly on the "return" trip.

    /
    L.J.

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    1. Oh yes, Heeresgruppe Kurland, the Frisches Haff, the MV Wilhelm Gustloff, nastiness all the way around on the return trip!

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  4. I had to pull out a map and take a look at where Leningrad (St Petersburg) was, then Moscow & Stalingrad (Volgograd) too.
    Russia is a big place...

    It's 44 degrees out right now, just before 0700 here on the Hood Canal in western WA, hasn't been in the 40s for months...some leaves are starting to change.
    I really like summer but that could be a hold over from being a kid and getting to summer off to do what I wanted. Now I'm retired and for the most part I can do what I want & I still like summer! Must be the nice weather.
    I'm not a fan of real winters either, I was in the upper mid-west for 12 winters (90-95 Chicagoland, 96 in Traverse City MI & 97-2002 Bemidji MN) and quickly realized that a real winter is a regularly scheduled natural disaster. If you're not prepared for the winter you'll die.
    I'm a fan enough of summer that I'm going to Florida for the winter... (not that this has anything to do with the boys going up to spend the winter in the Soviet Union but it's in the lower 40's here today :-)
    I'm going to Florida next month

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    1. Florida in October is a far better thing than Leningrad in November! (You.ve logged time in some serious winter climates!)

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    2. If I never see another negative (f) temperature it's will be alright with me!

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    3. We're relatively lucky in Little Rhody with the cold temperatures. I think I've seen -1 or -2 once in the 23 years we've lived here. Having that big body of water (the Atlantic) out there tends to protect us from the extremes.

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  5. Leningrad. It could be worse. Drive on Moscow, with all the bitter fighting, then savage winter counterattack of Zhukov.

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    1. It can always be worse, but yes Operation Typhoon was nasty!

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    2. And its year off for now, but then there is Stalingrad...

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    3. Yo, Adolph! Way to screw it up by the numbers! As bad as you were, you opened the world to something worse. Rot in hell!

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    4. Invading Russia, what could possibly go wrong? uh, how about, everything?

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  6. One of the things, I learned in School for Advanced Military Studies was how to describe the plan and what constituted victory. Marching a couple of thousand miles to conquer Moscow did not fit those parameters. The Germans were doomed from the start. Then the Japanese pissed us off. The War was a foregone conclusion albeit with a unbelievable loss rate on our side (many multiples on the enemy's), yet it brought an acceptable era of peace for a while. One hopes we still have the capability to do similar actions if needed in the future
    juvat

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    1. I'm beginning to doubt that, simply put, our leadership is rotten.

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    2. Well....There IS that. More's the pity!

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    3. Not just the leadership, we're a country where our young have been raised on fast food while playing video games, when they get tired of that it's the computer/phone in the pocket.
      I know it's not everybody but it is a lot. Someone mentioned the other day that they watched the movie "Woodstock", say what you want but that was half a million skinny kids in the rain. Put a half million of today's kids in one place today & how many are skinny?

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    4. juvat - And I include the Dems and the RINOs in that assessment. Old school corrupt politicians, get elected, get rich. I'd make it so that any moneys made by a government official which can be tied directly to their work for the government (speaking fees, unused campaign contributions go straight to the Treasury, and NOT the official). Just a thought.

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    5. Rob, you paint with too broad a brush, I'd venture that city/suburban kids are more prone to that than country kids. Woodstock is a bad example, half those kids were high or strung out. It's NOT the kids in this country I'm worried about, it's their effete, corrupt elders.

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    6. Maybe too broad a brush but there were a LOT of kids at Woodstock who were just kids going to a big concert in 1969 (& went on with normal lives after that) and from looking at the pictures obesity was not a problem.
      Obesity is a problem today, what were the last numbers I saw.... 2/3 of the kids are physically unfit today? Playing video baseball as a kid does not get you ready to throw a grenade when you go in the service.

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    7. Don't believe the Army's statistics.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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