Nazi ideas about the people Soviet Russia, whose territory they invaded on June 22, 1941, was determined by the ideology that portrayed the Slavs as "subhuman". However, already the first battles forced the invaders to change a lot in these views. We provide documentary evidence of soldiers, officers and how, from the first days of the war, Soviet soldiers appeared before them, who did not want to retreat or surrender ...
“My commander was twice my age, and he had already had to fight the Russians near Narva in 1917, when he was in the rank of lieutenant. “Here, in these vast expanses, we will find our death, like Napoleon,” he did not hide his pessimism ... “Mende, remember this hour, it marks the end of the former Germany” ”(Erich Mende Lieutenant of the 8th Silesian infantry division about the conversation that took place in the last moments of peace on June 22, 1941).
“When we entered into the first battle with the Russians, they clearly did not expect us, but they could not be called unprepared either. Enthusiasm [for us] was not in sight! Rather, everyone was seized by a sense of the grandeur of the forthcoming campaign. And then the question arose: where, at what locality will this campaign end?(Alfred Dürwanger, lieutenant, commander of an anti-tank company of the 28th Infantry Division, advancing from East Prussia via Suwalki)
“On the very first day, as soon as we went on the attack, one of ours shot himself with his own weapon. Clutching the rifle between his knees, he inserted the barrel into his mouth and pulled the trigger. Thus ended the war and all the horrors associated with it.(anti-tank gunner Johann Danzer, Brest, June 22, 1941).
“The behavior of the Russians, even in the first battle, was strikingly different from the behavior of the Poles and allies who were defeated on Western front. Even being in the encirclement, the Russians staunchly defended themselves "(General Günther Blumentritt, Chief of Staff of the 4th Army).
“The battle for the capture of the fortress is fierce - numerous losses ... Where the Russians managed to be knocked out or smoked out, new forces soon appeared. They crawled out of basements, houses, from sewer pipes and other temporary shelters, fired aimed, and our losses were constantly growing.(from combat reports of the 45th infantry division of the Wehrmacht, which was entrusted with the capture Brest Fortress; the division consisted of 17 thousand people personnel against the 8,000-strong garrison of the fortress taken by surprise; only in the first day of fighting in Russia, the division lost almost as many soldiers and officers as in all 6 weeks of the campaign in France). “These meters turned into a continuous fierce battle for us, which did not subside from the first day. Everything around was already destroyed almost to the ground, there was no stone left from the buildings ... Sappers assault group climbed onto the roof of the building just opposite us. They had explosive charges on long poles, they put them in the windows of the upper floor - they suppressed the enemy's machine-gun nests. But almost to no avail - the Russians did not give up. Most of them settled in strong basements, and the fire of our artillery did not harm them. You look, an explosion, another one, everything is quiet for a minute, and then they open fire again.(Schneiderbauer, lieutenant, commander of a platoon of 50-mm anti-tank guns of the 45th infantry division about the battles on the South Island of the Brest Fortress).
“It can almost be said with certainty that no cultured Westerner will ever understand the character and soul of Russians. Knowledge of the Russian character can serve as a key to understanding the fighting qualities of the Russian soldier, his advantages and methods of his struggle on the battlefield. The stamina and mentality of a fighter have always been paramount factors in a war and often turned out to be more important than the number and armament of troops ... You can never say in advance what a Russian will do: as a rule, he rushes from one extreme to another. His nature is as unusual and complex as this vast and incomprehensible country itself ... Sometimes the Russian infantry battalions were confused after the very first shots, and the next day the same units fought with fanatical stamina ... The Russian as a whole, of course, is excellent a soldier and with skillful leadership is a dangerous adversary "(Mellenthin Friedrich von Wilhelm, Major General of the Tank Forces, Chief of Staff of the 48th Tank Corps, later Chief of Staff of the 4th Tank Army).
“On the Eastern Front, I met people who can be called a special race. Already the first attack turned into a battle not for life, but for death.(Hans Becker, tanker of the 12th tank division).
“During the attack, we stumbled upon a light Russian T-26 tank, we immediately clicked it right from the 37-graph paper. When we began to approach, a Russian leaned out of the hatch of the tower to the waist and opened fire on us with a pistol. It soon became clear that he was without legs, they were torn off when the tank was hit. And despite this, he fired at us with a pistol!(from the memoirs of an anti-tank gunner about the first hours of the war).
“The quality level of Soviet pilots is much higher than expected ... Fierce resistance, its mass nature does not correspond to our initial assumptions”(Hoffmann von Waldau, Major General, Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe Command, diary entry dated June 31, 1941).
“We almost did not take prisoners, because the Russians always fought to the last soldier. They didn't give up. Their hardening cannot be compared with ours ...» (from an interview with war correspondent Curizio Malaparte (Zukkert), an officer in the tank unit of Army Group Center).
“... Inside the tank lay the bodies of a brave crew, who had previously received only injuries. Deeply shocked by this heroism, we buried them with full military honors. They fought to the last breath, but it was just one little drama. great war. After the only heavy tank blocked the road for 2 days, it began to act…”(Erhard Raus, colonel, commander of the Raus Kampfgruppe about the KV-1 tank, which shot and crushed a convoy of trucks and tanks and an artillery battery of Germans; in total, the tank crew (4 Soviet soldiers) held back the advance of the Raus combat group (about half a division) two days, 24 and 25 June).
July 17, 1941. Sokolnichi, near Krichev. An unknown Russian soldier was buried in the evening [we are talking about 19-year-old senior artillery sergeant Nikolai SIROTININ. - N.M.]. He alone stood at the cannon, shot a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone marveled at his bravery... Oberst before the grave said that if all the Fuhrer's soldiers fought like this Russian, we would conquer the whole world. Three times they fired volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary?(from the diary of Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Henfeld)
“The losses are terrible, not to be compared with those that were in France ... Today the road is ours, tomorrow the Russians take it, then again we and so on ... I have never seen anyone angrier than these Russians. Real chain dogs! You never know what to expect from them. And where do they get tanks and everything else from?!”(from the diary of a soldier of the Army Group Center, August 20, 1941; after such an experience, the saying “Better three French campaigns than one Russian” quickly came into use in the German troops.).
“I didn't expect anything like this. This is pure suicide to attack the forces of the battalion with five fighters.(from a confession to the battalion doctor Major Neuhof, commander of the 3rd battalion of the 18th infantry regiment Army Group "Center"; the 800-man battalion that successfully broke through the border defenses was attacked by a unit of 5 Soviet fighters).
“You just won’t believe this until you see it with your own eyes. The soldiers of the Red Army, even burning alive, continued to shoot from the blazing houses.(from a letter from an infantry officer of the 7th Panzer Division about the fighting in a village near the Lama River, mid-November 1941).
“Russians have always been famous for their contempt for death; the communist regime has further developed this quality, and now massive Russian attacks are more effective than ever before. The attack made twice will be repeated for the third and fourth time, regardless of the losses incurred, and both the third and fourth attacks will be carried out with the same stubbornness and composure ... They did not retreat, but irresistibly rushed forward. Repelling this kind of attack depends not so much on the availability of technology, but on whether the nerves can withstand it. Only battle-hardened soldiers were able to overcome the fear that gripped everyone.(Mellenthin Friedrich von Wilhelm, major general of tank troops, chief of staff of the 48th tank corps, later chief of staff of the 4th tank army, participant in the Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk).
“My God, what are these Russians planning to do with us? It would be nice if they at least listened to us up there, otherwise we will all have to die here.(Fritz Siegel, corporal, from a letter home dated December 6, 1941).
From the diary of a German soldier:
“October 1st. Our assault battalion went to the Volga. More precisely, there are still 500 meters to the Volga. Tomorrow we will be on the other side and the war is over.
October 3rd. Very strong fire resistance, we can not overcome these 500 meters. We are standing on the border of some grain elevator.
10 October. Where do these Russians come from? The elevator is no longer there, but every time we approach it, fire is heard from under the ground.
October 15th. Hooray, we overcame the elevator. 100 people remained from our battalion. It turned out that the elevator was defended by 18 Russians, we found 18 corpses ”(the Nazi battalion that stormed these heroes for 2 weeks consisted of about 800 people).
“Courage is courage inspired by spirituality. The stubbornness with which the Bolsheviks defended themselves in their pillboxes in Sevastopol is akin to some kind of animal instinct, and it would be a deep mistake to consider it the result of Bolshevik convictions or upbringing. The Russians have always been like this and, most likely, they will always remain like that ”(Joseph Goebbels)
“They fought to the last, even the wounded did not let us near them. One Russian sergeant, unarmed, with a terrible wound in his shoulder, rushed at our people with a sapper shovel, but he was immediately shot down. Madness, real madness. They fought like beasts and died by the dozens.(Gubert Koralla, corporal of the sanitary unit of the 17th Panzer Division, about the battles along the Minsk-Moscow highway).
In war, the most objective of an army can be given by the enemy with whom it had to deal. After the Second World War, the Germans diligently tried to understand: how did they manage to lose the war, which seemed brilliantly won at its very beginning? Who did they encounter on June 22, 1941?
Invisible Red Army
Probably the most detailed description of the behavior of the soldiers and commanders of the Red Army on the battlefield was given by Major General Friedrich von Mellenthin in his work “The Armored Fist of the Wehrmacht”: “Essentially, each Russian offensive was preceded by a widely used infiltration through the front line of small units and individual groups. In this kind of fighting, no one has yet surpassed the Russians. No matter how carefully the surveillance on the front line was organized, the Russians quite unexpectedly found themselves in the very center of our location, and no one ever knew how they managed to get there.
Mellentin especially remembered the episode of the battle on the Kursk Bulge, when the units of the division "Grossdeutschland" had to fight on the already captured territory with the Red Army, who all the time "appeared from somewhere."
The most surprising thing for the Germans was that, although they were in a state of full combat readiness and did not close their eyes all night, the next morning it was possible to find entire Russian units firmly dug deep behind their lines with all weapons and ammunition. Such infiltration was usually carried out with the greatest skill, almost silently and without firing a shot.
Any Russian foothold is dangerous
“Another characteristic feature of the actions of the Russians is the desire to create bridgeheads as a base for future offensive operations. Indeed, the presence of bridgeheads in the hands of Russian troops has always created a serious danger. Those who are complacent about the existing bridgeheads and delay their liquidation are deeply mistaken. Russian bridgeheads, no matter how small and harmless they may seem, can in a short time become powerful and dangerous pockets of resistance, and then turn into impregnable fortified areas. Any Russian bridgehead captured in the evening by a company is necessarily held by at least a regiment in the morning, and the next night it turns into a formidable fortress, well-equipped with heavy weapons and everything necessary to make it almost impregnable. No artillery fire, not even a hurricane, will force the Russians to leave the bridgehead created overnight. Only a well-prepared offensive can bring success. This principle of the Russians "to have footholds everywhere" is a very serious danger and should not be underestimated."
According to Mellenthin, in the fight against Russian bridgeheads there is only one radical means that must be used in all cases without fail: if the Russians create a bridgehead or equip an advanced position, it is necessary to attack, attack immediately and decisively. The lack of decisiveness in the battles against the Russians has always affected the Germans in the most detrimental way. Being one hour late can cause any attack to fail, being a few hours late is sure to result in such a failure, being a day late can spell disaster. Even if the Russians have one platoon of infantry and one single tank, you still need to attack! Attack while the Russians are not yet buried in the ground, while they can still be seen, while they do not have time to organize their defense, while they do not have heavy weapons. In a few hours it will be too late. Delay leads to defeat, decisive and immediate action brings success.
The Germans especially singled out the ability of the Russians to organize anti-tank defense: “The Russians, like no one else, knew how to strengthen their PTORs (anti-tank defensive areas) with the help of minefields and anti-tank obstacles, as well as mines scattered in disorder in the gaps between minefields. The speed with which the Russians laid the mines was astounding. In two or three days they managed to deliver over 30 thousand mines. There were cases when we had to neutralize up to 40,000 mines in the offensive zone of the corps in a day. In this connection, the skillful disguise of the Russians should be emphasized once again. During the war, not a single minefield, not a single anti-tank area was discovered by the Germans until the first tank was blown up on a mine or the first Russian anti-tank gun opened fire.
As for the stamina of our soldiers, what struck General Mellenthin the most was the case when a thousand surrounded Soviet soldiers fought for four weeks, eating grass and leaves, "quenching their thirst with an insignificant amount of water from a deep hole dug by them in the ground."
When dealing with Russians, a rapier is much more useful than a club.
“The tactics of the Russians were a strange mixture: along with an excellent ability to infiltrate the enemy’s position and exceptional skill in using field fortifications, there was an almost nominal inflexibility of Russian attacks (although in some cases the actions of tank formations, units and even subunits were a notable exception). The reckless repetition of attacks on the same sector, the lack of flexibility in the actions of artillery and the poor choice of the offensive area in terms of terrain testified to the inability to creatively approach problem solving and respond in a timely manner to changes in the situation. Only a few middle-level commanders showed independence in decisions when the situation suddenly changed. In many cases, a successful attack, breakthrough or encirclement was not used by the Russians simply because no one in the higher command knew about it. The Russians feel insecure when attacking in the flank, especially if this attack is sudden and carried out by tanks. During the Second World War, such cases occurred quite often, and we were convinced that the skillful use of even a small number of tanks to attack the enemy or bold tank raids often lead to better results than heavy artillery fire or massive air raids. When dealing with the Russians, a rapier is much more useful than a club...” writes Mellenthin.
It must be said that his conclusions are typical of German authors. Both Manstein and Guderian, and many of their other comrades-in-arms, noted the resilience of our troops in battle, the ability to mask and strengthen their positions, the ability to appear “out of nowhere” with amazing inflexibility in the offensive and a slow reaction to surprise on the part of the command. As for the readiness to carry out deliberately unsuccessful attacks ten times in the same place, there is a lot of evidence of this in the memoirs of our veterans.
German generals considered the July offensive of 1943 on the Kursk Bulge to be one of Hitler's fatal mistakes. Here the attacks were not sudden, Soviet troops they were expected in advance. Therefore, they could show their best qualities- steadfastness and the ability to strengthen and mine their positions. And there was no question of a German victory ...
The material offered to readers is excerpts from diaries, letters and memoirs German soldiers, officers and generals who first encountered the Russian people in the years Patriotic War 1941–1945 In essence, we have before us evidence of mass meetings of people with people, of Russia with the West, which do not lose their relevance today.
Germans about Russian character
It is unlikely that the Germans will emerge victorious from this struggle against the Russian land and against Russian nature. How many children, how many women, and all give birth, and all bear fruit, despite war and robbery, despite destruction and death! Here we are fighting not against people, but against nature. At the same time, I again have to admit to myself that this country is becoming dearer to me every day.
Lieutenant K. F. Brand
They think differently than we do. And don't bother - you'll never understand Russian anyway!
Officer Malapar
I know how risky it is to describe the sensational "Russian man", this is a vague vision of philosophizing and politicizing writers, which is very suitable for being hung like a clothes hanger with all the doubts that arise in a person from the West, the further he moves to the East . Yet this "Russian man" is not only a literary fiction, although here, as elsewhere, people are different and irreducible to a common denominator. Only with this reservation will we talk about the Russian people.
Pastor G. Gollwitzer
They are so versatile that almost every one of them goes full circle. human qualities. Among them you can find everything from a cruel brute to St. Francis of Assisi. That is why they cannot be described in a few words. To describe Russians, one must use all the existing epithets. I can say about them that I like them, I don’t like them, I bow before them, I hate them, they touch me, they scare me, I admire them, they disgust me!
A less thoughtful person is pissed off by such a character and makes him exclaim: Unfinished, chaotic, incomprehensible people!
Major K. Kuehner
Germans about Russia
Russia lies between East and West - it's an old idea, but I can't say anything new about this country. The twilight of the East and the clarity of the West created this dual light, this crystal clarity of mind and the mysterious depth of the soul. They are between the spirit of Europe, strong in form and weak in deep contemplation, and the spirit of Asia, which is devoid of form and clear outline. I think their souls are drawn to Asia more, but fate and history - and even this war - bring them closer to Europe. And since here, in Russia, there are many uncountable forces everywhere, even in politics and economy, there can be no single opinion either about her people or about their life ... Russians measure everything by distance. They must always reckon with him. Here often relatives live far from each other, soldiers from Ukraine serve in Moscow, students from Odessa study in Kyiv. You can drive here for hours without getting anywhere. They live in space like stars in the night sky, like sailors on the sea; and just as space is boundless, so is man boundless - everything is in his hands, and he has nothing. The breadth and expanse of nature determine the fate of this country and these people. In larger spaces, history flows more slowly.
Major K.Küner
This opinion is confirmed by other sources. The German staff soldier, comparing Germany and Russia, draws attention to the incommensurability of these two quantities. The German offensive against Russia appeared to him as a contact between the limited and the limitless.
Stalin is the ruler of the Asian boundlessness - this is an enemy that the forces advancing from limited, dissected spaces cannot cope with ...
Soldier C. Mattis
We entered into battle with the enemy, whom we, being in captivity of European life concepts did not understand at all. In this rock of our strategy, it is, strictly speaking, completely random, like an adventure on Mars.
Soldier C. Mattis
Germans about the mercy of Russians
The inexplicability of the Russian character and behavior often baffled the Germans. Russians show hospitality not only in their homes, they go out to meet them with milk and bread. In December 1941, during the retreat from Borisov, in a village abandoned by the troops, an old woman brought out bread and a jug of milk. “War, war,” she repeated in tears. Russians with the same good nature treated both the victorious and the defeated Germans. Russian peasants are peace-loving and good-natured... When we feel thirsty during the crossings, we go into their huts, and they give us milk, as if they were pilgrims. For them, every person is in need. How often have I seen Russian peasant women wailing over wounded German soldiers as if they were their own sons...
Major K. Kuehner
It seems strange that a Russian woman does not have enmity towards the soldiers of the army her sons are fighting against: Old Alexandra from strong threads ... knits socks for me. In addition, a good-natured old woman boils potatoes for me. Today I even found a piece of salted meat in the lid of my pot. She probably has some hidden supplies somewhere. Otherwise, one cannot understand how these people live here. Alexandra has a goat in her barn. Many don't have cows. And with all that, these poor people share their last good with us. Do they do it out of fear, or do these people really have an innate sense of self-sacrifice? Or do they do it out of good nature or even out of love? Alexandra, she is 77 years old, as she told me, she is illiterate. She cannot read or write. After the death of her husband, she lives alone. Three children died, the other three left for Moscow. It is clear that both of her sons are in the army. She knows that we are fighting against them, and yet she knits socks for me. The feeling of enmity is probably unfamiliar to her.
Orderly Michels
In the first months of the war, village women ... hurried with food for prisoners of war. "Oh poor!" they said. They also brought food for the German guards who sat in the center of small squares on benches around the white statues of Lenin and Stalin thrown into the mud ...
Officer Malapart
Hatred for a long time ... is not in the Russian character. This is especially clear in the example of how quickly the psychosis of hatred in ordinary Soviet people towards the Germans disappeared during the Second World War. At the same time, ... sympathy, the maternal feeling of a Russian rural woman, as well as young girls in relation to the prisoners, played a role. A Western European woman who met with the Red Army in Hungary is surprised: “Isn’t it strange that most of them do not feel any hatred even for the Germans: where do they get this unshakable faith in human goodness, this inexhaustible patience, this selflessness and meek humility ...
Germans about Russian sacrifice
Sacrifice has been noted more than once by the Germans in the Russian people. From a people that officially does not recognize spiritual values, it is as if one cannot expect either nobility, or a Russian character, or sacrifice. However, a German officer is amazed during the interrogation of a captured partisan:
Is it really possible to demand from a person brought up in materialism so much sacrifice for the sake of ideals!
Major K. Kuehner
Probably, this exclamation can be attributed to the entire Russian people, who apparently retained these features in themselves, despite the breaking of the internal Orthodox foundations of life, and, apparently, sacrifice, responsiveness and similar qualities are characteristic of Russians in high degree. They are partly emphasized by the attitude of the Russians themselves towards the Western peoples.
As soon as Russians come into contact with Western people, they briefly define them with the words "dry people" or "heartless people". All the egoism and materialism of the West lies in the definition of "dry people"
Endurance, mental strength and at the same time, obedience also attracts the attention of foreigners.
The Russian people, especially the vast expanses, steppes, fields and villages, is one of the most healthy, joyful and wise on earth. He is able to resist the power of fear with his back bent. There is so much faith and antiquity in it that the most just order in the world can probably come out of it.
Soldier Matisse
An example of the duality of the Russian soul, which combines both pity and cruelty at the same time:
When soup and bread were already given to the prisoners in the camp, one Russian gave a piece of his portion. Many others did the same, so that we had so much bread in front of us that we could not eat it ... We just shook our heads. Who can understand them, these Russians? Some they shoot and can even laugh at it contemptuously, others they give plenty of soup and even share with them their own daily portion of bread.
German M. Gaertner
Looking closer at the Russians, the German will again note their sharp extremes, the impossibility of fully comprehending them:
Russian soul! It goes from the most gentle, soft sounds to wild fortissimo, it is only difficult to predict this music and especially the moments of its transition ... The words of one old consul remain symbolic: “I do not know the Russians enough - I have lived among them for only thirty years.
General Schweppenburg
Germans about the shortcomings of Russians
From the Germans themselves, we hear an explanation for the fact that Russians are often reproached for their tendency to steal.
Who survived post-war years in Germany, he, like us in the camps, became convinced that poverty destroys a strong sense of ownership even among people to whom theft was alien from childhood. An improvement in living conditions would quickly correct this shortcoming in the majority, and the same would happen in Russia, as it was before the Bolsheviks. It is not shaky concepts and insufficient respect for other people's property that has not appeared under the influence of socialism that make people steal, but need.
POW Gollwitzer
Most often you ask yourself helplessly: why is the truth not being told here? ... This could be explained by the fact that it is extremely difficult for Russians to say "no". Their “no”, however, has become famous all over the world, but this seems to be more Soviet than Russian feature. The Russian does his best to avoid the necessity of refusing any request. In any case, when sympathy stirs in him, and this often happens with him. Disappointing a needy person seems unfair to him; in order to avoid this, he is ready for any lie. And where sympathy is lacking, lying is at least a convenient way to save yourself from annoying requests.
AT Eastern Europe mother vodka has been performing a great service for centuries. It warms people when they are cold, dries their tears when they are sad, deceives their stomachs when they are hungry, and gives that drop of happiness that everyone needs in life and which is difficult to obtain in semi-civilized countries. In Eastern Europe, vodka is theater, cinema, concert and circus, it replaces books for the illiterate, makes heroes out of cowardly cowards and is the consolation that makes you forget all worries. Where in the world to find another such iota of happiness, and such a cheap one?
The people ... oh yes, the glorified Russian people! .. For several years I carried out the issuance of wages in one work camp and came into contact with Russians of all strata. There are fine people among them, but it is almost impossible to remain an impeccably honest person here. I was constantly amazed that under such pressure this people retained so much humanity in all respects and so much naturalness. In women this is noticeably more than in men, in the old, of course, more than in the young, among the peasants more than among the workers, but there is no stratum in which this is completely absent. They are a wonderful people and deserve to be loved.
POW Gollwitzer
On the way home from Russian captivity, impressions pop up in the memory of a German soldier-priest recent years in Russian captivity.
Military priest Franz
Germans about Russian women
A separate chapter can be written about the high morality and morality of a Russian woman. Foreign authors left a valuable monument to her in their memoirs of Russia. For a German doctor eirich the unexpected results of the examination made a deep impression: 99 percent of girls aged 18 to 35 turned out to be virgins ... He thinks that in Orel it would be impossible to find girls for a brothel.
The voices of women, especially girls, are actually non-melodious, but pleasant. There is some kind of strength and joy hidden in them. It seems that you hear some deep string of life ringing. It seems that constructive schematic changes in the world pass by these forces of nature without touching them...
Writer Jünger
By the way, the staff doctor von Grevenitz told me that during the medical examination, the vast majority of girls turned out to be virgins. This can also be seen from the physiognomies, but it is difficult to say whether it can be read from the forehead or from the eyes - this is the brilliance of purity that surrounds the face. Its light does not have the glimmer of active virtue, but rather resembles the reflection of moonlight. However, this is precisely why you feel the great power of this light…
Writer Jünger
About feminine Russian women (if I can put it that way) I got the impression that they are their special inner strength keep under moral control those Russians who can be considered barbarians.
Military priest Franz
The words of another German soldier sound like a conclusion to the topic of the morality and dignity of a Russian woman:
What did the propaganda tell us about the Russian woman? And how did we find it? I think that there is hardly a German soldier who has been in Russia who has not learned to appreciate and respect a Russian woman.
Soldier Michels
Describing a ninety-year old woman who never once left her village during her life and therefore did not know the world outside the village, the German officer says:
I even think that she is much happier than we are: she is full of the happiness of life, flowing in close proximity to nature; she is happy with the inexhaustible power of her simplicity.
Major K.Küner
We find about simple, integral feelings among Russians in the memoirs of another German.
I am talking to Anna, the eldest daughter, he writes. - She's not married yet. Why won't she leave this poor land? I ask her and show her photos from Germany. The girl points to her mother and sisters and explains that she is best among her relatives. It seems to me that these people have only one desire: to love each other and live for their fellow men.
Germans about Russian simplicity, intelligence and talent
German officers sometimes do not know how to answer the simple questions of ordinary Russian people.
The general with his retinue passes by a Russian prisoner grazing sheep destined for German cuisine. “That’s stupid,” the prisoner began to express his thoughts, “but peaceful, and people, sir? Why are people so unpeaceful? Why are they killing each other?!”… We couldn't answer his last question. His words came from the depths of the soul of a simple Russian person.
General Schweppenburg
The immediacy and simplicity of the Russians make the German exclaim:
Russians don't grow up. They remain children... If you look at the Russian masses from this point of view, you will understand them and forgive them a lot.
By proximity to a harmonious, pure, but also harsh nature, foreign eyewitnesses are trying to explain the courage, endurance, and undemandingness of Russians.
The courage of Russians is based on their undemanding to life, on their organic connection with nature. And this nature tells them about deprivation, struggle and death to which a person is subject.
Major K.Küner
Often the Germans noted the exceptional efficiency of the Russians, their ability to improvise, sharpness, adaptability, curiosity for everything, and especially for knowledge.
Purely physical performance Soviet workers and Russian women is beyond any doubt.
General Schweppenburg
The art of improvisation among the Soviet people should be especially emphasized, no matter what it concerns.
General Fretter-Pico
On sharpness and the interest shown by Russians in everything:
Most of them show a much greater interest in everything than our workers or peasants; they all differ in speed of perception and practical mind.
Non-commissioned officer Gogoff
The reassessment of the knowledge acquired in school is often an obstacle for a European in his understanding of the “uneducated” Russian ... As a teacher, the discovery that a person without any school education can understand the deepest problems of life in a truly philosophical way and at the same time has such knowledge in which some academician of European fame can envy him ... Russians, first of all, lack this typically European fatigue in front of the problems of life, which we often only overcome with difficulty . Their curiosity knows no bounds... The level of education of the real Russian intelligentsia reminds me of the ideal types of people of the Renaissance, whose lot was the universality of knowledge, which had nothing in common, “a little about everything.
Swiss Ucker, who lived in Russia for 16 years
Another German from the people is surprised by the acquaintance of the young Russian with domestic and foreign literature:
From a conversation with a 22-year-old Russian who had only graduated from a folk school, I learned that she knew Goethe and Schiller, not to mention that she was well versed in Russian literature. When I expressed my surprise about this to Dr. Heinrich W., who knew the Russian language and understood Russians better, he rightly remarked: “The difference between the German and Russian people is that we keep our classics in luxurious bindings in bookcases. and we don’t read them, while the Russians print their classics on newsprint and publish them in editions, but they take them to the people and read them.
Military priest Franz
Talents that can manifest themselves even in an unfavorable situation are evidenced by a lengthy description by a German soldier of a concert arranged in Pskov on July 25, 1942.
I sat at the back among the village girls in colorful cotton dresses ... The entertainer came out, read a long program, made an even longer explanation for it. Then two men, one on each side, parted the curtain, and a very poor stage set for Korsakov's opera appeared before the public. One piano replaced the orchestra... Mainly two singers sang... But something happened that would have been beyond the power of any European opera. Both singers, full and self-confident, even in tragic moments sang and played with great and clear simplicity ... movements and voice merged into one. They supported and complemented each other: in the end, even their faces sang, not to mention their eyes. Wretched furnishings, a solitary piano, and yet there was a fullness of impression. No glittery props, no hundred instruments could make a better impression. After that, the singer appeared in gray striped trousers, a velvet jacket and an old-fashioned stand-up collar. When, so dressed up, with a kind of touching helplessness, he went to the middle of the stage and bowed three times, laughter was heard in the hall among the officers and soldiers. He began a Ukrainian folk song, and as soon as his melodious and powerful voice was heard, the audience froze. A few simple gestures accompanied the song, and the singer's eyes made it visible. During the second song, the lights suddenly went out throughout the hall. It was dominated only by the voice. He sang in the dark for about an hour. At the end of one song, the Russian village girls who were sitting behind me, in front of me and next to me, jumped up and began to applaud and stamp their feet. A flurry of applause began for a long time, as if the dark stage was flooded with the light of fantastic, inconceivable landscapes. I didn't understand a word, but I saw everything.
Soldier Mattis
Folk songs, reflecting the character and history of the people, attract the attention of eyewitnesses most of all.
In a real Russian folk song, and not in sentimental romances, the whole Russian "wide" nature is reflected with its tenderness, wildness, depth, sincerity, closeness to nature, cheerful humor, endless search, sadness and radiant joy, as well as with their undying longing for beautiful and kind.
German songs are filled with mood, Russian songs are filled with a story. In its songs and choirs, Russia has great power.
Major K. Kuehner
Germans about Russian faith
A vivid example of such a state is provided for us by a rural teacher, whom a German officer knew well and who, apparently, maintained constant contact with the nearest partisan detachment.
Iya talked to me about Russian icons. The names of the great icon painters are unknown here. They devoted their art to a pious cause and remained in obscurity. Everything personal must yield to the demand of the saint. The figures on the icons are shapeless. They give the impression of the unknown. But they don't have to have beautiful bodies either. Next to the holy, the bodily has no meaning. In this art, it would be inconceivable that a beautiful woman should be the model of the Madonna, as was the case with the great Italians. Here it would be blasphemy, since this is a human body. Nothing can be known, everything must be believed. That is the secret of the icon. "Do you believe in the icon?" Iya didn't answer. “Why are you decorating it then?” She could, of course, reply, “I don't know. Sometimes I do it. I get scared when I don't. And sometimes I just want to do it.” How divided, how restless you must be, Oia. Attraction to God and resentment against Him in one and the same heart. "What do you believe in?" “Nothing.” She said it with such heaviness and depth that I was left with the impression that these people accept their unbelief as well as their faith. Backsliding man continues to carry the old legacy of humility and faith.
Major K. Kuehner
Russians are difficult to compare with other peoples. Mysticism in Russian man continues to question the vague concept of God and the remnants of Christian-religious feeling.
General Schweppenburg
We find other testimonies about young people who are looking for the meaning of life, who are not satisfied with schematic and dead materialism. Probably, the path of a Komsomol member who ended up in a concentration camp for spreading the Gospel became the path of some part of Russian youth. In the very poor material published by eyewitnesses in the West, we find three confirmations that the Orthodox faith was to some extent passed on to the older generations of the youth and that the few and undoubtedly lonely young people who have found the faith are sometimes ready to courageously defend it, fearing neither imprisonment nor penal servitude. Here is a rather detailed testimony of a German woman who returned home from a camp in Vorkuta:
I was very struck by the integral personalities of these believers. They were peasant girls, intellectuals different ages although the youth dominated. They preferred the Gospel of John. They knew him by heart. The students lived with them in great friendship, promised them that in the future Russia there would be complete freedom in religious terms as well. The fact that many of the Russian youth who believed in God were awaiting arrest and concentration camp, is confirmed by the Germans who returned from Russia after the Second World War. They met believers in concentration camps and describe them as follows: We envied the believers. We considered them lucky. Believers were supported by their deep faith, it also helped them to easily endure all burdens. camp life. No one, for example, could force them to go to work on Sunday. In the dining room before dinner, they always pray ... They pray all their free time ... One cannot help but admire such a faith, one cannot help but envy it ... Every person, be it a Pole, a German, a Christian or a Jew, when he turned to a believer for help, always received it . The believer shared the last piece of bread….
Probably, in some cases, believers won respect and sympathy not only from the prisoners, but also from the camp authorities:
There were several women in their brigade who, being deeply religious, refused to work on major church holidays. The authorities and the guard put up with this and did not give them away.
The following impression of a German officer who accidentally entered a burned-out church can serve as a symbol of wartime Russia:
We enter, like tourists, for a few minutes into the church through open door. Burnt beams and fragments of stones lie on the floor. From tremors or from a fire, plaster crumbled from the walls. Paints appeared on the walls, plastered frescoes depicting saints, and ornaments. And in the middle of the ruins, on the charred beams, two peasant women stand and pray.
Major K. Kuehner
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Text preparation - V. Drobyshev. According to the magazine " Slav»
It is not enough to kill a Russian soldier, he must also be knocked down!
Frederick II the Great
The glory of the Russian knows no bounds. The Russian soldier endured what the soldiers of the armies of other countries have never endured and will not endure. This is evidenced by entries in the memoirs of soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht, in which they admired the actions of the Red Army:
“Close contact with nature allows Russians to move freely at night in fog, through forests and swamps. They are not afraid of the dark, endless forests and cold. They are not unusual in winter, when the temperature drops to minus 45. The Siberian, who can be partially or even completely Asian, is even more enduring, even stronger ... We already experienced this ourselves during the First World War, when we had to face the Siberian army corps"
“For a European accustomed to small territories, the distances in the East seem endless ... The horror is intensified by the melancholic, monotonous character of the Russian landscape, which acts depressingly, especially in gloomy autumn and languidly long winter. Psychological impact this country on the average German soldier was very strong. He felt insignificant, lost in these vast expanses.
“The Russian soldier prefers hand-to-hand combat. His ability to endure hardship without flinching is truly astonishing. Such is the Russian soldier whom we recognized and respected a quarter of a century ago.”
“It was very difficult for us to get a clear picture of the equipment of the Red Army ... Hitler refused to believe that Soviet industrial production could be equal to German. We had little information about Russian tanks. We had no idea how many tanks a month the Russian industry was capable of producing.
It was difficult to even get the maps, as the Russians kept them under great secrecy. The maps we had were often wrong and misled us.
We also did not have accurate data on the combat power of the Russian army. Those of us who fought in Russia during the First World War thought she was great, and those who did not know the new enemy tended to underestimate her.
“The behavior of the Russian troops, even in the first battles, was in striking contrast with the behavior of the Poles and Western allies during the defeat. Even when surrounded, the Russians continued stubborn battles. Where there were no roads, the Russians in most cases remained out of reach. They always tried to break through to the east... Our Russian encirclement was rarely successful.”
“From field marshal von Bock to soldier, everyone hoped that soon we would be marching through the streets of the Russian capital. Hitler even created a special sapper team that was supposed to destroy the Kremlin.
When we came close to Moscow, the mood of our commanders and troops suddenly changed dramatically. With surprise and disappointment, we discovered in October and early November that the defeated Russians did not at all cease to exist as military force. In recent weeks, enemy resistance has intensified, and the tension of the fighting has increased every day ... "
Chief of Staff of the 4th Army of the Wehrmacht, General Günther Blumentritt
“The Russians don't give up. An explosion, another one, everything is quiet for a minute, and then they open fire again ... "
“With amazement, we watched the Russians. They, it seems, did not care that their main forces were defeated ... "
“Loaves of bread had to be chopped with an axe. A few lucky ones managed to acquire Russian uniforms ... "
“My God, what are these Russians planning to do with us? We're all going to die here!"
From the memoirs of German soldiers
“The Russians showed themselves from the very beginning as first-class warriors, and our successes in the first months of the war were explained simply better preparation. Having gained combat experience, they became first-class soldiers. They fought with exceptional tenacity, had amazing endurance ... "
Colonel General (later Field Marshal) von Kleist
“It often happened that Soviet soldiers raised their hands to show that they were surrendering to us, and after our infantrymen approached them, they again resorted to weapons; or the wounded feigned death, and then fired at our soldiers from the rear.
General von Manstein (also a future field marshal)
“It should be noted the stubbornness of individual Russian formations in battle. There were cases when the garrisons of pillboxes blew themselves up along with the pillboxes, not wanting to surrender. (Entry dated June 24.)
“Information from the front confirms that the Russians are fighting everywhere to the last man ... It is striking that when artillery batteries are captured, etc., few are taken prisoner.” (June 29.)
“Fights with the Russians are exceptionally stubborn. Only a small number of prisoners were taken." (4th of July)
Diary of General Halder
“The peculiarity of the country and the originality of the character of the Russians gives the campaign a special specificity. The first serious enemy
Field Marshal Brauchitsch (July 1941)
“About a hundred of our tanks, of which about a third were T-IVs, took up their starting positions for a counterattack. From three sides we fired at the iron monsters of the Russians, but everything was in vain ...
Echeloned along the front and in depth, the Russian giants came closer and closer. One of them approached our tank, which was hopelessly bogged down in a swampy pond. Without any hesitation, the black monster drove over the tank and pressed its tracks into the mud.
At that moment, a 150 mm howitzer arrived. While the artillery commander warned of the approach of enemy tanks, the gun opened fire, but again to no avail.
One of the Soviet tanks approached the howitzer by 100 meters. The gunners opened fire on him with direct fire and achieved a hit - it's like lightning struck. The tank stopped. “We knocked him out,” the gunners breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, someone from the calculation of the gun yelled heart-rendingly: “He went again!” Indeed, the tank came to life and began to approach the gun. Another minute, and the tank's gleaming metal tracks, like a toy, slammed the howitzer into the ground. Having dealt with the gun, the tank continued on its way as if nothing had happened.
Commander of the 41st Panzer Corps of the Wehrmacht General Reinhart
Courage is courage inspired by spirituality. The stubbornness with which the Bolsheviks defended themselves in their pillboxes in Sevastopol is akin to some kind of animal instinct, and it would be a deep mistake to consider it the result of Bolshevik convictions or upbringing. The Russians have always been like this and, most likely, will always remain so.
On the eve of Germany's invasion of the USSR, Hitler's propaganda created an impartial image of Russians, portraying them as backward, devoid of spirituality, intellect, and even incapable of standing up for their Fatherland. Having entered the Soviet land, the Germans were amazed that the reality did not at all correspond to the ideas imposed on them.
And one warrior in the field
The first thing that the German troops encountered was the fierce resistance of the Soviet soldier literally on every patch of their land. They were especially shocked that the "crazy Russians" are not afraid to engage in battle with forces several times greater than their own. One of the battalions of Army Group Center, consisting of at least 800 people, having overcome the first line of defense, was already confidently moving deep into Soviet territory, when it was suddenly fired upon by a detachment of five people. “I did not expect anything like this! This is pure suicide, attacking a battalion with five fighters! Major Neuhof commented on the situation.
The British historian Robert Kershaw in the book “1941 through the eyes of the Germans” cites the case of how Wehrmacht soldiers, having shot the Soviet T-26 light tank from a 37-mm gun, approached him without fear. But suddenly his hatch suddenly opened up and a tanker leaning out to the waist began to shoot the enemy with a pistol. Later, a shocking circumstance became clear: the Soviet soldier was without legs (they were torn off during the explosion of the tank), but this did not prevent him from fighting to the last.
An even more striking case was described by Lieutenant Hensfald, who ended his life at Stalingrad. The case was not far from the Belarusian town of Krichev, where on July 17, 1941, senior sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin for two and a half hours alone with the help of an artillery gun held back the advance of a column of German armored vehicles and infantry. As a result, the sergeant managed to fire almost 60 shells, which destroyed 10 German tanks and armored personnel carriers. Having killed the hero, the Germans nevertheless buried him with honors.
Heroism in the blood
German officers have repeatedly admitted that they took prisoners extremely rarely, since the Russians preferred to fight to the last. “Even burning alive, they continued to shoot back.” “Sacrifice is in their blood”; “The hardening of the Russians cannot be compared with ours,” the German generals did not get tired of repeating.
During one of the reconnaissance flights Soviet pilot discovered that there was no one on the way of the German column moving towards Moscow for tens of kilometers. It was decided to throw into battle a completed Siberian regiment that had been at the airfield the day before. The German military recalled how suddenly low-flying aircraft appeared in front of the column, from which “white figures fell in clusters” onto the snowy field. These were Siberians, who became human shields in front of the German tank brigades, they fearlessly threw themselves under the tracks of tanks with grenades. When the first batch of troops perished, the second one followed. Later it turned out that about 12% of the fighters crashed during the landing, the rest died, having entered into an unequal battle with the enemy. But the Germans still managed to stop.
Mysterious Russian soul
The Russian character for the German soldiers remained a mystery. They could not understand why the peasants, who must have hated them, greeted them with bread and milk. One of the Wehrmacht soldiers recalled how in December 1941, during a retreat in a village near Borisov, an old woman brought him a loaf of bread and a jug of milk, lamenting in tears: "War, war."
Moreover, often civilians treated both the advancing Germans and the defeated with the same good nature. Major Küner noted that he often witnessed how Russian peasant women wailed over the wounded or killed German soldiers, as if they were their own children.
War veteran, doctor of historical sciences Boris Sapunov said that when passing through the outskirts of Berlin, they often came across empty houses. The thing is that local residents, under the influence of German propaganda, which painted the horrors that the advancing Red Army allegedly did, scattered through the nearby forests. However, those who still remained were surprised that the Russians did not try to rape women or take out property, but, on the contrary, offered their help.
They even pray
The Germans who came to Russian soil were ready to meet with crowds of militant atheists, as they were convinced that Bolshevism was extremely intolerant of the manifestation of religiosity. Therefore, they were greatly struck by the fact that icons hang in Russian huts, and the population wears miniature crucifixes on their chests. The civilian Germans, who met the Soviet Ostarbeiters, also faced the same. They were sincerely surprised by the stories of Russians who came to work in Germany, who told how many old churches and monasteries there are in the Soviet Union, and how carefully they keep their faith, performing religious rites. “I thought Russians had no religion, but they even pray,” said one German worker.
As the staff doctor von Grevenitz noted, during medical examinations it turned out that the vast majority of Soviet girls were virgins. “Shine of purity” and “active virtue” radiated from their faces, and I felt the great power of this light, the doctor recalled.
No less than the Germans were struck by the fidelity of the Russians to family duty. So, in the town of Sentenberg, 9 newborns were born and another 50 were waiting in the wings. All but two belonged to Soviet couples. And although 6-8 couples huddled in one room, there was no licentiousness in their behavior, the Germans recorded.
Russian craftsmen are cooler than Europeans
The propaganda of the Third Reich assured that, having exterminated all the intelligentsia, the Bolsheviks left a faceless mass in the country, capable of performing only primitive work. However, employees of the German enterprises where the Ostarbeiters worked were convinced of the opposite over and over again. In their memos, the German craftsmen often pointed out that the technical knowledge of the Russians baffled them. One of the engineers of the city of Bayreuth remarked: “Our propaganda always presents the Russians as stupid and stupid. But here I have established the opposite. Russians think while they work and don't look so stupid at all. It is better for me to have 2 Russians at work than 5 Italians.”
In their reports, the Germans stated that the Russian worker could eliminate the malfunction of any mechanism by the most primitive means. For example, at one of the Frankfurt-on-Oder enterprises, a Soviet prisoner of war in a short time managed to find the cause of an engine failure, repair and start it, and this despite the fact that German specialists could not do anything for many days.