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A Soldier's Tale: At the Mercy of Invasion
Until now, details of the War that developed and concluded within Europe some many years ago have gone unknown to a civilian populace clamoring for truth. Now, on the eve of war and with the hope to deter another worldwide catastrophy, a retired German soldier has offered a personal account of the war in the form of chronological journal entries. What you're about to read are the raw and dramatic travails of one young soldier as he recounts the significant battles fought with his unit against Allied military forces.
The journal reads...
June 6th, 1940
Two weeks ago I remember exiting the Truck with my friends when we first got her and getting into a formation for the Reich Marshall. I was in the front of my line, and he looked over us all and said, "Welcome to France, as you can see there are not naked women on every beach, I?m sorry to say so. We've intercepted a code from the Allied Invasion force, they are coming soon, sooner than we expected. For you new recruits, I have only one rule. You fight, and don?t hide, if I, or any of my officers, catch you hiding, we will send you to the East, the Russians will take care of you so I don?t have to waste my bullets."
It didn?t take long for me to realize why the General was called Ravage by his officers and some of the veterans in the Unit. He had us do daily training, running from the field to the big gun, I remember twice I threw up and had to do pushups for doing so. When the first sightings of the American and British war ships were spotted, we began to set up our defenses. One of the Machine Gunners had broken his hand the night before after having a door close on it, and Ravage asked who could operate the Machine Guns, one of my friends nudged me and I raised my hand. He gave me the duty of setting up in the Left bunker, looking out onto the beach. I set up and looked down the sights of the 42.
When the door of the first troop transport dropped onto the beach I pulled the trigger, the noise of the gun deafened me, and I can still the vibrations in my shoulder. They had set TNT on the wall of the forward Mortar sight, destroying the wall and started to enter the Bunker. One of the other Soldiers, who've I've come to call Stormy, ran up and patted my back and said we were heading back to the Big Gun, I told him to take the ammo, and I carried the gun, we started walking back when we walking into a bit of a cross fire. We managed to make it to the 88 then used the trench behind it to run up to the front of the gun. I set up my MG on the Barrel. It didn?t take long before they started to come around the corner and it was obvious we needed to retreat. By the third wave of Allied Reinforcements, The General ordered a full retreat; we were pulling off the Beaches.
I got into the Truck, and looked out to see the General coming up, he held his hand up and I helped him into the truck, he took off his cap and put on a helmet laying in the bed of the truck and said to me, "If I get killed by a sniper for wearing my officers cap while Im retreating, I'll kill myself," and yelled at the driver to move.
August 23rd, 1940
When Ravage told us we'd be heading to support Rommel and his Armored divisions by defending an air strip near the coastline, I thought we were going to have it easy. We arrived right after our defeat in France about a month prior, but when the invasion forces hit North Africa Ravage was busy helping the Italians defend their coast line near Anzio.
Luckily we had our Generaloberst with us. As we was speaking to us before the upcoming battle on the air strip, we were caught off guard and we tried to push our defense out to the main bunkers, but the allied forces were coming on much to fast. I fired my rifle out of the opening as the MG cut down the advancing allied troops, when he was hit, I fell back into the tunnels heading back to the back defenses covering the Oil Depot. I made my way into a bunker where our Generalmajor was setting up his MG, I took the extra and guarding the right as he watched our left. We continued to gun down the American troops, but eventually their numbers over took us, as we were retreating, Rommel and his tanks came up and made sure the Americans couldn?t march further, but Rommel did not want to try and retake field, he cleared it a lost cause and Bane agreed, and we retreated back to the safety of one of the Nazi-Occupied cities
The next day we received good news from the Reichmarshal, the small force he took with him to Italy, along with the Italian army successfully defended the small port city of Anzio. Bane as told us that Ravage wants regroup his forces, so we can really put a hurt on the Allied forces who think that the Third Riech will give in so easily. We regrouped with our friends in Austria, and promotions went out. Im now an Obergefreiter, my Father will be proud that I am defending Germany.
September 5th, 1940
Riechmasrshal Ravage met us in Austria, and immediately moved us down to Italy, where we loaded on our Battleships and went across the Mediterranean sea back to the shores of Africa. There was a small town right on the Coast that Rommel had been attacking. Rommel asked for help, and as we arrived, was pulled away to fight in oil fields against Allied Armored divisions. We moved into the city as the sun was setting, and decided that we would leave the ammo dump along, and move through the Hills on the right, and the buildings on the left. As we advanced further into the town, we realized the Americans were defending the Market heavily and we suffered many men killed, or wounded. Ravage may be cruel, and relentless, but he doesn?t believe in wasting valuable men in an un-winnable attack, and pulled us back. The American's attacked us right away, and Ravage asked me to set up behind some boxes with my Machine Gun. My ammo feeder, a younger soldier, about 17; calls himself Tonux, was talking to me, telling me a joke when the first signs of Allied soldiers came into our ambush. The Rocketeer was in a hole above us and fired his rocket toward the allies, there was screaming and we opened fire, quickly drowning out the noise and then ending the screams altogether. Tonux patted my back, but the a shot rang out, followed by the bing of a American rifle clip being discharged. The noise of the bullet hitting Tonux in the chest still echoes in my ear, I let go of my gun and knelt next to Tonux, I called for a medic, but by the time he arrived, Tonux was dead. This was the first time someone I talked to everyday had died in my arms, and it just made me mad. I wasn?t sad, I was angry.
The Americans kept pushing us back, until we finally pulled back to Italy, but we were closely followed by the Americans. They landed in a small Italian town called Anzio. My squad leader, calls himself Sumac for some reason, came up to me and handed me an Iron Cross, and I looked up to him. It was for Tonux, for a stunt he pulled in Normandy, during the invasions, they said I should have it, since Tonux and I were so close. I tied it to the stock of my machine gun and laid it down near the Town's bridge. As the American's landed on the beach and made their way into the town, I thought about getting my revenge for Tonux. I was so caught up, that when the gun fire erupted from the Central Ally, I had to rotate my gun quickly just to get in positioned right. A squad of Americans walked into the small house, I saw them through the destroyed window panes, but they did not see me. I waited, then one lifted up his rifle, and looked down the iron sites. I opened fired and watched their bodies jerk as my bullet pierced their skin, and the tumbled to the ground. And I smiled. My hand is shaking now, I've got to stop writing
I don?t like what this war is doing to me.
Ocotober 1st, 1940
After the failed Allied counterattack in Italy, Ravage had us load up onto trucks and we spent the next two weeks heading to Poland, we stopped in Berlin for a about two days, getting rested but some of the men didn?t get any rest at all. We set up on a coastal town and waited. On the 29th of September, American bombers flew over our town and blew it all to hell, followed by the seaside invasion. They quickly took over the North part of the town, though the landings on the southern side of the beach were foiled by debris laying on the shore. We were pushed back almost immediately and my Machine gun was put in the very back. I didn?t agree with the idea, but who was I to ask about my orders. I was told later that they had two of their Sherman tanks enter the town square and start obliterating the weak defenses we had set up, using the ruined buildings as cover, their rifles picked us off one by one. When Ravage tried getting more troops to support the center they were killed going over the exit ramps from the safety of camp, the allies were literally knocking on our door as we set up our final defense, but we didn?t last long. As the fighting went on in the city, my squad leader Stormy came up to me and picked me up, said we were leaving and the town was lost. We were running along when I was clipped in the leg, I stumbled, but he kept me up said to keep moving.
I?m writing this in a hospital bed while Ravage regroups his men and gets new recruits. We've had two losses, but the one in Poland was much more costly. The Americans used that small town to quickly gain control of the entire country, and once winter sets in, it will be hard to take it back. Im afraid that if Hitler becomes more desperate, he will throw our lives away as if we were just cannon fodder. I want to make it out of this war just as much as any American wants to.
November 12th, 1940
Im back on my feet, which is nice. We're heading across the water from Denmark, attacking Norway. As we arrived a snow flurry set in and we had to stop moving. We set up camp next to a river, near a Cabin house. We didnt realize that less than a mile down the road in a nice house the Americans had set up their camp until my patrol stumbled upon two Americans were walking along the river. We shot one, who fell onto the frozen ice, the other started running, and one of our Dutch soldiers fired, hitting him in the pack. We headed back immediately and told the Riechmarshal. The next day we had a three pronged attack on an 88 and toward the house, with a small group heading across the bridge. We were obliterated. My squad was pinned down at the bridge, it wasn?t long before I told them to get back to the Cabin. When we got there, the wounded were already being tended into on the porch of the house, the more serious inside. The Americans sent their counter attack to push us out, but we held on for a little longer.
As we were discussing a plan of attack for the next day, I said maybe we should all go one way, toward the house. Ravage looked at me and said, "There is a reason I?m in charge," then went back to making his plans. As far as I could tell, it was the same plan as before, a three pronged attack and it wasn?t a surprise when we were pushed back. For the final attack they had everyone go one way, with a smaller group heading the other. They sent the larger group toward the 88, while my squad moved on the left, heading toward the house. We picked off 3 or 4 of them before they started focusing on my squad, the others hadnt even made it into firing distance of the house yet, I ordered them to pull back. We were heading across the river when I heard a thud, and a skid, I looked over to see Obersleutnant staring at a rifle grenade. It exploded, sending him back, and knocked me down. My ears were ringing as I crawled over to him, he was coughing up blood. I remember exactly what he said to me as I tried to patch him up with my medical kit. "Doc. You get the rest of the men out of here, you get them back to Ravage." He coughed up more blood and pushed me back before he died. I grabbed his rifle and picked up another hurt soldier, and made my way back with the rest of the squad. With the death of his Obersleutnant, Ravage ordered us out of Norway.
May 5th, 1941
The Americans followed us back to Denmark, and through the rest of the summer and into the spring they were fighting for control of Denmark. They were rolling through Denmark until we reach a pivotal town called Kalt. As the Allied bombers flew over, destroyed a majority of the town, our groups had become focused on the center of town where the Wheel house and Bridge crossed the empty river. The Allies need the bridge to get their Tanks across, and we couldn?t afford to let them have that luxury. We defended the top of the town, and beneath the streets in the sewers. I had left my Machine Gun in Norway while we retreated, and to punish me, Ravage wouldn?t let me touch the new ones that replaced the others. I was given a K98, and stuck in the sewers. We held fast. As they tried to take the town, we pushed them back, but every time we tried to push them out, they held fast and were resilient. During their final push I was top side, rather than in the sewers, speaking with the Hauptmann who was in charge of the sewers. It was good that we weren?t down there because they blew past the defenses down there. For a second it looked as if we were going to let them have the town of Kalt, which surely meant the rest of Denmark, but their leader had decided enough deaths had occurred for him, and pulled his troops back just before Ravage pulled us back.
Call it luck, or whatever you want to call it. We won. Barely, but the battle was ours. Ravage called us together and looked us over, and told us that the War wasn?t over, and that it wouldn?t be for some time, and that we would have to get use to this war. I?m not sure how much more of it I can handle, but from what I hear about the Russians, we're on vacation, so I guess I can?t complain.
June 16th, 1941
We got some rest in France, it started three weeks ago, then we got our new recruits in. One of the soldiers calls himself Walrus, I don?t know why he does; but we hit it off almost immediately, it wasn?t long before he became my ammo feeder to replace Tonux who I lost a few months ago. We received news that the Americans and British would be attacking France and we were moved out to a town called Harrington. We set up our defense around a public square and to a wheel house to the left of the square, and a church to the right. Walrus and I set up looking toward two large wooden doors, it wasn?t long before they came out and I opened fire. After a few minutes I stopped, and no one came out. The fighting stayed mostly on the right side, but after we thought we repelled the first wave, a man came from my right. I thought I was dead for sure, but Ravage stepped in front of me and I felt the splatter of blood on my face. He tumbled over onto the steps below as someone came up behind and killed the American. Walrus and I immediately started to attended to Ravage, getting him off the battlefield and into the medical tents. We moved into the town for a quick counter attack things weren?t going our way, but an Allied soldier moved to far ahead and opened an spot for us to exploit. We waited for word to use the exploit and take the town, but reluctant after the injury sustained to Ravage, we pulled back, to re-attack the next day. The next defense they had did not off the exploit, and we quickly had to fall back. On the 4th day in the city, with us on the defense they began to shell our drop off point. We set up outside again, the attack came from our front and we repelled the small force, but then we heard screaming coming from the still being hit drop off point, at first we though some of our soldiers had idiotically ran through it and gotten hit, but an American appeared in a window seal, only accessible through the drop off point. They fired at Walrus first who was hit, but quickly took cover behind some sandbags. As I grabbed the barrel of my Machine Gun and turned it I burned my left hand very badly, but I cut down the American, and his two friends in the window seal. Though they caught us off guard, we repelled the attack. Our next chance at attacking, the Americans had over supplied themselves, the had a Sniper near the bridge of the city, and a Machinegun near the Ally. Despite their use of the extra guns, we still pushed through, securing the extra ammo for their rifles and Machine guns.
June 24th, 1941
Using the momentum we gained from pushing the Americans out of Harrington we attacked what was left of Caen. We were moving through the city when almost immediately we fell under heavy mortar fire. By the time we got out of the pre-sighted hit zones, we were badly devastated. But we didn?t leave before killing some Americans. Two Americans were retreating from a foxhole close to the front when a Rocket fired from a window came down and blew them apart. I cheered for our Panzerfaust, but he just caughed and I looked behind me. He shruged and we looked forward when we heard the Americans shouting at each other. He laughed and said, "They must have fired on themselves.. Come on, this place is worse then hell, lets go." We got up and made it back to the rest of what was left of the Squad. Walrus wasnt there at first, when we got a radio that some of the soldiers were still pinned down. Ravage took some of the men and left, but me and three others stayed. When Walrus made it back with what was left of his group, we crossed the river back, and left.
July 19th, 1941
Staying in France for another week, we moved to the Northern side of France toward the Netherlands. Our bombers had started to bomb the Netherlands right before our invasion into the territory. Our first major battle came at a small town built around a train station. The idea was that if we secured the train yard, we could get troops further into the Netherlands quicker. The Americans set up their defense inside of the towns Hotel and Cafe. We secured the outside so we could move in. Ravage had us hold a perimeter around the building as our Stealthy sniper found various positions to pick off the Americans from the outside. He killed many Americans before Ravage told us to move in. We didn?t realize that they had many men still in tight, unforeseeable corners of the building. We could barely get in, we were ordered back. We stayed at the train station, and the buildings behind it, waiting for the Allied counter attack. We fought it back just as easily as they had fought ours. The next time we ventured towards the buildings, we made more progress, but two Americans ad set up in the Bakery and had killed two Unteroffiziers, their squads had pulled back killing the momentum of the attack. During their counter attack Ravage had received news that we has lost more battles north of the railway and the entire army was pulling back. We pulled out later that day.
I got promoted to replace one of the dead Unteroffiziers, and Walrus was promoted to a Oberschutze. He's been sticking close to me though, says that he doesn?t feel right. I asked him what happened, he said when we were attacking the Railway, he had shot one of the Americans, I congratulated him, but he said he still wasnt use to taking the life of another person. I couldn?t help but laugh, "Walrus, you learn quickly to get over that, because the people over there are shooting at you too."
Epilogue
On July 21st, 1941 Unteroffizir Compton was shot and killed while serving the Third Riech.
Riechmarshall Jost "Ravage" Nitsch (1913-1945) served as the leader of his Army until the end of the war in 1945. He was called by the Americans because of this ferocious conquering of most of the European continent; although he was a great leader during the initial blitzkrieg of Europe, he proved less of a leader during the later part of the war, costing Adolf Hitler the war. During the surrender to the Allied Commander, the Riechmarshall was not present and the signed was done by his second in command, Generaloberst Bane. A few hours later it was discovered the Riechmarshall had taken his life in a ruined house in the streets of a destroyed Berlin.
Generaloberst Wilhelm "Bane" Erdmann (1915-1986) served as Ravage's second in command until the final day of the war, where he received control of the army an hour before the surrender. He earn his nickname "Bane" to the Americans because of his bold actions to kill as many Americans, without caring of the cost of Wehrmacht cost. After the war he left the country before the Warcrime trials began. He retreated to Canada where he lived in Exile until his death in 1986. He was married in 1955 to a Canadian Widow who did not realize he was a German Officer until the last years of his life. They had 3 children.
Generalmajor Dedo "Dutch Hopper" Radtke (1915-1995) was third in Ravage's chain of command. He earned his nickname "Dutch Hopper" because of his quick thought strategy to help take control of Europe. He had helped organized the failed defense of Berlin when Ravage was not around to lead. He left Berlin just before the surrendering of the city. He moved to Denmark where he lived with his wife until his death in 1995. They had 5 children.
Oberst Karl "Lung Buster" Klien (1917-1945) served with Ravage until his death on the streets of Berlin in the final days of the war. He earned his nickname by being a crack shot, it was rumored that he single handedly held a street in France against 10 American soldiers, each one with a bullet through their lungs. During the final defense of Berlin, he was positioned on the street near the AA gun. He was killed by an American Thompson. He was married in 1935, he left behind a wife of 10 years and two small children.
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Special thanks to Doc Compton for providing some excellent journals of the last eGO DoD:S campaign.
These journals are a work of fiction and do not reflect actual events
Special thanks to Doc Compton for providing some excellent journals of the last eGO DoD:S campaign.
These journals are a work of fiction and do not reflect actual events
If you're saying it looks unpolished and hurts it I guess i can clean it up but i will make it sound like a dramatic movie screenplay instead of a journal entry
