English Translation

Experience at the border of two worlds At the dawn of June 22, 1941, after a week of unbearable tension, when we crossed the bow and set out for the homely guarded world of the Soviets, we were all clear that the war had now entered a special stage. Among the millions who were at that time at all points of the nearly 2000-kilometre-long front to attack, there was probably none who would not have felt the shocking size of the moment. When, at 3:15 p.m., the enormous drum fire of countless batteries began and we stared with pale faces into the black brodem, which rose up from the river, none of the old warriors who stood around me was able to prevent a trembling: that was not fear — it was rather a shock at the violence of events that suddenly struck us. The frenzied consequence of tremendous battles, into which fate threw us, left us no time to follow further thoughts beyond the everyday necessities of war. From time to time only, in short breaks of battle or in the preparation for a new attack, suddenly overcame us the proud consciousness of being active bearers of a tremendous event. I received this impression most sustainably at the beginning of an attack on a heavily fortified city. It was towards evening, I had come forward by order of my commander to search for the supply room of the battalion. The enemy set a devastating fire on all roads; under the crushing of the grenades the whistle of the MG. yarns mixed, the whole horizon seemed to burn all around. I lay on the edge of a hill and looked around me. From backwards the vehicles of the companies arrived at large distances. The drivers seemed to calculate each impact in advance and evaded the grenades with great skill. Enemy low-flyers broke through the brightly lit clouds, chased their perishable seeds on the streets and disappeared again in protective grey. The strong fire force forced the troops in the valley behind me to sit down, the vehicles remained in cover, and the device was released. Now a picture developed, whose magnificence will remain unforgettable to me. In broad development the companies dragged me past into the beginning of the battle. It seemed to me like a passage into fate. As if driven by magical violence, they walked man behind man, without haste and without hesitation towards destruction. No one remained behind, stubbornly attached to the heels of the foreman, everyone aspired forward - often burdened with heavy equipment - without taking the step even for a fraction of a moment. In this second, fate became visible in all its meaning. Hundreds of men of completely different form and origin are subjected to an absolutely same law, which they have so completely cast into its spell that they cannot even play with the gratitude to avoid the coming. In the opposite, they seemed to have taken the action completely into their own will, they appeared to have become part of the battle itself. 9