Eastern Inferno: The Journals of a German Panzerjäger on the Eastern Front, 1941-43 (36 page)

Our Luftwaffe and the enemy air force have been very active during these past few days. Day and night dozens of bombers or fighter aircraft fly through the sky. And this is always a telltale sign: when the “
Totenvögel
” [birds of death] dart about, either we or the enemy are planning major events. It is like a movie theater for the frontline soldiers. But this show is not without dangers.

6 May:
There is a lot of activity today. At the light of dawn a squadron of Soviet bombers flies over our front line. Suddenly they make a sharp turn; they dive down and approach our position at high speed. Gauging from experience, they should now open their bomb bays and death should start to rain upon us. But nothing happens. Instead we are now hearing the familiar howling sound of our fighters. We brace ourselves against the walls of the trench and watch the events unfold in the clear morning sky where they are fighting for life and death. The tight, evasive maneuvering and shooting have started. Our fighter aircraft dive down on the slower bombers, whose gunners are attempting to shoot them down. The muzzle fires from the machine guns and the onboard cannons sparkle in the sky. Our fighters make their attack and then steeply pull up again with their engines howling to get on top of the enemy bombers. A Soviet bomber in the sky starts to tumble, dips his right wing, and then spins to the ground to explode in bright flames. Within the next three minutes four more Soviet bombers meet the same fate. On this day 74 Soviet aircraft were shot down in our sector.

Yesterday our first
Tigers
arrived and positioned themselves in a broad line behind our sector. This gives us a reassuring feeling, since the Reds are also assembling their tank units on the other side. The front is brimming with FlaKs of all calibers and sizes.

We are quiet and confident since winter is over, and the sun belongs only to us.

Editors’ Note:

As Hans Roth’s third and last journal ends he’s within weeks of going on leave, and so he may have missed the climactic Battle of Kursk, which commenced on July 5, 1943. At Kursk, the largest tank battle in history, involving up to two million men, the Soviets finally proved that they could withstand a good-weather German offensive. From that point onward the Soviets held the strategic initiative in the East, and the Germans could only attempt to delay their counter-invasion of Europe while simultaneously trying to hold off the Western Allies, who were invading German-occupied territory from the sea.

Hans Roth’s military experiences after his third journal ends in May 1943 are unknown, though it is likely he was working on a fourth journal when he died, which by some very slim chance of fate may yet emerge.

It is only documented that he lived for one more year, as the documents on the following pages attest. In an official notice to his wife, Rosel, from the German Army High Command (OKH) he was reported missing as of June 25, 1944.

At that time the 299th Infantry Division was on the front line of Army Group Center, southeast of the city of Vitebsk. The previous year’s combat had taken place primarily in the southern sector, and the Germans expected a renewal of Soviet offensives in that direction. However, taking advantage of their superior mobility, thanks to motor vehicles and other supplies from the West, the Soviets had secretly shifted the axis of their advance to the center of the front.

On June 22, 1944, the third anniversary of the German invasion, the Soviets launched Operation Bagration, a gigantic surprise offensive that caved in the opposing front. In German annals, the disaster is referred to simply as “the Destruction of Army Group Center.” Of half a million Germans on the central front, 350,000 were lost as they faced 2.5 million Soviet attackers.

The 299th Infantry Division was among the first German formations to be hit by the juggernaught, and was immediately overwhelmed. After all his narrow escapes during the war, Hans Roth was finally, evidently, forced to succumb. The official notice from OKH to Rosel states that as of June 25, 1944, he was
vermisst
.

Final Documents

The official notice from the German Army to Rosel, describing how her husband had gone missing southwest of Vitebsk as of June 25, 1944. The message ends with wishes of good health and good luck for his eventual homecoming, though to anyone reading his journals it should be doubtful that Hans Roth would ever allow himself to be taken prisoner.

A post-war notice from the German Red Cross, informing Rosel that they had no further information on her huband.

Another official notice to Rosel, this time from the Bundesrepublik, dated October 1950, confirming that her husband, Hans Roth, had been lost in the war.

Further Reading

The editors have relied on a number of published works to explain the context of Hans Roth’s original journals. Among these are:

Careell, Paul.
Hitler Moves East, 1941–1943
. Winnipeg, CA: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, 1991.

Einseidel, Heinrich, Graf von.
The Onslaught: The German Drive to Stalingrad
. (Foreword by Max Hastings.) New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1984.

Glantz, David M.
Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster.
Rockville Centre, NY: Sarpedon Publishers, 1998.

Guderian, Heinz.
Panzer Leader.
New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1952.

Hoyt, Edwin P.
Hitler’s War.
New York: McGraw Hill, 1979.

Lemay, Benoit.
Erich von Manstein: Hitler’s Master Strategist
. Philadelphia: Casemate Publishers, 2010.

Manstein, Erich von.
Lost Victories
. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1982.

Meyer, Kurt.
Grenadiers
. Winnipeg, CA: J.J. Fedorowiz, 1994.

Mitcham, Samuel W., Jr.
The Men of Barbarossa: Commanders of the German Invasion of Russia, 1941
. Philadelphia: Casemate Publishers, 2009.

Niepold, Gerd.
Battle for White Russia: The Destruction of Army Group Centre, June 1944
. London: Brassey’s, 1987.

Seaton, Albert.
The Battle for Moscow
. New York: Sarpedon Publishers, 1993.

Warlimont, Walter.
Inside Hitler’s Headquarters, 1939–45.
Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1990.

Zhukov, Georgi K.
Marshal Zhukov’s Greatest Battles.
(Ed. and with commentary by Harrison Salisbury.) New York: Harper & Row, 1969.

Notes

*
Here there is no difference between an accountant, lawyer, or doctor versus a skilled laborer.