Enemy at the Gates (60 page)

From interviews with Germans listed in preceding chapter and with Felice Bracci and Cristoforo Capone. Also Bracci's diary; Reginato's
Twelve Years of Prison in the USSR;
Don Guido Tuna's
Seven Rubles to the Chaplain;
and a report by Guiseppe Aleandri on the treatment accorded the Axis POWs in Russia.

After Twelve Years

In September 1955, Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the new West German government, flew to Moscow to meet the leaders of the USSR. During their discussions, Adenauer broached a sensitive topic:

“…Let me start with the question of the release of those Germans who are still imprisoned within the area or sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, or who are otherwise prevented from leaving this area. It is on purpose that I put this problem at the beginning, as this is a question that leaves no German family unconcerned. I wish with all my heart that you do understand in which spirit I want to treat this problem. For me only the human point is at stake. The thought is unbearable that—more than ten years after the end of the war—there are still men who are separated from their families, homeland, and their normal, peaceful work—men .who were involved—in whatever way—in the maelstrom of war. You must not find any provocation in my saying: It is out of the question to establish 'normal' relations between our states as long as this question is unsolved. It is normalization itself of which I am talking. Let us make a clean break with a matter which is a daily source of remembrance of sorrowful and separating past."

Mr. Bulganin answered:

"The Federal Chancellor, Mr. Adenauer, raised as first question that of the prisoners of war. In our opinion there is a definite misunderstanding. There are no German prisoners of war at all in the Soviet Union. All German prisoners of war were released and repatriated. In the Soviet Union there are only war criminals of the former Hitler armies—criminals that were convicted by a Soviet court for especially grave crimes against the Soviet people, against peace and against humanity. In fact, 9,626 men have been retained up to September 1. (Some 2,000 actually fought at Stalingrad.) But these are men who must be kept in prison as criminals, according to the most humane standards and rules. They are men who have lost the human countenance; they are men guilty of atrocity, of arson, of murder committed against women, children and old people. They were duly sentenced by a Soviet court and cannot be regarded as prisoners of war.

"The Soviet people cannot forget the capital crimes committed by these criminal elements, as, for instance, the shooting of 70,000 men in Kiev on the Babi Yar. We cannot forget these million people who were killed, gassed and burned to death. Can anyone ever forget the tons of hair that were cut off (and stapled) from women who were tortured to death. Those present on our side have witnessed all that happened in Maidanek. In the Maidanek and Auschwitz camps more than five and a half million people, all innocent, were murdered. The Ukrainian people will never forget those innocent people murdered in Kharkov, where thousands were shot or gassed. I could name the concentration camps in Smolensk, Krasnodar, Stavropol, Lov, Poltava, Novgorod, Orel, Rovno, Kaunas, Riga—and many others—where hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens were tortured to death by the Hitler fascists. We cannot forget those innocent people, murdered, gassed and buried alive; we cannot forget the scorched towns and villages, the killed women, juveniles and children. And those 9,626 men I mentioned are criminals who committed these monstrous crimes…"

Adenauer was quick to respond:

"Then, Mr. Prime Minister, you talked about the prisoners of war. May I be permitted to draw your attention to the fact that in my yesterday's statements the words 'prisoners of war' were not at all mentioned. I avoided this expression on purpose. If you closely examine my statements, you will find that I rather spoke of 'persons who were retained.' You talked of 'war criminals' and of sentences passed by Soviet courts. We have similar facts also in our relation to the U.S.A., Great Britain and France. But these states came to understand that the sentences passed by the courts of these countries in the first postwar period were not free from emotions, from the atmosphere of that specific time . . .

"Much evil was done.

"This much is true: German troops invaded Russia. And this much is true: Much evil was done. But this is true, too: Russian armies invaded Germany—in defense, I admit without hesitation—and many horrible things also happened in Germany during the war. I think, if we enter into a new period of our relations—and this we want seriously—we should not take too close a look into the past, for then we only start putting up obstacles." Premier Nikita Khrushchev vehemently attacked Adenauer's position: "Mr. Chancellor, you said at the end of your declaration that the Soviet troops, when they crossed the Soviet borders and penetrated deeper into your country, also committed crimes; I refuse this categorically, as this was not the case and the German party cannot submit any evidence as to this (author's note—here Khrushchev ignored the truth). The Soviet troops drove away the others from this country and persecuted them, as they did not surrender. If we had left these troops alone, they could have prepared for another invasion. We could not stop halfway, but had to destroy the enemy who dared to raise his weapons against us. That is why the Soviet soldiers fulfilled their holy duty toward their homeland by continuing this war and sacrificing their lives. Are these horrors? If any troops had invaded Germany and Germany had defended herself and destroyed the enemy— would you call that horrors? It would be Germany's holy duty. For these reasons, I am of the opinion that an insulting remark has been made as to the Soviet troops. And this forced me to make such a statement."

On September 14, Adenauer held a press conference in Moscow:

"…The Soviet Government—Mr. Bulganin and Mr. Khrushchev—expressly declared during the negotiations that the Soviet Union has no longer any German prisoners of war, but only 9,626 convicted war criminals —as they put it.

“All of them will leave the Soviet Union in the near future. They will partly be amnestied and released; as far as the Soviet Union believes that really serious crimes were committed they will be extradited to Germany to be treated according to the laws of our land. I think this will ease a lot of grief—not only of those nearly 10,000 people here in the Soviet Union but also of the numerous relatives in our home country. Now I may also inform you that Prime Minister Bulganin said to me—and he authorized me to tell you this—that the entire action will be under way even before we have arrived in Bonn…”

In this manner, the last of the Stalingrad prisoners began their final journey home from Soviet prison camps.

Index

Abganerovo, 33, 38, 42, 45, 48, 74

Abrusovka, 276

Acktuba, 307

Adam, Col. Wilhelm, 367-368, 372,

376-377, 396, 434

Ademeit, Lt. Gottfried, 51

Adenauer, Konrad, 435-437

A Farewell to Arms
(Hemingway), 15

Africa,
see
North Africa

Air Corps, German Eighth, 193

aircraft: bomber, 32, 40, 42, 44, 58,

60, 70, 91, 93, 134, 245; British,

88; German lost at Stalingrad,

303, 339; fighter, 346; reconnaissance,

53, 167; Russian, 136-137,

139, 162, 233; transport, 237, 297,

299, 351, 355, 399.
See also
He-

111; Ju-52; Ju-88; Stuka

Air Fleet, German Fourth, 131

Air Force, Soviet Eighth, 54

airlift: German, 193, 199, 206-207,

213, 216, 217, 221-222, 229, 233,

237, 246, 247, 254, 302-303, 330,

336, 345; Russian, 162

air raids: Allied, 153; German, 32, 33,

57-60, 65-67.
See also
air strikes

air-raid shelters, 59, 60, 365

air strikes, tactical: German, 93; Russian,

77, 130-131

Akimovski, 114, 184, 189, 190

Aksai River, 213, 234, 243, 293

Albania, 15

Algeria, Allied landings in, 153

Alt, Capt., 341

Alter, Wilhelm, 115-116, 360, 405

ambushes: German, 40, 43, 264, 320;

Russian, 44, 133

ammunition, German: brought into

Stalingrad, 125-126; rationing of,

224; stockpiles, 164, 274; supplies

exhausted, 240, 339, 355

amputations, 223, 305, 313

Anderson, Lale, 295

antiaircraft guns: German, 64; Soviet,

57-58, 233, 303

anti-Communism, 42, 78, 321

anti-Semitism, 10-11, 336, 398

antitank defenses, 9, 38, 45, 86; ditches,

xv, 33, 54, 60.
See also
artillery,

air raids: Allied, 153; German, 32, 33, antitank

Antonescu, Marshal Ion, 213

Anzio, landing at, 401

artillery: antitank, 49, 137, 188, 194,

224, 240; German, 73, 79, 94,

101, 123, 125, 133, 335; Russian,

36, 39, 46, 104, 112, 151, 171-172,

306, 315; surrendered to Germans,

75.
See also
mortars

Asia, Russian expansion into, 29

Astrakhan, 3, 67

atrocities: German, 43, 143, 321, 436;

Russian, 282, 321, 362

Austria, 151; troops, 224, 226, 334

autopsy, 318-319

Azov, Sea of, 3, 179, 203

Babi Yar, 436

Baburkin, 286, 304, 353

Badanov, Gen., 301, 302

Baden-Baden, 401

Bad Gotesburg, 396

Baku, 78

Balkan States, 13

Banco Nazionale del Lavore, 397

Barmantsak, Lake, 187

Barrikady Gun Factory, 36, 99, 123,

125, 135, 155, 156, 162, 208, 261,

270, 399, 400; battle for, 137,

138-142, 144, 150, 151, 186, 225-

226, 242

Batov, Gen., 368

Batum, 78

Batyuk, Col. Nikolai, 103, 120, 127,

168, 396

Beaulieu, Col., 372

Beer Hall Putsch, 153

Behr, Capt. Winrich, 175, 176, 182,

185, 186, 299, 335-336, 340, 344-

345, 356, 382, 396, 405

Beketovka, 67, 80, 149, 151, 171, 187,

241, 378, 390

Below, Col. Gunter von 100-101, 114-

115, 329-330, 367, 396, 405

Below, Col. Nikolaus von, 100, 229,

335-336, 382, 396

Berlin, 118, 121, 398, 401, 402; airlift,

394

Bezditko, Lt. Ivan, 168

Big Saturn offensive, 229, 301

Billert, Oberleutnant, 353

Binder, Karl, 112, 142, 184, 189-190,

220-221, 288-289, 313-314, 333-

334, 359-360, 387, 388-389, 396-

397, 405

"Black Crows," 11

Black Sea, 78, 147, 301

Blinov, 183, 185

blitzkrieg,
4, 76, 90, 118

Boblingen, 268, 288, 397

Bock, Gen. Fedor von, 8, 18, 19

BODO line, 48, 61, 83, 187

Boguchar, 282

Bolshe Nabotoff, 184, 189

Bolshevik Revolution, 29-30, 58-59, 83,

152

bombing,
see air
raids; Stuka aircraft

Boris, Oberleutnant, 339

Bormann, Martin, 206, 344

Bracci, Lt. Felice, 15, 262, 275-276,

281, 304-306, 327, 328, 390, 397,

405

Branco (Italian prisoner), 327

Brandt, Pvt. Willi, 133

Breining, Lt. Friedrich, 115, 166, 209,

405

Brezhnev, Leonid, 404

bridges,
see
Don River; Kalach

British Army, Eighth, 153

British Expeditionary Force, 4

Brunnert, Pvt. Ekkehart, 164-165, 239,

268-269, 288, 322-324, 397, 405

Brunnert, Irene, 288

Bulganin, Nikolai, 436, 437

Bund Deutsche Offiziere,
396

Bundeswehr,
401

Businovka, 192, 196, 247, 252

Byelorussia, 106

cannibalism, xiii, 390-392

Capone, Dr. Cristoforo, 15-16, 257-

258, 259, 276-277, 329, 362, 390,

392-393, 397, 405

Caspian Sea, 3, 70, 78

casualties, xiv-xv; in air raids, 65-67;

civilian, 61; German, 92, 111,

114, 131, 132, 145, 155, 157, 205,

229, 260, 280, 293, 309, 335, 344,

359; Italian, 259; among prisoners

388, 389, 390; Rumanian, 201-202,

213; Russian, 40, 68, 82,

101, 105, 110, 120, 125, 135, 136,

150, 157, 171, 241, 285, 368

Catherine the Great, 29

Caucasus Mountains, 15, 19, 29, 44,

85, 86, 152, 183, 203, 214, 229,

266, 310; German headquarters in,

79; oil fields, objective in German

offensive, 24, 78, 118, 119

cavalry,
see
horses

cemeteries, military, 6, 114, 314

censors, military, 311, 312-313, 361,

386-387

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA),

398

Changar, Capt. Ignacy, 143-145, 324-

325, 387, 397, 405

Chekhov, Anatoli, 145

Chemist's Shop, battle for, 155, 156

Chemnitz, 225

Chernova, Tania, 106-107, 122-123,

145-146, 235-236, 386, 397, 405

Chiang Kai-shek, 83

Chileko, 33

China, 83

Chir, 164, 165, 167, 190, 196, 198

Chir River, 192, 201

cholera, 29

Christiakov, Gen., 183

Christmas Eve, battlefield observances

of, 283, 284, 286-290, 295

Chuikov, Valentina, 124

Chuikov, Gen. Vassili Ivanovich, xii,