Against the Odds: Survival on the Russian Front 1944-1945 by John Stieber

Author:John Stieber [Stieber, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-08-05T00:00:00+00:00

What was left of the morning passed quickly and soon we were tucking into our lunch and savouring the unusual experience of sitting down at table to do so. One of our drivers told us that good progress was being made in the workshop on our three self-propelled guns and we should have them back by late in the evening. There were no tasks laid on for the afternoon, so I decided to go for a short stroll outside our barracks. I was unconcerned about setting off on my own because I had not heard of any case where German soldiers had been attacked by the Polish civilian population. I saw many men, women and children about and got the impression that nobody had yet fled the area.

Turning a corner I was amazed to see what looked like a group of attractive women with apparently rouged, prominent cheekbones and wearing Asiatic-type army uniforms. They were armed with rifles and long curved swords and a number of them were sitting on strong, wiry ponies while others were standing beside them. I did not want to stare, but was nevertheless highly intrigued by this unusual sight. Hearing their voices and taking a second look I realised that these were men. They were, in fact, Kalmucks, a tribe of Mongol people who lived in central Asia. This was, of course, the explanation. Kalmucks often fought in Cossack regiments and were known as extremely brave warriors and daring horsemen. Being of short build, usually under 5 feet 6 inches in height, and having almost doll-like, flat, round faces with very soft features, it was small wonder that I had first taken them to be women. This impression was strengthened by their pink, seemingly hairless faces. I thought their uniforms were very smart. They wore long silver-grey coats with shining leather-ware and on their heads they had grey fur hats with a flat red top which was emblazoned with a cross-shaped decoration. All the soldiers were of perfect build and bore an air of proud self-confidence.

Soon after the start of the campaign against Russia, large numbers of Russian prisoners of war volunteered to fight with Germany. They came mostly from areas which were opposed to the Bolshevik doctrine on political, religious or historic grounds.

Despite German party-political opposition, the use of active Russian volunteer-units spread and they repeatedly got honourable mention in military reports over the German national radio. They were particularly successful because of their knowledge of land and language, and also in deployment against partisans. Some of the most fanatical units were Cossacks from the rivers Don and Kuban who had an old score to settle with Bolshevism. The Kalmucks I saw were quite possibly members of one of these famous Cossack cavalry regiments.

By the middle of 1944 there were a total of 300,000 Russian volunteers in the German army. All volunteers fought bravely right up to the end of the war. Although it became obvious to them that Germany would be defeated, there were no desertions.

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