Blood Red Snow: The Memoirs of a German Soldier on the Eastern Front by Gunter Koschorrek

Author:Gunter Koschorrek [Koschorrek, Gunter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Frontline Books
Published: 2011-04-13T04:00:00+00:00

combat engagements.

As a replacement for the Rittmeister, an Oberleutnant took command of our Schwadron for a short time. During his command, some of the more enterprising soldiers organised a

sauna in an empty house—an excellent idea, and we made good use of it!

Right from the start Weichert and I had a good relationship with Katya, the daughter of

Mattka, our ‘landlady’. Katya works half a day and her mother works the whole day in the

kitchen for the mountain troops. Katya is a slim, blonde Russian girl, a so-called

‘Panyenka’. She wears her hair in small braids woven like a wreath around her head. She

dresses in a large Russian frock which was once light blue but is now bleached to a grey.

Every morning she exudes cleanliness, and when she comes closer she smells of plain military-issue soap. As soon as she sees us she greets us with the usual Russian Sdrassvitye, (‘Good day’) and her eyes light up like cornflowers. I think that were Katya to dress in fashionable clothes, she would be a charming and attractive young lady.

Although we had orders that, because of the risks of espionage and partisan activity, no

close contact must be made with the civilian population, it so happens that we have to discuss a number of matters with Mattka and with Katya. Mischa, our volunteer helper, who also comes from the Ukraine, serves as interpreter. Later on I learn a little bit of Russian, and I am able to make myself understood when I or some of the others need something. Weichert is usually the one to take advantage of this—he is always appearing

with a chicken from somewhere which he wants Katya and Mattka to prepare. There is even a little flirting between us soldiers and Katya, and she is greatly amused when we pronounce Russian words incorrectly or when she tries to say something in German.

However, none of us thinks seriously of trying it on with her: she is definitely off limits in that sense.

Over the days and weeks, Katya becomes, for us, a sort of guardian angel. It all began

as we returned to our quarters from combat one day, wet and frozen to the marrow, and found our room pleasantly warm and spotlessly clean. Even our straw beds had been freshly arranged. She continues to look after us in this way day after day, and to show our

appreciation we give her lots of pieces of chocolate from our Army rations. She once asked us for a pair of socks for her mother, and immediately received several pairs and also some underclothing. She even got a tropical-issue khaki shirt; she looked quite fetching in it. She was as pleased as Punch and looked herself over in the half-broken mirror hanging on the wall in her room. But when we have to go off to another engagement she looks serious and I often see tears in her eyes. As we sit in the trucks she

always comes up to say goodbye to us and to wave until we are out of sight. On many occasions she has come running up at the last minute because she’s been down in the village peeling potatoes when the alarm sounds.

22 November. We had frost again during the night, and during the early morning it starts

to drizzle. This rain softens the ground once more and we are soon up to our ankles in mud. Ahead, along the MBL, heavy fighting is under way, but after an hour we are told

that the enemy has been forced to fall back to the south. The commander of the 2nd Company has fallen, along with several of the men from his Schwadronstrupp. But the

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