Fifteen years in a childhood paradise

The next day we were all called out for a special assembly. Captain Günther, standing alone on the frozen ground, addressed the whole battery: "Friends, the news has just come through, that the Russian Army has started a major offensive in the Vistula basin. They have broken through our German defence line in some places. Between the Russians and us there are no reserves, and no co-ordinated resistance is expected. The civilian population will be evacuated, but for obvious reasons, none of you is allowed to leave the battery. All leave, regardless of reason, is cancelled forthwith. It is expected that Posen will be declared a fortress. This means that the enemy will surround Posen, and we have been ordered to defend it to the last drop of blood in our veins."

We all stood rooted to the ground. Although we had expected something like that, when the news came, it took us by surprise. It was like hearing our death sentence.

"We have been ordered to prepare our battery for ground defence. That means, we have to pull out each gun from the bunkers to be able to shoot at the Russian tanks. We shall do our best to stop the Russki and defend Posen. Everybody needs to chip in and do their best. Any questions?"

There were hundreds of questions in my mind, but I didn't think that Captain Günther would have the answers to them. How could we dig some walls of protection around the guns with the ground frozen hard? How could we set the distance of the range accurately for such a short distance, compared to thousands of meters into the air? How could the few of us hold the onslaught of the mighty Russian army? It all seemed rather hopeless, and of course no one asked any questions.

"You are all dismissed to receive instructions from your Sergeant Major." Our unit crowded around our gun, proudly sporting the two rings from its previous glory. We felt paralysed. Where were we to start? Then our Sergeant Major appeared: "Go to the store house, you, you and you, and get picks and shovels for each one of us. We are going to start removing the rampart and when this is finished, we will pull the canon out to it's new position up here."

It was back-breaking work. The ground was hard, we could only manage to chip small lumps at a time. Very slowly a section of the rampart was removed and the soil was placed on the ground where the gun was going to stand. We were all very tired at night, and no one spoke much. Each one of us was immersed in his own thoughts. Will we ever get out of this mess? There seemed to be no way out.

I was convinced that my last days had come. I didn't want to get into Russian hands alive. I would fight to the last. That night, before going to sleep, I handed my life over to God. There was no point avoiding the issue. In a few days I would be dead. After saying my prayer, a great calm came over me. Dying was not going to be so bad after all. It meant that I would be with God. With that I slept the sleep of one whose body was totally exhausted.

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