The rainbow never sets

Next morning we went back to the same job we had left the night before. Only very slow progress was made. I thought of my parents, imagining them on their way to the west, away from the Russian onslaught. We could not phone out from our battery, but I was sure that the civilians would have all left by now. I visualised them trekking in endless columns, as we had seen so many on the news reels in the cinemas. They had always been other people on the march. This time it would be our own people, our village, our own family. It was good to think that they would be safe. I thought of Günter. If he gets through the War alive, he will find our parents and Gerda, and start a new life. It was a strange feeling, to think in such a detached way about our family without me.

Another five days passed with back breaking work. On the 18.1.45, the Ostdeutscher Beobachter had an editorial by Herbert Koch entitled "The Challenge of this Hour". It said there: "No one needs to worry about wife and children. Everything has been arranged so that those who cannot fight and need to be defended, can in all calmness be protected. This guarantee have all who fight at the front, naturally." (see Posen Januar 1945, p.17)

Luckily, there was not much time to think, let alone to read a newspaper. We didn't know anything about what was going on outside our battery.

Eventually we could see that we were getting somewhere with our work. Some units had hauled their guns already outside, ours was not quite ready. It looked funny to see the anti aircraft guns sitting high up on the ground. They seemed much larger than in their parapets, with just a small wall around. Would they be able to shoot low enough?

The 20th January 1945 dawned. At 5.25 am Posen was declared a fortress. Full alert was given to the fortress Posen and the C-Line (defence line around Posen). The Party boss Greiser, asked if the C-line could be defended. General Petzel advised that it would hardly be possible, with the forces available.

Military command was handed over to Major General Mattern, but we had no idea that the civilians were still unaware of this and of the collapse of the front.

Suddenly word came around: "Dieter Tieman to the telephone!" I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. Who was there to phone me? "Hallo, this is Dieter," I panted, and through the crackling of a poor telephone line I heard: "This is Vater".

"What? Vater? Where are you?" I asked, unable to believe it. "I am phoning from Posen, from the Potato Growers Association. I came here for business, but everything is a bit chaotic. I want to come over to see you. I should be there in about an hour's time."

"But Vater, how come that you are still there? I thought you people had left a long time ago. Haven't you heard about the Russian break through about a week ago?"

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