Hi guys,
as I am very interested in military history since I was a young, I research the military career of my grandfather from the mothers side.
My other grandfather was in the Wehrmacht, too. But I don´t know anything from him!
The other one took part in the whole Blitzkrieg, Poland, Netherlands, France and Russia until the battle at the Ladoga Lake (Leningrad), there
he was seriously wounded and removed from service. In Aug 44 he was back in charge in a replacement company of the famous
Windhunde "116 Panzerdivision" and was proably at Arnhem, in the Reichswaldbattle and the Ruhrkessel and finally get in soviet captivity in the Harz area.
He never talks of the war, nobody in the family know anything, the only person he talked to about it was his little grandson (me). That is my obligation to clear
his military records, I spent a lot of time with research, talking to veterans and communicating with international researches like my mate Scott from australia.
(
www.defendingarnhem.com)
I don´t think that any german soldier enjoyed the war and if there are "funny stories" there is although the horror of war in the next sentence. Remembering a
former colleague of mine, who was since 43 at the Heeresflak and talked about the shooting down of a Tempest over France, the Pilot bailed out on tree level
and got impaled by a fence. No fun at all... he show me a piece of the bloodstained cord of the parachute from this sad guy.
Even if we enjoy this game a lot, we should not forget that the truth was no fun at all and there was nothing else than terror and dead.
In the last autumn I spent some time on the Rheinberg war cemetery, where most of the killed air crews over europe are buried (except US).
Read the tombstones, think of the guys and there cruel dead, feel a piece of guilt as german, the urge to apologize to each of them and to thank them for there
sacrifice.
Cheers
Stefan