July 1944 – Eastern USSR

The German forces had been moving eastward for two years. Moscow fell early in the year, the only remaining resistance in Russia was from partisan groups. But these were worse to deal with than the Russian Army. They were absorbing more German soldiers than anyone had expected. They lived on German food, kept warm in German clothes, and effectively killed German Soldiers with German weapons. They had become so adept at raiding German supply dumps and convoys that they generally had food to give to the local residents while German Soldiers were eating sparse meals or going hungry. These acts of kindness only made the local residents more likely to forget to report them to the German Army. Frequently the Germans lost more supplies than they got through for their own soldiers. It was like the Russian Finnish war, only worse.

There had been persistent rumors that the government of the USSR had pulled back into the Uruals and was in fact building factories and weapons. There were reports of whole factories being stripped and burned before they fell to the Germans. The Germans called these reports false and continued to try to subdue the land they had taken. The average German soldier didn’t know what to believe. He seemed caught between a rock and a hard place. He just wanted to be back home and done with the war. What he was hearing about the war in Russia from back home in no way matched what he was experiencing.

Hans Greiner breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled on his boots. He would soon have to go out and check the guards. Maybe they were finally winning against the partisans. Things had quieted during the first week of July, only one supply dump raid had been pulled off, there were generally more than one a day. For the first time this year the supply dump was full, food stocks were more than adequate and the fuel stocks were at an all time high. Yesterday’s convoy brought food that had to be stored outside. There was no room in the buildings for it. In the officer’s mess the German commander laughed as they drank Schnapps that had come in on the last convoy. The Russians had finally learned that the Germans were the super race, resistance was futile.

As Hans started back to his quarters he saw a flash of light on the hill west of the base, stopped to watch it and saw nothing more. He continued on to his quarters. Maybe he too was getting too jumpy. Just as he was removing his boots he heard gunfire and explosions burst outside. He ran to the window in time to see a grenade smash it and fall on the floor. Before he could react it exploded. Hans, like most of the Germans in the compound died before they could get off a shot.