Teaser
FFO A soldiers point of view
FFO A soldiers point of view
Note: This is an assembly of my Grandfathers diary's and letters to his family, written between May 1940 and the end of the war.
Markus Gruber, Reutlingen, June 29th , 2007
May 01st, 1940
These are heady days. I am sitting here in Aachen and waiting for my next assignment. A lot of Officers are sharing my current fate, and from the bits and pieces I have heard everywhere I get the picture that a big Operation in the west is in the coming. Me, freshly promoted Oberleutnant Gruber, waiting to move from a squad command at the Panzer School to a command in a fighting Panzer Division at the front, fighting against the Germanys Enemys.
16:30 I received Orders, I'm now in officially in command of a squad of tanks in the 7th Panzer Division under some General Rommel.
May 10th, 1940 5:40 in the morning
Its on! Our Forces crossed the border to Belgium 5 minutes ago. The Luftwaffe bombed Eben Emael. They have landed Fallschirmjger units everywhere in the enemy rear and apparently it goes well. This will be the first serious test for the for our new Doctrine. Im anxious to see how our Panzers fare against a real, fighting enemy like the French. Our Panzers should prevent a stalemate like the one we had in theGreat War. We attack in a few hours. Panzer vor!
May the 13th
We crossed the Maas near Sedan and we are advancing towards the Channel. The advance is so fast that our supply train can't keep up, but we have still enough for several Daysof Combat Operations. My Father died near Sedan... When this is over I will visit the place.
May the 20th
We reached the Channel! Hard to believe that England is a mere 100 kilometres from here... Rommel is a gifted Commander.. if even half of what the men say about him is true he'll have a shining future in the Wehrmacht.
May 28th
I never knew any human being could be this tired. It is like I haven't slept for weeks, and really, I can't remember when I last did sleep a whole night. The Tommies and the French are trapped in a giant Pocket with only one Port. The Hauptmann says that they will have no choice but surrender. We received Orders to halt and to prevent any escape attempts towards the south. It appears that the English Navy is attempting to evacuate their troops. Gring the glorious [1]Leader of the Luftwaffe has promised that the his Bombers would smash the attempt. They are the Enemy, but I still wish them luck. I have seen what our Ju-87 Stukas can do. It seems our Doctrine worked out well beyond anyones imagination.
June 10th, 1940
I saw Rommel today. He rode in his car past our Panzer where I was resting with my crew. My Crew... they are dedicated... they are very good.... and so far, I was lucky and lost none of them. So far our losses were surprisingly light. We lost Jochen Heldmans Tank to a French S35 two weeks ago and Hannens tank was hit by a 20mm round yesterday. No replacements yet.
Just got word from battalion HQ: The Italians joined the war on our side: They attacked in the Alps and are, according to Radio Rome, driving the French back everywhere. We'll see how true that is.
                                                        Somewhere in northern France, June 15th , 1940
Dearest Mother,
I am sure you have been desperate for any news from your oldest son, and I am writing this letter to assure you that I am alive and well. I am very exhausted, but I guess this is normal for an officer in the Gespenster Division [2] as the Tommies and the French have dubbed us. Perhaps you have heard that Paris fell yesterday, and I am sure you were thinking of Father when you heard it just as I did.
I don't have much time as we are heading out soon to a as of yet undisclosed destination, but let me tell you that I am thinking of you and my brothers and sisters very often, and I pray that this war is over soon so that I can return to you. Just let me tell you that your Son is in good hands. Our General, Erwin Rommel is a gifted Leader and expert tactician and that I have every trust in him.
Forgive my manner of speech, but I would follow him to hell and back.
I have to go now,
Your loving son,
Oberleutnant Hans Gruber, 7. Panzerdivision.
June the 17th , 1940 10 PM
Today was very very strange. I had worked through the night trying to get the coaxial MG working again and maybe the fatigue was what made this day so strange. When we had the MG working again at about 11 AM we got what rest we could and somehow started a discussion on how long the the French could go on before collapsing. Most of my crew thought that collapse was imminent, but I had this gut feeling that the French wouldn't collapse at all. I don't know where this came from but it was there. Normally I would dismiss this, but this time... It got even more strange when we 'accidentally' copied a series of Broadcasts made by the French Government on our tanks radio. It appears that there's been some radical changes.... I fear that this war will be much longer than anyone has anticipated.
June 18th , 1940
4 oclock in the morning
Ive spoken to the division Ic [3] today and he confirmed that there has been some turmoil within the french Gouvernment. Apperawntly the French sacked Petain, the Petain of Verdun fame. The Ia, some Major Hauser was quite confident though. He told me confidentially that the initial estimates he had received from Corps Staff on June the 3rd had estimated that the French would politcally collapse within 3 weeks. So much for military Intelligence. Whatever genius in Berlin came up with this, they will have to rethink quite a few things. The fight will be tougher from here on out.I dont understand the Froschfresser. [4] At first we slip through the french Lines on the Meuse almost effortless, and now we encounter firece resistance wherever we go. It is almost like the French have decided that surrender is not an Option. I cant understand that. We have captured their Capital and a lot of their industry. And they still resist
6 oclock in the evening
It official. The new French minister of War, some General de Gaulle, made a speech today. I only caught the last part of it while switching through the frequencies on our radio. The first setnece I heard was: "France can lose a battle. But, backed by the Empire, France will win the war"
How can they talk like that? Every other Nation would have surrendered by now. But not France. France fights on.
[1]Gring was never that popular in the other Branches of the Wehrmacht, and with his pompous behaviour a man who was easy to dislike, so I think the glorious as adequate.
[2] Roughly translates into Division of Ghosts or Ghost-Division
[3] Intelligence Officer
[4] Frog eaters, german nickname for the French. Only used today when Franco-German Football games are on.
It is purely conicidental that the "authors" opening words have June 28th as a date.
Here's to bloody wars and sickly seasons.
-old British Army toast-
-old British Army toast-
