Mail Correspondence with Soldiers at War (“Feldpostbriefe”): Letter from a German soldier on the Eastern Front about the supposedly imminent victory over the “most powerful enemy of civilization” in October 1941 (Published on 30/09/2025)
German sergeant H. B., 11th Battery/Artillery Regiment 125, 125th Infantry Division, wrote on 14/10/1941, around four months after the German attack on Russia (source: Buchbender/Sterz, Das andere Gesicht des Krieges – Deutsche Feldpostbriefe 1939 – 1945 [“The other face of war – German field post letters 1939 – 1945”], 2. ed. (1983), p. 84, letter 134 [translation from German language]):
“… We lie in peace, and there is little sign of the evil enemy to be seen or heard. It appears to us as if the war is already over. I assume that when this letter reaches you, bells throughout Germany will have announced victory over civilization’s most powerful enemy. For it cannot be long now, and for us the Führer’s words are gospel. We are now guessing what will happen to us here. Will we go to Germany, or will we remain here as an occupation force? …”
When World War II ended in Europe on 08/05/1945, with Germany’s surrender, church bells rang out in many countries around the world. Germany, however, lay largely in ruins, and in many places it was not even possible to ring bells for the dead.
May this never be forgotten, especially in Germany.
(Head picture: Weathered memorial crosses at the
German military cemetery Brandau/Odenwald,
August 2025)
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