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Diary
of a Young Lieutenant contains
many surprises, dispels misconceptions, and rectifies historical
facts.
It is a captivating read.
Interesting
Links:
Eastern
Front
Battle
of Moscow
Bombing
of Hamburg
Yalta
Conference
Plot
to Assassinate Hitler
Library of Congress online catalog entry for Willi: Diary of a Young Lieutenant
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1914
Assassinations and Consequences
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One
of the chief reasons for the start of World War I was the
assassination of Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand and Crown Princess
Sophia of Austria. They were on a state visit in Yugoslavia
on June 29, 1914 when they were gunned down in the streets
of Sarajewo by The Black Hand, a Serbian terrorist group that
wanted Serbia to regain independent statehood. The conflict
caused by the murders could not be resolved. The culprits
were protected by their government and were not handed over
to Austria’s court of law. The Empire of Germany and
its army came to the aid of the Austrians, as did Turkey and
Bulgaria. Russia declared herself Serbia’s ally. They
were joined by the French and the British. An agreement could
not be reached between the two groups of allies, so they declared
war on each other. more
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When
WWII broke out in September 1939, every able young German
man 19 years of age or older, was drafted into the army.
Non-compliants were taken to court and sentenced to imprisonment.
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In 1921 the National Socialist Party (NAZI, a strictly
political party) was founded by Adolf Hitler. The general
German population did not belong to the Nazi party.
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Hitler
himself had no military science education, but appointed
himself as Supreme Commander-in Chief of the German armed
forces.
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Long
before the war broke out, Germany had her own army, as
did every country in the world. Its generals were highly
skilled military men who had served for many years. They
did not belong to the Nazi party. The rank and file members,
including the generals, belonged to Die Wehrmacht (The
German Army), not the Nazi Army. In the same way the Canadian
Armed Forces is a military entity, and is not the Liberal
Army or the Conservative Army of Canada. Likewise, the
US Army is not the Democratic Army or the Republican Army.
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The
German soldiers fighting in Russia during the winter of
1941/42 were never issued winter uniforms. Thousands of
young men either starved or froze to death (Chapter 18,
Tim).
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The
distinguished General Heinz Guderian – loyal to his
leader, but not a member of the Nazi Party – asked
repeatedly for warm uniforms for his men and permission
to retreat. Hitler rebuffed his request and dismissed
him. (Chapter 16, General Heinz Guderian).
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In
December 1942 General Paulus urgently requested a retreat
from the outskirts of Stalingrad. Hitler’s answer
was, “Not an inch of retreat! You fight to the last
man!” 300,000 German men were trapped in the infamous
battle of Stalingrad. Most of them died. 5,000 eventually
returned to Germany after many years of imprisonment in
Russia. (Chapter 28, All is Lost)
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There
was mutiny in the German military ranks. Many officers
did not agree with Hitler’s policies. They hoped
that by toppling the government, an early peace agreement
could be negotiated. General Fromm, Supreme Commander
of the Home Army, was in charge of all the forces stationed
in Germany. He was the key conspirator behind a plot to
assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944. After the coup d’état
failed, Fromm committed suicide. 5,000 of his fellow conspirators
were hunted down, court martialed, and hanged. How would
the war have ended if the assassination attempt had been
successful?
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In
August 1944 Hitler gave the order to destroy every last
brick in the city of Paris. The honorable General Dietrich
von Choltitz, loyal to his country, defied the order of
his mad leader. He led his army in an orderly retreat
and did not fire a single shot. Choltitz was captured
and imprisoned in France. After many years he was released
to Germany. French military officers and a French honour
guard were present at his funeral in 1966. France’s
General Charles de Gaulle sent condolences to Choltitz’s
widow (Chapter 33, Code Word Walküre).
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February 1945 it was evident that Germany was going to lose
the war, so the Allies: Britain’s Winston Churchill, Russia’s
Joseph Stalin and the US’s Franklin D. Roosevelt met at
a conference in Yalta, Ukraine to discuss the fate of Eastern
Europe. Stalin wanted all of Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,
Romania, Hungary and Germany. Churchill did not agree with this
demand and convinced the others to give only half of Germany
to Stalin. Germany was divided in half from north to south.
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With these men’s signatures, millions of people were sentenced
to slavery in stone quarries, hard labour in Siberia, and confinement
in gulags. Millions died from disease, torture and outright
murder.
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Eastern Germany became Russian territory and was isolated from
the West. The city of Berlin was divided into East Berlin and
West Berlin. Many families became separated.
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The whole city of Berlin was placed under siege from June 24,
1948 until August 31, 1949 when the Russians blocked all traffic
in and out of the city. No trains, trucks or barges on its canal
system were allowed to enter. It was clearly a plan to starve
out the people. In a great humanitarian effort, the British
and Americans created the Berlin Airlift. Their planes flew
24 hours a day for fourteen months to provide the city with
90,000 tons of food, medicine, gasoline and heating oil every
day.
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In 1961 the Soviets built a huge wall between East and West
Berlin. Tall watch towers were erected and manned by sharp shooters.
People trying to flee to the West were shot to death. Sometimes
they were shot by their own countrymen who had become trained
Soviet soldiers.
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The night of November 9, 1989 Berliners stormed the Brandenburg
Gate and demolished the wall that had divided their country.
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On October 3, 1990 East and West Germany finally became officially
unified under the negotiations of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachov.
After 45 years of communist rule, separated families were tearfully
re-united.
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