war storys from gramps

[Gilgenbach]

Hi,

its always nice to read stories like this, but we should not forget that WW2 was not all funny and exciting stories.

My grandfather fought on the Russian front for 4 years, ending the war as a member of Sturm-Batallion AOK 11 (Assault Battalion), 11th Army (Steiner) in the defence of Pommerania and later in the West in the Harz mountains in Germany.

He was wounded 3 times, buried in a dug-out which collapsed after russian shell-fire for nearly 2 days (resulted in a bad case of claustrophobia). He never, only in a very few instances, talked about the war. And if he did it was never those funny "gramps war" stories. "War is hell", is what he told me, he did not even want me to play with tanks and toy soldiers.

When he returned from the war he became an alcoholic. He managed to get rid of his alcohol problem in the 1960s but he still woke in the nights screaming and covered in sweat up until his death in the late 80s.

I guess most german infantrymen who fought as frontline soldiers had the same experiences. At least many of the ones I know and talked to.

We should never forget what war is, and what killing and fighting does to a human being. War is hell. Never forget.

Cheers Rob