The Battle of Stalingrad by Nelly https://padlet.com/eleanor_shephard/1ixmzxh7c1fy Made with spite and no small amount of sarcasm en-us 2016-11-23 02:33:45 UTC 2025-09-26 14:39:38 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Bigthunderstorm.png Letter from a German soldier in Stalingrad eleanor_shephard https://padlet.com/eleanor_shephard/1ixmzxh7c1fy/wish/139502249
]]> 2016-11-23 02:51:54 UTC https://padlet.com/eleanor_shephard/1ixmzxh7c1fy/wish/139502249 Translation eleanor_shephard https://padlet.com/eleanor_shephard/1ixmzxh7c1fy/wish/139502534 Dear Theo,

Every time I receive a letter from you I am so happy that I just have to answer them immediately. My heartfelt thanks for the lines you sent on the 9th of June. You probably had not received the long letter I sent you? I hope you are holding it in your hands by now.
Dear Theo, I can tell you that there is a lot to see in war. Bad things and good things. Sadly you see the latter very rarely, but you have to be able to ignore that, because otherwise it would be hard to bear. 

After a long and refreshing sleep I am now writing you this letter. This evening I returned safely from my first combat patrol. Our task was to destroy an important enemy position consisting of a number bunkers with observed fire.
The patrol consisted of volunteers and was made up by a platoon of infantry and three artillerymen. I do not remember if I have told you that we lie in the foremost line and right in front of it is a large and thick forest which is held by the Soviets.
We had to advance about 4 kilometers into it and set up a radio station, with which we could guide the fire of our battery. The job of the infantry was to secure us against any kind of Russian counter action. 

My dear Theo, I had no idea, what I had volunteered for! It’s not that I feel sorry about it, but it was a real suicide mission.
Three weeks ago another combat patrol was sent out into this primeval forest where it was ambushed and wiped out by the Soviets. After that the number of volunteers for such missions drastically decreased! The Russian is a beastly, malicious and devious enemy who is committing unspeakable deeds to the wounded and to the ones he takes prisoner. Theo, if you ever have to see a comrade that has been ravaged by them you will never forget it. The one we found had been in command of the previous combat patrol. There was a burning inside me, my blood was boiling and I didn’t know what to say. He had only just been awarded the Iron Cross 1st class. I will never be able to forget this sight. But you have to get rid of it. You have to forget it. If you don’t it will make you fail.
We slowly moved forward, stopping about every 20 meters, listening into the wilderness. That way it took us 5 hours to reach a part of the forest from which we could observe the enemy bunker line. The moral effect of our artillery rounds zooming over our heads and punching into the enemy position was wonderful. A tremendous feeling, which is hard to describe to someone who has not experienced something like that! 

The Soviets had obviously not noticed that they were being hit by observed fire and their artillery started to open up aswell. Our guns managed to crack open two of their bunkers. After two hours of continuous firing we started to withdraw, but by then Ivan had finally realised that there had to be German artillery observers around. All of a sudden he opened up with everything he had and small arms fire was ripping into the forest around us. We had chosen a good spot though and did not suffer any losses. During our withdrawal we had to cover two dangerous spots ideal for an enemy ambush. One was a patch of grassland surrounded by dark forest, the other a swampy area covered with gravel. Both would have given the enemy a perfect opportunity to annihilate us, but nothing happened. We arrived at our position and were more than happy to have escaped from this hell with all our bones intact.

This forest is really a hell on earth which has cost us a lot of blood so far. It’s easy to enter, but terribly hard to get out again. The damned Ivan invites us in and then easily surrounds and ambushes us. An easy game in his position. Why don’t we just take the forest you ask? Our operations are to make sure that he does not (!) retreat without a fight. It is planned that in a few weeks from now a large-scale operation will be conducted with the goal of destroying the Soviets completely and you can only do so if the enemy faces you in combat. But what happens you allow him to withdraw and to continue his existence? 

Dear Theo, with these lines I just wanted to give you an idea of our life here. At the moment I am back at the observation post.  I would not like to be anywhere else as there is no better place to prove and show what is expected of the future officer. In the future more patrols will be send out and I will make sure I will part of them. 

Hope that you will be writing soon! Warm regards and kisses,
Walther

PS. It’s Mother’s birthday on the 3rd of July!

]]> 2016-11-23 02:56:31 UTC https://padlet.com/eleanor_shephard/1ixmzxh7c1fy/wish/139502534 Brief explanation of The Battle of Stalingrad eleanor_shephard https://padlet.com/eleanor_shephard/1ixmzxh7c1fy/wish/139825017 The Battle of Stalingrad was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history, with combined military and civilian casualties of nearly 2 million.]]> 2016-11-24 23:37:42 UTC https://padlet.com/eleanor_shephard/1ixmzxh7c1fy/wish/139825017 Where the was battle fought eleanor_shephard https://padlet.com/eleanor_shephard/1ixmzxh7c1fy/wish/139825076 Stalingrad was located in Southwest Russia on the Volga River. It was a major industrial and communications center for the Soviet Union in the south. Also, it was named after the Soviet leader Josef Stalin. This made the city important to Stalin and also important to Hitler, who hated Stalin. 

Stalingrad was called Tsaritsyn until 1925 when it was renamed Stalingrad in honor of Josef Stalin. In 1961 the city's name was changed to Volgograd, meaning Volga City. ]]> 2016-11-24 23:39:27 UTC https://padlet.com/eleanor_shephard/1ixmzxh7c1fy/wish/139825076 From when to when? eleanor_shephard https://padlet.com/eleanor_shephard/1ixmzxh7c1fy/wish/139825367 The Battle of Stalingrad commenced July 17, 1942 and ended when the Germans surrendered February 2, 1943.]]> 2016-11-24 23:45:50 UTC https://padlet.com/eleanor_shephard/1ixmzxh7c1fy/wish/139825367