Touching the memory of war (episode I)

Siegfried Knapp was born in an ordinary family in Leipzig, Germany. During World War II, he was a grass-roots commander of the National Defence Force artillery, and was later appointed as a major officer of the General Staff because of his outstanding performance.

In the early period of World War II, Germany achieved rapid economic growth in an orderly and step-by-step manner under the scientific management of its capable Chancellor Hitler, and the development of industry, agriculture, cultural undertakings and military forces was extremely rapid. The German people swept away the haze after the defeat of World War I, and their national pride suddenly doubled!

Like most martial German young men, Knapp, who is smart and strong, likes the military. He hopes to be an excellent soldier in the future. So at 1936, he entered the artillery school in Potsdam. As a result, he was admitted to the military academy as he wished, and graduated with 1938 two years later, and was awarded the rank of artillery second lieutenant. Among the 4000 military school graduates in Germany at that time, he ranked 24th, which can be said to be a very good result.

Rommel, a famous German military general, is also one of the instructors in this military school. The study and life in the military academy is also orderly and step by step. Although boys are tired from training every day, when they wake up, they tend to devote themselves more energetically to the next day's study and training. When Knapp graduated, he was received by Hitler because of his excellent performance in all subjects, and had dinner with top students from military schools all over the country.

1938 10 5. Knapp's artillery regiment participated in the annexation of the Czech Sudetenland. Because most of the residents in this area are Germans who speak German, all they get along the way are flowers or applause, and the action is extremely smooth.

In September 1939, 1, the Germans invaded Poland. In order to prevent possible attacks by Britain, France and other countries, Captain Knapp's artillery regiment was ordered to be stationed in the border area where Germany and Luxembourg handed over. But everything was calm, and the soldiers laughed and called it a "sit-in war."

On May 1940, 10, the German army launched a campaign to attack France. From this day on, the cruelty of war really entered Captain Knapp's mind. At first, he saw the French army shooting on the road, and then the death of Captain Rehberg, an artillery platoon leader and his classmate and friend. Although I am psychologically prepared, I still feel very shocked and sad. At this time, he knew that maybe it was his turn next.

Due to the proper tactics in the French campaign, the Germans easily won the battle and conquered Paris, but just before they entered Paris, Captain Knapp was injured. Fortunately, the injury was not serious, but he missed the military parade in the city. He is very sorry about this.

Although he missed the parade in Paris, Knapp, who returned to China for healing, unexpectedly met a beautiful and naive Leipzig girl, Lilo. Two years later, they got married. After marriage, Lilo gave birth to two sons and a daughter for him.

Soon, the troops moved to East Prussia. At this time, Knapp was promoted to lieutenant artillery company commander, and this artillery company belongs to the artillery regiment directly under the 87th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht Army. 1941June 2 1 morning, the artillery chief informed the companies to prepare for the invasion of the Soviet Union tomorrow. Knapp suddenly felt puzzled and angry: why go to war with the Soviet Union? ?

However, it is the first duty of a soldier to obey orders. No matter whether he is puzzled or angry, the orders will be carried out after all!

Late at night, Captain Knapp checked the company's offensive preparations. In this Polish forest, in the bright moonlight that night, rows of soldiers' helmets were neatly reflected, but every soldier under the helmet was thinking differently about war. ...

1941In the early morning of June 22nd, the German 87th Infantry Division started a war in the north wing of the German Central Army Group. The Soviets didn't want to fight at first, but they retreated all the way with a little resistance. The Germans captured a large number of Soviet prisoners. However, when the troops fought in Smolensk, they found that the Soviet resistance became more and more tenacious, while the German casualties became more and more serious. In a battle in Vyazma, the Soviet troops who pretended to surrender shot at the German rear that continued to attack, causing a large number of German casualties, so the angry Germans stopped taking prisoners and killed them as long as they were Soviet troops!

When the 87th Infantry Division advanced to 20 kilometers away from Moscow, the cold of minus 30 degrees in Russia finally made the thinly dressed Germans a spent force. As soon as the Germans saw the house, they crowded into it to keep warm, and Captain Knapp was among them. At this time, a group of Soviet tanks came quietly and opened fire on their house. The Germans in the house died or were injured. Captain Knapp was injured for the second time and was sent back to China for treatment soon.

1942 in may, captain knapp, who returned from injury, was injured for the third time in the artillery battle near Moscow and returned to China to heal. But this time, he received the news that his younger brother was killed in the front line, and then his elderly father died of a sudden myocardial infarction because he could not bear the death and injury of two children. Knapp, who suffered a double blow, felt that the goddess of luck might not care for him anymore. When he returned to the front again, he was ready to die.

At the end of 1942, his superiors sent him to fight in Stalingrad, but because of the weather, he couldn't get on the plane to fight in the encirclement. By the beginning of 1943, the weather had finally improved, and he could fly. The Sixth German Army in Stalingrad had been completely annihilated by the Soviet Union, so there was no need to go there. Therefore, the Yugoslav defense commander of Germany in Rostov simply appointed him as his temporary assistant. On this day, Colonel Heisenberg, the chief of staff, happily told him that you were promoted to captain of artillery and assigned to France to form a new Sixth Army.

1in the summer of 943, the new sixth army was formed, and the superior decided to transfer this unit to Kursk on the eastern front. Just as the troops were preparing to leave by train, new orders came down. Because the allied forces attacked Sicily and the Italian army tried to rebel, it was necessary to immediately transfer a combat division within the Sixth Army to Italy to disarm the Italian army and take on the defensive task, and it was the division where Knapp was selected by the General Staff!

The troops soon crossed the towering Alps and came to Italy. They immediately disarmed the Italian army, and under the command of Marshal Kesselring, relying on the mountains, established a solid "Gustav" defense line to resist the Allies.

Soon, there was good news: Captain Knapp was selected by the General Staff and became an officer of the General Staff, and was promoted to major because of his outstanding performance in school and war. I went to the regimental headquarters first, then to the divisional headquarters, the military command and the group army command as internship staff, and then to the General Staff College for further study. During the internship at the headquarters, the allied air force attacked the famous Cassino monastery, which was completely bombed. Because HQ is on the top of the mountain, you can see everything in the valley clearly. It was like watching a war movie!

However, in the autumn of 1944, when Knapp was internship in the General Staff of the Group Army, Major Knapp was injured by an allied plane when he went out of the air-raid shelter to breathe fresh air, and he was sent back to China for treatment.

1945 At the beginning of the year, when Knapp was about to return from injury, his mother hugged his only son tightly and bought him a scarf in the shop, hoping that he could come home safely and alive, but Knapp was still ready to die.

The General Staff College is located in a hidden valley in Silesia. Before the war came, Major Knapp and them were declared to graduate urgently. At first, his superiors planned to send him to Norway to save the German Sixth Infantry Division there, but because of the Soviet Union's obstruction, he didn't make it, so he was assigned to the 56th Armored Army as the operational staff under General Weiderling. The 56th Panzer Corps was urgently used to defend Berlin. Admiral Weiderling was appointed commander of the Berlin city defense.

Hitler asked Weiderling to report to him every day, while Admiral Weiderling arranged Knapp to take charge of it. In Hitler's basement, Knapp met a scrawny old Hitler, and a sudden idea suddenly occupied his brain, that is, he should immediately take out his pistol and kill the villain!

It should be said that at the beginning of the war, Knapp still loved and worshipped this leader very much. It was he who restored Germany to its former strength. If he hadn't rashly attacked the Soviet Union, an outstanding heroic commander-in-chief would have been born in German history. But now the German people live in darkness under his rule, but he gave up the idea when he thought of his relatives.

1In May, 945, Soviet troops captured Berlin, Knapp was captured and sent to a Moscow prison camp. After more than four years in prison, the lucky Knapp was released to China. When he gently knocked on his home in Leipzig, the mother couldn't believe that she would see her son again in her life and fainted on the spot. Naip hugged Luo Li and her family tightly, and they were very happy.

The picture in this article is taken from the soldier's memoirs of World War II.