28 #Russia 1942/43 ▶ Stalingrad - Interview Erich Hofmann (1/2) 94. Infanterie-Division (2013)

Russia Soviet Union 1942/43 ▶ Battle of Stalingrad - Interview: Gefreiter / Funker Erich Hofmann 2013 (Part 1/2) 94. Infanterie-Division / Nachrichten-Abteilung 194 Zeitzeuge Eyewitness    / @germanhistoryarchive   Playlist ▶    • GERMAN HISTORY ARCHIVE   Subtitles: German, English, Russian, French "My name is Erich Hofmann. I was born in 1920 in Thalheim in the Erzgebirge. I was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1940. To Chemnitz here, to the intelligence barracks. And there I was trained as a radio operator. And then one day I left for Russia, we invaded Russia. And there was actually no resistance at that time. Are we quite far to Stalingrad, yes. On August 17th, 1942 - attack battle on Stalingrad. And there it was finally over. In Stalingrad there were 3 Saxon divisions. Saxony bore the most, the biggest blood toll. And we had the Saxon swords here, that was our divisional mark. 3 Saxon divisions were practically annihilated in Stalingrad. Our neighboring division was a Romanian division. I think it was the 13th Romanian Infantry Division. And to make sure the connection was there, I was assigned as a radio operator with the Romanians. So that they always keep the connection between Germans and Romanians. As a radio operator you always knew what was going on. Then the officers came to us. Hofmann, what's new? What's the situation? I knew it. They didn't know. Actually, I was quite comfortable there. Because we always knew what the situation was. We called in the planes to drop bombs here and here. We radioed the artillery, what they had to fire at, what area. Once in the evening, it was the 11th hour, usually nobody attacked at night. Suddenly the Russian attacked. And if he hadn't said anything... He doesn't say Hura, he says Urrae. Ürrä it started all at once. Urrah. Now we knew, now the Russian would come. Oh, and he was pretty far along. So I radioed the ARI (artillery) here. And they knew, however, who was sitting somewhere in the tree or where, who indicated how far they had to shoot. That worked pretty well. The shot right in front of us. It was also fired into their own rows. Yes it happened that they shot too short. But the shot right in front of us, and the Russian attack broke down." #history #ww2 #Stalingrad #Cталинград #Россия #Germany #military #worldwar2 #historic #simplehistory #historymemes #война