A28 My 3 years in war

Narrator: Rupert Litschauer
Reporter: Claudia Müllner.

In 1942 I was an absolute beginner and I was sent to a camp in St. Margareten in Burgenland, Austria. There I stayed for three weeks. Then I could return home again, where I received my recruitment to the Deutsche Wehrmacht on December 8th 1942.

In Schwarzenau we were loaded onto trains. First I went to Mesaritsch, Czechoslovakia. After 4 months of training I got a time off for a fortnight and then I had to go to the war front. Our division was in St. Pölten and from there we went to Poland and then to Moskow in Russia. I had to undergo a training in an engineer unit there. After that we went to Odessa and to Nikolaiev by train.

In Nikolaiev there was a bridge where we hit Russian resistance. A heavy battle started, we were driven back and our division fell apart. I returned to Odessa where I waited for my train which should bring me back to my division. When the train stopped in the station my comrade Fritz R. from my neighbouring village called Immenschlag got out of it. He told me not to take that train, because on that way enemy soldiers were lying in wait for us. So my comrade and I went on by foot and after two days we found our division. We were ordered to return to the war front immediately.

After my military service in Russia I got a holiday and then I was sent to France.
In 1945 I was taken prisoner on the withdrawal from France and I then was dragged to Belgium. There I had to work in a coal mine for 18 months until I was released in June 1947.