Meet Oberleutnant Richard Grimm, a company commander in Pionier-Bataillon 305. On the left during happy times on occupation duty in sunny France. On the right after 6 months on the Ostfront, including four weeks in Stalingrad.
The 1942 summer campaign stripped the weight off him, as did severe stomach problems that caused acute diarrhoea and eventually prompted his commander to send him back to Germany to recover. This saved his life because he left Stalingrad 5 days before the Soviet counteroffensive. When he detrained in Germany, he weighed just 48kg fully dressed with overcoat and pistol.
The photo on the right affects me because of the haunted look in his eyes... and this snap was taken during a joyous moment (holding his 15-month old daughter for just the second time in his life).
Stalingrad affected him for the rest of his life. Some things could never be erased from his memory, like his best NCO screaming for a pistol after suffering a ghastly stomach wound, or most of his company succumbing to death and wounds in Stalingrad. In 1989 he wrote: "For me, the war continued for years and when I have a fever, when I’m ill, my thoughts – which are morbid, I want to say – always return to that 4-week period in Stalingrad. Perhaps that will also happen during my final hours."
Thought I would post this to show that scars were not always physical. I'm in Grimm's head at the moment because he is the main protagonist in my upcoming book.
Jason
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The 1942 summer campaign stripped the weight off him, as did severe stomach problems that caused acute diarrhoea and eventually prompted his commander to send him back to Germany to recover. This saved his life because he left Stalingrad 5 days before the Soviet counteroffensive. When he detrained in Germany, he weighed just 48kg fully dressed with overcoat and pistol.
The photo on the right affects me because of the haunted look in his eyes... and this snap was taken during a joyous moment (holding his 15-month old daughter for just the second time in his life).
Stalingrad affected him for the rest of his life. Some things could never be erased from his memory, like his best NCO screaming for a pistol after suffering a ghastly stomach wound, or most of his company succumbing to death and wounds in Stalingrad. In 1989 he wrote: "For me, the war continued for years and when I have a fever, when I’m ill, my thoughts – which are morbid, I want to say – always return to that 4-week period in Stalingrad. Perhaps that will also happen during my final hours."
Thought I would post this to show that scars were not always physical. I'm in Grimm's head at the moment because he is the main protagonist in my upcoming book.
Jason
- - -
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