Stalingrad Private Footage + 71st Infantry Division, Army Group South Ukraine, von Rundstedt - Pt 1

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Our author Heinz hand wrote this war diary while serving as a non-commissioned officer in the 71st Infantry Division which was nicknamed the lucky division. He served in Regiment 194. The diary is made up of 74 pages and includes that nice photograph of his beautiful wife. In this new multi-part series we’ll go through each day of his entries. In today’s video, part 1 in the series we’ll cover the days in Heinz’s diary during the lead up to the invasion. We’ll use situational maps to see how his unit fit into the larger context of Barbarossa and as usual I’ll mix in rare film footage to glue it all together. At the end of the video we’ll do some foreshadowing as I show some sensational private footage from Stalingrad which is where the 71st was wiped out.

Friday, 20.6.1941

For the last few days the regiment’s staff has been garrisoned in a newly built castle in Poland that hasn’t yet been completely finished. The Russian border is approximately 10 km away. Nearby is a town mostly populated by women and senior citizens. It’s beautiful here and the views extend for miles; mostly of tall corn fields and immense forested areas. We spend a considerable amount of time today like the days before planting telephone poles along the forrest paths towards the border and then mounting communications cables. The weather is beautiful and in the evening musicians show up and play dance music. Lying around int he grass we relax, everything calm and peaceful.

Saturday, 21.6.1941

This morning the company chief gathered us together and read an official proclamation.We really are going against Russia! With all the preparations that that we’ve been making it isn’t a surprise but nobody really wanted to believe. Each of us deep in thought contemplates the significants.

The day is spent organizing our weapons and equipment, packing, and receiving munitions. At 1700 hours we are again called together. Myself, along with a number of other communications specialists, are to be transferred to the 2nd Btl, in order to put communications with Regiment in order. That evening I bid farewell to the other signal men with whom I’ve been for the last year. Will I ever see them all again healthy?

This is the original German High Command war atlas for Operation Barbarossa, the campaign against the Soviet Union. We are looking at June 21, the day before the campaign began. A number of viewers have asked to get a better view of these situational maps so this time we’ll start up at Army Group north and pan down slowly to Army Group South. This beautiful collection has a total of 121 full sized situational maps like this one that I integrate into all the M45 videos I can. Our author Heinz was in the 71st ID which was lead by General of the Infantry Alexander von Hartmann was in Army Group South and part of the 17th Army, in the 4th Army Corps. Directly on its right flank is the 1st Mountain division. Not too far to the north west can be seen the positioning of part of the SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and the SS Wiking division. The first important objective for the army group was Lemberg. But of course this information and this overview was far above Heinz’s pay grade.

Along the roads that we spent days improving we move to the east. By the time that our small signal team reaches the destination, night has fallen. I try to get a few hours sleep under a large tree but a relentless swarm of flies makes that all but impossible. What will the next few days bring?

On a macro level, this is what the German high command was up to. By mid June the three regiments of the 71. ID were situated in their jump-off positions in the forested area between Futory and Cieszanow. The divisional HQ was here in Dubrowka. On the night of June 21/22 the division was moved forward right up the border with Russia and the field HQ up to Niemstow. In the surprise attack of June 22 the division was to advance along a narrow front of about only one KM. Infantry Regiment 194, the regiment that Heinz was serving in would make up the divisions right flank and primary thrust with the objective of taking Lubascow, about 3 KM inside of Russian territory. But it was the night of June 21/22 that Heinz had been ordered to the 2. Btl to help set up communications for the Regiment.

On the day of the attack, June 22nd, the IR 194 took up the important right flank of the division's attack from the forest to the north east of Futory with a width of about 1km with the taking of the town of Lubaczow as their objective.

This fantastic footage taken around Stalingrad has a tun time of 6:38 seconds. The entire clip, including some scenes that can’t be shown here, is now available for Patreon Channel members on the website Military1945.com. Open a free account there and see some example exclusive footage.

Thanks for watching.