“You cannot imagine the despair of the city. For you younger people, even veterans of terrible wars, I can’t imagine it being worse than Stalingrad. Bodies lay absolutely everywhere. So many killed by snipers. So many friends and officers.

On one such occasion I remember we crossed a street. No one ever wanted to go first, but I always wanted to go first because by the time you were halfway across the street, the Russians had only just noticed you. It was the second or third man who usually got killed.

I wanted to go, but another man started running before me. He hadn’t made it four or five paces when his head suddenly and violently jolted to the right. We heard a dull crunch, and then a loud snap. He had been killed by a Russian marksman at full sprint. Shot right in the head.

Many of us believed that our veteran status and experience for survival wouldn’t even keep us from death. How many times can you beat the odds? Survival seemed to be a miracle only few would be rewarded with.”
– Mr. E Mechling. German Army. Stalingrad, 1942.
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This interview was conducted by Battles and Beers (TM) Every soldier has a story, and every story deserves to be told.