"1RISONER OF8AR A Prisoner of War in Russia War of Prisoner A IN3USSIA · Memoirs of the War Prisoner Karl Hauger: The Fight for Life and for Survival in Various Encampments in the Soviet Union Karl Hauger Karl Hauger from April 1945 until September 1948 A Prisoner of War in Russia "1RISONEROF8AR IN3USSIA Memoirs of the War Prisoner Karl Hauger: The Fight for Life and for Survival in Various Encampments in the Soviet Union from April 1945 until September 1948 4. Edition 2010 3. Edition 2003 2. Edition 1998 © 1997 Self-published by Karl Hauger, 76437 Rastatt Animation and consulting: Marcus Reuter Editorial office: Helmut Huck Cover picture, layout and drawing: Karl Hauger Image editing: Eberhard Hördt Overall production: KraftDruck, Ettlingen Translation: Übersetzungen Hanns Schiefele www.translators-fusion.com Nick Gemmell Baderstr. 1 D-83435 Bad Reichenhall Contents Preface 7 My capture in April 1945 9 The journey to Russia, August/September 1945 55 The stay in Saratov/Engels, September to November 1945 61 In the forest near Penza, Januar to May 1946 87 Saratov/Volga, May to November 1946 101 Relocation to Kuybyshev 127 Off to Stalingrad 169 At the kolkhoz 187 Release and journey home 201 Explanation of old expressions 222 Epilogue 223 Acknowledgements 224 Preface It must have been around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, as I watched the events unfold in the East, that the suppressed memories of my captivity as a prisoner of war in Russia suddenly began to re- surface. During the time that followed, I stayed abreast of the deve- lopments surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union and watched them with great interest. I myself was once directly involved in its affairs and knew the country and its people. At the time, no one could have foreseen the events that were now taking place; neither the po- liticians nor the historians and, least of all, the former prisoners of war, we who intimately knew and had lived through the pressure that dominated that country. I sat down in front of my typewriter and began to write. I recounted the experiences that I had been through, which had been reactivated by the political upheaval in Eastern Europe. As often happens in life, one day, right in the middle of writing, however, I lost interest in my writing and put the typewriter and papers away, having, by that point, written about half of the story. Sometime later, after my grandson Marcus Reuter returned from a visit to Russia, he encouraged me to finish the memoirs, at least up to the point of my release. During his time in Russia, he had gotten to know some of the customs and cha- racteristics of the Russian people and, having read the first part of the memoirs, was interested to know what happened during the remain- der of my time there. And so I brought to an end that which I had already begun. I would like to point out that the memoirs are of my personal and real experiences in Russia. Hundreds upon thousands of other pri- soners of war suffered through their own fates, as is often the case during the turbulent episodes in history. Half of the captives didn’t make it out alive — dying of hunger, cold or exhaustion – while many of the ones that did survive came home beset with illness. Approxi- 7 mately three million people were put into prisoner encampments after the war, the majority of who were soldiers. Of these three million, many were also young men, under the age of eighteen, and men of retirement age who had been captured after their conscription into the German Home Guard (Volksstrum) near the end of the war. For the sake of historical accuracy and fairness, I have to admit that neither the Soviet leadership nor Stalin had the intention of killing the German POWs or exterminating them as a result of hard labor. In the wake of the devastation in their own country, the Russians were over- whelmed and not in a position to accommodate and adequately feed the hordes of captives that they had suddenly amassed. The popula- tion of Russia was, at the time, suffering from supply shortages and what little there was had to be shared. The inefficiency of the socialist command economy also helped in further worsening the situation. I would like to mention that the majority of the Russian expressions found in this book do not necessarily correspond to standard ‘formal’ Russian. The words have been phonetically reproduced so as to reflect the Russian language as it was employed by the prisoners when they were in contact with the civilians. Encouragement from Marcus aside, I also wrote these memoirs on account of my own personal desire to relate to my children and grand- children what I had experienced. Little has been published about this particular episode in the lives of the today’s fathers and grandfathers who lived through the war. These accounts could not all be retold orally and, furthermore, it is likely that they would be difficult to grasp for anyone who did not personally experience them. To conclude, I would like to express my personal wish and hope that our progeny and the posterity of all the other people of the world can be spared in the future from having to endure such horrible experiences. Karl Hauger Rastatt, August 3rd, 1997 8 My Capture in April 1945 On April 27th, 1945, my flak battery was positioned near the town of Selchow, just south of the autobahn that led from Ber- lin to Fürstenwalde. We were near the so-called ‘Selchow La- kes’, named after the town of Selchow. The positions of our other batteries were unknown to me at the time. Even after later investigation, I was never able to figure out where they were at the time. The Russians started a major offensive on Berlin on the 16th of April, 1945, descending on the city in a pincer mo- vement originating from two positions: one from north, near the city of Stettin, and the other from the south, near the city Cott- bus, driving westwards. The remaining German units were def- eated in the course of a few days. Complete chaos ensued in the wake of the offensive; every troop was forced to rely on itself and fought based on individual calculations of possible dangers. My unit made a retreat from the Oder River to southeast of Berlin in the course of eleven days and suffered great losses in the process. Many men in my unit, at least those that were fa- miliar with the area, made a run for it, realizing that the war had been lost and was likely to end in the near future. Everyone started to busy themselves with getting out alive, making their plans either secretly or in small groups, taking into account the fact that no one was to be trusted. Carrying out an escape wasn’t without its dangers, despite the general disorder. There remained functioning SS-units that were convinced that victory could still be achieved and obstinately continued following obsolete orders. Furthermore, the military police was still active and on patrol. Its members were nickna- med ‘chain dogs’ by the other soldiers on account of the steel plates attached to chains that they wore on the breast of their uniforms. If a deserter or a straggler was found by the chain 9 dogs and upon capture couldn’t prove which unit he belonged to, his days were likely to be numbered. Without due process, he would be declared a coward and shot on the spot or hung from the nearest tree. Caution was therefore essential. I perso- nally did not intend to die a hero in the last days of the war after having made it all the way to the end and wasn’t planning to be killed by a group of crazed fanatics. There were desperados out there who deep down sensed that everything was over and knew that they had nothing left to lose. A few days later, after my men and I had been taken prisoner, we heard stories of entire groups that had shot themselves dead, from fear of being imprisoned by the Russians. Now back to my flak unit near the Selchow Lakes: There was a small peninsula on one of the lakes that protruded out into the water like a finger. At the tip of this peninsula was a small vil- lage. It consisted of two or three farms, as well as a number of summer residences of the prominent from Berlin, dating back to the 20s and from Nazi times. From the tip of this peninsula, one could look over to the opposite shore and see the town of Bugk and as well as a country road that ran north and south. The town had already been captured by the Russians and bustling truck traffic had commenced on the road. Our unit, which was equipped with 8.8 cm flak cannons, had been deployed with orders to engage tanks. In this particular case, we had received an order that we were to engage the operating Russian supply units on the other shore in order to eliminate the supply chain to the advancing troops. The operation was completely illogical and useless considering the amount of Russian troops we were supposed to take on. In the end, we didn’t get very far in our mission. In order shoot an out-of-sight target with artillery, a forward observer (FO) must be sent forward to get a clear view of the 10 target and direct fire from the unit.