At Leningrad's Gates

^{A studio shot taken while on leave from the East in 1942.}

^{Below: Dressed in a padded winter uniform, I am at the entrance to a bunker near Demyansk, Russia, early in 1943.}

^{A respite from the fighting as we find a piano and also discover the hidden talents of some of our comrades.}

^{Anneliese’s nursing identification card, dated May 1, 1943.}

^{Below: Sitting on a fortification behind a 105-millimeter mortar in the Lake Ladoga area during the summer of 1944.}

^{On leave in Germany during the spring of 1943, my future wife Anneliese and I relax together on a park bench.}

^{Little did I suspect that her home city of Hamburg would be devastated months later, putting her in as much danger as a frontline soldier.}

^{Above: Operating as a forward observer in 1942, I am carryig my MP-40 submachine gun and wearing a pair of binoculars.}

^{Right: Sitting along the shore of Lake Ilmen outside of Novgorod in the fall of 1942.}

^{Striking a rather proud pose after receiving the Iron Cross First Class.}

^{Above: A 150-millimeter howitzer passes through a town.}

^{Left: A comrade at Demyansk displays his scoped rifle during the winter of 1942– 43.}

^{A 75-millimeter howitzer in action in the Ladoga area during 1943.}

^{A mortar platoon of my heavy weapons company. The so-called “spit and polish” of the Wehrmacht was not always evident on the frontline.}

^{One of my heavy weapons company’s 75-millimeter light infantry howitzers in the Lake Ladoga area during the summer of 1943.}

^{Our company on the move sometime during 1943.}

^{Standing next to my bunker near Narva, Estonia in 1944 as a newlyminted Leutnant.}

^{Below: Petting my horse Thea during a peaceful moment in the Duna region of Lativa in the late summer of 1944.}

^{Below: Awarding decorations to several men in my company during our retreat through Latvia in 1944.}

^{A studio portrait taken while on leave in early 1944.}

^{Below: One of our 150-millimeter howitzers during the retreat through the Baltic region.}

^{Below: With several men at Narva, Estonia in May 1944, just after becoming company commander following my return to the Eastern Front.}

^{Getting a haircut in the field. This was slightly less painful than the dental work, performed under similar circumstances.}

^{One of the more important tasks for a soldier in the East: dealing with the ubiquitous lice.}

^{Just after my marriage to Anneliese at a ceremony in Hamburg on December 22, 1945.}

^{A studio portrait of Anneliese and I from 1946. Though it was a difficult year for all of Germany, we managed to maintain our hopes for a better future.}

^{Above: Outside our home in Cleveland, Ohio in 1967, Anneliese and I are pictured with our oldest son, Harold, our daughter, Marion, and our youngest son, Ralph.}

^{Right: Anneliese and I at a northern Ohio Oktoberfest in 1980.}

^{Below: At the Aberdeen Proving Ground museum in Maryland in 2003, I am standing behind one of our 75-millimeter pieces.}

Copyright

Published in the United States of America in 2010 by

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Copyright 2006 © William Lubbeck and David Hurt

ISBN 978-1-935149-37-8

eISBN 9781935149798

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