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Original typesetting by The History Press
Notes
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1 This was an ancestor of the General Walter von Seydlitz-Kurzbach captured at Stalingrad, who became Chairman of the ‘Bund Deutscher Offiziere’ (League of German Officers) and Vice-President of the ‘Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland’ (National Committee for a Free Germany), giving rise to the term ‘Seydlitz-Truppen’ given by the Nazis to those German prisoners of war who did propaganda work and even fought with the Red Army against the Wehrmacht, although he totally disassociated himself from those activities and was later exonerated by a West German court after the war.
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2 Hans-Ulrich Rudel specialised in tank-busting with cannon-equipped Stukas, often working at turret-height and was credited with 519 Soviet tanks destroyed and 800 damaged, as well as the sinking of a cruiser and the severe damaging of a battleship. He was to lose a leg in action that same month and was treated at the Zoo Flak- tower hospital in Berlin.
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1 However, it was because the commander of the 11th Panzer Division felt so strongly that it was being misemployed here, the senior LXXXIInd Corps being unused to dealing with armoured formations, that he had appealed directly to the Inspector of Panzertruppen for the division to be relieved. In fact a battalion of Panzergrenadier Regiment 111 remained behind with some tanks to bolster the 256th Volksgrenadiers.
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1 In fact the German counter bombardment separated the Soviet infantry from their accompanying tanks by the time they reached Route 112 and their advance came to a halt just beyond Rathstock.
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2 I have a report on this by Herbert Tegeler, a platoon commander in the neighbouring 2 Company, commanded by Lieutenant Dr. Hoffmann, which broke through north of Rathstock to arrive back in Sachsendorf intact that same night.
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3 These also served as rain-capes.
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4 These foundations were usually of ‘Feldsteine’, ice age boulders recovered from the fields, and were immensely strong.
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5 However, Sachsendorf was retaken by the Germans and was in their hands as a major strongpoint until the 16th April.
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6 This was the honour guard battalion from Berlin.
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7 Shortage of brass led to the introduction of steel cartridges, which had to be protected from rust with lacquer, but the latter melted once the breech of a weapon became hot and caused the cartridges to stick. Machine gunners would have to change their barrels after every burst and riflemen to force open the bolts with their entrenching tools, a tedious business that drastically slowed down the rate of fire.
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8 The Po-2 was armoured against infantry fire.
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9 Marshal Zhukov had ordered every available gun to be fired, whether they were targeted or not, in order to add to the psychological pressure.
