Soldiers of Barbarossa Pt 5 - CONTESTED RIVER CROSSING and BUNKER BUSTING first hand account 1941

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Episode 170

22.6.1941 Private Hans Roth 299 ID. 1st PzG, AGS

We’ll follow private Hans Roth for a third time as he takes part first in a contested river crossing and then the storming of soviet bunkers. In addition to rare film footage, I’ll use an OKW situational map to give context to his story. At the end of the video we’ll see more of this river crossing footage so stick around, it’s worth it.

Private Hans Roth served in the 299th ID. As part of Army Group South the division was in the 6th Army and was part of Panzer Group 1 which was lead by Colonel General Ewald von Kleist. On the morning of the 22nd their first task was to cross the river Bug which represented the border, create a bridgehead on the far bank and then to penetrate east as quickly as possible. Unlike just to the south where where the 11 PzD would make up the spearhead of the attack, on this day the 299th would advance largely without armor support.

All of a sudden, at exactly 0315 hours, and apparently out of the blue, an opening salvo emerges from the barrels of hundreds of guns of all calibers… It is impossible to comprehend one’s world in such an inferno.

Our homeland is still innocently asleep while here death is already collecting a rich harvest. We crouch in our holes with pallid but resolved faces while counting the minutes until we storm the Bug fortifications… a reassuring touch of our ID tags, the arming of hand grenades, the securing of our machine guns.

It is now 0330 hour. A whistle sounds; we quickly jump out from under cover and at an insane speed cross the 20 meters to the inflatable boats.

The sign we see the soldiers carrying is telling the Soviets not to fight, to surrender. In this instance it didn’t work.

In a snatch we are on the other side of the river where rattling machine-gun fire awaits us. We have our first casualties.

With the help of a few assault engineers we slowly - much too slowly - eat through the barbed wire barriers. Meanwhile, shells fire into the bunkers at Molinikow…

We finally get out of this mess. In a few short steps we are able to advance to the first bunker, arriving in its blind spot. The Reds fire like mad but are unable to reach us. The decisive moment is near. An explosives specialist approaches the bunker from behind and shoves a short-fused bomb into the bunker’s fire hole. The bunker shakes, and black smoke emerged from openings, signaling its final doom. We move on.

Molinikow is completely in our hands by 1000 hours. The Reds, hunted by our infantry, disperse quickly to Bisknjiczo-Ruski… We are ordered to cleanse the village of any remaining enemy combatants. the area is combed house by house. Our shelling has caused terrible damage. The Reds, however, have also done their fair share.

Slowly, our nerves grow accustomed to the all too familiar gruesome images. Close to the Reds’ custom house lies a large mound of fallen Russians, most of them torn to shreds from the shelling. Slaughtered civilians lie in the neighboring house. The horridly disfigured bodies of a young woman and her two small children lie among their shattered personal belongings in another small, cleansed house . . .

We have taken our first prisoners - snipers and deserters receive their deserved reward.