PAUL HAUSSER holds the line at Jelnja in preparation for the attack on Moscow SS Div DAS REICH pt 18

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Using Kurt’s entries and associated rare film clips we’ll learn how effective defensive positions were built. With original situational maps we’ll see how the motorized ID division Reich held a key position in the front so stick around, it’s worth it.

We last left Kurt on July 31, 1941 as his unit was relieved from their defensive positions at Jelnja, but their much deserved rest would be cut short.

Aug 1, 1941
With the punishment that our 1st Btl. had suffered during the defensive fighting we are forced now under the cover of darkness to move forwards to relieve them. We march again into the hellish hail of enemy artillery. With the extensive experience we’ve gained around Yelnja in fortifying defensive positions, throughout the night we work building substantial, solid bunkers. From nearby lying Russian houses we remove large beam supports which we integrate into the roof structures of our defenses.

This wonderful footage from the fall of 1941 shows the steps that go into the building of such bunkers. In this example the cellar of a destroyed house is built intelligently into the defensive structure. Being the most protected area the munitions will be stored there.

Special tools are used to cut pieces of sod which are placed on top of the structure. In the summer this natural layer serves well as camouflage and in the winter as insulation.

Over the next few days there are no further Russian ground attacks and so we are able to makie our new living quarters much more comfortable. My bunker is christened “Villa Grunewald” and even has a nice garden area out front where we can unwind.

But let’s take a step back and see what was going on on a macro level. This fabulous footage was taken by a SS Kriegsberichter or war correspondent. It shows the advance of the German units up to Smolensk and then the closing of that pocket. At the time, most believed that following this battle the march on Moscow would begin which would lead to the end of the war in the East.

Switching to the original war atlas of the German High Command for August 1, we’ll zoom in to see Das Reich’s positioning.

During the battle of Yelnja the SS Div Reich along with the elite IR Gross Deutschland, the 268 ID and the 10 PzD were the German units situated the farthest to the east for the entire front. They literally were the tip of the spear pointing towards Moscow. In addition as long as their exposed positions could be held, the powerful congregation of German divisions to the west could continue with their important task of wearing down the large mass of Soviets trapped in the Smolensk pocket, unmolested.

The Soviets understood the importance of this position and attacked the bulge from all sides with everything that they could muster. Those trapped in the pocket were under ever increasing pressure and as the ring closed in their resistance became less organized with formations fighting on independently in desperation. Heavy reinforcements were rushed in from the East and a Soviet counter attack from the south was underway.

By August 3 the fate of those trapped in the caldron had been sealed. Although still under considerable pressure, the German bulge around Yelnja had held and the Soviet attack in the South had failed with a number of units themselves being cut off by a successful pincer movement completed by the 4th PzD.

Aug 5, 1941
Finally we are again ordered back to the rear with the other units in reserve and so are able to think about basic hygiene that recently had all but completely fallen away. For weeks we hadn’t been able to wash ourselves, or shave; slowly we begin to feel like humans again. It’s quite a contrast to the horrible days we’d just gone through. There were definitely moments when nobody really believed that we’d make it out alive.

Aug 9, 1941
Fighting along the entire front has died down completely and our moral is boosted when we learn that our vehicles have been brought up to us. Being reunited with our vehicles is all the more joyous because we’ve grown to associate them as being something from home. Over a few hours in the afternoon our Luftwaffe puts on a show as our planes shoot down 27 Russian bombers and 2 fighters that were attempting to target us. The air battle is intense and very few of the enemy crews manage to escape and parachute to safety.

Then we are suddenly on the move again….but this time to the West?