Feldgrau.net

The 3-disc DVD version of 08/15 is well worth watching, as is the film version of his famous novel Fabrik der Offiziere , although this is a little short to take in all the complexities of the long book. There is also a more modern four part version available which goes into more detail which I woul...

Just as a by-the-by, I seem to remember that this epithet was often used by our old friend Leo Kessler aka Charles Whiting in his novels.

Tom's book is on my Amazon 'to order' list.

Hi Lupo,

I would guess at Vorstosstrupp.

Advance guard, reconnaissance group, smething along those lines.

Nczempin,

I think you're absolutely right.

May be something like " Just let those 200,000 go wild, half-starved when its 20 below again" he stopped in front of Wichmann again and said harshly: "Tell me, what then?"

I think he means wild here as the opposite of civilised, tame etc, not that it's party time!

Thanks Richard. Mike's right, old PC died and it wasn't possible to save any of the data, at least according tot he PC guru I spoke to. So buy new PC with Vista and a long learning curve. Now more or less back to normal and slowly plodding through Mike's magnum opus - real pain when I'd already done...

Think you may solved it yourself Richard.

Try this:

I was assigned to the crew of the tank that we had commandeered as a radio operator, who could be ordered in situ by the AOO to direct the artillery fire by radio.

You're right vkun, Lage means "bearing" in this context.

Here's a rough version: dived in front of armed English steamer langleeford, 4000 tonnes. Torpedo hit on English steamer. In very good visibility a steamer was reported far off at 09.20, posiiton 0 steering course 80. I went under water and prepared to attack. The steamer was identified as English b...

Looks to me like you may have made a typo when transcribing, Maybe it should read nichts zu tun ? That would then give us It (the building of blocking zones) has nothing to do with the absolute intention and stubbornness not to give up (abandon) a single metre of the German Fatherland's ground. You ...

Hi,

it means something like drenched or soaked through by the river. Maybe trees growing low over the river and getting their trunks or boughs soaked?

Pity there's no photograph to show what he means

How often have I brought visitors here, to show them, in the green surroundings (frame maybe to go with the artistic theme?) of ancient, drowned trees, the picture, rising up out of the Oder, of the medieval city, with the old houses pushing themselves towards the tip of the tapering island in the r...

Could it be the name of the steel works maybe? Digel?

Think you've cracked it Matthias

So it should run something like -but after a time there was not a single cohesive unit left facing us. I'm not sure if cohesive is the right expression, maybe something like unbroken is better.

As this is from a German war diary, written from their point of view, then maybe the reference is to the Panzer unit and means that this unit was not be thrown forward in the attack? If it refers to French colonial troops then as far as I can see it can only mean that they couldn't be thrown out of ...