Copyright by Jeffrey C. Rutherford 2007 - University of Texas ...

upcoming months. 1241 More importantly, numerous civilians simply fled into the
surrounding forests and swamps to avoid being pressed into service. Here, they joined
partisan units, either out of conviction or as a means of survival. Either way, German
policies continued to create partisans, and while the Army was well aware of this, it
either could not or would not modify these policies. 1242
For the men who originated from the Berlin area, the increasingly destructive
bombing raids of the Western Allies in 1943 became an additional source of worry and
anxiety. 1243 Civilians in Berlin wrote to the front that “you have no idea of the damage
caused by the two attacks of 22. and 23. [November]. And yesterday there was
another.” 1244 Letters described sections of the city as “severely devastated.” 1245 After
reading mail from his wife which complained of the frequent bombings, one soldier
wrote that the Americans and British “certainly didn’t fight fair.” Most interestingly, he
added that he was of the opinion that the Reich should strike a deal with the Soviets so
that the two of them could fight together against the Anglo-Saxon powers; after all,
“socialism [was] the only possible way for people to live together in the future.” 1246
While many soldiers pitied the Heimat and its fate under the bombs, others believed that
the home front’s selfishness could cost Germany the war. “When one sees,” wrote one
soldier after returning from a two-week leave to the capital, “how everything in Berlin is
complained about and cursed, one cannot understand it.” He continued on:
1241 Bericht an II AK, KTB Qu., 23.7.41, BA-MA RH 26-123/233.
1242 Generalkommando II. Armeekorps, Abteilung Qu/Ia 461/43 g.Kdos, Betr.: Bandeneinwirkung an
Armee-Oberkommando 16, 15.Mai 1943, BA-MA RH 24-2/210.
1243 On the bombing of Berlin in late 1943, see Earl Beck, Under the Bombs: The German Home Front,
1942-1945, (Lexington, Ky., 1986), pp. 89-91 and Jörg Friedrich, The Fire, (New York, 2006), pp. 315-
322.
1244 H.A. K., Berlin-Wilmersdorf, 27.11.43, BfZ, Sammlung Sterz.
1245 Lt. Helmut H., Berlin-Tegel, 28.11.43, BfZ, Sammlung Sterz.
1246 Heinz, 13.6.43, 7.8.43, Musuem für Kommunikation (hereafter MfK), Feldpostarchiv, 3.2002.0827.
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