Flakhelfer to Grenadier: Memoir of a Boy Soldier, 1943-1945 Read online

  On January 7 1943, the German government, in order to free adult soldiers for frontline duty, ordered that all male students of secondary schools born in 1926 and 1927 be drafted into anti-aircraft service in the homeland. Students were to arrive in batteries on February 18 1943. After serving from one year (those born in 1926) to thirteen months (those born in 1927), the boys were transferred into the Reich Labor Service and from there into the armed forces. They were replaced by boys born in 1928 who served to the end of the war. About 200,000 boys became Flakhelfer. Most were called up at sixteen, but many, like the author, Karl Heinz Schlesier, were only fifteen. The boys served in batteries of light and heavy flak. Although the government insisted school programs continue for Flakhelfer, the effort was a sham, especially where heavy bombing occurred. Schlesier, a student of Rethel Gymnasium in Düsseldorf, served as Flakhelfer in the regions that suffered the most numerous and heaviest air raids of the war in the Rhineland (Düsseldorf) and the Ruhr (Recklinghausen). His is a coming of age story in a world gone mad, where a teenage boy launched shrapnel into a sky filled with bombers, where Christmas-tree-like flares marked cities about to burn, where working beside Russian POWs, protecting industries with slave labor, courting a girl among bombed-out ruins, and spending leave with family hiding in claustrophobic bomb shelters was unremarkable, as was finally being thrown, unprepared, into a disintegrating frontline only fifty kilometers from his childhood home. The memoir is based solely on Schlesier’s diary notes and memories of that period. He has consciously avoided including what he learned after the war. His views, opinions, and interpretations of events are from inside the Germany of that time. If some are inconvenient today, they mirror the chaos of the world he experienced. Then, to live or not to live was accidental. Schlesier wrote this memoir as an old man in response to a granddaughter’s question about what he did in the war. This is his answer. Perhaps, he also gives a voice to the silent generation of boys born in Germany in 1926 and 1927. This generation has been silent because the horror it knew pales in comparison to the horror of the Holocaust.

  Karl Heinz Schlesier was born in Düsseldorf, Germany on July 31 1927. Following the experiences in this memoir, he attended Bonn University studying anthropology and art history. His Ph.D. described the art of the pre-Inca Nazca of Peru. A post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago in 1958 introduced him to Sol Tax and action anthropology. Action anthropology was designed to benefit host populations. Schlesier began working with the Cheyenne in Oklahoma in 1968. Ever since, he has supported Cheyenne traditional leadership in their struggle to retain important features of their ancient culture and adapt them to the realities of the present and future.

  The author is best known for his work with and writings about American Indians. Of his eight books, six deal with Indian issues, as do most of his many articles in the scholarly journals of eleven countries. His books include the award winning novels Trail of the Red Butterfly and Aurora Crossing, as well as Josanie’s War and Plains Indians, A.D.500-1500. Schlesier served as a Jury Member on the Fourth Russell Tribunal, “The Rights of the Indians of the Americas,” Rotterdam, 1980, and twice as expert witness on Cheyenne cases in Federal Court in Oklahoma City.

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  Published by Helion & Company 2014

  Designed and typeset by Bookcraft Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire

  Cover designed by Paul Hewitt, Battlefield Design (www.battlefield-design.co.uk)

  Printed by Lightning Source Ltd, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

  Text and images © Karl H. Schlesier

  Cover: Author on the gunner’s seat. 4. Zug, Hüls, spring 1944 (author’s collection).

  ISBN: 978 1 909384 98 9

  DIGITAL ISBN: 978 1 910294 87 1

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  In memory of my parents

  Wär da ein Got

  und im Fleisch,

  und könnte mich rufen, ich würd

  umhergehen, ich würd

  warten ein wenig.

  Johannes Bobrowki, Immer zu Benennen.

  Aus: Sarmatische Zeit, Schattenland Ströme, Deutsche Verlagsanstalt,

  Stuttgart 1961, 1962.

  Were there a God,

  and in flesh,

  and could call me, I would

  walk around, I would

  wait a little.

  Contents

  Glossary

  Preface

  Acknowledgements

  Prologue-September 9 1958

  1. Going Home

  2. Flakhelfer, Reisholz: June 10 1943-January 18 1944

  3. Flakhelfer, Hüls: January 18-September 22 1944

  4. RAD Man: September 27-December 15 1944

  5. Interlude: December 17 1944-January 5 1945

  6. Grenadier: January 5-March 28 1945

  7. POW: March 28-September 24 1945

  Epilogue

  Afterword, by Dr. John M. Janzen

  Further Reading

  Glossary

  Abgedeckt

  ‘Covered’ – readiness call made by the gunners when the command pointer of the dials in front of them was covered with the position pointer.

  Abteilung

  Battalion/detachment.

  Christbäume

  Red and green flares dropped by Pathfinder planes to mark the area of the bomb drop.

  Dicke Autos

  “Fat cars,” gunner slang for four-engined bombers.

  Flieger HJ

  Branch of the Hitler Youth associated with the Luftwaffe.

  Commando-Gerät 40

  Command Device 40, the standard fire-control predictor in the flak arm.

  Fähnrich

  Officer-candidate.

  Feldpolizei

  Field police.

  Flakkampfabzeichen

  Flak combat badge.

  Funktions-Schiessen

  Test-firing the light flak guns during a night alarm, usually once a month.

  (Focke Wulf) Fw 190

  German fighter plane.

  Gebirgsjäger

  Member of a German Mountain Division.

  Geschütz-Staffel

  Gun personnel.

  Grosskampfbatterie

  An enlarged heavy Flak battery composed of two regular batteries with six artillery pieces each.

  Gruppenfeuer

  Each gun of the battery firing at the same moment.

  Heer

  Army.

  Hiwi

  Hilfswillige, a Russian prisoner of war who had volunteered to serve in the German anti-aircraft a
rm.

  Kaserne

  Barracks.

  Kinderlandverschickung (KLV)

  The mass evacuation of school children from urban areas under repeated air attacks to distant rural areas.

  Kreuzlafette

  The four extensions of the gun carriage affixed crosswise to the ground.

  Kübelwagen

  Standard light passenger cross-country car (4x4) used by the German armed forces, in size slightly larger than a Jeep.

  Lagerführer

  Person charged with maintaining discipline in a camp.

  Luftschutz

  Air raid defense corps.

  Mattscheibe

  Searchlights pointed straight up and remaining stationary, aimed at a heavy cloud cover.

  (Messerschmitt) Me 109

  German fighter plane.

  Mess-Staffel

  Fire-control post personnel.

  MG 42

  Machine-gun 42, with a rate of fire of 1200 rounds per minute, entered service in 1942.

  Panzerfaust

  The Panzerfaust was a recoilless disposable lightweight one-man antitank weapon firing a large hollow-charge grenade. Later models increased the range from 30 to 100 meters, the armour penetration from 140 mm at 30° to 200mm at 30°. A portion of the gases from the propellant charge in the disposable firing tube vented to the rear to eliminate recoil. These made conspicuous the firing position of the operator and created a danger zone behind the Panzerfaust.

  Pulk

  Group of bombers, usually twenty to thirty, flying in a close formation, also called a “box”.

  Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD)

  Reich Labor Service, as initiated by the Nazi government, was a nine-month period of service for 18-19 year olds, both male and female, prior to the inductment of the males into the armed services. By 1944 the period of service had been reduced to twelve weeks, devoted mostly to basic military training.

  StuG III

  Sturmgeschütz III, assault gun.

  Sturmgewehr

  Assault rifle, also referred to as the MP43 or MP44. Heavily influential in the development of Mikhail Kalashnikov’s AK-47.

  Tross-Staffel

  Supply personnel.

  Vierling

  Quadruple-barreled flak cannon.

  Viermot

  “Four engines”, gunner slang for four-engine Allied bomber.

  Wehrbezirkskommando

  District recruiting office for the Wehrmacht.

  Wehrmacht

  Armed forces.

  Wirbelwind

  Anti-aircraft tank, featuring a quadruple-barrelled 2cm gun on a converted Panzer IV chassis.

  Zug

  Section.

  Preface

  On January 7 1943 the German government, in order to free adult soldiers for frontline duty, ordered, all male students of elite secondary schools (Gymnasium, Oberrealschule) born in 1926 and 1927 to be drafted into anti-aircraft service in the homeland. A government decree on January 22 1943 informed the schools fourteen days in advance of February 15 1943, the date of the call-up, the day the students were ordered to arrive at their designated batteries. The official term for them was Luftwaffenhelfer (Air Force Auxiliaries) although they were more often, and more correctly, called Flakhelfer (Anti-Aircraft Auxiliaries); the word is both singular and plural.

  Boys born in 1926 served in the batteries until February 1944, when they were transferred into the Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich Labor Service) and from there into the Heer. They were replaced by boys born in 1927 from another branch of schools of secondary education in the German system: trade schools and middle schools. All those born in 1927 served until September 9 1944, when they were transferred into the Reichsarbeitsdienst and from there into the Heer. Boys born in 1928, both from elite secondary schools and trade and middle schools, replaced the Flakhelfer of the 1927 lot and served from September 1944 to the end of the war on May 9 1945.

  A total of approximately 200,000 boys served as Flakhelfer. Their average age was sixteen, but due to their date of birth quite a few were still fifteen when they were called up. Although they came to see themselves as soldiers, and were usually regarded as such by their adult comrades, the government defined them as students doing soldiers’ work. Since they could not leave the batteries to go to school, school went to them. Male teachers beyond draft age were summoned to continue the boys’ education in an environment not conducive to learning the traditional fare of secondary schools. The government was most concerned about the education of the Flakhelfer from Gymnasium and Oberrealschule and demanded a weekly program of instruction for these to include 4 hours of German literature, 3 hours of history, 4 hours of Latin. 3 hours of mathematics, 2 hours of physics, and 2 hours of chemistry. It is obvious that the program was doomed to fall far short of its goal, especially in areas were heavy bombing had to be met by increased anti-aircraft activity, e.g., the Ruhr region and the Rhineland. With the known world around them falling into shambles, Flakhelfer were hard pressed not to see the whole effort as a sham.

  In the batteries in which they served, in the light flak (2cm and 3.7cm guns) and heavy flak (8.8cm, 10.5cm and 12.8cm guns), the boys wore dark-grey Luftwaffe fatigues. The dress uniform, as ordered by the government, was tunic, ski pants and ski cap in the blue cloth of the Flieger HJ, the branch of the Hitler Youth associated with the Luftwaffe. This uniform had a removable swastika armband on the upper left arm. Many resented the armband and took it off during furlough whenever possible. Generally, battery chiefs were tolerant in this matter and did not enforce a dress code they saw as superfluous; they had more serious concerns. Also, most were genuinely fond of “their” boys and protected them when possible.

  The constantly growing inferno of the air war took a toll on anti-aircraft batteries protecting industrial and military installations and open German cities. The first Flakhelfer to become casualties were six who died at their guns in an air raid on Berlin, March 1 1943, fourteen days after they had been recruited. Many Flakhelfer became engaged in ground combat when their batteries and the cities they protected were overrun by Allied armies in the West and East. Many, like their adult comrades, became prisoners of war and spent many months in Allied prisoner of war camps.

  I was one of them. This is the memoir of one Flakhelfer, a road traveled by countless others, en route to a short, violent career as a Grenadier. Going back into one’s personal past requires an unshakable, shameless commitment to truth. It is a scout’s search through dark and foreboding territory once known but veiled by the mind’s effort to block memories to preserve sanity. Whether the scout’s journey was worth the strain and distress must be decided by others. Rarely is the past a fun place to visit.

  Views, opinions and interpretations of situations and events expressed here are those from inside Germany during the years 1943 to 1945. They are unaltered by post- war insights and uninfluenced by objective historical scholarship. They are inconvenient today but mirror the chaos of the time and place. Then, whether one lived or not was accidental.

  All characters, names and places mentioned here are factual. Names of my buddies in Reisholz and Hüls are nicknames we used among ourselves; mine was Kalla. The complete names are these: Ferdi, Ferdinand Bleines; Thei, Rolf Thiemann; Hannes, Hans Nolden; Wenner, Bernhard Wenzel; Bergittimus, Horst Bergfeld. Of the old crew, I must thank Ferdi, in Köln, for our spirited discussions when I was writing this book.

  I must step away from the memoir for a moment. Readers might find it difficult to accept that it contains little mention of German war crimes, especially the organized mass murder of Jews and Gypsies. In the narrow mental space in which a fifteen- to sixteen- year old Flakhelfer and a seventeen-year old Grenadier was forced to live, and in the narrow mental space in which most families in Germany were forced to live, there existed no information about the crimes the SS and, sometimes, German military units, were committing elsewhere. This may be hard to fathom. But the Nazi state had obliterated all democratic
institutions of post-World War I Germany, including the free press, trade unions, political parties and the judiciary. Universities had been reduced to trade schools from which all personnel had been evicted who did not follow the party line. A cloud of oppression had descended upon Germany. The State permitted only what the state regarded as essential for its own survival. Every independent voice had been hushed. Those who knew something of these horrors and spoke up faced severe punishment or death. Sources outside the country who were aware of the magnitude of Nazi crimes either kept silent as, for instance, the Vatican and the German Catholic hierarchy, from cardinals to bishops to the local clergy, or their voices did not reach into Germany. Even if they had, Nazi control was so complete that it would not have made a difference. And there was a war going on, with husbands and sons on distant battlefields or already dead or crippled. The population, shocked by the hammer blows of the Allied bomber campaign, was not capable of considering German misdeeds, had it known about them, or of revolting even for its own sake. Truth is that under these conditions the great majority of Germans only learned after the war what terrible crimes had been perpetrated in their name. Recognition of the facts was instrumental in the constitution and the emergence of a new post-war German democracy that thoroughly separated itself from the dark twelve-year episode of the Hitler and SS years. Still, three generations after the German bid for dominance and the Holocaust, Germans acknowledge a burden of shame for what was once done in the German name.

  Acknowledgements

  Special thanks are due to my patient, encouraging wife, Claire, my first reader, and to my generous, thoughtful writer-friend, J. M. Hayes, my first editor.