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Member of the former
Stalingrad Association of the Stalingrad veterans.
(click on the
image of the Stalingrad Bund to go to the page with pictures of the
last meetings of the Bund)
Since 1993 I've been researching the Battle for Stalingrad. I have
visited numerous veterans, a total of over 700, from nearly every
single unit that was in Stalingrad. Amongst these veterans were Knight
Cross Winners, Croation Veterans, etc. In
recognition of my research I received from the Bund ehem.
Stalingradkämpfer e.V. Deutschland (Veteran organisation of the
Stalingradfighters) a high decoration.
For some years I have organised every year a meeting (with other
writers and historians) with former Stalingrad veterans. This way we
were able to receive first hand experiences and knowledge about the
battle,
information that is often not written down in any history book. By
bringing them together this refreshed their memories about this
terrible battle. With the help of these veterans I have been able to
help many writers and historians in their research work about this
Battle. Since 2000 I have done research for the BBC TV "War of the
century" and in which many veterans agreed to came forward to assist in
the making. After that Tv Stations of several countries asked me for
helping them finding veterans for their documentaries. Now, in 2006 /
2007, there are only few alive, who can support such request.
After the years of research I have started to write a series of books
on Stalingrad. Stories that give you a feeling you are sitting 'first
row seats' and you are there at the battle. Still working on more, it
will take a while before the whole battle is brought in to a series of
books that will certainly go over 10 books or more, to tell about every
aspect of the battle.
In 2007 the first reunion was held of new Kameradschaft Stalingrad.
More than 50 veterans were presenrt, more than 70 have signed up. In
2008 again a reunion will be held.
If you have any suggestions, etc, please
visit my guestbook
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Updates |
Below you find some updates on the
homepage:
UPDATE
November 2007: (3)
All photo's of the German Stalingrad Knightcross winners are now
scanned. Soon there will be an order of battle of the 6th Army + a
addendum with photo's of all persons who received the Knights Cross for
its actions in Stalingrad.
Fo a list of all the names of the Knights Cross winners see following
link (under construction).
UPDATE
November 2007: (2)
UPDATE
November 2007: (2)
UPDATE
November 2007: (2)
Soon I will have up a link and all information to the new museum of the
former POW CAMP Jelabuga. The old camp now has a museum about the
period German prisoners where there.
There is also a cemetary with approx 700 dead Stalingrad soldiers who
died there during the POW time. One of them is Kurt Reuber who's grave
photo is amongst he ones I received. Also the complete list with names
of these 700 men are now completed and will be in my database.
UPDATE
November 2007:
Finally we started off with the new Association of Stalingrad veterans.
The first meeting was held in Limburg, and the new Association counts
over 70 Stalingrad veterans. On the meeting itself, were about 30
veterans and family, and the ones who will be helping to get the new
Kameradschaft on its feet. Veterans like Graf von Vixthum, Horst Zank,
Herrn Clauberg, Herrn Kalweit, usw, usw were present. Also on the last
moment Gen. Münch had to cancel his visit (94 years old). Being
there again amongst those veterans was speciall. I will update with
some photo's of the meeting.
UPDATE
March 2007:
Decided is that there will be a new Stalingrad veterans organisation.
On this very moment all former members and family as well as those who
wrote me and said were interested are receiving mail and we than see
how many people will be there forming the new Stalingrad Association
(more info will follow).
UPDATE
January/February 2007:
Received from a collector a Russian booklet about the fightings in
Stalingrad, written in 1944. It is from the Military
Historical Department of the High Command of the Red Army.
WARNING!!
There has never been
awarded a Stalingrad Armshield for Soldiers of the 6th Army. Many
people are buying fake Stalingrad Shields, on all kind of Militaria
Sites! Look here
for the original
one (drawing) and a fake one I bought to show you. The only one ever
drawn for the troops, if they should capture Stalingrad is still only
to be found on paper!
An
amazing battlefield found was sent to me recently. A German helmet
found at a barn / house near Hill 102 shows, with the name of the owner
still painted in it, and the tragedy, a bullet hole in the midst of the
foreside of the helmet and out on the backside, that a Russian sniper
killed the German soldier. Already name, unit, etc is found, and we are
trying to find the family. Go to the new added page called 'Stalingrad
Battlefield Relics'.
Recently received pictures, taken by a Minox Camera inside the Jelabuga
POW camp. Soon I have some scans available.
>>Click
here
to hear a spoken (Mp3 file) account of Joachim Stempel's actions during
the fighting in Stalingrad to reach the Volga.
>>Click here
to here a broadcast of the
end of the Battle for Stalingrad (in German).
Added an account of the combat
re-supply in the combat area of
Stalingrad.
Click here to go direct to this account.
Updated the 'History' part, with more
information on the operations
during the Battle for Stalingrad.
Already working on parts of
the translation of the English book 'The
Battle for Stalingrad -
trapped by the Russian Army - The North Pocket' is a part of
three books
about the encirclement of the 6th Army. Over the years so much on
information is gathered, that I decided to write 3 books on the 3
pockets that held out at first after the encirclement. However, I start
with the one that held out till the very last, the one of the XI. Army
Corps under the leadership of General der Infanterie Karl
Strecker.
UPDATE
March / April 2001:
With the major
help of the Russian volunteers of the "Guardia" search group in
Volgograd, who did the "fieldwork" but also with the help of the WASt
(Germany) and the VDK (Germany) over 50 - 60 MIA German soldiers were
found at the former Airfield Pitomnik on a place that was near one of
the major "Hauptverbandzplatz" of the German
6th Army.
These soldiers were
prepared for to be flown out, but never made it.
They were hasty
burried in a massgrave, but due to the conditions not registered.
The ID-Tags are
given to the German VDK and will be handed over to the WASt in Berlin
who then will notify the still living family members. This is after
nearly 60 years one of the larges discoveries of German MIA's!
This
year
several good
friends / Stalingrad-veterans died. In a few years we only will hear
from them if we watch TV or if we read one of the books in which their
statement is kept for the next generation.
Several
books are written by the veterans themselves or done by several
historian / writers, who just got the right feeling of approaching
those men, now at the age of 80 and more, but for nearly 60 years ago
fighting for their live. Not only is meant the German soldier, or the
Italian, Croatian, Roemenian, Hungarian, but ofcourse also the Russian
soldier who fought for his country and his own live.
Ask for a
Book Catalogue with many books about WWII, WWI and other
areas at:
Military Collectibles Publishing
Markeweg 1
NL-8397 GH De Blesse
The Netherlands
Tel. 0031 (0)561441509
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» Der
Kampf um Stalingrad - Die Nordriegelstellung
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Coming
soon:
"Der Kampf um Stalingrad -
Eingeschlossen durch die Rote Armee -
Die Nordriegelstellung".
This
book will be in German first, and soon it will come out in English.
Click on the cover to go to the book information.
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| » Miscellaneous |
- After more than nearly 60 years we found
with the great help of my
friend Akira Takiguchi in Japan one of the few Japanese POW's who
shared time in captivity with a few officers of the 6th Army. One of
these German veterans was Joachim Stempel. It is amazing that it was
even possible to find this man! See the page onAn ex-Wehrmacht soldier
searches for his POW comrades - Japanese officers.
Below
two pictures of Mr Kawaguchi and
Joachim Stempel 'damals und heute'.
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