Time: 12 of January 1943
Location: Along the Neva River Near Gorodok, USSR
Lt. Winacker, B Company, 240th Btg, 170 German Inf. Div. Reporting:
It was a cold day. Temperatures were well below zero. Leningrad lay to the North. Along the Neva River we were dug in trying to stay warm. Suddenly, the alarm has sounded! Ivan is attacking! Our forward Field hospital lay in the Russian village of Gorodok, which was located on the only road net through the thick Forrest and the obvious objective of the Russian assualt. Can we hold?
Russian artillery crashes all along our thinly manned lines. The village of Gorodok takes a pounding. Onward the Russian masses advance across the frozen Neva River. Will we have enough bullets to stop this mass of screaming fury? Our reserve Company of Pioneers holds the center of the line while regular infantry man the left and right flanks.
Our ammo is low. We must make every shot count so we can protect our comrades that lay helpless in the hospital to our rear. Some many fight for some stupid ideological cause but we learned that causes have no meaning here. The only thing that matters is ourselves as that is all we have to rely on in mother Russia. We fire our weapons. Barrels grow red from constant firing. The Russian dead-pile high up upon one another like stacks of cordwood before us but still more come! Can we hold? Can we hold? Can we…?
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More AAR to come
