by jugendkrieger on 02 Feb 2009 22:41
So what does everyone think of the gap this year? I met Drew, Cessna checked my papers (i think), Wolfey, Hans Beck(breifly) Seigfreid Wilhelm, Vikki, and Grabenkater(also breifly). A Great Pleasure to meet all of you, Everyone who I met from the forum had Brilliant impressions that I couldn't find fault with! Excellent! My AAR is as follows:
Mon. 4.Dez
Olt. Meier, Uffz. Stahl, Obgef. Kaminsky, Obgef. Fischer, and Gren. Gutersloh are with me en-route from the outskirts of the beleigured city of Aachen to the town of bedburg where we are to prepare the building we have been assigned. The Reichsbann trip is not long. only 7 hours with no stops from Aachen to Bedburg. This speaks measures on how much the Reichs land has been taken from us. We are to be renamed 9./Panzergrenadier Regiment 8. I think we will be the only panzergrenadiers never to see the inside of any halftracks before this war is out.
Tue. 5.Dez
The Vortruppen of the freshly renamed 9./Pz.Gren. Rgt 8 are pulled off the lines after the 3rd battle of Aachen to refit and draw new supplies for an upcomming offensive. We arrive to a Hospital building with sickly green walls covered in the posters of previous units that had been posted there. I stripped the walls of the other posts posters and am given a roll of new posters "Victory at any price". Now I see what it has come too. The infantrie guns and Feldkuche are unloaded and with it our schemels and fresh linens arrive. Beds are made and we look through the plackets of names witch will never be put up again, we lament the loss of our old friends and drink to the still missing benno and Feld. Klaus. After our tasks with the Stube, Posters, Guns, and Feldkuche are completed the hospital building is beginning to look much like the old barracks we enjoyed in st.palais so long ago. We are told that we are absorbing members of a displaced Festungs-Flak abteilung and we sit and speculate on our the units appearance will be changed by the addition of old men and kids.
Wed 6.Dez
Today we receive a few of the members of our kompanie and they are shown their place to sleep, Feldpost arrives but only for uffz.Stahl. Still no sign of our new "friends" from the Festungs-Flak abteilung. Today is a day of relaxation, Even though there are no official duties set forth it is a great opportunity to mend old uniforms and Take proper care of our leather gear. I am not accustomed to life in barracks after almost 2 years of not seeing the inside of one. Uffz. Stahl and I find some great deals at the local Flohmarkt. After returning to the barracks we finish of the rest of our duties and slide of to a well earned sleep.
Thurs 7.Dez
Today is the day of my 21st birthday. In spite of that we are up at 600 for appel outside of the 1st SS Barracks to be looked over by an alte kampfer of the 1st world war and a luftwaffe oberst. I am repeatedly told by rear area stallions that my collar hooks are missing and that i should have them replaced as soon as possible, i am also assigned 2 Shifts of guard outside of the kaserne witch pass extremely quickly. Freizeitgestaltung is called at 600 and we are at a relaxed posture. at 0647 more men come off of the reichsbann. Haupt.feld tietze, Obgef. Speisser, and Obgef. Muller?call me away from the French cafe to help them get settled in. Me and Gefreiter Heider enjoy a few libations at the local cafe and enjoy a fine meal of Pate and fresh breads. Obgef. Speisser has just returned from leave in the Heimat and Brings with him Gifts of fine tobacco and food, They are enjoyed and appreciated. the timing could not have been better. after libations are consumed my mind draws a blank, however images of an innundated Heider and a large amount of toasts to my new kameraden from the festungs-flak-abteilung come to mind, as to a conversation with a very lovely blond local.
Fri. 8. Dez
Through conversations with my kameraden, to many libations were consumed. Apparently shortly after Departing from the Cafe I was returned to my bunk by obgef. Speisser and Some SS-Feldgendarmeries. The day seems to dragg on for eternity, 600 marks the beginning of my day with appel, and then a shower to clear my head that was comparable to hot steamy sex. The morning starts off with epic amounts of "pfeiff dienst" where we smoke untill our eyes bleed. Once that is completed Gewehrgriffe and Marschordnung classes begin in ernest. My brain is apparently far far to big for my head and I can not formulate thoughts. every ounce of my physical and mental fibre is put into standing straight. Apparently by the remarks of obgef. Kaminsky I was helped along by a Lithuanian kamerad of mine who continued to feed me libations. We train with the latest in MG positioning and Squad tactics and continue with our duties. I see the blond local from my memory and we talk about exactly what happened, It appears I kept my composure long enough to not make a fool of myself. Freizeitgestaltung is called at 1800 and we go about our usual routine. No Drinking for this grenadiere, I spend the night having Excellent conversations with our new Friends. Apparently they are a group of misshaps, among them are a quarter-jew, a luftwaffe man who is a veteran of afrika and penal batalions, a hitler youth, 2 quiet men who I suspect to be shell shocked or ortherwise mentally defective, and a Regular heer uffz, all I find much in common with. We hit the cafe with the intention of finding some hot locals but that is curtailed when our luftwaffe kamerad dietrich lost his head at the sight of an italian soldier, He told him exactly how he felt of his country and how huge of a "big mistake" wasting good german blood on the cowardly italian people gets us quickly thrown out. I return to the kaserne and enjoy a dish of black current jam and Fresh pumpernickle bread with obgef. Swirtuen. It goes down like gold, After securing a new set of sheets from kompanie stores for destroying mine the previous night, I sleep like the dead.
Sat. 9. Dez.
Today is the fastest day of all, 2 shifts of guard duty seem like 30 seconds. I am still paying for my innundation on the 7th with innendienst and Feldkuche dienst, and due to my hang over on the 8th I score extra duties for not wearing my cap to inspection and some other "crimes against the state" I have a feeling the Hauptfeld. has it out for me. We enjoy a fantastic meal of Potatoes, Beef, and Chives. directly after the Meal we are called to our bunks for an award ceremony. I am have won the rank of gefreiter an a new pay grade! I write home immediately and begin to celebrate. our new friends break out a large amount of a Koelsch beer and spoke about how deep of the voice of the cafe singer was. Hitting the cafe one last time before redeployment was extremely fun, however ruined by the fact that the madame was taken away because her son was a member of the resistance. The cafe was under gestapo control, and was overrun with FP,FeldJagers, and Gendarmeries. One would think the police would be more interested in finding the resistance elsewhere, rather than harassing German soldiers who were merely there to enjoy one last drink.
Mit Kameradschaft,
Gef. M.Brunner
Last edited by jugendkrieger on 03 Feb 2009 17:48, edited 1 time in total.
I shall have to speak to Dietrich about that.... 
So that was the story they were circulating! It wasn't one of the (many) reasons they gave 
