“August 10, 1943
Dear Irmerl,
I am already deeply indebted to you, because today I am answering 3 lovely letters from you. You have to excuse me if I don't write back to every letter and then often reply with two or even three letters from you with one. In the past few weeks I actually didn't get around to it, as we were pretty busy. Day and night alarms both on land and by air. As I said, we have eventful days behind us, thank god it went without major losses.
I ended up no longer in K, but much further along with our company. In K. everything was destroyed from our side, so that the Russian will no longer find anything valuable. What will happen to us now is not yet clear.
The best rumors and hopes run around in the company. Well maybe there will be something new. So we are now sitting far away from the front, but closer to the partisans (now bandits!) And hope for the things that will come. So once again my heartfelt thanks for your three dear letters especially for the detailed report from Rohrbach. Also for the card, my best thanks to your dad. I think it's cheeky that Trude calls me a drunk in public.
It is definitely always a nice gift when you suddenly receive a sign of life from another world in the middle of the hustle and bustle, and past beautiful days pass by again.
Today one lives in the past anyway. When you think back to how carefree and happy someone was, it seems like a dream today. It is inconceivable that it ever really existed. One should be able to become really carefree and cheerful again!
Besides yours, I have other Russian textbooks, but unfortunately at the moment I have no interest nor time. Otherwise I don't know what is of importance, that would be worthwhile to describe in detail.
So I warmly greet you and your dear parents for this time
Yours,
Karl(?)”