SS-Schütze Imants Gudše [Gudsche]

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Orlov
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SS-Schütze Imants Gudše [Gudsche]

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Post by Orlov » 07 May 2022, 14:40

[28 August 1944, Altstadt - Warsaw Uprising]
A prisoner of war taken prisoner during the fights for the Cathedral [in Warsaw] was a Latvian SS-Schütze Imants Gudše. “As they approached, the POW looked into my eyes with a fearful look. - What unit are you from? - I asked in German. - International Dirlewanger Brigade [sic! SS-Sdr.Rgt.Dirlewanger or Angriffsgruppe Dirlewanger]. I am not German, I am Latvian. […] Herr Offizier! I can tell you many important things! [...] The Latvian began to tell inertly how he got into the SS Dirlewanger Brigade [SS-Sdr.Rgt.Dirlewanger], made up of criminals only [most of them are disciplinarily convicted soldiers], who were punished in return for their service in its ranks. That he had spent eight months in [Strafvollzugslager der SS und Polizei] Dachau before, that this was his only rescue, etc. [...] I cut him off, staring into his scared eyes. - [Ltn. "Szczerba"] We have a habit of shooting SS men on the spot. Only the Wehrmacht is taken prisoner. I had you brought here because you said you had important news. […] the POW started with a warning that tomorrow, or even today, he will start a great attack against the tanks [StuG II] from the [ruin of Royal] Castle, which will not leave any trace of us. That we'd better withdraw because these are our last hours. […] [Ltn. "Szczerba"] I don't believe a word of yours. You just want to get away from the bullet. The only thing that actually saves you is that you are wounded. Otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here anymore. Because we do not kill the wounded like you, we are soldiers, not uniformed bandits like your colleagues".
Zbigniew Blichewicz „Szczerba”, Tryptyk powstańczych wspomnień. Dni „krwi i chwały”, czyli obłędu i nonsensu [A triptych of insurgent memories. Days of "blood and glory", that is, madness and nonsense], (Warszawa-Gdańsk: Archiwum Akt Nowych-Oficyna Wydawnicza Finna, 2009), p. 123-125.
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Imants Gudše fought in the 1st company I battalion of the SS-Sdr.Rgt Dirlewanger between August 15 and 27., commanded by SS-Untersturmführer Max Schreiner.
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On 7.8.44 Gudsche [Gudše] was released from [Strafvollzugslager der SS und Polizei] Dachau with an order to report to Płock [Schröttersburg], from where he was transferred to Modlin on August 11, 44. On 15 May. Gudsche came with the [new] company to Warsaw. Two days ago, the 1st company was the only reserve for the Gdańsk Railway Station. Company status: 1 officer, 43 privates. Field mail no. 00512. Armament: 5 MG, and one unmanned lMG, each soldier 2 grenades, 120 rounds for rifle, each MG with 2 drums [magazines for MG 34 handguns looked like drums] and 2 boxes of ammunition, 7 flamethrowers. . An engineer patrol of 4 people with explosives as they needed.
In the offensive on 27 May. on the cathedral of St. John [in Warsaw] was attended by a company plus a mine patrol with explosives. approx. 100 kg. Losses in people are compensated by prisoners [from military prison or Strafvollzugslager der SS und Polizei Dachau and Matzkau]. Before the attack, the troops were given vodka, 1 liter for 7 people. Officers do not personally command the troops, but drink in the quarters [sic! impossible in Ss-sdr.Rgt. Dirlewanger]. The Germans spread news among the soldiers that Hitler's unfaithful officers had joined the Home Army and took a lot of ammunition with them. In addition, it was spread among German soldiers that all of Warsaw was connected by excavations and cellars. The task of the German army is to "exterminate the Polish bandits". Under the threat of the highest penalties, German soldiers are ordered to respond to each attack with a counter-attack and are instructed that the Poles will shoot every German soldier [these concerned Waffen-SS soldiers and policemen from the Ordnungspolizei].
Antoni Przygoński, Powstanie Warszawskie w sierpniu 1944 r. [The Warsaw Uprising in August 1944], t. 2, (Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1980), s. 394 oraz fotokopia nr 41 między s. 432 i 433 (Dowództwo Grupy „Północ”. Protokuł [sic!] z badania strzelca SS. Gudsche Imants’a, 28.VIII 44 r. – ze zbiorów dawnego Archiwum Wojskowego Instytutu Historycznego) [Command of the "North" Group AK. Protocol from the examination of the SS-Schutze. Gutsche Imants, 28 August 44 - from the collection of the former Archives of the Military Historical Institute]
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I know the fate of Imants Gudše only from the period of half a month of summer'44 - does anyone know more? his photo? his life before being transferred to Dachau? did he survive the Warsaw Uprising, when he was released from Polish captivity after the fall of the Warsaw Old Town after September 2?
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