'Screams of the Drowning'
On the Eastern Front the Germans are falling back in the face of the Red Army onslaught - but with Tiger tanks they can sometimes prevail
Wehrmacht soldier Hans Fackler only arrived in East Prussia as a young infantryman in December 1944. His unit had been sent to Hungary in the spring of 1944, only for Fackler to quickly succumb to dysentery and then typhus - which left him hospitalised for the rest of the year. Now, he was staggered by the losses his unit had suffered in the intervening period. He had perhaps been fortunate to fall ill - and this luck was set to continue. On the face of it, he was not lucky to become a stretcher case with shrapnel wounds. Or to be evacuated on the ship the Wilhelm Gustloff.
But he would survive these events when so many thousands of others did not. Fackler eventually recounted his story to Karl Willman - and it was not published in English until 2021. The following excerpt from Screams of the Drowning: From the Eastern Front to the Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, covers an episode in January 1945 before Fackler was wounded:
Seriously worried about the uncertain future which seemed in store for us, conflicted about what I was, or should be, hoping for, I was confused. Was there going to be an Endsieg? Could we believe in the promises of the Wunderwaffen, or was it all hollow words, meaningless propaganda? It all seemed a muddle and so I just concentrated on blowing the perfect smoke rings into the clear winter air. Doubts like these had been plaguing me for a while.
After our plentiful lunch, Huber, in his usual composed manner, made an announcement and while its content startled us, it at long last pulled us out of our limbo. ‘Tomorrow morning four Tiger tanks are scheduled to arrive,’ he informed us as if it was the most obvious development to expect. ‘Over there,’ he lifted his head in the direction of the forest, ‘we’ll see some life returning. I’m not exactly sure who spilled the beans to our top guns, and why we’re only being told now, but there it is.’
He obviously didn’t want any questions. ‘We ourselves haven’t noticed anything which would have alerted us to this; but we’ve got to keep reminding ourselves about one thing and one thing only: it will not remain as peaceful as we ve had it for the past few days. Eyes and ears are to be kept open, we mustn’t be taken unawares and must not tolerate any sudden visitor - certainly not before those tanks which are meant to protect us have arrived!’
‘Never have I clapped my eyes on any of those so-called wonderful tanks!’ announced Richard for everyone to hear.
‘Look at that! Come to think of it, nor have I,’ responded another. ‘And that’s me who’s been part of the withdrawal of the front line for absolute ages.’
‘But these tanks really should do the job,’ opined yet another. ‘Apparently the Russian ones can’t hold a candle to them.’
‘You might be right in this regard, but they have more of them ... and that holds true for the infantry as well - they literally have millions. Surely you didn’t miss that one?’
This sparring match lasted for quite a while until finally Huber put a stop to it. ‘Get out of here! All of you! The next shift also wants to get to eat.’
Tense and yet full of expectation we eagerly waited for the next morning to break. And because my birthday falls on 21 January, I know that it was two days later, on 23 January that, lo and behold, four Tigers rumbled through the parish that we occupied, eventually coming to a screeching halt in front of our lodgings.
Jumping down from the turret of the first tank, the commander, with his Iron Cross clearly visible, yelled towards our group, which had just barely managed to gather into some kind of formation, that under no circumstances was any time to be wasted. ‘It’s crucial that the Russians must be taken by surprise. We’ll now turn the corner round this house, move into their vision, and the four of us will then align one next to the other at a distance fifty metres apart. You will support the attack. Stay behind us at all times, in four groups, eight men each.’ Glancing to our sergeant he wanted to double-check that. ‘Thirty-two men, correct?’ ‘Yes, sir!’ ‘Good. Follow us and you’ll be well protected. Only the Russian infantry could become a problem. If they do, we’ll give you a hand with our MGs! Let’s go!’
It wasn’t pure coincidence that I together with Huber and six others were standing right behind this commander who was so brimming with confidence, and his decisiveness certainly rubbed off on us. We couldn’t wait to launch ourselves into what appeared to us to be a new phase of the war.
‘The other tank commanders are officers as well and have a great deal of front experience,’ one guy in our group claimed to know.
‘The T-34s don’t have a chance in hell against our anti-tank weapons, just you wait and see!’
‘They’re unbelievably expensive, I have it on good authority, so they must be deployed sparingly.’
Once again, our anxiety was as palpable as our hopes were high until Huber, as per usual, cut through all our babbling and tried to raise his voice above the noise from the engines. Turning towards those whose demeanour might, according to him, have spelled distrust or fear, and I certainly was one of them, he tried reassuring us. ‘Guys, don’t shit in your pants. This bloke hasn’t been decorated with the Iron Cross for nothing. He’s made it quite clear that with us behind the Tigers we have nothing to fear.’ Some of us couldn’t help remembering the Russian infantry and therefore remained sceptical.
The driver first steered the tank along the right-hand side of the field then veered towards its middle. The other three tanks positioned themselves as per directives. While our Tiger was turning, I could see from the corner of my eye a swarm of T-34s breaking out of the forest and with a roaring noise ripping through the air they thundered towards us.
‘So many?’ I was dismayed. ‘How will our four Tigers ever keep them away!’ ‘Seems they’ve been waiting for us,’ stated our poacher with his shrill voice sounding even shriller through all the noise. ‘Are we to be mashed into pulp under their tracks?’
‘Silence!’ yelled an irate Huber. It had obviously got to him as well. Our Tiger fired its first shot and the others followed suit. While peering across to the enemy from behind our tank I could hear four distinct shells crashing into their targets. Four dark pillars of smoke rose above four Russian tanks that had instantly burst into flames, with our poacher, his voice hoarse with excitement, laconically stating that there now were four fewer tanks for us to contend with. ‘But guys,’ he complained, ‘there are more and more appearing from out of the forest!’ Tension grew further. ‘These T-34s are firing with MGs as well,’ gasped Richard.
‘Of course! Stay close behind the Tiger!’ bellowed Huber with our tank at that same moment lurching forward and firing. Another T-34 exploded some 200 metres in front of us. But the impact of anti tank shells crashing into the front plates of our Tiger, though not piercing it, left us shaken to the core.
Our Tigers obviously suffered no damage as they continued to fire relentlessly, systematically, accurately. We could hardly believe it. Every shot a hit. The enemy, however, appeared undaunted and they too bombarded us mercilessly with more shells hailing down on, but fortunately ricocheting off, the armour plates of our Tigers. The deafening cacophony of noise from the blasting shell fire, thundering engines and the crashing of explosions all built up to a thunderous inferno the likes of which I had never heard before.
‘German workmanship!’ Heinz Weber yelled into my ear, hardly able to get his words heard above the detonations.
‘There are fifteen on fire, if I haven’t miscounted.’
‘You haven’t - I got the same number. Bet you they won’t dare come any closer. They’re banging away like mad, but aren’t getting anywhere!’
‘Thank God, there’s no infantry!’
‘What’s happening here today is something to behold!’
‘We’ve never seen Tigers, let alone in action - we’ve only ever heard about them.’
Crouching behind the tank, rifles in hand and ready to fire, we jubilantly counted the hits while breathing in the exhaust fumes. We dreaded the moment we would hear the terrifying ‘Urrah!’ from the infantry which had sent a chill to our bones so many times before. But it didn’t happen.
Pressed tightly against the skirt of the Tiger which steadily rolled forward towards the forest while ferociously pounding the enemy ( with fire, we caught sight of burnt-out or still smouldering T-34s strewn to the right and left of us. From some of them hung charred corpses covered in tattered uniforms slumped over the edge of the hatches, head-down. I asked myself how old these men might have been. Fleetingly wondering about their mothers, their pain and their tears, I gulped. But then another hissing and booming noise. An explosion detonating only some fifty metres away from where I was, with flames shooting out of a crumbling T-34, made me break out in a cold sweat.
Covered in grimy soot from the Tiger’s emissions, practically numb with exhaustion, we nevertheless felt a sense of satisfaction, one which until then we hadn’t ever experienced. Never in our wildest dreams had we expected this astonishing victory.
At long last, I thought, finally the day had come when the Russians had seriously miscalculated their opponent, and I had been a part of it. I tried counting how many tanks we had finished off, but kept starting from scratch and then gave up.
From up above me I suddenly heard the voice of the Iron Cross bearer, we never did find out his name, shouting down from the turret: ‘The Russians are clearing out - they’re giving up. Our shots did it - they couldn’t cope! Let’s move - we’ll chase them into the forest! But attention! We’re short of fuel and can’t afford to go far. Our ammunition - precious - is also running low. Stay close behind, boys. The ride might get bumpy. Watch out for enemy infantry - to your right and left!’
© Karl Willman 2021, 'Screams of the Drowning: From the Eastern Front to the Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff'. Reproduced courtesy of Pen & Sword Publishers Ltd.
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