A young man with his life ahead of him

12th January 1944: A German soldier on the Eastern front reflects on the joy of being alive

German soldiers on the Eastern Front, early 1944.

The Germans retreat in the Ukraine.

One of the central mysteries of the war is how so many educated, civilised, cultured people could be bent to the will of Hitler. Amongst the millions of German men serving on the Eastern Front there were plenty of reflective, sensitive souls caught up in the maelstrom.

We can only guess at how many of those men felt at the time, how many of them felt they were trapped fighting a losing battle. At the beginning of 1944 they had plenty to reflect upon, as their personal prospects of surviving the year began to look increasingly grim.

We have the account of one man - Willy Peter Reese¹. This is the last passage in his memoir. The only reason we have it is that he was granted leave, shortly after his sleigh ride on 12th January 1944. He went home and wrote these last thoughts, leaving them with his parents. Then, aged 23, he returned to the front for the last time. He never came home:

We moved out once more. The Russians had broken through. We could hear the sounds of a battle to the rear of us. We marched.