Johann Huber Speech At DX'05 Friday Night Dinner

Part 2 (After Dinner)

To be or not to be - Page 3

© 2005 by Johann Huber

Both of us see a Russian officer. He runs forward over the field and jumps into a foxhole about 350 yards away. I was only able to see him running but I did not have the chance to identify his rank or other details. Lieutenant Meier tells me very excitedly what he observed.

"This was a General".

He had a peaked cap with a red ribbon, instead of the usual fur hat and he wore a high quality officer coat instead of the usual field uniform and furthermore he had binoculars."

Meier turns around to me. We look at each other very concernedly and he says:

"This General commands the entire division in front of us. Why does he come so close to the front line "? We look in each others eyes and both of us think that this is something significant!

"The general will now order the attack on us", Meier says.

We know we are the only available defenders of the entire 7. Panzerdivision for the strategic Hill 66 - We are only 5 Panzerjäger and approximately 200 Grenadiers. We are hopelessly outnumbered by the Russians. Directly in front of us on the field there are around 800 to 1.000 Russian infantry soldiers. An entire Regiment! And behind Hill 66 there are certainly 30 to 40 Stalin and T-34 tanks. There were 80 Stalin tanks two days ago. Since then we destroyed 40 of them. We think to ourselves if the Russians attack within the next half hour, then they will definitely overwhelm us.

I tell our tank commander: "If they will stand up and attack us right now and the tanks behind the height will start simultaneously, this will definitely be our end. We will be overrun by them without any doubt."

He thinks the same. "Surely, then they will kill us and storm up to the Baltic Sea". "There is no one left behind us able to stop them!".

We are now in a very critical situation. We are aware this is the decisive battle for the bridgehead of the 7. Panzerdivision. The first Russian infantry soldiers are just 80 to 100 yards in front of us. Before we can think, the Russian infantry has run across the street and stands very close to our tank. We are hopelessly outnumbered.

"We must engage the Stalin tanks located at the rear at first there!" We have to act immediately without waiting for an order from our headquarters. Now it’s our turn to turn the battle to our advantage.

"We have to kill the officer!"

Lieutenant Meier again looks through the scissor periscope and sees him watching out of a foxhole. Meier gives me his exact position. He can be seen behind a certain brown hill.

I answer Meier. "I see him too now. His bright face is clearly visible." I know where he is.

I feel this is the decisive moment:

"Stay cool". I have to kill him with the first round. If I fail, we all get killed today. "Now its either him or us - To be or not to be!" And Marschall Rokossowskij gave the strict order not to make any prisoners but to kill all. Continue...

Huber's Speech at DX'05 Friday Night Dinner

Part 1-1 | 1-2 | Part 2-1 | 2-2 | 2-3 | 2-4 | 2-5 | Rokossowski

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