Stalin's Nemesis

by Michael James Melnyk

  Ignoring the exploding mortar rounds, we all jumped across the tracks and made it out of the encirclement without any losses. We then ran fast to the next hill where our troops who had abandoned ‘Sulz’ during the previous night were protecting our retreat. While we were resting hidden behind the hill the enemy managed to change position and one of his mortar shells exploded amongst us killing one and wounding three others from my platoon.

  Because we had no contact with our battalion command, in the evening under the cover of darkness, Waffen-Obersturmführer Kosak as the senior officer ordered me to take a group of men and try and re-establish contact with other units of our battalion. Walking in no-mans land throughout the night we finally stumbled on our anti-tank artillery unit and were received very warmly by three Ukrainian officers who gave us something to eat. Here I used their radio to report to our battalion commander what happened to us and of the current whereabouts of the remainder of the two companies.[…]277

  By 13 April 1945, the 20 Guards Rifle Division had made a deep penetration in the Division’s lines in this locality which temporarily threatened the entire sector. To prevent a major breakthrough, on this day 1 Cavalry Corps brought in the 3 Cavalry Division (Reiterregiment 41, Kavallerie Regiment 5 and parts of Reiterregiments 31 and 32), and later Panzeraufklärungsabteilung 16 which together with elements of the Division, successfully contained the attack.278

  The Soviet pressure however continued unabated around the heavily contested Gleichenberg Schloss which dominated the entire area. As the focal point of the furious fighting, it came under attack from three sides and was so heavily bombarded by artillery and mortar fire that its two metre thick walls sustained considerable damage.279 The Ukrainian units of WGR 29 within the castle fought courageously and took heavy losses despite being completely surrounded. They held out until 15 April when Waffen-Obersturmführer Volodymyr Kosak, led an audacious local counter-attack. Moving close to the castle walls, the enemy was so close that they threw hand grenades at Kosak’s troops and for a period the situation was critical and was only saved by the bravery of platoon commander Waffen-Sturmmann Osyp Stasenko who was killed. After suffering further casualties in killed and wounded Kosak’s company successfully cleared a path which freed the surrounded troops in the castle, and at the same time re-established the front line. The enemy losses were eighteen killed and two taken prisoners.280 Amongst the surrounded troops in the castle was platoon commander Waffen-Untersturmführer Osyp Holynsky who distinguished himself in the defensive fighting and was wounded in the process:

  About nine of us men under the leadership of Waffen-Untersturmführer Volodymyr Motyka, were walking along an active front line (steady shots of all kind of weapons) on the right. We finally arrived at the HQ of WGR 29. Once there, we engaged in some typical discussion, answered a variety of questions and received further instructions from the regimental command SS-Standartenführer Dern. I was assigned to 7.II./WGR 29 and hit the road again.

  The company commander was Waffen-Untersturmführer Ihor Havryliv. I had never met him before as we were at different officer schools and with different companies in basic training. I arrived at a bad moment because about one hour earlier he had lost one of his best NCOs Dubyk, who was shot and killed by an enemy sniper. He was shocked and in a general state of disbelief about the loss. We spoke for a short while and began to discuss tactics along the active front but he was too distracted to concentrate. The one thing that he articulated very clearly to me was that I would be responsible for the defence of this castle. He gave some orders to the few men around him and told me, ‘Let’s go to the castle’, which was about 100 yards to our left. We walked about 300 feet from our position, (along the side wall of the castle marked #10 on the map), and entered the castle through point #20.

  My first impression of the castle was that it was huge—a massive, stone-cement structure, which was over twenty feet tall in certain places. It was majestic and had a rich history of historic events that had taken place over the past century. We entered the castle from the side (again, point #20 on the map)—through a giant metal covered gate. There were four of us Ukrainian officers, all about the same age—all volunteers and all former students who did not have a chance to complete school because of the breakout of the Second World War. Waffen-Untersturmführer Havryliv, Waffen-Untersturmführer Volodymyr Nakonetschny, Waffen-Untersturmführer Jurij Kostiv and myself. There were no German personnel with us.

  As for Schloss Gleichenberg Waffen-Untersturmführer Havryliv told me as much as he knew. It belonged to one of the richest and most prominent families, the Graf von Trautmannsdorf family. They escaped prior to the arrival of the troops but the people that managed the day to day operations remained at the castle until the very last moment when they left taking some basic food supplies with them. When the troops first arrived they found everything completely untouched. The farm was full of chickens, cows and pigs. After being briefed on the history of the castle, we had some informative discussions about the defensive future with the other officers and Havryliv took us on a tour of the premises.

  First we walked around and along the extensive front yard, which was along the right side of the castle, terminating at the main wrought iron gate. The gate was chain-tied with wire and blocked with all kinds of heavy items in the hopes of stemming the impending attack. Next, we went through the front entrance door to the kitchen. It was a huge kitchen and all of the equipment was still there. All of our men started to cook some of the geese, chicken and ducks that were left on the farm—the cooking was primitive at best in those conditions. Next to the kitchen was a room with two huge round barrels (about 2,000 litres each) that contained ‘Most’. All incoming soldiers and visitors drank this juice ‘extract’ as a substitute for water.

  Next we went down into two deep basements. The first one was used mostly as a wine cellar. The floor was composed of a deep, sandy-dirt mixture, which was used to keep the wine bottles cool. Some of our troops found four bottles of ancient wine. We sent two of the bottles to our battalion commander via a messenger and drank the other two ourselves. To this day I will never forget the taste and colour of that wine. After drinking a single glass (from special glasses that we found that were made for royalty) I started to ‘see double’. We lowered ourselves into the second basement, which was approximately fifteen feet lower than the first basement. This room was also vacant but on the right outside wall there was a small opening for a window, about 3 × 3 square feet, which was evidently there to allow people to climb out of the basement directly outside (this opening was located near point #4 on the map). It was filled in with small rocks and stones, because it presented a potential point of entrance for the enemy. This opening was at the base of the outside wall near the balcony.

  Next we went upstairs to the second floor. It was full of bed linen, towels, table covers and other fabrics that were all tied with red strings and embroidered with symbols of royalty. Visiting soldiers later took everything and we did not object, because the Red Army would have taken all of it anyway if and when they had the opportunity. We then went to the back outside wall of the trapezoid-shaped castle balcony (point #2 on the map). From the doorway of the castle, the walls of the balcony stretched about thirty feet outwards in each direction and upwards to a height of only four feet high. In order to protect ourselves, our men dug two foot deep trenches along the inside of the balcony walls. This ensured that the height of the wall was sufficient to protect our troops standing in the ditch. At the front of the veranda was a gazebo, that had a large table in the centre.

  Finally we went to the other side of the castle to the farm, which provided most of our daily food supplies. By the time I arrived the farm was relatively empty—the horses had been taken away prior to the arrival of the soldiers, while the cows and pigs were sent to the regimental field kitchens. We checked all of our defending positions and Havryliv left to go to his sleeping quarters. At this point, I started to get acquainted with our men. There
were about twenty men from the 7 company and an additional six men from the 8 heavy machine company who came armed with an additional MG 42 and ammunition. With us there was also a Vorgeschobener Beobachter (artillery observer), who because of the importance of our current situation, was one of our officers Waffen-Untersturmführer Ivan Rubytsch. After getting acquainted with some of my troops, I sat down and rested and rethought my next course of action. I did not have to wait too long. My sleeping quarters were on the second floor—no bed, I just made myself as comfortable as I could.

  The next day it started. The enemy began firing anti-tank artillery at the castle. The first shots fell short of their target but the next few hit the building high above ground (approximately point #7 on the map). The shots did not cause any serious damage as the range was too great and therefore fairly weak.

  The four of us officers met immediately and agreed that the situation would worsen with every passing day. We knew that we would have to review and make changes to our defensive positions. It became evident that the balcony would be an important point from now on. I was assigned to monitor this area around the clock and was given an assistant, an MG 42, two Panzerfausts and five hand grenades. We kept these weapons and our ammunition near the door that connected the balcony to the rest of the castle. Although it would have been easier to have everything at the edge of the veranda and gazebo, it was too risky, in the event of an enemy attack.

  Next day, around 0800 hrs the enemy artillery started hitting the back wall of the veranda, causing minimal damage. The debris that was falling from the wall was very dangerous to our men, some of whom were stationed underneath the falling rubble.

  Sitting at the door, I overheard some voices talking in Russian—the enemy was approaching along the left side of the building (near point #4 on the map). I took a few hand grenades and quietly walked into the ditch that we dug on the inside of the veranda walls. Although the MG would have been better, it made far too much noise and my position would have been compromised to the enemy, who was directly on the other side of the wall. I was certain that the enemy was going to put explosives into the window opening (mentioned before) to blow out an opening into the castle. So I quickly threw the first grenade, forcibly into the ground so that the enemy would not have time to pick it up and lob it back into the veranda. I quickly followed up with a second grenade. Prior to the two explosions, I heard the footsteps of the enemy running away from the castle. I did not hear any screams and assumed that none of them were hurt.

  The following day was very quiet. I used the opportunity to find out what was going on and to get some food from the field kitchen. The day after that began with a fierce, heavy artillery bombardment. Again we heard enemy troops nearing the veranda, especially in front of the gazebo. I took an MG 42 and started walking through the veranda towards the gazebo. I was about three feet away from the entrance to the gazebo when a hand grenade was thrown into the gazebo and landed right on the table. When the grenade exploded, I was hit by nine pieces of shrapnel in the face. My face was bleeding when I ran my hands over it but the bleeding was relatively mild. Fortunately for me, the shrapnel did not penetrate my skin very deeply but more importantly, it missed my eyes which would have blinded me immediately. The thing that I remember most about that explosion was how loud it was. I was deaf in my left ear for several days and was lucky to regain my hearing thereafter.

  I immediately ran to the table in the gazebo, placed my MG on top, and started firing from left to right across the terrain. Many of the bullets were hitting the stone wall (#16 on the map), which splintered immediately on impact. The splintered stone alone was a danger to any enemy troops that were in the vicinity. I fired one Panzerfaust to the right of the gazebo, which ignited one of the branches on the tree in the area. I also threw one hand grenade to the right of the veranda where most of the enemy had scattered. The grenade explosion was followed by silence, which meant that many of the men had fled.

  At this point, I saw a man running with a heavy sack (point #18 on the map) towards our main entrance gate (point #8 on map). I immediately knew that he was carrying a bag full of explosives. I shot and killed him with my MG. They did not try this again.

  I left my helper with instructions and I went to the front of the building, where Havryliv saw my red face. He was shocked, as if I was dead. There was no water to wash my face, so they bandaged my head so that I wouldn’t look so frightening. I went with one of my company’s men to the battalion’s medical infirmary, where the doctor examined my ear, washed my face and sent me back to my position in the castle.

  The next day after a short bombardment on the veranda it became very quiet. There were about 30 of us in the castle at that time and I was the only one who was wounded. The day after that, however, was the worst of them all. Heavy bombardment of our veranda took place early in the morning. Additionally, there was a lot of activity in front of the building near the farm. It was obvious that the enemy would strike soon. In the afternoon (as I was told later, since I was stationed on the veranda side of the castle) some of our soldiers spotted enemy troops approaching along the farm wall that was facing the castle (between points #21 and #13 on the map). The other three officers ordered all of our men inside the walls of the castle—it was evident to them that the enemy was trying to surround castle. They ordered our men to close the gate entering castle (point #20 on the map) and started barricading themselves inside. The enemy intensified fire from all types of hand held weapons while they were approaching the open gate of the farm (point #13 on the map). We were surrounded. I came from the veranda to the front of the building, leaving my assistant with an MG 42 in the veranda. I met Havryliv and two other officers. Ihor told me that he had managed to get a connection with the battalion commander and that he had told him ‘You four officers are responsible with your heads for not surrendering the castle without further orders!’. We knew that help would arrive in about one hour.

  Within that hour, our artillery (which was stationed in an unknown location, several kilometres from the castle) fired four shots. These were intended to find the proper range for later use and to support a potential assault. Unfortunately, one of the four shots accidentally hit the tower of our own castle, showering debris to the ground. The other three flew over the castle and into the woods that was controlled by the enemy.

  Again, things became quiet, as we prepared for everything to happen the following morning. Us officers did not even think about surrendering the castle and started to fix the best defensive positions that we could devise. We specifically made plans for use of our MG 42, which was the best tool for this kind of defence. In the event of an attack we would move it from one point to another. We had enough ammunition and discussed how we could use it sparingly.

  I went back to the veranda expecting something important might happen. I stayed there at the door with our MG 42, two Panzerfausts and a few hand grenades. We did not sleep for a second with my helper by my side.

  Nothing happened during the six hours of the night, but very early in the morning, we heard loud shooting. We knew that the decision was being made in front of us about who would have the upper hand. I left my helper—and ran to the front of building, pulling out my pistol along the way—if the Soviets had broken in, this would have been the end. To my joy, it was our ‘Jagdzug’. We all shouted and some cried. We opened the entrance gate (point #20 on the map). About ten men from the pioneer company ran hastily across the castle’s front yard, opened the iron-wrought gates and placed many heavy land-mines on the ground between points #8 and #18 on the map. The Jagdzug then secured the area around where the enemy fled. 1 officer from the Jagdzug was killed by an enemy sniper. We found casualties on the enemy side of the line.

  Our company started preparing to leave the castle as per the order of the battalion commander. During the enemy’s retreat, they abandoned a hand operated anti-tank gun with some ten rounds about six inches long and 1.5 inches in diameter. We left the castle and other de
fensive positions of the front line the following morning. Untersturmführer Omelan Kulchysky took my place.

  All four officers were awarded the Iron Cross II. Class. Waffen-Untersturmführer Ihor Havryliv received those awards on our behalf along with the documentation from our divisional commander. We congratulated each other for our accomplishments. I still have that cross to this day.281

  Stradner Kögel

  Elsewhere, directly to the south, the heaviest fighting occurred around Stradner Kögel and the plateau which was 1,000 metres south of the elevation, where a series of attacks and counter-attacks in quick succession resulted in a fluid front line over the course of the next ten days and the unavoidable close quarter combat.282 As fighting took place both during the day and night, the sequential relief of the Division’s first echelon infantry units was instituted for the purpose of involving the forces more fully in combat acclimatisation.

  In this sector WGR 30 occupied a precarious line in hastily constructed, over extended positions against which, the 20 Guards Rifle Division committed two of its regiments (60 Guards Rifle Regiment and 57 Guards Rifle Regiment) whose first probing attacks quickly forced a retreat of the regiments most advanced position near Kolldorf and Hochstraden.283

  At this time WGR 31 arrived having completed its forced march from Slovenia.284 Waffen-Untersturmführer Volodymyr Mykula who commanded a platoon in the 2./I./WGR 31 recorded in his diary:

  The march to the front started on 1 April 1945. First, there was a joint regimental Holy Mass in the area of Trebnje, about 80 km S/E of Ljubljana, on the River Krka. Then exercises were announced and the march started. In the night of 2/3 April the regiment marched through Ljubljana and arrived at Trnjava, where it rested for a day on the 4 of April having covered 130 km. The march continued for another 120 km non-stop passing through Celje in the night of the 5/6 April and Maribor early in the morning of 6 April. It then turned north to Sentilj, then headed east crossing the River Mur by bridge in the night of the 6/7 and passed through the town of Mureck. Turning north, it arrived at Straden on 7 April and took up positions on the eastern outreaches of the elongated forested mountain, Stradner Kögel before sunset.285