Eventually, as the intensity of the assaults...
Category: Modern Era
Impact of a lone soldier’s resistance: Hans Sturm's stand at the "Meat grinder of Rzhev"
Category: Modern Era
Impact of a lone soldier’s resistance: Hans Sturm's stand at the "Meat grinder of Rzhev"
Contemporary with the Battle of Stalingrad, which had drawn all attention to itself, an equally bloody confrontation was taking place between the “Red Army” and the Wehrmacht. This was the Battle of Rzhev, also known as the “Rzhev Meat Grinder.” The continuous counterattacks by the Soviets were so costly in blood that the number of casualties is estimated (depending on the historian) to range from 1,160,787 to as many as 2,300,000 soldiers of the “Red Army,” along with about 668,110 soldiers of the Wehrmacht.
Text by Tasos Malesiadas.
During the battle in the “Rzhev Meat Grinder,” neither army conducted major advances or positional breakthroughs. They both fought with exceptional ferocity in the same area from January 1942 to March 1943. The persistence of STAVKA, the Soviet General Staff, was based on the belief that, as a continuation of the counteroffensive at Moscow, they could use attritional warfare to first overthrow “Army Group Center” while the Germans were retreating and later disrupt the German Main Effort, which was unfolding in the South.
The story depicted is that of Second Lieutenant Hans Sturm, who, as a messenger for the 473rd Infantry Regiment of the 273rd Infantry Division, almost single-handedly confronted a regiment of Soviet riflemen and thwarted an encircling maneuver that could have surrounded his regiment.
When Soviet soldiers launched an assault against the German positions, Corporal Sturm found himself in front of the bodies of his comrades, the crew of a machine gun emplacement. The Soviets, unopposed, were approaching the defensive line.
Sturm did not hesitate. He jumped into the trench and manned the machine gun alone. With the first mowing volleys, he swept through the advancing Soviets, forcing them to call for heavy weapon support. Soviet mortars targeted Sturm’s position, but he emerged unscathed. He continued to face successive waves of Soviet infantry, decimating them. His position was then targeted by artillery fire. Despite the salvos, the corporal was undeterred and kept fighting. During a lull in the barrage, he realized that no battle was unfolding around him anymore. The German lines were littered with corpses but had not yet been overrun.
During the night, Sturm changed positions and tried to gather as much ammunition as possible. It was then that he discovered the worst-case scenario: his regiment had retreated, leaving him behind. He decided not to abandon his position. All night, crawling, he gathered grenades and cartridges, took a position with a wide field of fire for his machine gun, and scattered various personal weapons with their ammunition around him.
He was determined to fall fighting.
In the morning, Soviet infantry, with their war cries, launched an attack on Sturm’s previous position after a brief mortar barrage, entering the first line of trenches. Sturm watched and waited. When the Soviet soldiers emerged and moved en masse toward his current position, believing that all was over, he allowed them to approach before opening fire with his machine gun. The Soviet soldiers were taken by surprise and thrown into disarray. They were not only hit by machine-gun bursts but also by a barrage of grenades and rifle grenades.
Sturm fought with all his might to convince the enemy that they were facing more than just a single soldier. As the Soviet soldiers withdrew, Sturm took cover, anticipating that artillery fire would follow. He changed position, taking as many weapons and ammunition as he could. His prediction was accurate—the artillery obliterated his previous position. However, things were now becoming more difficult. Two tanks were set to accompany the infantry in the next assault against him.
Sturm once again decided not to abandon his position. The tanks advanced slowly and steadily toward the German lines, covering the infantry that followed behind them. When they reached the first cluster of trees and bushes, they swept them with their machine guns. Sturm was positioned further back, in a former communications trench.
The first tank passed him, and that’s when he decided to strike at the infantry following behind it. The entire platoon was decimated by the corporal’s fire. The second tank stopped, trying to locate the source of the fire. Meanwhile, the first tank returned to avoid exposure to potential anti-tank fire without infantry cover. The second tank blindly fired three explosive shells. The fragments from the second shell struck Sturm above his right eye, drenching him in blood. The third shell nearly hurled him several meters away. The second tank, under the cover of smoke and its accompanying platoon, withdrew. Half-blind, Sturm once again grabbed his machine gun and changed position, preparing himself for what he believed would be his final stand.
By late afternoon, he had changed positions three more times, fighting off wave after wave of Soviet infantry. While Sturm fought alone, the staff of the 473rd Regiment noticed that, for some inexplicable reason, the Soviet forces were not advancing. Reconnaissance patrols confirmed that a battle was raging in one of the regiment’s previous positions, effectively halting the Soviet forces’ maneuver. The regiment immediately formed a battle group, which advanced toward the previous positions.
By the afternoon of the second day, a company reoccupied the positions that had been abandoned a day and a half earlier, with no indication that the Soviets had advanced. The battle group reported back to the regiment and division, which then formed a new regiment-level battle group, supported by artillery and heavy infantry weapons, to launch a counterattack. The Soviets were overturned, and the regiment recaptured all its defensive positions, as well as the Soviet launch points.
In one of the trenches, they found Corporal Hans Sturm, semi-conscious and half-blind, surrounded by thousands of shell casings in the positions he had defended. Hundrents of dead and wounded Soviet soldiers were in front of him. The divisional staff reported that Hans Sturm had single-handedly faced a regiment of riflemen supported by artillery, heavy infantry weapons, and tanks, and managed to prevent the encirclement of his regiment.
He was awarded the Knight’s Cross for his actions, and during the war, he suffered eight wounds and received ten commendations. In addition to the Knight’s Cross, he was awarded the Gold German Cross for his actions at Rzhev, and later, as a second lieutenant, he received the Wound Badge in Gold for his multiple combat injuries. He was promoted to sergeant, staff sergeant, and second lieutenant by 1945. On May 2, 1945, he was captured by Soviet forces, sent to Siberia, and released on October 10, 1953.
In his last known photograph, he is seen attending a ceremony for Wehrmacht veterans who were awarded the Knight’s Cross. He passed away in 2004 in Dortmund, where he was born in 1920.
Sources:
– Die Ordensträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht (CD), VMD-Verlag GmbH, Osnabrück, 2002
Impact of a lone soldier’s resistance: Hans Sturm's stand at the "Meat grinder of Rzhev"
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Contemporary with the Battle of Stalingrad, which had drawn all attention to itself, an equally bloody confrontation was taking place between the “Red Army” and the Wehrmacht. This was the Battle of Rzhev, also known as the “Rzhev Meat Grinder.” The continuous counterattacks by the Soviets were so costly in blood that the number of casualties is estimated (depending on the historian) to range from 1,160,787 to as many as 2,300,000 soldiers of the “Red Army,” along with about 668,110 soldiers of the Wehrmacht.
Text by Tasos Malesiadas.
During the battle in the “Rzhev Meat Grinder,” neither army conducted major advances or positional breakthroughs. They both fought with exceptional ferocity in the same area from January 1942 to March 1943. The persistence of STAVKA, the Soviet General Staff, was based on the belief that, as a continuation of the counteroffensive at Moscow, they could use attritional warfare to first overthrow “Army Group Center” while the Germans were retreating and later disrupt the German Main Effort, which was unfolding in the South.
The story depicted is that of Second Lieutenant Hans Sturm, who, as a messenger for the 473rd Infantry Regiment of the 273rd Infantry Division, almost single-handedly confronted a regiment of Soviet riflemen and thwarted an encircling maneuver that could have surrounded his regiment.
When Soviet soldiers launched an assault against the German positions, Corporal Sturm found himself in front of the bodies of his comrades, the crew of a machine gun emplacement. The Soviets, unopposed, were approaching the defensive line.
Sturm did not hesitate. He jumped into the trench and manned the machine gun alone. With the first mowing volleys, he swept through the advancing Soviets, forcing them to call for heavy weapon support. Soviet mortars targeted Sturm’s position, but he emerged unscathed. He continued to face successive waves of Soviet infantry, decimating them. His position was then targeted by artillery fire. Despite the salvos, the corporal was undeterred and kept fighting. During a lull in the barrage, he realized that no battle was unfolding around him anymore. The German lines were littered with corpses but had not yet been overrun.
During the night, Sturm changed positions and tried to gather as much ammunition as possible. It was then that he discovered the worst-case scenario: his regiment had retreated, leaving him behind. He decided not to abandon his position. All night, crawling, he gathered grenades and cartridges, took a position with a wide field of fire for his machine gun, and scattered various personal weapons with their ammunition around him.
He was determined to fall fighting.
In the morning, Soviet infantry, with their war cries, launched an attack on Sturm’s previous position after a brief mortar barrage, entering the first line of trenches. Sturm watched and waited. When the Soviet soldiers emerged and moved en masse toward his current position, believing that all was over, he allowed them to approach before opening fire with his machine gun. The Soviet soldiers were taken by surprise and thrown into disarray. They were not only hit by machine-gun bursts but also by a barrage of grenades and rifle grenades.
Sturm fought with all his might to convince the enemy that they were facing more than just a single soldier. As the Soviet soldiers withdrew, Sturm took cover, anticipating that artillery fire would follow. He changed position, taking as many weapons and ammunition as he could. His prediction was accurate—the artillery obliterated his previous position. However, things were now becoming more difficult. Two tanks were set to accompany the infantry in the next assault against him.
Sturm once again decided not to abandon his position. The tanks advanced slowly and steadily toward the German lines, covering the infantry that followed behind them. When they reached the first cluster of trees and bushes, they swept them with their machine guns. Sturm was positioned further back, in a former communications trench.
The first tank passed him, and that’s when he decided to strike at the infantry following behind it. The entire platoon was decimated by the corporal’s fire. The second tank stopped, trying to locate the source of the fire. Meanwhile, the first tank returned to avoid exposure to potential anti-tank fire without infantry cover. The second tank blindly fired three explosive shells. The fragments from the second shell struck Sturm above his right eye, drenching him in blood. The third shell nearly hurled him several meters away. The second tank, under the cover of smoke and its accompanying platoon, withdrew. Half-blind, Sturm once again grabbed his machine gun and changed position, preparing himself for what he believed would be his final stand.
By late afternoon, he had changed positions three more times, fighting off wave after wave of Soviet infantry. While Sturm fought alone, the staff of the 473rd Regiment noticed that, for some inexplicable reason, the Soviet forces were not advancing. Reconnaissance patrols confirmed that a battle was raging in one of the regiment’s previous positions, effectively halting the Soviet forces’ maneuver. The regiment immediately formed a battle group, which advanced toward the previous positions.
By the afternoon of the second day, a company reoccupied the positions that had been abandoned a day and a half earlier, with no indication that the Soviets had advanced. The battle group reported back to the regiment and division, which then formed a new regiment-level battle group, supported by artillery and heavy infantry weapons, to launch a counterattack. The Soviets were overturned, and the regiment recaptured all its defensive positions, as well as the Soviet launch points.
In one of the trenches, they found Corporal Hans Sturm, semi-conscious and half-blind, surrounded by thousands of shell casings in the positions he had defended. Hundrents of dead and wounded Soviet soldiers were in front of him. The divisional staff reported that Hans Sturm had single-handedly faced a regiment of riflemen supported by artillery, heavy infantry weapons, and tanks, and managed to prevent the encirclement of his regiment.
He was awarded the Knight’s Cross for his actions, and during the war, he suffered eight wounds and received ten commendations. In addition to the Knight’s Cross, he was awarded the Gold German Cross for his actions at Rzhev, and later, as a second lieutenant, he received the Wound Badge in Gold for his multiple combat injuries. He was promoted to sergeant, staff sergeant, and second lieutenant by 1945. On May 2, 1945, he was captured by Soviet forces, sent to Siberia, and released on October 10, 1953.
In his last known photograph, he is seen attending a ceremony for Wehrmacht veterans who were awarded the Knight’s Cross. He passed away in 2004 in Dortmund, where he was born in 1920.
Sources:
– Die Ordensträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht (CD), VMD-Verlag GmbH, Osnabrück, 2002