Otto Georges graduated from high school in 1938 and helped out in his father's harness shop. Like most young German men at the time, Georgs was a member of the German Junior League as a child, a little older and a member of the Hitler Youth, and then, in his own words, "automatically joined the Nazi Party at the age of 18." ”
The Germans invaded Poland and France, and Georgs's father did not want him to join the army. However, at that time, the whole of Germany was immersed in a fanatical militaristic atmosphere like the fans jumping up and down on the edge of the football field. GeorgS the Elder fought in World War I and knew exactly what the war was all about.
Georgs in a self-propelled anti-tank artillery uniform.
In October 1942, Georgs enlisted in the army and underwent a three-month training of combat engineers in Magdeburg, learning skills such as mine clearance, bridge building and blasting. After training, he was sent to Denmark to form a new infantry division. Here, Georgs was assigned to the division's tank annihilation battalion, probably because his sapper skills had not yet been trained at home. The battalion was equipped with a number of self-propelled anti-tank guns, the only motorized unit in the division, and even the division's artillery regiments had to use horses to pull the artillery, not to mention the infantry on foot.
A self-propelled tank destroyer company had a total of 180 men, of whom 64 were front-line combatants. Georgs was a messenger in the company and had to ride around on a motorcycle.
Georgs's infantry division was scheduled to go to the Eastern Front. But then went to Italy and took part in the disarmament of Italian troops in September 1943. Later, the troops were transferred to Yugoslavia to participate in the security war, where they remained until January 1944.
The Partisans were so powerful that they even had their own armored units and artillery, and according to Georgs, both sides acted terribly brutal. As a messenger, Georgs not only had to pass orders back and forth between the front and rear, but also had to pick up and drop off the wounded, and to take on the task of transporting ammunition and fuel forward, but the carrying capacity of the motorcycle was relatively limited, and it could not transport much at a time.
In January 1944, the troops were transferred back to the Italian theater and went to Cassino to replace the overly damaged 15th and 20th Panzergrenadier Divisions against the British, Georgs recalled:
We were stronger than the British, but we couldn't do anything about their guns, and the fire was too fierce. In Cassino, I can't wait to see people from all over the world, even Indians coming!
After being ravaged by naval guns, the infantry division withdrew to Croatia, and all heavy weapons, including self-propelled anti-tank guns, were lost at Cassino. After that, they were only replenished with towed anti-tank guns, and some motor vehicles had to be freed up to tow them.
Georgs was photographed with his comrades during the war, and he did not reveal which unit he came from. The combat vehicle in the background is the Weasel III H self-propelled anti-tank gun, each tank destroyer company equipped with 9 vehicles.
Before New Year's Day 1945, the division was again deployed to the defensive line on the south side of Lake Balaton in Hungary, but on the opposite side were weak Soviet and Bulgarian troops, who were busy until March and failed to break through the German line. The loudspeakers of the Soviet army kept carrying out propaganda to persuade surrender, chanting: "Surrender! You can eat hot meals here 5 times a day! In March, the Soviets began to attack Vienna, and in order to relieve the pressure on the defense of Vienna, Georgs's troops were ordered to launch a counter-offensive, and like most German troops at the end of World War II, this infantry division that lacked major generals was already very difficult to fight in a defensive state, and the effect of the attack could be imagined.
Soviet reinforcements arrived at the battlefield and drove the division from Hungary to Slovenia, all the way back to Marburg an der Drau (present-day Maribor, Slovenia), which was designated a fortress city and there was no way to retreat.
When the news of Hitler's death came, the fighting here largely stopped. Many officers and men had lost their fighting spirit and just wanted to disband and go home quickly, but their division commanders did not agree.
Recalling his experiences at the end of the war, Georgs put it this way:
We can only fight hard, and if we don't, we will either be shot or hanged. They (referring to the gendarmes) will only think that "these bastards want to leave their positions and run away" and are inhumane. Just two days before the end of the war, a sergeant major escaped with 12 people, only to be caught and shot, just two days away!
Finally waiting for the news of the unconditional surrender, the First Reaction of these German soldiers when they heard the news was to cheer and cheer, and then began to pack their bags, planning to go home in pairs. Their actions were discovered by the company commander, who advised them:
Don't do stupid things, I promised the commander that I would send you back to your hometown safely, do you want to go to the Soviet prisoner of war camp or to Siberia?
The commander first gave the order to stand still, then cut off contact with the headquarters of the army group, and led everyone to flee all the way to Austria, avoiding the Soviets, and then surrendering when they encountered American or British troops. On 11 May, they finally found the British and the war was over.
Toward the end of the war in 1945, three German divisions retreated north along the Drau River, pushing fuel-depleted cars into the river all the way, which the British later fished for their own use.
The budget-conscious British refused to throw anything away, and the recycled cars were thoroughly cleaned, renovated, and parked in different categories, waiting for the troops to come and collect them. The British were particularly fond of Mercedes-Benz cars, and almost all of Austria's Mercedes-Benz cars were looted. They brought in auto mechanics from the civilian population and organized a group of prisoners of war to repair the vehicles.
Georgs, who had become a prisoner of war, repaired his car for almost a year in the British army in Marburg, and received 15 Reich marks a month from the British (note: after the fall of Nazi Germany, its currency was used for some time). He was lucky compared to his comrades in Yugoslavia, Cassino, Balaton and Slovenia.
Georgs in his later years.