Some YouTube video how did German soldiers and civilians both celebrated Christmas during World War Two!
Now for the rest of the story 1942 Christmas for the German soldier not always an event to be celebrated. Especially for those surrounded and trapped in Stalingrad 1942.
"Es darf nie wieder Krieg von deutschem Boden ausgehen! - War must never again start on German soil!"
The idealized German Christmas as during war time 1942:
German military personnel attempting to celebrate a traditional German Christmas all fronts of the war. Africa, the Atlantic, Lapland, the Caucasus. The obligatory Christmas tree. Specialized Christmas delicacies. Christmas cards and toys for those at home. Everybody smiling and happy. Ladies alone their husbands serving at the front celebrating as a group. Those wounded at the hospital soldiers recuperating also not forgotten. The tannenbaum with lighting and ornaments. Christmas Day civilians and soldiers both celebrating a little bit of Christmas cheer schnapps perhaps. [ no close caption or subtitles in English here]
Now for the rest of the story 1942 Christmas for the German soldier not always an event to be celebrated. Especially for those surrounded and trapped in Stalingrad 1942.
[click on link to see the You Tube video]
For a poor translation from the German to English: Go to 1. Settings 2. subtitles 3. German auto generated 4. auto translate 5. scroll and enable English.
"The then Wehrmacht soldier Josef Schaaf reports on his experiences at Christmas 1942 in Stalingrad and the effects on the morale of the troops."
Not difficult to imagine the morale of the German soldier at Stalingrad 1942 as being less than happy and exuberant. That feeling of utter hopelessness and abandonment combined with a resignation that one was going to face an inevitable terrible and cruel fate. For many of those German soldiers trapped in Stalingrad death was the preferred outcome.
coolbert.
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