Winzer Bruno.

Soldier of three armies

The word "on a personal matter"

These notes were by no means intended as a biography of a soldier, although I am telling here about what I experienced during my years of service in the Reichswehr, Wehrmacht and Bundeswehr. Books and films, imbued with false soldier romance, contributed greatly to my decision to devote myself to this profession, because of which the best years of my life were spent meaningless and unfruitful.

I intend to describe these years exactly as I experienced them; recreate events exactly as I saw them; draw from them those lessons that I consider necessary for our common benefit. Therefore, it would be completely inappropriate to gloss over the deformities of military education, or even more so to embellish front-line battles. I myself only realized very late that the reactionary Reichswehr, Hitler’s Wehrmacht and the pseudo-democratic Bundeswehr differ from each other only in external attributes; the character and goals of the Bundeswehr have not changed. Therefore, the purpose of my book is to show, at all costs, the enduring contradiction between militarism and a truly military spirit.

Thousands of times in three armies I said “that’s right,” until I said my immutable “no,” shaking off the power of pernicious traditions. I contrast the false pathos of retired generals, who have never learned anything from history, who try in their memoirs and anniversary speeches to idealize the way of the cross of the soldiers whom they sent to their deaths, with the words of a former war participant who sincerely strives for truth and peace. The cruel pictures I sometimes draw of the events of that time were inspired in me by my duty to all the women and men who were doomed - in the rear or at the front - to bear the great hardships of the war; before those whose trust was betrayed by the criminal political regime and who, at the cost of enormous efforts, achieved victory over fascism.

To deny the dedication of some would be to underestimate the victory of others.

Many witnesses of the First and Second World Wars are still alive, who, like me, serving militarism, were used for purposes hostile to the interests of both their own people and other peoples. Both of these military generations must consider it their primary task, day after day, to prevent by all means the fire of a third world war from breaking out. But some people in Germany are still prevented from taking a progressive position by false traditions, social differences, capitalist interests and prejudices instilled in them by education. The idea of ​​peace and the slogan “never again” have not yet taken root there; but the path of development from the initial unconscious “rejection” to the extra-parliamentary opposition that has arisen in our days proves that an increasing number of West German citizens are beginning to understand in which direction the development of the Federal Republic is now going. Obstacles to peace must be removed. My work should also serve as a modest contribution to this matter.

May this book help ensure that the necessary dialogue between fathers, witnesses of the recent past, and sons, embodying the future, continues to benefit both.

“Did Major Winzer take tape recordings with him?”

This day, May day 1960, was no different from all previous ones. I could tell the time even without looking at my watch. My balcony faced south, and when the sun slowly emerged from around the left corner of the house, it was about nine in the morning.

The flow of cars has returned to its usual course - before the start of the working day it widens, resembling the Rhine flooded after the rains, which is just a stone's throw from here. People, splashed out by this stream of cars into the city, had already been in factories and stores for several hours or sitting on stools in numerous institutions. A day no different from all the previous ones.

The hubbub and laughter of children fell silent on the streets, who, whistling and calling to each other, came from all over and merged into a multi-colored line running to school. Somewhere nearby, a woman’s voice could be heard from a window, and music from a radio was playing nearby. The air was filled with the incessant, but not seemingly bothersome, hum of a busy living, working city, which was strangely combined with the delightful freshness of spring. It was a May day, indistinguishable from other days in May.

Here, on the outskirts of Karlsruhe, in Baden, there is a village of officers and non-commissioned officers of the Bundeswehr. Six three-story modern, light-colored buildings stand in the middle of the forest. You can get here only along a special highway or along a fenced path for pedestrians. The highway ends in a curved cul-de-sac designed for parking, and the arrangement of houses around it is reminiscent of the cart fence used by our ancestors, or perhaps even the “all-round defense” that became famous in the last war. Ordinary civilians avoid this village. In all garrisons they make jokes - and quite bitingly - about the Bundeswehr “silos”.

On the top floor of one of these buildings I had a wonderful, spacious apartment. A kitchen, a bathroom, two toilets, a children's room, a bedroom, a dining room and an office - these were my family's rented possessions. This small abode of joys, closed from the world, was completed by a balcony almost nine meters long, onto which the doors of two rooms opened.

The forest approached the houses so close that the branches of the trees almost touched the windows. Perky dark red squirrels climbed up flower boxes and carried nuts hidden for them.

That morning, May seemed to want to show himself in all his charm. The sun was shining and it was so warm that my wife and I had breakfast on the balcony. In the dining room, my son Ulrich lay in his wicker carriage and slept in the peaceful, deep sleep that a man sleeps in the twelfth month of his earthly existence. And before that I played with him on the carpet. This little joy was rare for me: I spent my days in service outside our village. But now my vacation has started, and my wife and I have not yet decided whether we will go on a trip with the baby. We didn’t have any plans yet. I just wanted to relax.

I had no presentiment that this day would have a very special significance in my life, although I was extremely worried about one not entirely clear circumstance, because of which I, even despite my vacation, went to work.

I was the press liaison officer for Air Force Group South. A disagreement arose with Minister Franz Josef Strauss over a press conference I recently organized in Karlsruhe. I was waiting for at least some kind of response from my superiors, and it was clear to me as daylight that nothing good could be expected from him. Strauss had heard that many officers were in opposition against him, and he would undoubtedly react to this.

At about ten o'clock I left the village for the headquarters of the "South" group. He was located in the city center, opposite the main station, in the Reichshof Hotel, which the Bundeswehr rented and adapted for its needs.

In front of the building, on the right side, where there was a parking lot for official vehicles, there were several jeeps, many standard bluish-gray Bundeswehr private cars, a large general’s Opel Captain. Fortunately, I found a place for my Volkswagen on the left, between the cars belonging to the headquarters officers.

When I entered the Reichshof, the guard saluted me and let me through without asking for my official identification, even though I was in civilian clothes. He knew me, and besides, almost all of us then wore civilian clothes and only in the office premises we put on the uniform, which was kept in the closet. By the end of class, everyone changed clothes again. We have, so to speak, contrasted the “citizen in military uniform” with the “soldier in civilian clothes.” Under this guise it was impossible to recognize us as Bundeswehr officers and to start an unwanted argument with us somewhere on the street, in a restaurant, on a train, etc. We often had to “defend” our profession: the majority of the people strongly disagreed with remilitarization, despite the fact that every project related to the Bundeswehr was invariably accepted by the Bundestag.

After answering the sentry's greeting, I walked through the lobby to the wide staircase. On the fourth floor was the personnel department of the headquarters, and at the end of the long corridor was my department, whose function was to liaise with civilian organizations in order to involve young people in the Bundeswehr. In one of the four rooms occupied by the department was my office, where Captain Nebe, who was replacing me during vacation, now worked. From the window one could see the crowded station square. There was a desk in the office, along the walls of the room there were shelves for folders and newspapers, and in the middle there was a round table and four comfortable soft chairs. True, they were not very suitable for a military establishment, but my visitors were mainly journalists, whom I educated, explaining to them the advantages of the Bundeswehr. And sometimes you listen patiently in an easy chair.

Bruno Winzer.

Bruno Winzer

Memoirs of a German officer, in which the author talks about his service in the Reichswehr, Hitler's Wehrmacht and the Bundeswehr. In 1960, Bruno Winzer, a Bundeswehr staff officer, secretly left West Germany for the German Democratic Republic, where he published this book, the story of his life.

Bruno Winzer. Soldier of three armies.

The word "on a personal matter"

These notes were by no means intended as a biography of a soldier, although I am telling here about what I experienced during my years of service in the Reichswehr, Wehrmacht and Bundeswehr. Books and films, imbued with false soldier romance, contributed greatly to my decision to devote myself to this profession, because of which the best years of my life were spent meaningless and unfruitful.

I intend to describe these years exactly as I experienced them; recreate events exactly as I saw them; draw from them those lessons that I consider necessary for our common benefit. Therefore, it would be completely inappropriate to gloss over the deformities of military education, or even more so to embellish front-line battles. I myself only realized very late that the reactionary Reichswehr, Hitler’s Wehrmacht and the pseudo-democratic Bundeswehr differ from each other only in external attributes; the character and goals of the Bundeswehr have not changed. Therefore, the purpose of my book is to show, at all costs, the enduring contradiction between militarism and a truly military spirit.

Thousands of times in three armies I said “that’s right,” until I said my immutable “no,” shaking off the power of pernicious traditions. I contrast the false pathos of retired generals, who have never learned anything from history, who try in their memoirs and anniversary speeches to idealize the way of the cross of the soldiers whom they sent to their deaths, with the words of a former war participant who sincerely strives for truth and peace. The cruel pictures I sometimes draw of the events of that time were inspired in me by my duty to all the women and men who were doomed - in the rear or at the front - to bear the great hardships of the war; before those whose trust was betrayed by the criminal political regime and who, at the cost of enormous efforts, achieved victory over fascism.

To deny the dedication of some would be to underestimate the victory of others.

Many witnesses of the First and Second World Wars are still alive, who, like me, serving militarism, were used for purposes hostile to the interests of both their own people and other peoples. Both of these military generations must consider it their primary task, day after day, to prevent by all means the fire of a third world war from breaking out. But some people in Germany are still prevented from taking a progressive position by false traditions, social differences, capitalist interests and prejudices instilled in them by education. The idea of ​​peace and the slogan “never again” have not yet taken root there; but the path of development from the initial unconscious “rejection” to the extra-parliamentary opposition that has arisen in our days proves that an increasing number of West German citizens are beginning to understand in which direction the development of the Federal Republic is now going. Obstacles to peace must be removed. My work should also serve as a modest contribution to this matter.

May this book help ensure that the necessary dialogue between fathers, witnesses of the recent past, and sons, embodying the future, continues to benefit both.

“Did Major Winzer take tape recordings with him?”

This day, May day 1960, was no different from all previous ones. I could tell the time even without looking at my watch. My balcony faced south, and when the sun slowly emerged from around the left corner of the house, it was about nine in the morning.

The flow of cars has returned to its usual course - before the start of the working day it widens, resembling the Rhine flooded after the rains, which is just a stone's throw from here. People, splashed out by this stream of cars into the city, had already been in factories and stores for several hours or sitting on stools in numerous institutions. A day no different from all the previous ones.

The hubbub and laughter of children fell silent on the streets, who, whistling and calling to each other, came from all over and merged into a multi-colored line running to school. Somewhere nearby, a woman’s voice was heard from a window, and music from a radio was playing nearby.

The air was filled with the incessant, but not seemingly bothersome, hum of a busy living, working city, which was strangely combined with the delightful freshness of spring. It was a May day, indistinguishable from other days in May.

Here, on the outskirts of Karlsruhe, in Baden, there is a village of officers and non-commissioned officers of the Bundeswehr. Six three-story modern, light-colored buildings stand in the middle of the forest. You can get here only along a special highway or along a fenced path for pedestrians. The highway ends in a curved cul-de-sac designed for parking, and the arrangement of houses around it is reminiscent of the cart fence used by our ancestors, or perhaps even the “all-round defense” that became famous in the last war. Ordinary civilians avoid this village. In all garrisons they make jokes - and quite bitingly - about the Bundeswehr “silos”.

On the top floor of one of these buildings I had a wonderful, spacious apartment. A kitchen, a bathroom, two toilets, a children's room, a bedroom, a dining room and an office - these were my family's rented possessions. This small abode of joys, closed from the world, was completed by a balcony almost nine meters long, onto which the doors of two rooms opened.

The forest approached the houses so close that the branches of the trees almost touched the windows.

Perky dark red squirrels climbed up flower boxes and carried nuts hidden for them.

That morning, May seemed to want to show himself in all his charm. The sun was shining and it was so warm that my wife and I had breakfast on the balcony. In the dining room, my son Ulrich lay in his wicker carriage and slept in the peaceful, deep sleep that a man sleeps in the twelfth month of his earthly existence. And before that I played with him on the carpet. This little joy was rare for me: I spent my days in service outside our village. But now my vacation has started, and my wife and I have not yet decided whether we will go on a trip with the baby. We didn’t have any plans yet. I just wanted to relax.

I had no presentiment that this day would have a very special significance in my life, although I was extremely worried about one not entirely clear circumstance, because of which I, even despite my vacation, went to work.

I was the press liaison officer for Air Force Group South. A disagreement arose with Minister Franz Josef Strauss over a press conference I recently organized in Karlsruhe. I was waiting for at least some kind of response from my superiors, and it was clear to me as daylight that nothing good could be expected from him. Strauss had heard that many officers were in opposition against him, and he would undoubtedly react to this.

At about ten o'clock I left the village for the headquarters of the "South" group. He was located in the city center, opposite the main station, in the Reichshof Hotel, which the Bundeswehr rented and adapted for its needs.

In front of the building, on the right side, where there was a parking lot for official cars, there were several jeeps, many standard bluish-gray Bundeswehr private cars, and a large general’s Opel Captain. Fortunately, I found a place for my Volkswagen on the left, between the cars belonging to the headquarters officers.

When I entered the Reichshof, the guard saluted me and let me through without asking for my official identification, even though I was in civilian clothes. He knew me, and besides, almost all of us then wore civilian clothes and only in the office premises we put on the uniform, which was kept in the closet. By the end of class, everyone changed clothes again. We have, so to speak, contrasted the “citizen in military uniform” with the “soldier in civilian clothes.” Under this guise it was impossible to recognize us as Bundeswehr officers and to start an unwanted argument with us somewhere on the street, in a restaurant, on a train, etc. We often had to “defend” our profession: the majority of the people strongly disagreed with remilitarization, despite the fact that every project related to the Bundeswehr was invariably adopted by the Bundestag.

After answering the sentry's greeting, I walked through the lobby to the wide staircase. On the fourth floor was the personnel department of the headquarters, and at the end of the long corridor was my department, whose function was to liaise with civilian organizations in order to involve young people in the Bundeswehr. In one of the four rooms occupied by the department was my office, where Captain Nebe, who was replacing me during vacation, now worked. From the window one could see the crowded station square. There was a desk in the office, along the walls of the room there were shelves for folders and newspapers, and in the middle there was a round table and four comfortable soft chairs. True, they were not very suitable for a military establishment, but my visitors were mainly journalists, whom I educated, explaining to them the advantages of the Bundeswehr. And sometimes you listen patiently in an easy chair.

In my office hung a world map with NATO military bases, a map of Europe, where Germany was represented within the borders of 1937 - however, with the peculiarity that the territory of the GDR, painted over in crimson paint, was called the Soviet zone - and a large painting. It depicted Wehrmacht motorized infantry racing at full speed as it stormed some Soviet position - the artist captured here the moment of the offensive. Paintings...

Commanders of national SS formations Konstantin Aleksandrovich Zalessky

Soldier of three armies

Soldier of three armies

Who has not ruled over the territory of modern Croatia! In the 1st century BC it came under the rule of Rome and a little later became part of the Roman provinces of Pannonia and Dalmatia. In the 3rd-5th centuries, the Visigoths, Huns and Ostrogoths constantly invaded here, in the 6th century - Avars and Slavs. In the 7th century, the Slavs finally pushed the local population - the Illyrians - into the mountains and settled Croatia. But already in the next, 8th century, the Franks came. At the end of the next century, the Croatian princes managed to achieve independence and began the creation of a powerful Slavic state. The logical result of their actions was the proclamation of Prince Tomislav as king in 925. But already in 1102, as a result of interdynastic marriages, Croatia found itself under the rule of the Hungarian kings - hence the gravitational pull of this region towards Hungary, which ultimately brought it under the rule of the Austrian Habsburgs - the Holy Roman Emperors of the German nation. But Croatia continued to gravitate towards the Hungarian part of the Habsburg Empire, and therefore, when the dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy was created in the middle of the 19th century, it fell into the zone of interests of Hungary, and the Croatian-Hungarian agreement of 1868, which recognized the administrative, judicial and cultural-church autonomy of Croatia, stated that these lands are an integral part of the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary.

However, the central authorities of the Habsburg monarchy, although they placed a certain emphasis on the local Croatian nobility, still saw the German population of Austria as their basis. And therefore, quite a significant number of Germans gradually moved to the territory of Croatia - these were officials, military men, just people looking for a better life - especially since the central government always supported the Germans. As a result, a fairly large German diaspora has developed in Croatia. Marriages between Germans and Croats were quite common, especially since there were no religious obstacles to this - the Croats were traditionally Catholics, like the Austrians. Having partially assimilated, partially retained their German roots, such Germans later - after the Nazis came to power in Germany and the Anschluss of Austria - began to be called Volksdeutsche, that is, ethnic Germans (“persons of German blood”) who lived outside the territory of the Third Reich. In principle, they were recognized as full-fledged Germans, but latently they were considered “second-class Germans.”

The Hampel family, who settled in Sisak, were such Volksdeutsche. The city was located on the Sava River, 57 kilometers southeast of the capital of Croatia - Zagreb. Today it is the center of the Sisak-Moslava district and is home to about 46 thousand people. Here, on January 20, 1895, a son was born to the Catholic Hampel couple, who was named Disederius at baptism in honor of St. Dysederius (Desiderius) - or rather, St. Didier, Bishop of Vienne, who was executed because of his opposition to the notorious Brunehilde.

A military career was chosen for the young man and after completing a course of science at a public school and gymnasium, he was sent to the cadet corps. And then June 28, 1914 came. On this day, the Chairman of the Land Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Inspector of the Army and Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Feldzeichmeister Oskar Patiorek welcomed in the regional capital - Sarajevo - the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Inspector General of the Armed Forces of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his morganatic wife, Duchess Sophia of Hohenberg . Franz Ferdinand was supposed to be present at major military maneuvers near the borders of Serbia. When the car of the heir and his wife was driving along the streets of Sarajevo, shots were fired. A member of the terrorist organization Mlada Bosnia, student Gavrilo Princip, mortally wounded the Archduke. From that moment on, events developed rapidly, and within a month the First World War broke out on the fields of Europe.

In mid-October 1914, 19-year-old Dysederius Hampel’s studies ended and he volunteered for the front. After a short preparatory course, he was enrolled in the 16th Kaiser and Royal Infantry Regiment of Baron von Giesl, stationed in Vienna before the war (K.u.K. Infanterieregiment Freiherr von Giesl Nr.16). This regiment was largely staffed by Croats, although there were many Germans there, including people from the Balkans. At that time, the regiment, which was part of the 72nd Brigade of the 36th Infantry Division, was also commanded by a Croatian, Colonel Martin Verkljan.

The division, which was part of the XIII Army Corps, was at that time transferred from Serbia to the Russian Front - to Bukovina and the Carpathians - and included in the German Southeastern Army of General Alexander von Linsingen (however, in the same year it was returned to the composition of the Austro-Hungarian troops - in the 7th Army of Baron Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin). Fighting as part of the German troops brought Hampel, who received the rank of lieutenant on May 1, 1915, his first foreign award - the Iron Cross 2nd class. (Perhaps the presence of this award played a role later - during the Second World War, but these are just assumptions.) From April 1915, he commanded a platoon, and in the summer of that year he took command of the 14th company of his regiment. Hampel was wounded several times - he received a black Wound Badge (Verwundetenabzeichen 1918 in Schwarz), was promoted to chief lieutenant on May 1, 1917, and was awarded quite decent awards for a junior officer - the 1st Class Merit Medal (Tapferkeitsmedaille 1. Klasse) , Military Merit Cross with military decorations and swords (Milit?rische Verdienstkreuz mit Kriegsdekoration und Schwertern) and Silver Military Merit Medal (Milit?rische Verdienstmedaille in Silber). Note that the last award was extremely honorable and was awarded only to soldiers and officers who showed personal courage on the battlefield. Judging by the awards, Khampel was a very brave military officer who showed himself well in difficult battles with the Russian army.

From mid-1918 to September, he commanded the 4th (machine gun) company of his regiment - officers who had especially proven themselves were appointed to such posts. And in September 1918 he led the battalion. By this time, his regiment had been transferred to the Balkans, where he had to take part in operations against the Serbs, not only against regular units, but also against the Chetniks (in fact, partisans).

The Balkan front of the Austro-Hungarian troops in October-November 1918 was rapidly falling apart, and on November 3, 1918, Austria-Hungary capitulated. Hampel surrendered to French troops and was interned in a prisoner of war camp in Serbia, where he spent about a year. He was then released by the French authorities and taken to Vienna along with other prisoners of war. By this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire ceased to exist and new countries appeared on the map of Europe - Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (future Yugoslavia). The Entente powers decided the question of which of the Habsburg subjects would live in which country, quite simply - by place of birth. Thus, the ethnic German Dysederius Hampel had to go to Croatia, which now found itself under the scepter of the Serbian Karageorgievic dynasty. And there was no place for the Germans there. Therefore, Hampel declared himself a subject of Hungary - after all, Croatia was part of the Hungarian kingdom during the Habsburg monarchy - and asked to be sent to Budapest.

Hungary was seething, as soon as the troops of the Commander-in-Chief of the Hungarian National Army, Admiral Miklos Horthy, defeated the Hungarian Soviet Republic and stopped the bloody phantasmagoria perpetrated by the Bela Kun regime. On November 16, 1919, troops under the command of Horthy entered Budapest, and the Bolshevik regime in Hungary, directed from Moscow, was put to rest. On March 1, 1920, Miklós Horthy was proclaimed regent of Hungary by parliament (the country was declared a monarchy in January 1920, but a monarch was never elected). Hampel did not join the small army of Hungary, limited by the terms of the Treaty of Trianon, and decided to acquire a peaceful profession and somehow settle down in the post-war world. To do this, it was necessary to get an education, and the chief lieutenant, who was left out of work, went to Germany - firstly, there were a significant number of higher educational institutions, and secondly, he was still a German and it was easier for him to get an education in Germany, than in their new homeland.

In 1925-1928, Dysederius Hampel studied forestry at the University of Munich, and then returned to Hungary, where he found work in his specialty. In December 1937, Hampel enlisted in the Hungarian army, serving in the Budapest garrison until March 1941. In November 1941, he commanded anti-aircraft units in Csepel, a town in the suburbs of Budapest (in 1950 Csepel was included in the capital of Hungary), where a large engineering plant was located.

On April 6, 1941, the Third Reich began a war against Yugoslavia, and on April 17, at 3:25 a.m. in Belgrade, General Danilo Kalafatovich signed an armistice agreement, which provided for the unconditional surrender of the Yugoslav armed forces. Most Croats welcomed the Germans as liberators. While the Battle of Yugoslavia was still in full swing, on April 10, 1941, Yugoslav army colonel and secret member of the Ustasha organization Slavko Kvaternik captured Zagreb and proclaimed the creation of the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska; NDH). Ante Pavelić was declared the “Poglavnik” (leader) of the new state, and Kvaternik became the commander-in-chief of the Croatian Armed Forces (which did not yet exist at that time). What Croatian nationalists had been dreaming of since 1918 finally came true - a new state arose on the map of Europe, which was recognized only by Germany and its satellites. The Independent State of Croatia (ISC) included not only the territories inhabited by Croats, it also included Bosnia and Herzegovina. At one time, this territory, which had long been under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, was first occupied and then, in 1908, annexed by Austria-Hungary. The peculiarity of this region was that during its long stay as part of the Ottoman Empire, the majority of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina converted to Islam, despite the fact that, let us recall, the Croats were mostly Catholics - although Croats and Bosniaks are very close Slavic peoples in origin.

The new authorities of Croatia began by creating their own army - the basis of its officer corps were those Croats who served in the Yugoslav army, as well as former officers of the Austro-Hungarian army, who by chance found themselves places in the army of Yugoslavia. Although Croats were appointed almost exclusively to senior command posts, Volksdeutsche were also welcomed. Considering that the German Hampel had no prospects in the Hungarian army at the end of 1941, he considered that for his future career it would be better to transfer to the NGH army. He immediately received the next rank and was enlisted in the Home Guard with the rank of fighter (Bojnik) - that is, major. Thus, by 1941, Hampel was able to serve in three armies - Austro-Hungarian, Hungarian and Croatian. True, he did not make a special career in any of them and did not rise above the rank of major. Hampel served in the intelligence department of the headquarters of the III Army Domobran Corps, units of which were stationed in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina (with headquarters in the center of Bosnia and Herzegovina - the city of Sarajevo).

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Winzer Bruno Soldier of Three Armies

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From the author's book

Extract from the combat schedule of the army forces of Lieutenant General P. N. Wrangel on October 28, 1920 1st Army Commander - General A. P. Kutepov. 1st Army Corps - General P. K. Pisarev. ... Drozdovsky Division - General KA . Kellner. Division composition: 1st Drozdovsky Rifle

What do you call a person who devoted his entire life exclusively to war and military service? Someone who has proven himself to be a good soldier and a worthy officer with a keen sense of, although not quite standard, but still justice? A fighter who managed to fight under the flags of three countries in three wars? He would probably be called a hero if we lived in a world where the perception of history does not depend on the fact of victory in the war of one side or another. But we live in the real world, and therefore Lauri Törni, although praised by some of his compatriots for his steadfastness and courage, for the majority (and especially for the residents of our country) remains a war criminal, a racist and a Russophobe, who tarnished his biography with service in the Finnish army during the Winter War war and in the SS during World War II.

This article is not intended to clear the reputation of the “hot Finnish guy”, nor is it intended to belittle him. This is simply a biography of a man who loved to fight and followed his inner code of honor. Read it, and perhaps you will form your own opinion about who we should consider Lauri Tierney to be: a hero, a criminal, or a typical product of his time?

Choosing a vocation and the first war

Lauri Allan Törni was born on May 28, 1919 in the then Finnish city of Viipuri (now the city of Vyborg, Leningrad region) in the family of a naval captain. Like most of his peers, he loved skiing and hunting. After entering the school, Lauri began to show an interest in military affairs, and then joined the ranks of the Schutskor (Security Corps), a paramilitary organization that took over the functions of law enforcement after the dissolution of the Finnish police in 1917. After this, in 1938, Turney volunteered for the army, where they noticed his potential and sent him to a course, from which Lowry returned with the rank of junior sergeant.

During the February Revolution, NicholasII abdicated not only the Russian throne, but also the title of Grand Duke of Finland, which, in turn, allowed the Finnish government to declare the country's independence. One of the government's innovations was the dissolution of the police. During this period, the spontaneous emergence of law enforcement units - Shyutskor - was noted throughout the country. In rural areas, as well as among workers, the Punakaart (Finnish Red Guard) units took over the same functions. Due to ideological contradictions, Shutskor, where anti-communist sentiments were strong, quite often entered into armed confrontation with Punakaart detachments, and in 1918 the Security Corps took an active part in the suppression of the “Finnish Revolution”.

Lauri Törni's attainment of the rank of sergeant coincided with the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war. Under the command of Major Matti Armas Aarnio, nicknamed "Motti Matti" (Boiler Master Matti), he participated as part of the 4th Jaeger Battalion in the operation to encircle and destroy the 18th Infantry Division under the command of Colonel Kondrashov in the notorious Death Valley. During the fighting, Lauri was noted by the command as a fighter capable of decisive action. Therefore, he was sent to officer school. For Turney himself, this was another confirmation that he was not mistaken in his choice of vocation. By the end of the Soviet-Finnish War, Lauri Törni arrived with the rank of second lieutenant and with three awards on his chest (Bronze Medal of Freedom, Silver Medal of Freedom and Winter War Medal).

Along with the final choice of profession, it was during this period that the young Finn emerged as an ardent anti-communist, nationalist and Russophobe. However, compared to other Europeans who held the same views, Lowry had good reasons for this. The fact is that the result of the war was the Moscow Treaty of 1940, according to which approximately 40,000 square kilometers of Finnish territory were given to the Soviet Union, and among these lands was Terni’s small homeland, the city of Viipuri. The young lieutenant lost his home and his parents’ home, and, judging without prejudice, one can understand why Lauri Törni, like many young Finns, chose the side of the Reich in the upcoming world conflict.

Finnish revenge

In May 1941, Lauri Törni and a company of almost 1,300 Finnish volunteers went to Germany, where he underwent military training for service in the SS troops. Later, the SS volunteer battalion Nordost (SS-Freiwilligen Bataillon Nordost) is formed from the trained Finns. As part of this battalion, Lauri receives the rank of Untersturmführer, which is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the Wehrmacht. The German attack on the USSR in June 1941 probably saw Tierney as an excellent opportunity to settle scores with the Soviets, but the SS Main Directorate had its own views on his fate. In July of the same year, the young Finnish Untersturmführer and several other officers were demobilized and sent back to Finland. The reason for this was the excess of the required number of officers in the SS Nordost battalion. In short, there was simply no suitable position for Lauri Tierney.

The creation of the Finnish volunteer battalion differed in its procedure from the formation of similar units in other countries. Back in early 1941, the German military attaché reported that there were many Winter War veterans in Finland who would like to take revenge on the USSR. However, the territory of Finland was not occupied by the Germans, and therefore, two sovereign states had to be involved in this process, in one of which (Finland) this kind of service was considered as mercenary work and fell under the corresponding article of the criminal code. At the same time, Finland did not want to spoil relations with the Reich with its refusal, so it took several months to resolve all aspects. As a result, recruitment was carried out in secret and under the guise of sending volunteers to work at industrial enterprises in Germany.

Since August 1941, Törni, commanding the 8th light special detachment of the 1st division of the Finnish armed forces, entered the war with the USSR. His detachment began its military journey from the Karelian fortified area, then took part in the occupation of Olonets, Petrozavodsk and Kondopoga, as well as in the capture of Medvezhyegorsk and Pindushi. After Finnish troops managed to block the railway connection with Murmansk and stabilize the situation at the front in the Medvezhyegorsk region, Lauri and his special squad were involved in reconnaissance raids.

In March 1942, Lauri Turney was promoted to lieutenant, but a few days later, during one of the reconnaissance operations in the area of ​​the same ill-fated Medvezhyegorsk, Lieutenant Lauri Turney stepped on a mine and received a portion of shrapnel. He, partially paralyzed, is sent to a military hospital. However, along with the wound, the Finn receives another rank of senior lieutenant. By the time Lauri, having recovered from his wounds, returned to the war, it had already passed the phase of active hostilities and became positional. Senior Lieutenant Törni's unit was disbanded as unnecessary, and he himself was sent to the 56th Infantry Regiment, which, by a fortunate coincidence, was commanded by the same Matti Aarnio.

Soviet-Finnish War 1941–1944 in domestic historiography it is considered to be part of the front of the Great Patriotic War; in Germany it is treated as part of the Barbarossa plan and an integral part of the Second World War. Most Finnish historians call it the “Continuation War,” since the inhabitants of Finland themselves saw in this conflict a chance to take revenge on the USSR for the Winter War and regain the territories lost under the Moscow Treaty.

Remembering the merits of Lauri Törni in the last war, “Motti Matti” in December 1942 instructs him to recruit volunteers from among the military personnel of the 1st division in order to create a separate company of rangers on their basis. This company was needed to carry out special missions, including behind the front line. By January 1943, the special Jaeger unit was completed. All fighters of the special unit of the rangers, which in unofficial circles were called “Turni”, wore blue stripes on their uniforms, where a large red letter “T” stood against the background of a yellow lightning bolt.

The biggest victories of this unit can be considered the work in the rear of the Red Army in Karelia. Among other merits, in March 1943, the rangers were able to prevent Soviet saboteurs from crossing the front line to the rear of the Finnish troops. From July 26 to August 13, 1944, Lauri Törni, who had already received the Mannerheim Cross by that time, took part in the battles of Ilomantsi. It is noteworthy that it was during this period that the future President of Finland, Mauno Koivisto, fought in his squad. In August of the same year, Senior Lieutenant Törni became a captain, but already on September 19, 1944, Finland concluded a truce with the USSR and the Finnish war with the Russians ended again.

As the special squad “Jagers of Turni” conducts more and more successful operations both on the front line and beyond, various mythical details begin to be woven into Lauri’s biography. For example, the most common myth–that for Lauri Törni, “dead or alive,” the Soviet command set a reward of three million Finnish marks. Most experts argue that this is a myth, since in the USSR, in principle, there was no tradition of assigning rewards for people from the enemy camp.

A matter of principle

After Finland concluded a truce with the USSR, under pressure from the new “allies” it turned its arms against Germany. Lauri Tierney remained true to his principles. At that time, he had no choice but to refuse to take part in the Lapland War and go into reserve, but “chance” brought him together with the pro-German resistance movement, whose members actively collaborated with the Abwehr and prepared a number of sabotages in case the Soviets troops will enter Finnish territory. Thanks to these people, Turney went to Germany in January 1945 on a German submarine. There he trained German soldiers to conduct war in winter conditions, while at the same time taking a “advanced training” course at the SS sabotage school (SS-Jagdverband). After some time, it became obvious that the USSR was not planning to invade Finland. It was against Lauri Törni's moral principles to take part in sabotage operations against his country, so the German command sent him to fight on the Eastern Front. In April, for services to the Reich, Lauri received the extraordinary rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer, which is equivalent to the rank of captain, and the Iron Cross 2nd class.

A few days before the end of the war in Europe, Turney surrendered to British and American forces and was placed in a prisoner of war camp in Lübeck. In the post-war confusion, he managed to escape and return to Finland, but there in 1946 he was charged with treason, followed by a sentence of 6 years in prison. In 1948, Turney received a presidential pardon, despite three escape attempts in less than two years behind bars. Even after being released from custody, Törni seriously feared another arrest, so in 1949 he fled to Sweden, where, using forged documents, he was recruited as a sailor on a ship to Caracas.

Christmas, 1949

In Latin America, fate again brings him together with former commander Matti Aarnio. It is not known for certain what topics they talked about, but after quite a short time, Turney was recruited onto another merchant ship. When his ship was passing through the Gulf of Mexico, the Finn jumped overboard and, reaching the shore, set off for New York. The Finnish-American community helped Lauri get a job. He first worked as a carpenter and then as a cleaner. In 1953, he was given a residence permit in the United States.

Those who served in the SS had special distinctive tattoos under their armpits or on their shoulders, and sometimes there were people with a tattoo on the roof of their mouth. Such a sign, which included the blood type, provided the wounded SS man with an advantage over Wehrmacht soldiers in terms of first aid. After the war, the victors could use inspection to separate potential war criminals from ordinary enemy soldiers. According to some reports, Lauri Turney, after arriving in the United States, cut off his tattoo with his own knife.

The Last War of Turni

In 1954, the Finnish fugitive changed his first and last name, and now he began to be called Larry Alan Thorne. With new documents, he enlisted in the US Army. In the ranks of the American armed forces, he met former Finnish officers who had fought on the side of the Reich. Some of them served in special forces. Having learned about the “exploits” of the recruit in the ranks of the Finnish army and the SS, they pulled him in, and soon 35-year-old Private Larry became a Green Beret.

In the United States, there is the so-called “Lodge Law”, thanks to which any emigrant who has a residence permit in the United States of America can join the army. After serving for five years, a foreigner can apply for citizenship. After World War II, many former SS and Wehrmacht soldiers took advantage of this, since in the United States they were treated more loyally than in Europe, and even more so in the Soviet Union.

For several years, Thorne taught American soldiers winter combat tactics, skiing, guerrilla warfare, and the basics of survival, while mastering parachute jumping himself. By 1957, Larry Thorne was already a first lieutenant. From 1958 to 1962, he served in the 10th Group of US Airborne Forces, which was based in West Germany. In the 60s, he and his group successfully carried out an operation to evacuate secret documents from the crash site of an American spy plane in the mountains of Iran. This mission seemed impossible to the command, but it was thanks to Thorne that it ended successfully. Larry was promoted to captain, and his name became a legend in the US Special Forces.

In 1963, Thorne was sent to Vietnam. Larry, who had spent most of his military career fighting the Soviets, now went to Vietnam to fight the local communists, who were secretly backed by the USSR. During the six months spent in the jungles of Southeast Asia, Captain Larry Thorne received several wounds, as well as a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart (with oak leaves for repeated wounding), the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Legion of Merit. and several medals.

In 1965, Thorne participated in Operation Shining Brass as part of the top-secret US special forces unit Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group, abbreviated as MACV-SOG. (Shining Brass), the purpose of which was to discover and explore the “Ho Chi Minh Trail”. On October 18, 1965, during one of the operations, the helicopter carrying Captain Larry Thorne was caught in a thunderstorm and crashed 40 kilometers from Da Nang. The Finn's body could not be found, but during the investigation, the command came to the conclusion that, most likely, he died. In this regard, in 1996, he was posthumously awarded the rank of major in the US Armed Forces. In 1999, Larry Thorne's remains were discovered. Until 2003, their identification took place, and when all the formalities were settled, Thorne and the Vietnamese helicopter pilots were buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery as heroes of the United States of America.

The death of Lauri Törni gave rise to even more legends. Thus, some conspiracy theorists claim that the death of Captain Thorne was the result of a top-secret operation of the Soviet special services, which did not forgive the Finn for his exploits as part of the “Jägers of Terni” and the SS troops. However, as in the legend with the reward on his head, these rumors are difficult to both refute and confirm.

Life after death

Since the 90s, Lauri Törni has increasingly been talked about as a war hero, which has given rise to a lot of controversy. Some argue that Törni was an SS man, and the actions of the SS in the war were recognized as criminal by the Nuremberg Tribunal - therefore, the Finn is also a war criminal and a priori cannot be a war hero. It is also often remembered that in 1946 he was accused of treason. Lauri's defenders believe that it is not entirely correct to blame the SS troops for the sins of the Sonder commands and SS units that guarded the concentration camps. Lauri Törni himself was not convicted of any war crimes, except for serving in the SS as such, and all the accusations against him were the machinations of Soviet and pro-Soviet intelligence services.

All this hype attracted the attention of Turney from all sorts of pop culture figures. For example, in 1968, based on the work of Robin Moore, the film “The Green Berets” was shot, where the prototype of the main character was none other than Larry Thorne. Törni was ranked 52nd on the list of the "100 Greatest Finns" by the Finnish national broadcaster YLE in 2004.

A special model of the traditional Finnish puuko knife was released in his honor. Many museums in Finland have special exhibitions telling about his life. In 2010, for his combat service in Vietnam, he became the first foreign honorary member of the US Army Special Forces. In Colorado, at the Fort Carson military base, the building of the 10th Special Forces Group is named in his honor. Last year, the Swedish power metal band Sabaton, whose work is almost entirely connected with military history, released the album “Heroes”. This album contains a song dedicated to the Finnish national hero Lauri Törni called “Soldier of 3 armies”.

In our country, where the memory of the war is too fresh, and most people negatively perceive everything that is in one way or another connected with the Third Reich, this man will never become a hero, but no one can deny that thanks to his unusual life path, Lauri Alan Turney became one of the most interesting personalities in the military history of the 20th century.