Hans Boche My Story (2)
I was popular at 'Der Tumpen' because of my engineering skill. There was an old motorcyle at the hut which was used to tow the glider back from the valley to the hut. It was a Zundapp, with a sidecar, of very old vintage, about 1920 I would guess. It had a side valve flat twin engine of about 500cc's. It was very oily and noisy, but the main problem was that the rear wheel would spin on the grass when coming back uphill with the glider in tow, and about ten cadets had to go down the hill and push and pull. This return journey therefore used as much manpower as motorcycle power, especially when the grass was wet. As I have mentioned I had a mechanical bent. I do not know where I inherited it from as my father was neat and tidy but had no affinity with machinery whatever. For this reason we never had a car though I believe we could have afforded one. My brother-in law, Otto, had a new Adler car. I was not allowed to experiment on that, but in my neighbourhood there were some older cars that I was sometimes asked to mend. Often very simple adjustments would make them go and as is usual I was credited with wonderful mechanical powers which I certainly did not possess. I had repaired the Gliding group's Zundapp once or twice and I wanted to do something about the uphill towing problem. I was doing an engineering course at the Technical College in Stuttgart at this time and was able to use the facilities for the Fatherland. I designed and made a drive for the sidecar wheel of the Zundapp combination. It had no differential and was engaged and disengaged by putting a bolt through a shaft and collar. Using two driven wheels the Zundapp could now tow the glider straight up the hill with a few cadets riding on it as well. Many extra flights were achieved because of this, and I was very popular. Oddly enough and unknown to me at the time, in the Wehrmacht a similar machine was developed, which was also a Zundapp, but much more sophisticated of course. From 1937 to 1939, as I have mentioned, I was in the Hitler Youth, as all young people were unless they were from a minority group of our population. There were some aliens in the City. Italians with restaurants and of course a sizeable Jewish presence. These were not represented in the Hitler Youth. I was doing well at my engineering apprenticeship, so with one thing and another I had little spare time. My brother Bernard joined the Luftwaffe in early 1939 and was, by the middle of that year a proud pilot. I envied his prestige and smart uniform when he came home on leave. I did not envy him going up in aeroplanes all the time. I preferred the ground. There is an old saying, 'It is better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground.' Not that I wished to be in the air at all. My brown Technical College overalls did not compare with Bernard's smart outfit, though he encouraged me in my career. He said engineering innovation and excellence were the future of a new and strong Germany. More especially because the possibility of war was now uppermost in everyones mind and the subject of debate everywhere. The Liebensraum question now exercised every German person, we all wanted every German to live in Germany. Not to move them to within the present boundaries of Germany you understand, but to move the boundaries of Germany to encompass them where they were. We had historic German Castes even in Scandinavia and Holland, and in the East the continuing shame of a large German population under Polish domination was intolerable. My brother and myself were sure it would come to war but my parents did not think so, expecting the rightness of the cause to persuade other Nations to allow a German take-over of disputed territories. They were in the minority I think as there was a conspiracy against us by the rest of Europe which feared our power. We were not barbarians and if we did have power, as we undoubtedly had under Adolf Hitler, we would only use it for good. Nevertheless I expected war if we took over territories in Poland for example, I was also sure that if it came to war it would be easy enough to win. The National Socialist Party (NAZI) and the leader Adolf Hitler agreed with me. In March 1939, soon after my nineteenth birthday, I volunteered to join the army. There were many posters and campaigns encouraging all those eligible to join the forces but I needed no urging. I went to the recruiting office in Stuttgart and as I was fit was in the Wehrmacht within two weeks. Notice was taken of my engineering background and I was nominated for the armoured Division 'Das Reich' stationed at Dusseldorf. This was just what I wanted at this time, though there were occasions later when I thought that Artillery duty at a nice quiet Flak station in the homeland would have been preferable. There are times and places in life which plot a forward course very different to other options. Joining the tanks of 'Das Reich' was such a time and place. Chapter Two Training in the Wehrmacht. The location of 'Das Reich' Division was Dusseldorf, which is in the very heart of the Ruhr, Germany's industrial area. All the major cities and towns in the Ruhr:- Dortmund, Essen, Wuppertal, Duisburg and of course Cologne, merge one with another to form a vast manufacturing complex. The heart of hearts is the steel from Essen. Our training camp was not in Dusseldorf itself, as armies and Cities do not mix too well. We were some kilometers away on the outskirts of a smaller town called Krefeld. The camp was new. There were many such new army establishments all over Germany due to the providential re-armament programme of our Fuhrer. We were not in huts or tents, but substantial two storey brick barracks. The camp was so new that a few buildings were still being completed and I saw that some bricklayers and carpenters were Belgians. I believe they came over the border every day to work. They were under the control of German foremen. There was no hostility between these foreigners and our men. They were taking advantage of the new German prosperity and expansion. Our contact with them or anyone else not directly connected with our training was minimal because we were kept busy all the time, and in any event the foreign workers kept themselves to themselves. I found after a very short while in the Army that I did not like officers. I had not been accustomed to discipline of the sort they imposed. It was a legacy of the old German Junkers Officer system, scars, monocles and tradition, over-riding common sense. I am pleased to say that during the War this type were gradually replaced by a better type of normal Nazi. But this is jumping ahead again and the Officers at Krefeld treated us like dirt. . The Hitler Youth had been strict enough, but not impersonal as this place was. We were all strangers, lumped together, known only by our army numbers. I felt we were nameless automatons. Efficient automatons however, and I came to realise later in my service that this initial training, though unpleasant, had been efficient. It was not my opinion at this time. The occupants of my barrack room, twenty young men, also shocked me. I soon realised that the type of youths that I had grown up with in Stuttgart were not the norm for all Germany. There were a number of men from Berlin whose bad language and lack of scruples and manners were horrible. Some from Hamburg were little better. There were also some 'Country' boys who were very difficult to knock into shape in terms of dress and drill etc. In my group there were also three or four men who were much more refined than I. They suffered worse at the hands of the 'toughs', until things settled down, and some sort of pecking order was established. True personalities took some time to emerge. Worms turned, bullies were outfaced and the essential miracle of relying on one another and working together was achieved. I had admiration for the non-commissioned ranks who achieved this. No thanks to the arrogant officers. Very early in the training, after a few obviously weak and unintelligent types had been weeded out and sent home, (They would be called up later!) and a notorious troublemaker was transferred elsewhere, we took the oath of personal allegiance to The Fuhrer. The Fatherland was included in the oath but Germany and The Fuhrer seemed so indivisible that no-one thought it at all odd that we pledged loyalty to one human being. The first few weeks were a blur of uniforms, rifles, drill, physical training, (at which I excelled) marksmanship, political instruction, punishments, eating and sleeping. We thought we would never see a tank, though I had joined up as a tank soldier. After four weeks of this initial training we had our first week-end off. There was not time to go back to Stuttgart, so I went to sample the delights of a Saturday night in Dusseldorf with three of my barrack room friends. The wearing of civilian clothes was not allowed, which did not matter, we were proud of our uniforms anyway. There were many civilian and military police in the city of Dusseldorf on the look-out for soldiers acting badly. It seemed to me that little latitude was given and I saw one noisy group beaten and taken away in short order. My friends and myself wandered around, a bit lost if the truth were known, without the full-time military regime to which we had already become accustomed. We just went to a few bars, talked to girls who sought us out for commercial purposes I think, and drank beer and schnapps until we were all unsteady and wanted nothing more than to get home. Yes, 'home' had become our barrack room.
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