In the summer of 1979 my parents and me stayed in an Austrian guesthouse. The owner was one of the very few survivors of Stalingrad. He wasn't captured by the Sowiets, but evacuated by air on one of the last flights for wounded soldiers.  ''I was incredibly lucky'', Lorenz/''Lenz'' Schormayer said. ''Í came out of ''the Cettle/der Kessel''alive. Most didn't'' In spite of having lost an arm he did establish a successfull construction firm and sawmill after the war. He blamed it all on what he called '''these %&$* stupid Prussian bastards.''

I traveled by train from Poland 40 years ago with a group of German veterans returning to these scenes from their youth. I  wish I had known this history about them when we had those days together.

The war on the Eastern Front made D-Day look like a small unit Commando raid.

290,000 Axis soldiers were trapped in the Stalingrad pocket; approximately 70,000 of them were Hiwis*—Soviet nationals who had defected to the German side. 30,000 soldiers were successfully evacuated from the pocket. 91,000 surrendered, and 5,000 survived captivity. All the *Hiwis were killed.

My mom told me about a local in her small town that had survived being a Soviet prisoner. She said every year it turned cold he'd come down with pneumonia and he died before reaching 50. The years of malnutrition caused many to lose their teeth early and turned them into old men well before they should have.

The father of my Bavarian born secretary of 9 years was captured at Stalingrad and made it home.

This is such a haunting and deeply moving piece of history... 🥺 Watching this really makes me wonder: out of those tens of thousands who marched away into captivity, how many actually held onto any real hope of seeing their families again after enduring such unimaginable harshness? 💔 It's truly heartbreaking to think about the human cost behind these numbers. Great storytelling by War Survival History! 🎥✨

Met one of the survivors in a village near Stadt Allendorf in REFORGER 1980. Literally walked home from Siberia in 1954.

I knew one of the freed soldiers, he was married to my grandma's sister. He met her when serving in occupied Denmark, they named the Danish pastry front, he was sent to the east front where he was captured. His danish girlfriend wated for him, they were married in 1955, and lived in Hamburg.

About 110.000 German soldiers were captured out of the ca 200.000 that were encircled in November 1942. About 30.000 were flown out.

Thank you very much for your time and dedication!!!

I worked as an appliance tech for Sears years ago. In south Texas we have winter Texans that migrate from the northern states. On one occasion I met a snowbird who came from Germany. We spoke and he admitted to have been a Russian POW. He did not elaborate, but did say it was not a very nice situation to have been in.

I met some who stood 10ys at sibira. One went as 17y old to russia and came back as 30ys old

A few years ago I read an excellent book about Stalingrad, Enemy at the Gate, nothing to do with the movie.  It has testimony from both sides,including German allies, it starts with the drive to Stalingrad all the way to captivity.  The Soviet side was extremely interesting, it was the first time I read about them on a person side.

That ANYONE returned is amazing.

They made round flat sided fish bowls, small and a larger one. I’m told they were won or bought at fairs. The glass today is relatively expensive

My Grandpa best friend was in "Division Azul"(Blue Division)Spain volunteers fighting alongside de germans in Leningrad siege,he defined Rusia as "a frozen Hell in Earth" and Germans as "brave soldiers,but cold and vicious" . The Spaniards volunteers were friendship with russian peasants,giving them food and things like shoes or coats,things that were "life or die" in Winter. Spaniards were someway rooky and naive with russian womans,germans were cold and brutal. When russians catch them some guards were some friendly when realize this were Spaniards(Spansky) but they were harsh and vicious with romanians and Germans. The Ucranians were usually enslaved(literally) and treated much worse than dogs.

Everybody ,even own russian guards,hates and fear the NKVD. This friend of my grand manages to save his live and his comrades because was an excellent taylor and jeweller and the NKVD officers hand over him their uniforms and personal jewels,trinkets, watches,etc for fixing and repair. In exchange more food were for them(germans call this richer soap bowls "Spaniard rations" with rage and envy) and even authorization for a second iron stove and wood that saved many lives. Some nights spaniards used to sneak some wood and "Spaniard rations" to starved germans. He managed to return Spain in the "Semiramis" boat on the 50's. was very lucky.

My Fat6her was one of the lucky that came back from the Eastern Front , he serves in the Italian Air Force { Regia Aeronautica ) ,mostly in Ukraine from 1941to 1943 , Before that in Albania and Greece , his Squadron was mostly involved with transportation flights  .

Sounds like the conditions for British POW's in Silesia before the Germans realised the war was lost and things improved like boots instead of foot rags.

I had a German friend whose father was a survivor.   He wasn 't the same and died shortly after returning.  Nobody really survived.