What Red Army Soldiers Did to a Captured German Girl

Dzen

German woman from SS auxiliary units.

The myth that Soviet soldiers committed mass sexual abuse against German women has existed for many years. Its appearance is blamed variously on “liberals,” “anti-Stalinists” or the “Western press.” Not everyone knows, however, that the spread of the myth was to a considerable extent aided by Soviet officer, ardent Stalinist and Great Patriotic War veteran Vladimir Natanovich Gelfand.

The front-line diary of Soviet Lieutenant Gelfand was published in Russian, German and Swedish. Some Western media refer, among other things, to this diary when they try to substantiate the myth of violence against women in Germany. Gelfand’s diary does indeed contain many uncensored details of combat life and soldiers’ everyday existence.

Vladimir Natanovich himself was a combat officer. In 1942 he reached the front while still a sergeant and commander of a mortar squad. At first he fought on the southern flank of the “Kharkov Front.” His unit was encircled and destroyed, but he and several soldiers managed to break through the encirclement and reach the 62nd Army.

Lieutenant Vladimir Gelfand.

Gelfand fought near Stalingrad as a mortar-squad commander, joined the Party, and was appointed deputy platoon commander for political work. His diary, the article says, shows that he was an ardent Stalinist. Here is an entry in which Gelfand, probably overcome by emotion, expresses enormous love for the leader:

“Everyone rewards him with such warm applause and love that it is simply touching to watch. Yes, he has earned it, my Stalin, immortal and simple, modest and great, my leader, my teacher, my glory, my genius, my great sun.” (Source: Vladimir Gelfand, Diary 1941–1946.)

There are quite a few such entries in the diary. But let us turn directly to the part that concerns violence against German women. Gelfand often writes without regret, which, the article suggests, was probably because the Germans had destroyed practically his entire family in occupied territory.

Gelfand’s first mention is of a German women’s battalion:

“The day before yesterday a women’s battalion operated on the left flank. They were completely smashed, and the captured German she-cats declared themselves avengers of husbands killed at the front.” (Source: Vladimir Gelfand, Diary 1941–1946.)

Without regret he writes:

“I do not know what they did with them, but the scoundrels ought to have been executed mercilessly. Our soldiers propose, for example, [a description of an elaborate execution in Vladimir Natanovich’s memoirs] and other things, but I would simply have destroyed them.”

German women from auxiliary units.

It should be noted here that “women’s battalions” did in fact exist at the end of the war as auxiliary formations and were known as Wehrmacht auxiliaries. Such “battalions” did not participate in combat operations except in anti-aircraft units, where women were armed with pistols for self-defense. Thus the first story about “avengers for dead husbands” seems somewhat doubtful.

But let us continue. The second case also concerns a women’s battalion. This battle allegedly took place in March 1945 near the town of Bernlicht. Soviet airborne troops had dug in well and decided to let the enemy come closer. They were extremely surprised to see “women soldiers” before them. Interestingly, the German women advanced in orderly ranks, with German men behind them:

“The women advanced in orderly lines: the first, second and third, firing submachine guns. The fourth and final lines consisted exclusively of men. Our men remained silent.” (Source: Vladimir Natanovich Gelfand’s front-line diary.)

There was not yet an order to fire. The German women advanced quite confidently; they had never taken part in real fighting before and perhaps war seemed to them like an easy walk. They began firing at Soviet infantry from close range:

“The women grew insolent and, as they approached, fired point-blank at our infantry. They came very close and seemed to have reached their goal.” (Ibid.)

Then the Red Army soldiers received permission to open fire, and, the article says, all the German women’s bravado and heroism vanished at once:

“Suddenly a piercing wave of bullets swept through them from behind. Like sheaves attacked from the flanks, the killed fell, while the mixed ranks of ‘warriors’ sank slowly and clumsily to the ground. The machine guns on the flanks did not stop hammering at the enemy, and the women, as though possessed, throwing down their weapons in fear and panic, rushed toward a place in a city street that was not under fire — into reliable hands: our soldiers met the women with pleasure, hatred and triumph. And the unfortunate ‘fighters,’ many of whom were not even seventeen, huddled together in fear and cried: ‘Oh, Gott, Gott, Gott’ (God).” (Source: Vladimir Natanovich Gelfand’s front-line diary.)

German female signal personnel.

The diary then says that the German women were divided into three groups. The first and smallest group, consisting of two people, were Russian girls; they were immediately shot. The second group were wives of German officers, and they too were treated without ceremony. Only the third group — young unmarried girls — was kept; they became “trophies” for Red Army soldiers:

“They began dragging the ‘trophies’ from the third group into houses and beds, where for a number of days they conducted experiments on them that cannot be put down on paper. The German women were afraid and did not resist, and in order to avoid abuse by older soldiers they themselves begged the younger men to sleep with them.” (Source: Vladimir Gelfand, Diary 1941–1946.)

It should immediately be noted that Gelfand did not witness any of this himself. It was all told to him by Sergeant Andreev, who allegedly took part in it. The diary itself says:

“Senior Sergeant Andreev arrived. During the march he fell behind, had many adventures, rode with a tank assault force, but then ended up in the hands of counterintelligence, which ‘took him for a little ride’ and sent him to our battalion, though to a rifle company. Now he came to visit us, and I listened with interest to his story. In the fighting for the town of Bernlicht he came face to face with a counterattacking enemy women’s battalion.” (Source: Vladimir Gelfand, Diary 1941–1946.)

German women in a dugout.

Thus, the article says, what is reliably known is that Gelfand met Sergeant Andreev, who had fallen behind during the march, had been summoned by counterintelligence, and afterward told a story about a “women’s battalion” that attacked Soviet paratroopers with weapons in hand.

But, as noted above, combat women’s battalions did not exist. There were rare exceptions in which German women took part in fighting. To avoid making an unsupported claim, the article gives this quotation:

“Yet young women were tormented not only by fear of being killed, but also by the fear that they themselves would have to kill someone. Elisabeth Zimmerer recalls: ‘It was terrible. I remember the moment when I had the enemy in my sights. All I had to do was pull the trigger. But I did not do it. I simply could not.’” (Source: Guido Knopp, Hitler’s Children.)

If someone does not believe German memoirs, the recollections of Nina Ilyinichna Shiryaeva (Bondar), commander of a T-34 tank, contain an episode in which she spoke with a captured German girl, a driver-mechanic of a German Panther tank and a “convinced SS woman.”

So individual cases of women being used in combat were entirely possible. Gordon Williamson, author of German Women’s Auxiliary Services in World War II, likewise writes:

“Many women had to serve and take part in actions that can be regarded as combat operations.”

German women armed with rifles.

But these were isolated cases. A whole battalion armed with submachine guns that approaches point-blank and shoots Soviet paratroopers, then is entirely captured, after which Soviet soldiers allegedly select the youngest and most beautiful women — all of this, the article argues, was most likely Sergeant Andreev’s fantasy. Andreev even tells how he took one young woman out of the general column for himself.

“Andreev too belonged to the lucky age group. He chose the youngest and took her along to sleep with him.” (Source: Vladimir Gelfand, Diary 1941–1946.)

The girl refused to do certain things, the diary says, and Andreev found a way to persuade her: “she refused for a long time until he took out his pistol. Then she quieted down.” It ended, the diary says, as follows:

“...but soon she managed to force herself to smile. He dressed her in civilian clothes, and she went out to her fellow sufferers cheerful and innocent.” (Source: Vladimir Gelfand, Diary 1941–1946.)

It should be emphasized that Gelfand himself witnessed neither story about “women’s battalions.” In the first case he writes, “I do not know what they did with them.” In the second, the entire story was told to him by Sergeant Andreev. The article therefore argues that neither account should be trusted. War correspondent Osmar White described well how such “tales” were born:

“One woman who told me most of the hair-raising stories about Russian atrocities was finally forced to admit that the only thing she had seen with her own eyes was drunken Russian officers firing pistols into the air or at bottles.” (Osmar White, Conquerors’ Road.)

German “Wehrmacht auxiliaries.”

Gelfand’s diary, however, contains two more cases. The first is dated 26 February 1945 and begins with the words “Women from the enemy side have not appeared since...” followed by a description of a reprisal. The second occurred when Gelfand was already riding a bicycle through defeated Berlin and met German women who were fleeing. They told him they had become victims of mass violence.

Again, the article says, some media frequently cite these passages when claiming that “Soviet soldiers engaged in mass rape,” even giving a figure of two million cases, sometimes more.

Of course it cannot be claimed that there were no cases of violence at all, because such cases are documented in official Soviet records. Yet, the article says, Stalin’s order clearly stated:

“Officers and Red Army men! We are entering the enemy’s country. Everyone must maintain self-control; everyone must be brave... The remaining population in the conquered regions, whether German, Czech or Polish, must not be subjected to violence. The guilty will be punished under the laws of wartime... For violence and rape the guilty will be shot.” (Stalin Order No. 229.)

Vladimir Gelfand (far right) after Victory over Germany.

Therefore, the article argues, the figure of two million cited in Barbara Johr’s research is complete nonsense. It says the number arose as follows: Barbara counted all children born to Russians in Berlin and classified the mothers of these children as victims of violence. She then multiplied that figure several times, on the assumption that not every assault resulted in pregnancy, and announced a “sensational figure” that, according to the author, had nothing to do with reality.

Where, then, did so many children fathered by Russians come from? The article says many German women voluntarily lived with Soviet soldiers and officers, and for some this developed into long-term relationships and families. To record all such cases as “violence,” it argues, is complete incompetence, and to rely on figures “pulled out of thin air” is at the very least foolish.

As for violence, the article states that it was actively combated. On 2 May 1945 the military prosecutor of the 1st Belorussian Front, Major General of Justice L. Yachenin, wrote:

“...while cases of robbery are isolated, violence against women still occurs; junk collecting has not yet ceased either, consisting of our servicemen going through abandoned apartments and collecting various things and objects, etc. Violence, and especially robbery and junk collecting, is widely practiced by repatriated persons traveling to repatriation points, particularly Italians, Dutch and even Germans. At the same time all these outrages are blamed on our servicemen...”

German women.

Information has also survived on the number of crimes connected with violence against women. For the two weeks from 22 April through 5 May:

“It must be stated that facts of robbery, violence and other unlawful acts by our servicemen toward the local German population... of unlawful acts by servicemen against the local population recorded in these seven armies, 124 in total, including: rapes of German women — 72, robberies — 38, murders — 3, other unlawful acts — 11.” (From a report by the military prosecutor of the 1st Belorussian Front on implementation of Supreme Command Directive No. 11072 and Military Council of the 1st Belorussian Front Directive No. 00384.)

Thus, the article concludes, seventy-two cases of violence against German women were recorded over two weeks. Historians have calculated the total number of cases concerning such crimes:

According to Russian Academy of Sciences professor Oleg Rzheshevsky, head of the Department of the History of Wars and Geopolitics at the Center for the History of Twentieth-Century Wars, military tribunals convicted 4,148 officers and a large number of enlisted men for outrages committed against the local population. (Source: “An Old Myth Back in Business,” Argumenty i Fakty.)

Those 4,148 people included cases of robbery and murder as well as violence.

German female signal personnel.

Summing up, the article says that yes, cases of violence did occur and some were very brutal. The Soviet command actively fought them. Those found guilty were punished very severely, including by execution. There were, it argues, no “two million” German women; based on military tribunal data the number was more likely several thousand.

Cases describing such violence periodically appear in various memoirs. But, the article argues, they are either stories told by one person to another without corroboration — as with Gelfand’s two “women’s battalion” stories — or isolated cases presented as universal.

At present, the article claims, all “studies” speaking of “millions of victims” — some feminist organizations cite 15–20 million — lack supporting evidence. The numbers, it says, are invented and multiplied several times. It is much harder to argue with conjecture and assumptions than with facts: facts can be refuted, whereas conjecture and myths display remarkable persistence.

What Happened to the German Woman Pilot in the Pink Flying Suit During the War

German pilot Hanna Reitsch, recipient of two Iron Crosses.

Many myths and legends arose around women who fought on the side of the Third Reich during the Great Patriotic War. In fact, it is well known that there were no women’s units that took part in combat, although scattered references appear in the memoirs of some war veterans.

Vladimir Gelfand’s diary, for example, mentions two cases in which Soviet soldiers allegedly captured a “women’s battalion.” But Gelfand was not describing what he himself had seen; he was repeating what comrades had told him. It is also known that after Germany’s defeat the Nazis did not hesitate to recruit women into the Werwolf sabotage formations.

During the war itself, however, women did not serve in combat formations, only in Wehrmacht and SS auxiliary services and in anti-aircraft units. Still, every rule has exceptions. There are many legends about another women’s formation, the “Valkyries of the Luftwaffe.” No serious documents about such a unit are known, and it was most likely an attractive story.

Hanna Reitsch at the controls.

Individual women nevertheless did serve in the Luftwaffe. One was Hanna Reitsch, the Luftwaffe’s first female test pilot. She received two Iron Crosses and was the only woman whose award of the Iron Cross First Class is documented. She took part in operations on the Soviet-German front.

There were other German women pilots as well. Countess Melitta Schenk was shot down by an American pilot on 8 May 1945. Rosa Maria Mayer fought with JG 77 in southern Russia and is mentioned in the memoirs of Soviet ground-attack pilot Ivan Arsentyev. There are other examples too, some found in the memoirs of Soviet pilots. Aviator Lev Lobanov left many manuscripts after his death; these later became the book In Defiance of Every Death.

The book describes an interesting encounter with a German woman pilot who fought wearing a pink flying suit, and tells how her “flying career” ended.

The author says his pilot friends had repeatedly spoken about a strange “Messer” that kept its distance during combat. Sometimes it moved closer, then left the battle at high speed. The pilot of this “Messer” wore a bright pink flying suit. Lobanov did not particularly believe these stories until, in 1941, he saw it with his own eyes.

Hanna Reitsch after a flight.

He and his flight of six Soviet fighters attacked a group of enemy bombers. Two of them caught fire. Then Messerschmitt fighters came to the enemy’s aid: twenty against six. After some time those Germans stopped attacking and turned back, but new enemy fighters arrived to replace them.

Only three of the six Soviet aircraft remained in formation. Fuel was running out and almost all ammunition had been spent. Three enemy fighters went after Lobanov. Then he saw something unusual:

“...and then, crossing my course, a ‘Messer’ flashed past, with something pink blazing in its cockpit. There was no time either to be surprised or to think about what I had seen.” (Source: Lev Zakharovich Lobanov, In Defiance of Every Death. Notes of a Front-Line Pilot.)

The Soviet pilot went into a high-speed spin and pulled out just above the ground. Two Germans failed to follow and crashed. But another enemy aircraft appeared in the sky.

The German pilot did not fire. The aircraft caught up, moved alongside the right wing and matched speed. They flew side by side. “I turned my head and almost crashed into the ground from surprise: the pilot was a woman. A pink flying suit, headphones on her head, and behind them fair hair loose over her shoulders. An even row of teeth showed in a smile. Wonders!” (Ibid.)

German Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 fighter.

The German woman escorted the Soviet aircraft all the way to its airfield. Landing was dangerous: “The moment I lower the landing gear and touch the ground, that damned woman pilot will put a full burst from her machine guns into me.” Lobanov nevertheless said goodbye to the “woman pilot” rather impolitely:

“Sliding back the cockpit canopy, I shook my fist at her. It seemed that was all I could do. I could not even slow down and get onto the enemy aircraft’s tail: I was already flying at the lowest possible speed. The ‘pink’ woman also opened her canopy, waved at me, and climbed steeply upward. A burst of fire stitched across the runway in front of me.” (Source: Lev Zakharovich Lobanov, In Defiance of Every Death. Notes of a Front-Line Pilot.)

The Soviet pilot decided to get even and chase the German woman:

“All right then, you blond bitch — hold on! No longer thinking about fuel or ammunition, I throw the aircraft after her at full boost like a candle.”

Coming onto the German aircraft’s tail, Lobanov caught it in his sights and fired the last machine-gun burst. His ammunition ran out, but it was enough to hit the German aircraft. The “Messer” began smoking and broke in two, while a pink “bundle” fell out and hung beneath a parachute.

Several days later Soviet soldiers captured another German pilot and began asking him about the woman. The German explained that:

“...the Frau was the regiment’s inspector of flying technique and had been assigned to observe the battle from the side and warn pilots by radio of danger threatening them. The pink silk flying suit was clearly visible, and the German pilots knew that a young beautiful woman was watching their actions, in front of whom it would have been shameful to disgrace themselves...” (Source: Lev Zakharovich Lobanov, In Defiance of Every Death. Notes of a Front-Line Pilot.)

Destroyed Messerschmitt.

When the woman did not return from combat, the Germans sent her relatives a letter saying she had been killed. German pilot Hugo Lemm, who had been assigned responsibility for the woman’s safety, was furious. Several days later a German fighter bearing the image of a stork with a sword flew over the Soviet airfield and dropped a note:

“I, commander of the Luftwaffe fighter regiment opposing you, challenge to a knightly duel the pilot, if he is still alive, who a week ago shot down a Messerschmitt-109E whose pilot was dressed in conspicuous pink clothing. If that pilot is not available, I am prepared to measure strength with any of your pilots, preferably a senior-ranking commander.” At the bottom was the signature: “Sturmführer Hugo Lemm.”

The regimental commander read the note but declared that he himself would go up against the German, even though the “pink woman” was “Lobanov’s work.” The major then headed for his aircraft. The others watched the “knightly duel” between the two pilots from the ground. It might have ended there, but the German decided to insure himself. At the height of the supposed one-on-one duel another ten Messerschmitts appeared from behind the forest to assist him.

Thus, the article says, the German meant to avenge his “pink woman” for certain. While Soviet pilots were getting their aircraft into the air, the Germans surrounded the major and shot him down. Lobanov writes: “From that day our most hated enemy became Hugo Lemm, who flew a painted ‘Messer.’” Soviet pilots looked for the aircraft in order to take revenge, but it seemed to vanish into the earth.

I-16 fighter in the sky.

Only in August, when Soviet fighters in three pairs were pursuing enemy bombers and became involved in an aerial battle with their German fighter escort, did Lobanov suddenly notice among the enemy a German aircraft painted with a stork holding a sword. It was him — the hated Hugo Lemm.

The Germans had numerical superiority. Lobanov’s aircraft was caught in a pincer. He dived into a rapid spin and the Germans followed, but pulled out earlier.

“...I understood: if I stop the spin immediately, I am bound to meet Hugo Lemm as he comes out of the dive. I must shoot that bastard down even if I have to ram him! The next instant, wrenching my aircraft out of the spin and accelerating on boost, I headed straight nose-to-nose toward the Sturmführer’s aircraft climbing away from the ground.” (Source: Lev Zakharovich Lobanov, In Defiance of Every Death. Notes of a Front-Line Pilot.)

The aircraft rushed toward one another. The German had “neither time nor distance” to turn away. Lobanov was prepared to ram him; avenging the commander had become a matter of principle. But the German’s nerves failed:

“The fascist’s nerves gave way: right in front of the nose of my little ‘Ishachok’ he jerked to the side, exposing the yellow belly of his aircraft — a rocket projectile and a burst from the ShKAS machine guns turned it into a heap of burning metal. Hugo Lemm was finished...” (Ibid.)

Soviet I-16 fighters.

Lev Zakharovich Lobanov fought against the Nazis on the Southern, Stalingrad, Southwestern and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts. At the end of 1941 he was wounded and afterward could not fly for eight months. Throughout that period he served in the infantry in a rifle regiment on the Voronezh Front, where he commanded a platoon and replaced a commander killed in battle.

In August 1942 Lobanov returned to the air. He flew the R-5 reconnaissance aircraft and bomber, carrying out night raids on enemy airfields, railway stations and depots. At the end of the war he switched to the Pe-2 dive bomber. After victory he flew civilian C-47 and Li-2 aircraft.

Lev Zakharovich’s book In Defiance of Every Death is presented as a unique testimony to the war from the viewpoint of fighter pilots who flew I-16 aircraft in the first months of the conflict. Almost all such pilots were killed. Lev Zakharovich survived and was able to tell what he himself had witnessed.

© Dzen