Visit to Stalingrad 2012 advice required

[paragon man]

Interesting news i have met Valery before on the REAL Battlefields when i've been digging there plus he was very helpful with German veteran groups !!!

Can you post some details on how to get in touch with him directly ?

Some photos of your trips would also be very interesting ?

I made two trips in the early 1990s. When I figure out how to scan I ll include some more photos. The first german cemetery at Roshanka was birch cross, a german helmet, and a marble slab. The photo in the red shirt is me in 1994 at the Gruninin flour mill...on the Volga side of the mill was this nebelwerfer. The next year in 1995 it was gone. These other photos were of a trip made a couple of years ago.

I would travel with you Paul. Do you still take trips to Volgagrad? I will be in Kiev, Kharkov, and Kursk this summer. Maybe I can meet you sometime? I make trips to Estonia often. As to getting in touch with Valery...I get in touch with him through St. Petersburg Travel. Anna in the US and Olga in St. Petersburg. So you drive in Russia?

jake

[Paul D]

Jake i'm impressed mate you must have been one of the first to start visiting Stalingrad in the 1990's before it became available to visit easily ??

The photo of the Mill with the Nebelwerfer at the back is brilliant !! I haven't been in Volgograd for about 3 years but was there when the memorial stones were opened at Rossoshka , luckily i was with Horst Zank and the other German veterans a memorable occasion !

Kurst , Kharkov and Kiev would be a great trip but mostly i am just in Estonia now on the Narva Battlefront but we could meet if you are in Eesti ? Did you meet my great friend Helmut Cronenbroek when he was making the programme with Valery ?

I don't drive myself usually have a Russian comrade to that

[paragon man]

Paul:

I started visiting in 1993. It was much different than now. I brought back helmets, wound badges, identity disc, trench art, medals, battlefield debris, etc. Strykov sold me some things, showed me were to find things, and people brought things to my hotel room. Strkov had been working for the Germans but had been fired for robbing the dead of things....some of which I probally have but didint ask. The battlefield was littered with all kinds of equipment but was being cleaned up at the time by both the Germans and the Russians. The Russians of course were selling and the Germans recovering the dead. I was told that to get things out of Russia you had to pay and was told that crossing the Polish border by train was the best way so this is what I did. These 6th army things are the center of my collection.

What motivated me at the time was an article in the New Yorker Magazine by an author timothy Ryback. It was called field of bones and was featured in the 1993 Febuary 3 issue. A guy like you should read this article as it is about Austrian Television going to Volgagrad to find out what happened to the Austrian 10th motorized division. I think that is the right division number...anyway they hired Strykov as their guide to show them where the austrians were. Penshenka was the town where they basically still lay where most of them fell. Walter Seledec was the Austrian who went looking for the 10th and this program caused shock waves across Austria and Germany. While Seledec was in Volgagrad he was given a bag containing 300 letters from German soldiers that had not left the kessel. Austrian TV got over 50,000 inquiries about the letters. If you cant find a copy of this I ll send you one via snail mail.

I have many many photos of the battlefield in the early 90s but I have trouble scanning...as soon as my wife returns from Miami(my daughter had twins this week but I couldnt be there bc of work) I ll start the process of posting. Some of my photos are very graphic. I have early photos of the first german cemetery there at Rossoshka when it was only a wood cross, rusty helmet, and marble marker. I also have some photos of guns stored under a shed....no matter I ve not had the chance to make friends with people with the same interest as myself. I ve always traveled alone w/guides....as I dont know anyone interested in this subject.

Interesting....the nebelwerfer was gone the next year and the german field guns were gone as well. Thanks for your kind interest as I am glad to find a place filled with others of the same interest.

[KradSpam]

Welcome to the forum Paragon. I am fascinated with this area in particular and look forward to your pics. Stalingrad was so many things; the turning point of the war, unrivalled tragedy, the epic scale of struggle on every level, total merciless war. Nothing else compares IMO. The snow camo helmet in my avatar often makes me wonder if it was witness to any of it, I have no provenance for it but I like to wonder....

[paragon man]

Thanks man for the welcome.....I have been needing something like this for years. My interest in Stalingrad certainly led me to great adventure. One thing is certain...I will not ever know the level of suffering that was seen there. Your helmet is a really fine piece. I too always wonder...

[Paul D]

Really looking forward to seeing some of your photos from those early trips , my first visit was 2000 and even then guys would just come into the Hotel , the Intourist to sell Helmets, dog tags , medals etc and on the Battlefield you could buy from diggers stuff straight from the holes !!!

Valery worked with my friend Helmut who was a Luftwaffe veteran on a programme on searching for the missing at Stalingrad , Helmut used to go back every year searching for some sign of his fallen Kameraden , i actually met him whilst we were having breakfast at the Intourist , in those days you could meet lots of German vets but most are too old to make the trip now !! I was in touch with the Chairman of the Austrian Stalingrad vets as well but i must admit i'm not sure if he is still on the go, he fought with the 44 ID which was one of the Austrian Divisons.

I'll have to try and track down a copy of the article in the New Yorker !! Your right about bringing stuff out of Russia on my first trip we went through Moscow Sheremetivo and they had a look at my helmets at security and let me go through , another guy was in another line and they seized his as ammunition !! Started posting everything after that !!

Glad you have found this forum Jake it's good to discuss Stalingrad with someone else whose been there especially in the early days,

cheers

Paul

[Paul D]

Austrian Memorial at Peschnanka

[Paul D]

Previous thread i posted with a few photos !!

Stalingrad Battlefields !!

[paragon man]

I ll try and do a good job posting some of the old photos for you Paul. I have trouble scanning but I ll figure it out. Like I said if you cant find a copy of that article I ll mail you one. I made several extras for people like us....just that I ve only ever had to use one copy. Valery had been working with the Germans but had had a problem like I said. I lost touch with him but sent others to him as he gives a good battlefield tour AND I dont know any other way to get out on the battlefield until I met you here. I am interested in traveling by car from Moscow to Kursk then on to volgagrad. Would you be interested in making this trip in the future? Ive been to Narva several times to see the battle areas...do you live there?

[Paul D]

If you could send me acopy of the article that would be great.

Travelling by car from Moscow to Kursk then Volgograd would be a fantastic trip and i would definately be interested but probably not till next year , we could maybe recruit Datrus who is one of the diggers who posts here he lives in Moscow !!!

I'm in the UK at the moment , Estonia is too cold !! I used to have an apartment in Parnu but now i need to buy one in Tallinn ! I visit the Narva area as many times as i can each year to explore the Battlefields and dig.