Letter From Stalingrad. Written by a German Soldier.

[Heartfeltzero]

This letter was written by what looks like an Erich Spiegler(?). He was a member of the Infanterie-Regiment 523 within the 297th Infantry Division. The division is one that was encircled at Stalingrad. The letter reads:


To Miss Toni [Dungel?] / Vienna I. Nibelungengasse 13-15 / Siemens-Schuckertwerke A-G / Assembly Department

[From:] Private Erich [Spiegler?] Field Post 09621

“East, 24 December 1942

My dearly beloved girl!

I received four letters from you early on Christmas Eve, for which I thank you most sincerely. They are the following letters: from 16.11.1942 (33), 18.11.1942 (34), 19.11.1942 (35) and one from home. It is the first mail we have received after a very long time. That is why I am so pleased. We can write again now, but we don't know whether it will reach home. It would have been so nice for me to come home to my loved ones for Christmas, but fate was too hard on me.

Two days before my holiday, the fight broke out here and everything fell through. Now it's been over four weeks again and no hope for us. The food has become little, just enough to keep from starving. The Junkers can't bring any parcel post either because everything else is much more important. I don't hang my head so easily, but I do now. We don't know if we'll get home yet. But one thing's for sure: better a bullet in the head from myself than anything else. I am not allowed to write to you any more, because more is not allowed, but it must be enough for you. I was wounded a fourth time, but only slightly, and I'm glad about that. I have a very difficult post as a runner. But my order will be carried out until the end. If anything should happen to me, my mother will let you know. We still have some hope left, but not much. I am already so badly hit by fate and now even more so because of it. But it's not just me, it's everyone else here, too. God help us so that we can see our homeland again.

Otherwise I am still in good health and hope the same from you. I have answered all three letters with this, there is no other way. Give my best regards to Mitzi and Hansl. Tell him what I wrote, he will know.

Now I'm going to close, I'm going to sleep, otherwise I'll get even hungrier than I already am.

Greetings and kisses from your loving Erich.”

I haven’t found any information on him as of yet, but more than likely Erich was killed soon after writing this letter.

[Willmore]

Hi JB.

Wow, you can really feel the desperation and loss of hope when reading this letter.

I have searched various places using different surname combinations but nothing came up. I even tried the German Red Cross missing list, but the FP. Nr only showed the missing for a Sicherungs Bataillon that was assigned the same FP. Nr later in the war.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

Kind regards,

Will.

[Heartfeltzero]

Hi Will,

Yeah you can tell he was essentially hopeless at this point. It definitely shows how they were feeling at the time.

And that’s too bad. It’s possible the last name is wrong. That’s the name I was told but it could be something else I suppose. But i guess even if we never find his record, the chances he survived are extremely low. So it’s probably safe to say he was killed there.

Good day,
JB