At Leningrad's Gates: The Story of a Soldier with Army Group North - Hardcover

Lubbeck, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1932033556 ISBN 13: 9781932033557

Publisher: Casemate, 2006

Synopsis

This is the remarkable story of a German soldier who fought throughout World War II, rising from conscript private to captain of a heavy weapons company on the Eastern Front.

William Lubbeck, age 19, was drafted into the Wehrmacht in August 1939. As a member of the 58th Infantry Division, he received his baptism of fire during the 1940 invasion of France. The following spring his division served on the left flank of Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa. After grueling marches admidst countless Russian bodies, burnt-out vehicles, and a great number of cheering Baltic civilians, Lubbeck’s unit entered the outskirts of Leningrad, making the deepest penetration of any German formation.

The Germans suffered brutal hardships the following winter as they fought both Russian counterattacks and the brutal cold. The 58th Division was thrown back and forth across the front of Army Group North, from Novgorod to Demyansk, at one point fighting back Russian attacks on the ice of Lake Ilmen. Returning to the outskirts of Leningrad, the 58th was placed in support of the Spanish “Blue” Division. Relations between the allied formations soured at one point when the Spaniards used a Russian bath house for target practice, not realizing that Germans were relaxing inside.

A soldier who preferred to be close to the action, Lubbeck served as forward observer for his company, dueling with Russian snipers, partisans and full-scale assaults alike. His worries were not confined to his own safety, however, as news arrived of disasters in Germany, including the destruction of Hamburg where his girlfriend served as an Army nurse.

In September 1943, Lubbeck earned the Iron Cross First Class and was assigned to officers’ training school in Dresden. By the time he returned to Russia, Army Group North was in full-scale retreat. Now commanding his former heavy weapons company, Lubbeck alternated sharp counterattacks with inexorable withdrawal, from Riga to Memel on the Baltic. In April 1945 Lubbeck’s company became stalled in a traffic jam and was nearly obliterated by a Russian barrage followed by air attacks.

In the last chaotic scramble from East Prussia, Lubbeck was able to evacuate on a newly minted German destroyer. He recounts how the ship arrived in the British zone off Denmark with all guns blazing against pursuing Russians. The following morning, May 8, 1945, he learned that the war was over.

After his release from British captivity, Lubbeck married his sweetheart, Anneliese, and in 1949 immigrated to the United States where he raised a successful family. With the assistance of David B. Hurt, he has drawn on his wartime notes and letters, Soldatbuch, regimental history and personal memories to recount his four years of frontline experience. Containing rare firsthand accounts of both triumph and disaster, At Leningrad’s Gates provides a fascinating glimpse into the reality of combat on the Eastern Front.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction

PROLOGUE
1. A VILLAGE UPBRINGING
2. UNDER THE NAZI DICTATORSHIP
3. PRELUDE TO WAR
4. TRAINING FOR COMBAT
5. WAR IN THE WEST
6. BLITZKRIEG INTO RUSSIA
7. TO THE GATES OF LENINGRAD
8. WINTER AT URITSK
9. COUNTERATTACK AT THE VOLKHOV
10. THE DEMYANSK CORRIDOR
11. HOLDING THE LINE AT LADOGA
12. OFFICER CANDIDATE
13. KRIEGSCHULE
14. RETURN TO THE FRONT
15. RETREAT INTO THE REICH
16. CATASTROPHE
17. THE PRICE OF DEFEAT
18. POST-WAR GERMANY
19. A NEW LIFE ABROAD
EPILOGUE

Acknowledgments
Appendices
Endnote

About this title

About the Author

William Lubbeck rose to the rank of Captain in the German Army, fighting primarily in Russia. He went on to earn a degree in electrical engineering and arrived in the U.S. in 1956. Now retired, he lives in Asheville, NC. He has three children, seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

David Hurt received a B.A. in political science from the University of Florida and a M.A. in international affairs from Florida State University. In addition to his academic work in politics and history, he has spent six months studying in Russia, including St. Petersburg. He currently teaches political science at a college in Knoxville, TN.

Review

"an interesting story of a part of World War II not well known in the US. I suspect the author would be an interesting person with whom to spend a few hours in a beer hall going a bit deeper into his experiences." (Books Online)

"In August 1939, at the age of 19, William Lubbeck was drafted into the German Wehrmacht. As a forward observer of a heavy weapons company in the 58th Infantry Division, he witnessed combat up close in France, Russia and Germany. His memoirs are compiled with attention to details. The reader will feel as though he is alongside Lubbeck as he calls fire missions on the enemy during his three years of service." (Military Trader)

“... a first-rate memoir... The reader will find the narrative flowing. Two appendices, one on German Infantry Regiments in WW II of 1940, and another consisting of references of all places named, are added to assist the reader.” (City Book Review)

"...a well-wrought ground level view of daily life in hell." (World War II, No 3, 06/2007)

"... compiled with attention to details. The reader will feel as though he is alongside Lubbeck as he calls fire missions on the enemy during his three years of service." (Military Trader)

About this edition

• Publisher: Casemate
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1932033556
• ISBN 13: 9781932033557
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264