“The LAST BATTLE IS ThE MOST DIFFICULT one …”
July 15, 2010 // "Golos Ukrainy" №108(4858)
Yosyf Davydovych Hoffmann is the person of an extraordinary fate. He faced the war when he was a 15-year-old fellow. Then under the German bombardment he had to evacuate from Mykolaiiv to Astrakhan where the young man worked as a digger during the construction of Astrakhan-Kizlyar road. He rose to the post of an onsite foreman there, and in the end of 1942 volunteered to go to the front. Yosyf was directed to Simferopol machinegun-mortar school situated at that time not in Simferopol, of course, but in Saratov region. Though even there he wasn’t fated to finish it: soon according to the Stalin’s order all cadets were mobilized to the front. Reconnaissance man, clearing group supervisor, commander of the rifle regiment reconnaissance platoon – that was a “battlefield career” of the Guards sergeant Hoffmann.
But then, on June 22, 1941, on having heard the awful word “War!”, Yosyf didn’t even think that he will be among those few who will witness the last days of the people who started the war... He couldn’t imagine that he will be in the thick of the events watched all over the world.
Berlin assault
But at the foot of Zeielovsky heights, in the open plain, Germans forced us to lie low. We tried to entrench: but should you move – adversary’s snipers opened fire. During the daylight hours we had to lie without a movement. And some soldiers didn’t even have a flask of water. “What for?”, they thought the day before. We will soon drink in Berlin!
The artillery continuously carried firepower against the heights, but the results were minimal. And then, according to Hoffmann’s words, Marshal Zhukov, late at night commanded the tankmen to attack Zeielovsky heights. That decision was against any canons of the military science. But the order was fulfilled.
- Breaking desperate resistance of the enemy, biting into each span of the earth, on April 21, our regiment also reached the suburbs of Berlin. Somewhere here,.. - shows Yosyf Davydovych on the map. - And then everything happened as it is said - out of the frying pan just into the fire! Running over from crater to crater, hiding in cover positions, bridging ditches and abatises, creeping over open areas on stomach, we assaulted the fascist den. Mines and shells went off literally by each meter. And it was an ordinary situation when your comrade-in-arms, to whom you had been just talking, on falling, pulled the trigger in dead rigor.
To gain a decisive victory we had only one place and one house left. The last aim was Reichstag. After all those thousand kilometers - long enduring front-line roads there were only several meters left. The division attacked from the south to the Tiergarten Park, not far from the imperial chancellery.
- The whole place and the neighboring streets were barricaded and mined. Gunshots at us came from everywhere... from windows, attics, roofs! We had to force Fritz out from each house, each floor and each room. The enemy fought with despair of a condemned man. But we had to suffer through this hell and we were still eager to live. Therefore each similar battle, each step forward was a great leap of faith.
And here was the red banner on the Reichstag’s dome – it was the victory! At 3 p.m. of May 2, 1945, the Berlin garrison surrendered. The war came to the end!
- It was, certainly, joy and overwhelming happiness! – even today the face of Yosyf Davydovych is radiant with a smile. - And again … there was shooting everywhere, but this time it was totally "peaceful": everyone having a weapon, - gave a salute, firing to the last cartridge in the charger. But still we couldn’t completely believe that we won’t need them anymore... We suffered four long years till this soldier's salute. We embraced, shook hands with each other, and drank to the victory, remembering all those who did not survive till that happy day. There were so many people killed in the streets of Berlin! Only according to official data, during the assault of the German capital our losses constituted 300 thousand people!
But then, on June 22, 1941, on having heard the awful word “War!”, Yosyf didn’t even think that he will be among those few who will witness the last days of the people who started the war... He couldn’t imagine that he will be in the thick of the events watched all over the world.
Berlin assault
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- Our 88th Guards rifle division was getting ready to start the Berlin battle from the Oder springboard, - remembers Yosyf Hoffmann. – The recconnaissance men were in the hardest position. At any cost they had to capture the information prisoner, the one knowing about the enemy’s strength complement, its armaments, headquarters and firing-points disposition. Then I draw such a conclusion: the more urgent need in the prisoner for interrogation is, the more difficult it is to capture him. The reconnaissance troopers handled the task. Several days before the start of an attack we did manage to capture a worth-while enemy soldier. In the predawn hours of the historical April 16, 1945, 40000 cannons and mortars stroke the left coast of Oder. Bright projector beams illuminated the nearshore battlefield and blinded the enemy. - The earth under foot was literally trembling, - continues the veteran. - I do not know what were the other soldiers and officers in the trenches and headquarters thinking about, but I felt a thrill of joy at that time. It didn’t look like an artillery preparation; it was more like the Victory fireworks. And still it was the most thrilling moment – the expectation of a coming attack. During the battle there was only one task: to kill the Heine – if you didn’t do that, then he would. That is the ruthless law of war when the death always walks with the soldier. We surmounted the first kilometers of offensive without any heavy resistance. Everywhere burnt enemy’s shotup tanks, lay corpses of German soldiers. |
But at the foot of Zeielovsky heights, in the open plain, Germans forced us to lie low. We tried to entrench: but should you move – adversary’s snipers opened fire. During the daylight hours we had to lie without a movement. And some soldiers didn’t even have a flask of water. “What for?”, they thought the day before. We will soon drink in Berlin!
The artillery continuously carried firepower against the heights, but the results were minimal. And then, according to Hoffmann’s words, Marshal Zhukov, late at night commanded the tankmen to attack Zeielovsky heights. That decision was against any canons of the military science. But the order was fulfilled.
- Breaking desperate resistance of the enemy, biting into each span of the earth, on April 21, our regiment also reached the suburbs of Berlin. Somewhere here,.. - shows Yosyf Davydovych on the map. - And then everything happened as it is said - out of the frying pan just into the fire! Running over from crater to crater, hiding in cover positions, bridging ditches and abatises, creeping over open areas on stomach, we assaulted the fascist den. Mines and shells went off literally by each meter. And it was an ordinary situation when your comrade-in-arms, to whom you had been just talking, on falling, pulled the trigger in dead rigor.
To gain a decisive victory we had only one place and one house left. The last aim was Reichstag. After all those thousand kilometers - long enduring front-line roads there were only several meters left. The division attacked from the south to the Tiergarten Park, not far from the imperial chancellery.
- The whole place and the neighboring streets were barricaded and mined. Gunshots at us came from everywhere... from windows, attics, roofs! We had to force Fritz out from each house, each floor and each room. The enemy fought with despair of a condemned man. But we had to suffer through this hell and we were still eager to live. Therefore each similar battle, each step forward was a great leap of faith.
And here was the red banner on the Reichstag’s dome – it was the victory! At 3 p.m. of May 2, 1945, the Berlin garrison surrendered. The war came to the end!
- It was, certainly, joy and overwhelming happiness! – even today the face of Yosyf Davydovych is radiant with a smile. - And again … there was shooting everywhere, but this time it was totally "peaceful": everyone having a weapon, - gave a salute, firing to the last cartridge in the charger. But still we couldn’t completely believe that we won’t need them anymore... We suffered four long years till this soldier's salute. We embraced, shook hands with each other, and drank to the victory, remembering all those who did not survive till that happy day. There were so many people killed in the streets of Berlin! Only according to official data, during the assault of the German capital our losses constituted 300 thousand people!
The next step after the Victory - Nuremberg
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But then Yosyf Hoffmann didn’t know what he would face in the future. After the fascist army capitulation, the 271st Berlin Guards rifle regiment, where he served, was relocated to Dresden. - Right after war a new officer was appointed the reconnaissance platoon commander, - remembers Yosyf Davydovych. - At that post I served one year and a half. It was a substantial term for a war period. Especially taking into account that, according to official documents, the regiment I was fighting at for the last two years did not participate in combat operations only eight days of the whole period. After that I was appointed the 3rd battalion Party organizer (during war and right after it they were not elected, but appointed). It was the same unit where I started my service. To the Party I was accepted after a successful raid of regimental reconnaissance men to the enemy’s rear. |
So reconnaissance man Yosyf Hoffmann became a security guard.
- When we drove to Nuremberg, we expected to see tanks and police everywhere. Besides, we thought there would be curfew restrictions imposed. After all, the government adored by Germans would be tried. By the way, there was also a camp of imprisoned SS-men nearby. But nobody sent special additional units to Nuremberg; no one was checked for documents. There were even no demonstrations or protests in protection of the defendants. But it does not mean that in Nuremberg there were no concerns for those who were responsible for life and security of the Soviet delegation. According to my command, there were a lot of “non-staff situations” and therefore concerns for us. Once we received a piece of information according to which some former soldiers of SS division "Edelweiss" were going to permeate to the Palace of justice in order to release the defendants and take hostage of the judges. – One German girl - conspirator with the help of an American officer managed to penetrate into the convention hall court martial under the false admission. She learned the arrangement of all the defendants, guards and judges. Fortunately, one of the conspirators had been arrested and gave out the others. After that the Palace of justice guard was considerably enhanced, and even tanks were placed around the building... The defendants, by the way, were taken to the hall through a special subway.
At first Yosif Hoffmann protected a member of the Court-martial general Mykytchenko, and then - the chief prosecutor from the USSR Roman Andriiovich Rudenko who before that had been the public prosecutor of Ukraine (more precisely the USSR).
- We had to be on duty every other day, as he had two security guards - me and other sergeant who later appeared to be... captain from the “competent bodies”. The Soviet command had to “mask” the officers because of the special agreement according to which the number of officers was limited. In the convention hall the guard was provided by Americans and representatives of the security service. I usually stayed at the reception, but sometimes I happened to be in the hall, where I could observe the process. Did I have a weapon? According to the rules no one was allowed to take it to the convention hall. But I did have a gun, though I had to hide it in such a way that I couldn’t tell anybody about it even now.
Goering took his blanket with him …
- The most flamboyant figure at the judicial proceedings was Goering, who was the person number one among the accused. This petted by luxury character must have felt uneasy on the wooden bench that’s why from the sell he took...
- The most flamboyant figure at the judicial proceedings was Goering, who was the person number one among the accused. This petted by luxury character must have felt uneasy on the wooden bench that’s why from the sell he took...
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a blanket which he always prudently underlaid. But by looks he always stayed calm and even tried “to put on a show” by taking off his ear-phones in an emphatic manner, when Rudenko took the floor for the first time. There were rumors that during a farewell kiss his wife gave him an ampoule with poison. But, in fact, this slyboots had several ampoules. One of them he had on purpose left in a pocket of his jacket for it to be found by the security guards during the search and in order to distract their attention. Everything hapenned exactly as he had planned and the second ampoule remained in a tube of face cream. Having learnt that the Control council denied the field marshal’s request to replace decapitation by execution, Goering decided not to live till the sentence execution. He died “thanks” to that second ampoule. - And how did others behave during the capital punishment? How did it all generally happen? - I was not present there, but I knew everything that happened during the night of October, 16, in details. It was strictly forbidden to take photos, though the next morning we already had pictures from the execution. Everything happened like that. At 23.45 of October, 15, all the sentenced (there were ten of them left) were woken up and told that there plea for mercy was denied. Yodel and Keitel were also reported that their request to replace decapitation by execution was rejected. After that, a “farewell” supper was offered to all of them: they could choose between sausages with potatoes and pancakes with fruit. |
In the gym of the Nuremberg prison there were three mechanic gallows equipped. At 1 a.m. there gathered the representatives of the Allied States (one general from each country - the USSR, the USA, the UK and France), and also three representatives from the German people. They were shown the Herman Goering's corpse. Then each criminal was brought to the scaffold to which 13 steps led. He stood on it. The priest said grace. After that, a hood and a loop were put on the victim. The hangman pressed the lever - and the condemned fell to the hatch as though the earth swallowed him up. It was even symbolic to some extent: it seemed as if those villains from hell came back to where they had belonged. The more astonishing thing was that those scoundrels who killed millions of people, in a step to death even forgot their own names. They behaved as pity cowards. Some even “wetted their pants”.
- Were there other moments that amazed you the most during the proceedings?
- All were really very surprised at the appearance of field marshal Paulyus on the proceedings. After his previous evidence had been read, someone from the defendants doubted it, hoping to drag out the proceedings. Therefore, when Chairman Lawrence asked Rudenko, how much time he needed to deliver the field marshal, Rudenko easily reported: “10 minutes”. As it later appeared, Rudenko, having foreseen that, ordered to secretly deliver Paulyus to Nuremberg. The other surprise happened when... Hess who pretended to be a lost-memory fool started talking...
- You must have had your own private reckonings with fascists...
- Yes, I had. Looking at the dock, I remembered my father, who had died on the battlefield, a lot. I recalled my uncle Yurii, who fell on Kuban, another uncle Yosyf who was a guerilla in the Odessa catacombs for two and a half years after having escaped from the captivity. Once we had even accidentally met after the liberation of the city, but that was our last meeting: he died in the battles for Moldova. My aunt Musia went to the battlefield as a nurse, she was awarded two decorations for courage and was also killed when she tried to save the wounded from the front. So among five members of our family fighting against the fascists I was the one to survive. Therefore, I believed that revenge will come sooner or later. But I could not even imagine that I will witness all that!
- Was that the reason why you decided to write the book “Nuremberg warns”?
- I have collected interesting facts for decades, having read a lot of documentation; therefore, I had a great deal of materials. It is possible to say that I couldn’t but express them. There was no more strength to store it all. To my mind, the book title is still relevant even now. The Ukrainian writer Yaroslav Halan, who was present on the proceedings, wrote: “The Fascist plague will threaten the mankind until all the elements of fascism are eliminated, all without any exception! Till this is not achieved, the bacilli of this plague will spread in a geometrical progression... The only best way to avoid fires is to neutralize its originators in due time...”. My book is not only an appeal to the descendants, but it is also my duty to those who were killed in the battlefield, who were poisoned in gas cameras, who were shot and tortured to death in extermination camps and who simply did not survive till today. May their memory live forever!
- Were there other moments that amazed you the most during the proceedings?
- All were really very surprised at the appearance of field marshal Paulyus on the proceedings. After his previous evidence had been read, someone from the defendants doubted it, hoping to drag out the proceedings. Therefore, when Chairman Lawrence asked Rudenko, how much time he needed to deliver the field marshal, Rudenko easily reported: “10 minutes”. As it later appeared, Rudenko, having foreseen that, ordered to secretly deliver Paulyus to Nuremberg. The other surprise happened when... Hess who pretended to be a lost-memory fool started talking...
- You must have had your own private reckonings with fascists...
- Yes, I had. Looking at the dock, I remembered my father, who had died on the battlefield, a lot. I recalled my uncle Yurii, who fell on Kuban, another uncle Yosyf who was a guerilla in the Odessa catacombs for two and a half years after having escaped from the captivity. Once we had even accidentally met after the liberation of the city, but that was our last meeting: he died in the battles for Moldova. My aunt Musia went to the battlefield as a nurse, she was awarded two decorations for courage and was also killed when she tried to save the wounded from the front. So among five members of our family fighting against the fascists I was the one to survive. Therefore, I believed that revenge will come sooner or later. But I could not even imagine that I will witness all that!
- Was that the reason why you decided to write the book “Nuremberg warns”?
- I have collected interesting facts for decades, having read a lot of documentation; therefore, I had a great deal of materials. It is possible to say that I couldn’t but express them. There was no more strength to store it all. To my mind, the book title is still relevant even now. The Ukrainian writer Yaroslav Halan, who was present on the proceedings, wrote: “The Fascist plague will threaten the mankind until all the elements of fascism are eliminated, all without any exception! Till this is not achieved, the bacilli of this plague will spread in a geometrical progression... The only best way to avoid fires is to neutralize its originators in due time...”. My book is not only an appeal to the descendants, but it is also my duty to those who were killed in the battlefield, who were poisoned in gas cameras, who were shot and tortured to death in extermination camps and who simply did not survive till today. May their memory live forever!
The Victory Day is not just a “happy holiday”
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The Nuremberg process is just one year from the long and eventful life of the reconnaissance man. It is worth only to mention that after the end of the war he tried to enter military high school several times (!), but the certain “paragraph” in his life story let him fulfill his dream only from the fourth “attempt”. After the graduation from Ivanov political-military school (in 1949) he was appointed the secretary of the 508th mechanized regiment Komsomol committee deployed in Mykolaiv. Then he studied in Moscow Lenin political-military academy and served as a chief of the Korosten missile unit. Besides, that was thanks to the help of the army commander of that time, three times Hero of the Soviet Union O.I.Pokryshkin. Yosyf Davydovych guards the watch engraved with his name received from the Commander-In-Chief as a very valuable relic. The inscription on it speaks for itself: “To Major Hoffmann for his diligent service. Lieutenant general Pokryshkin. 12.12.1964”. The military career of the intelligence officer ended in the rank of a colonel. At the present day in Poltava Yosyf Davydovych is known as an active participant of the veteran movement. He is an honorable guest in schools and universities, on different all Ukrainian and international conferences devoted to the history of war. Now Yosyf Davydovych can possibly be the last witness of the event that will stay forever in the memory of the mankind - the Nuremberg process. |
The watch, gifted to him by an American sergeant Woods, and the permission to the convention hall of the International tribunal are at the present time in the exposition of the Memorial complex “The National museum of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945” in Kyiv.
- It is hard to believe that it has already been 65 years since our Victory! – says Yosyf Davydovych. – The autographs of soldiers, including mine, are erased from the Reichstag, but our victory in a mortal combat against fascism can’t be forgotten. The pain and grief over the perished will never ease. We were at war. We have won. And the Great Patriotic War was, is and will be sacred for us. I hope that it will remain the same for the future generations. When on the Victory’s Day someone greets me like “Happy holiday to you!”, I certainly remind him that it is not simply a happy holiday, but a holiday with capital letter “H” – it is the VICTORY!
July 15, 2010 // "Golos Ukrainy" №108(4858)
