John Stieber - Against the Odds - Survival on the Russian Front 1944-1945 [2nd Edition]

Against the Odds was first published in 1995 by my grandfather, John Stieber. His book was read and his story shared by many. He passed away peacefully in the arms of his family on July 11, 2010. This reprinting finally happened in 2016 after many requests from friends and family members to make the book available again. It is our family’s wish to share his story so that this piece of history is not forgotten.

Proceeds from this book will go to non-profit organizations near his home in Booterstown, Co. Dublin, Ireland.

This 2 ndedition matches the text of the first with some changes from my grandfather. The original cover art was reused. Some minor corrections and edits were also made.

I want to thank my late wife, Hertha, for proof-reading all drafts and offering many constructive comments. My daughter, Christine Cann has given me much help in dealing with the typical quirks of modern word-processors and printing the first sets of the completed manuscript.

I am very grateful to Jonathan Williams, my agent, for all his help and advice and for doing over and above what I could have expected of him.

To all ESB colleagues many thanks for the encouragement they have given me and especially to Alf Kelly for the helpful and copious notes he compiled on the first completed draft.

Finally, I wish to express my appreciation to all friends both here and in Germany, who read the manuscript and made many valuable suggestions.

It is many years since I decided that someday I would write a book about my experiences and adventures on the Russian Front in the last year of the Second World War. I think it was as much as forty years ago when I started to keep a little note-book, recording names of people and places, which I still remembered. My jottings included references to incidents, the nature of the countryside and memories of my thoughts and sensations of sound and smell. Retirement brought me time and peace of mind to settle down to my task.

My biggest problem was getting background military information on the role of the Division Hermann Göring, in which I served, since most of its military records were lost during the retreat. Painstaking research in Germany military archives and libraries rewarded me with some information on my division’s activities. A soldier on the Front rarely knows exactly where he is, or even the date – so it is against the background of situations comparable to those I remember that I have set my narrative as well as I could.

Writing my story brought many memories flooding back to me, far more than would have been practical to include in my book. Strangely enough, I found it more scary writing about some of the particularly dicey situations I survived on the Front, than when I actually experienced them.

The past came back to me even more vividly in the summer of 1990. “The Wall” was down and I could again visit my old boarding-school, Haubinda, in East Germany. I had expected never to see it again and I gazed at it as if I could not believe my eyes. As I walked slowly up the avenue, pausing every now and then, every step brought back new memories to me. Sadly, I noted the absence of many lovely old trees and I was shaken by the sight of a stark memorial to the dead of the Second World War. Suddenly I felt myself jerked back to the harsh reality of tragic events that had taken the lives of many of my school-friends.

As I drew nearer to the main school buildings, the shabbiness of the once impeccably maintained exterior became evident. The school bell no longer hung in its prominent position on the front wall; only a rusty bracket remained to show where it had been. Once again I experienced the feeling of security that my school had given me in the early years of the war. Shielded from all, but the most peripheral effects of the National-Socialist doctrine, school life had continued with remarkable normality. What a contrast were the years that followed, when gunfire became my constant companion.

Late 1926 — Arrival in England

Spring 1932 — Move to Brünn, now in Czech Republic

Spring 1933 — Move to Ireland

April 1939 — At school in Eger

May 1939 — At school in Gebesee

Nov. 1940 — At school in Haubinda

22 Feb. 1943 — I start serving with FLAK battery

15 Feb. 1944 — I join Labour Service

1 May 1944 — In Training with Division Hermann Göring

25 July 1944 — Sent to the Russian Front, Warsaw area

8 Aug. 1944 — Division sent to Magnuszew Bridgehead

3 Sept. 1944 — I join gun-group Trapp

19 Sept. 1944 — Division returns to Warsaw area

7 Oct. 1944 — Destruction of train to Radom

9 Oct. 1944 — Division transferred to East-Prussia

10 Oct. 1944 — I join a suicide squad

16 Oct. 1944 — Russian onslaught towards East-Prussia

18 Oct. 1944 — Division transferred to Gumbinnen

27 Oct. 1944 — I join 37-millimetre gun-group

12 Jan. 1945 — Russian offensive at Baranow Bridgehead

17 Jan. 1945 — Division moves to Lodz

18 Jan. 1945 — I join the “Wandering Pocket”

10 Feb. 1945 — Ambush of Division Göring

14 Feb. 1945 — I join supplies unit at Lauban

17 Mar. 1945 — Division sent to Neisse area

14 Apr. 1945 — Division operating in Görlitz area

7 May 1945 — End of hostilities

9 May 1945 — Reunion with Erika

15 May 1945 — Arrival in Rotenburg

4 May 1946 — I return to Ireland

Map of Germany and my escape route to safety.

Areas of deployment of Division (Later Panzer Corps) Hermann Göring on the Russian Front from July 1944 to closing stage of the war.

Map showing sweeping advance of Russian forces between March 1943 and July 1944.