| Books |
AT LENINGRAD'S GATES: The Combat Memoirs of a Soldier with
Army Group North
Wehrmacht Captain William Lubbeck
with David B. Hurt
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.
Hardcover, 6 x 9, 264 pages, 16 pages b/w illustrations.
$32.95
Army Group North
Wehrmacht Captain William Lubbeck
with David B. Hurt
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.
Hardcover, 6 x 9, 264 pages, 16 pages b/w illustrations.
$32.95
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