Women's Battalion (Roman)
Frauenbataillon is a tragic love and war novel by Heinz G. Konsalik from 1981, set in the Soviet Union against the backdrop of World War II.
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Blurb
They fought on the front lines against Hitler's armies. The German soldiers fear their relentlessness and their courage to die. As snipers, on the flak and in hand-to-hand combat, they knew neither fear nor mercy - the soldiers of the Russian "women's battalions". But these women weren't ice cold killers. The war forced them to kill - it did not overcome their longing and hunger for love.
“ What should I do with Stella? There are only three options: Let them go - that means the death of many comrades. They kill - I am not capable of doing that, the way she sits in front of me with bare breasts, young and beautiful, her blond curls tousled, the shimmer of the purple setting sun in her blue-green eyes. ... [] ... You can hug a man and stick the knife in his ribs from behind! Is that really you? With those eyes? With that mouth? With this body? Are you really a beast, Stella? If only you could understand some of what I'm saying "
action
In the opening sequence, the hunter Pyotr Salnikov is killed by a bear. The setting is the Siberian forests near the village of Nowo Kalga. His wife, Stella, who keeps the blood of her dead husband in a vessel, seeks revenge. She succeeds in killing the bear and in a kind of ritual pouring the blood of her husband into his throat. She remembers July 1943 , north of the Donets , near Bjelgorod , where she met her future husband.
The plot changes to World War II on the Eastern Front . Strange incidents are reported in the sector of Army Group Don , in the sector of the Italian 8th Army . Forward guards disappear again and again along the HKL . The army command initially assumed defectors and decided to investigate these incidents more closely. All three officers are shot. The perpetrators are the Soviet snipers Schanna (29 hits), Lida (24 hits) and Darja (29 hits). These and a number of other women have completed special training at the Moscow sniper school in Veshnyaki, are among the best in the country and serve in the elite unit of the Soy Valentinovna Badja, in the so-called "women's battalion". They have kidnapped in "no man's land" of the front Italian soldiers they kidnapped under cover of night in their positions and there jointly in them passed . Then the men were shot. These incidents repeat themselves several times.
Reports about the deeds of the snipers reach the highest generals. This is how General Field Marshal von Manstein found out about it. Thereupon two snipers from the sniper school in Poznan and the management of Major Molle are tasked with ending the hauntedness and killing the snipers. On January 12, 1943, the major Soviet offensive began in the Donsteppe and the operation had to be broken off. The snipers, whose lives as lone fighters are very valuable, will be withdrawn from the HKL. In the spring of 1943 the front between Donets and Mius stabilized again and a new positional war began. This is again the hour of the snipers, who can develop ideally in this fighting style. The Badja sniper detachment is set up in the Red Army trench system north of Bjelgorod. Stalin has the political commissars gradually withdrawn from the fighting force and replaced by officers. The snipers are very successful and kill 39 Wehrmacht soldiers with targeted headshots within a short time. Especially in the section of the 4th Company / Leutnant Bauer III, where Hesslich and Dallmann are now also deployed. The snipers watch Hesslich, who characteristically camouflages himself in his grandmother's knitted hat and thus makes himself unmistakable on the few occasions he has been spotted. Both groups watch each other all night long. During one of these hunts, Shanna, who holds the position alone in an abandoned village while the rest of the department is attending political training, is injured in the shoulder by Hesslich but is able to escape. Schanna's “war honor” was injured and her commander Badja made it a condition that she had to kill ten more Germans in order to be accepted into the community of snipers again. The reputation of the dangerous “knitted hat”, that mysterious and dangerous German sniper, is making the rounds. Otherwise, military activities on the largely calm front have fallen asleep. Both sides enjoy a deceptive silence for three months and enjoy the summer. The German and Soviet sniper groups watch each other, watch each other through the telescopic sight as they bathe naked in the river, and the sexual greed of both parties increases.
In the meantime, Darja seduces political commissioner Foma, which leads to a violent affair. His wife Praskova received permission from the highest authorities to visit her husband at the front. One day, in June 1942, she suddenly turns up in the political commissar's bunker and discovers Darja who is taking a bath. Furious with jealousy, Praskova kills her rival with a wooden club. Foma, who is alarmed by the desperate cries of pain of his lover, is also killed by her. Soja Badja tries to cover up the scandal in their elite unit. Praskowa, whose life has suddenly become meaningless, desperately wants to drown himself in Donets, but is shot by Dallmann beforehand. The Russian snipers decide to set up a trap and tie a fat pig to a stake to lure the Germans. Corporal Plötzerenke falls for this trap and tries to get hold of the pig. Now the women strike from ambush. But the snipers' plan goes wrong. A scuffle ensues. Wanda is killed and Schanna is taken prisoner by Germany. Plötzerenke decides not to hand over his "booty" Schanna to the SS , SD or Einsatzgruppen , but to keep them prisoner for his private pleasure in a small hut in no man's land. Plötzerenke keeps the injured Schanna alive, cares for her, but also rapes her regularly. The increasingly weaker Schanna first gives up her resistance and surrenders to her fate. Plötzerenke developed feelings for the unusually pretty girl and fell in love with her.
Meanwhile, the company commander of the 4th Kp tries to bring the declining morale of his troops back into shape by means of formal service and small combat exercises. The fact that there is still this high failure rate by opposing snipers in a perfectly calm section of the front causes great excitement among the higher-level command and forces the division to take appropriate measures. The major general and commander of the division asked Hesslich to speak to him. It is intolerable that German soldiers as guard posts allow themselves to be “ switched off ” so easily by the enemy, and especially by women, by so-called “ shotgun women ”. Hesslich and Dallmann should end this hustle and bustle immediately.
However, Peter Hesslich goes on a “blind hunt” for several days alone, without Dallmann, because he can move around more inconspicuously in the field alone. He uses the same techniques as his counterpart to put the Soviet snipers, namely their weapons and clothes, on a raft camouflaged as a natural island in order to reach the opposing bank unnoticed under cover of night. In the deserted village, he, Stella and Flora Victorowna have a nightly firefight in which Flora is shot. For a moment, Hesslich has Stella in his crosshairs, but he is blinded by her beauty and cannot pull the trigger. Back in the position system, Badja is furious that a German sniper succeeded in turning the tables and causing them such losses.
Schanna's condition is now critical. Her wound festers and she develops a severe fever. Plötzerenke has to get her medical help, otherwise she will die. Your situation is desperate. One night she was able to send a light signal to the other side of the river unnoticed, but this was not answered by her comrades. Hate still keeps her alive, but she is getting weaker every hour. Lida, Marianka and another woman cross the Donets to free Shanna. You are acting against Badja's order. In a hut they discover the girl who is currently being operated on by the doctor Ursbach in the presence of Plötzerenke. During the shooting, Plötzerenke was fatally hit in the lungs and bleeding to death. Lida and the attendant kiss at a weak moment. But then the girls return to their mission and their image of the enemy and beat Ursbach down. They take Schanna into their system of ditches. Despite the agony she has suffered, Soja Badja does not give her amnesty, does not endure the shame and shoots herself.
The Red Army is also alarmed by the appearance of German snipers and sends the best man of the 7th Guard Army: Sergeant Bairam Vadimowitsch Sibirzew. A Siberian marksman. He quickly falls out of favor with the female snipers because of his arrogant demeanor and his attitude towards women being easy prey. Stella is one of the first to receive the new Tokarew SWT-40 sniper rifle and she can hardly wait to try it out on living targets. While Stella and Bairam compete for the best shooting results, preparations are being made in the background on the German side to clean up the Kursk front in a new major offensive .
Reports of atrocities by the Einsatzgruppen are heating up the mood against the Germans in the Red Army. Usanow and Badja study aerial photographs of the German positions. They get a clearer picture of the realities of their enemy, whom they want to eliminate for good immediately. Hesslich and Dallmann are again lying in wait together. Hesslich finds out that Dallmann uses pervitin as a stimulant. On the other side, on an arched sandbank of the river, which is dubbed “the back of the turtle”, Stella lies with her night vision telescope at observation posts. Dallmann, who becomes careless and recklessly pushes himself out of his position, is killed by Stella with a shot in the head. Hesslich rushes to the "back of the turtle" and finds cartridge cases. He swears to avenge the death of his comrade and friend and wants to look for the "murderess" on his own in the Russian lines and hunt her down mercilessly.
He then eliminates one sniper after the other. Hesslich lays a trail, a trail of blood, in order to finally bring down the blonde marksman in particular. The name " Mützensatan " is haunted. A man who actually managed to seep deep into their lines and is now shooting Red Army soldiers at random. Marianka, Lida, Stella, Sibirzew and others swarm out in small groups to catch and kill him. Stella asks Bairam to only wound him at one encounter and leave him to her. Hesslich's hunting frenzy has subsided for the time being. He watches a number of easy targets, including Red Army soldiers having sex with peasant girls under the cover of the forest, but he no longer kills them. In truth, he dreams of his old life at home and longs for the wild animals of his forest.
The Badja department has become over-nervous in the pursuit of the " hat satan ". An innocent peasant woman from Sibirzew is also shot because he considers her an enemy in the semi-darkness. Meanwhile, the final preparations for the Citadel company are underway on the German side . The tank brigades are hiding in the forest and the artillery is preparing the big fire. Three German armies are to fight against 14 Soviet armies (3.1 million Red Army soldiers): No heroic deed, but absolute madness! The warnings from the Canaris department are dismissed by the OKH as " idiot paper ". The plan is a breakthrough in the Donezfront on the line Vovchansk - Bjelgorod and a foray into Korocha ; in the middle of the 7th Guard Army sector and the Badja department. This time, General Kitayev sees no reason to withdraw the snipers from the threatened sector.
At dusk, Peter Hesslich and Stella accidentally collide in the forest and a life-and-death wrestling match begins between them. However, she is overwhelmed by Hesslich and destroys her “miracle weapon”, her new Tokarev sniper rifle. She expects no mercy and asks him for a quick death. But he binds them and cares for their wounds. Finally the two confess their love to each other and have intercourse in a wild love frenzy. After completing the act, Stella knocks Peter down and also destroys his rifle. She escapes. Back at her own troops, she reports that she has been attacked by Red Army soldiers and that her rifle has been stolen. Her supervisor, Soja, even went so far as to ask the responsible division commander to investigate the incident. Only the doctor Galina discovers Stella's secret when she discovers German plasters on her body, but she remains her accomplice and promises not to reveal them. Stella owns Peter's knitted hat as a trophy , which she wears on her body in her bra . Sibirzew returns to the position. He is in a bad mood because he had touched a peasant woman immorally on a patrol and she had brusquely rejected him. Hesslich is also back with the troops and reports on the large number of troops on the part of the Red Army. But his warnings are ignored.
The Citadel operation begins on July 4, 1943 with massive artillery fire and air strikes. The ground sways under the impacts.
“ Every leader, every man must be imbued with the vital importance of this attack. The Kursk victory must act like a beacon to the world. "
" Front situation: On 5.7. The "Operation Citadel" began as planned early on in the Kempf Army Department, the 4th Panzer Army and the 9th Army. "
The artillery fire continues and engineers build a pontoon bridge to allow the tanks to cross the Donets. The German attack is making good progress at the beginning. The 1st and 2nd trenches are overrun and even the anti-tank bar of the Red Army can be overcome. The Badja department moves backwards. 19 girls are killed in the fighting. Bunker VIII gets a direct hit and due to the many wounded the medical bunker fills up. The 4th Company storms the other side of the Donets in several groups. All Panther tanks are destroyed. In the end, even a super -heavy Ferdinand tank destroyer can no longer do anything against the superior Soviet power.
On July 6, 1943, the Badja department settled in the village of Melechowo on the Rosumnaya River. It forms a barrier and a bridgehead there. Your mission is to hold off the Germans until a tank brigade has deployed. At 05:00 in the morning, 4th Company storms the bridgehead. The Soviet female snipers kill a large number of German infantrymen from their prepared ambush positions while crossing the river. The Germans, who were then surprised by the "silent machine guns" and suffered heavy losses, had to take cover on the embankment. The battle around the Melechowo bridgehead developed out of this. Badja and a number of other female snipers kill ugly. Her lover Ugarow swears revenge, but is also shot by Hesslich. After Badja died, Stella and Sibirzew have to lead the department. The scattered can finally withdraw under the protection of artificial fog. Stella escapes using a T-34 tank. Of the 4th CP, only 34 men are still alive. On July 10, 1943, the 4th Kp arrives in the village of Nowa Sloboda on the upper Korjen River. The offensive on Kursk is on the verge of catastrophe, as the Red Army's tactic of letting the enemy farther into the hinterland to destroy him there is working. Hesslich is still looking for revenge and single-handedly goes hunting again. Sub-doctor Ursbach wants to rescue the wounded in no man's land and is surprised by the doctor Galina. Galina and the sniper Maja capture Ursbach and force him to work in their hospital. A jealous drama about Urbach is looming between Galina and Lida.
On July 12, 1943, the great Soviet counter-offensive began and it was a success across the board. The 4th Kp has to withdraw further and form a defensive ring around Bjelgorod with other associations. Meanwhile, the retaking of Kharkov begins. Lida helps Ursbach to escape, but is caught by Galina shortly afterwards. A life-and-death struggle breaks out between the two, which Lida wins for herself. Later, Galina's corpse is found, suffocated in the mud, and the fugitive Ursbach is blamed for it. Stella is promoted to lieutenant and celebrates her 329th hit. She is also a candidate for the " Heroine of the Soviet Union ". Lt. Farmer III is wounded and replaced by First Lieutenant von Bellinghoven, who fell on August 16, 1943. Once again the snipers Lida and Maja struck. A little later, Hesslich was hit by shrapnel and suffered a serious leg injury. All other comrades die in the process and Hesslich is also waiting to die. Stella found him by chance. Another German counter-attack hits the Badja detachment, which is now commanded by Sibirzew. This gives the order to withdraw individually and to gather again at Lunowo. Before that, however, they succeed in completely wiping out 4th Company. Stella remains missing. You can only find her blood-smeared hit book in a shell hole. Stella and Peter, who from now on only calls himself “Pjotr”, hide in a cellar with rotting potatoes. A fierce tank battle rages around them. Stella takes care of Pyotr's injury as best she can.
Then she decides to end her life as a sniper Korolenkaya forever and build a new future with Pyotr. During her absence, the Badja division received a new commandant and fought against a unit of the Waffen SS . Pyotr assumes the identity of the fallen lieutenant Pyotr Herrmanowitsch Salnikow. While the two of them visit an exhibition about the heroic deeds of the Red Army, Stella discovers a photograph that shows her in her old identity, as the best female sniper on the southern front, Stella Korolenkaja, who has now officially been made a heroine, and is deeply emotionally moved by it . By chance, Sibirzew discovers Stella again, threatening their new happiness. Stella lures her lustful adversary into the basement of a ruin under the false promise of fast sexual intercourse and kills him there. Then Stella and Pyotr must flee Kharkov as quickly as possible . Their journey takes them to Siberia , where they want to build a new common "paradise" together. So they come to Nowo Kalga in May 1946 , where Pyotr becomes a forest worker and leases a piece of land in the taiga . Her son Gamsat will soon be born. During a visit to the Dhanuga prisoner of war camp, they rediscover Ursbach. In an unobserved moment, he tells them that he hopes to be released again soon and perhaps to be able to return to Germany . He wants to talk about the legendary women's battalion there, but suspects that no one will believe him. That same night, the couple fathered their daughter Nani. The hunter Salnikow becomes a legend.
characters
- Stella Antonowna Salnikowa alias Stella Antonowa Korolenkaja: Ukrainian weaver and marksman. The main female character in the story. In the course of the book she falls in love with the German Peter Hesslich.
- Marianka Stepanova Dudovskaya: baker and sniper.
- Shanna Ivanovna Babayeva: 18-year-old shepherdess and sniper from Lake Baikal .
- Lida Ilyanovna Selenko: student of dentistry and sniper.
- Darja Allanovna Klueva: student of architecture and sniper.
Stella, Marianka, Schanna, Lida and Darja, who have all been trained in hand-to-hand and individual combat, are among the best in their class at the sniper school in Veshnyaki near Moscow. The girls are placed under the Badja department. “ They had brown, black and chestnut red curls and pretty, almost childlike faces. ”
- Soja “Soitschka” Valentinovna Badja: Captain, commander of the sniper unit. The 31-year-old war widow leads her unit with extreme severity. Military conscientiousness and military honor are two of its most important principles. She demands unconditional obedience from her subordinates.
- Galina Ruslanovna Opalinskaya: doctor of the sniper unit.
- Victor Ivanovich Ugarov: Lieutenant Badja. The 25-year-old man becomes Soja Badja's lover.
- Foma Igorewitsch Miransky: Political Commissioner of the Badja Department. The middle-aged man was only reluctantly to become the commissioner of a special unit made up of women. He is responsible for the morale of his troops, but ultimately cannot resist Schanna's seductive skills.
- Bairam Vadimowitsch Sibirzew: Sergeant and sniper from Siberia.
- Ivan Rasulowitsch Kitajew: General of the Red Army.
- Olga Petrovna Rabutina: Colonel, commander of the sniper school. After completing their training, she hands the girls hit books, in which they are supposed to document their fatal headshots.
- Dr. Wiljam Matwejewitsch Semaschko: Doctor in Nowo Kalga.
- Peter Hesslich alias Pjotr Herrmanowitsch Salnikow: sergeant major and sniper. Main character of the story. Originally from Wuppertal , Hesslich wanted to become a forester, but after a scandal with the head forester's wife, he can no longer practice this job and ends up in the Wehrmacht against his will. Because of his talent at the weapon he is trained as a sniper. Hesslich has absolutely no ambitions for promotions and the like. In 1942, Hesslich had already carried out several missions near Demyansk , in front of Leningrad , on Lake Peipus , Smolensk , Voronezh and in partisan areas. He does his job with the weapon skillfully, but with great reluctance. In contrast to his fellow sniper Dallmann, he has great scruples about killing women.
- Uwe Dallmann: Sergeant and sniper.
- Lorenz von Stattstetten: Ensign.
- Richard Molle (MM): Major in a special unit in Poznan. He trained Hesslich and Dallmann to be snipers.
- Franz Bauer III: Lieutenant, 4th Company.
- Fritz Plötzerenke: Corporal.
- Helge Ursbach: assistant physician.
Economic success
The work, of which 100,000 copies had already been sold a few weeks after it was published, developed into a “super racer” in the 1980s and stayed in the middle of the SPIEGEL bestseller list for a long time.
Reviews
The plot of the story is very similar to that of the previous work They Were Ten . Here, too, a young man in enemy territory succumbs to the beauty of the country and its women. In the end, the hero takes on a new identity, leaves his old life behind and lives his new happiness. The folk writer, who claims to have researched the development of the material for 20 years and who is accused of reproducing common stereotypes, creates with his novel a picture of a Soviet elite women's battalion as a " horde of ice-cold murderers " or " mad cats of prey ", which hardly corresponds to the reality of the war at that time. Konsalik deliberately plays with erotic fantasy images of the reader, which he evokes by depicting extremely attractive women in the front line. They are " deadly hunters " and " horny Amazons " at the same time. A choice of words by women with " almond eyes " and " small, hard breasts " should inspire the imaginations of the soldiers. In Konsalik's distorted image of women, Russian women portray cruelty, beauty and sexual instinct in one person. His language is chauvinistic to misogynistic .
“ At that time the doctor Marfa Vadimowna was walking around with us, a real babe, by God, with a stern face, a real cow's udder from a breast and a backside that you could chop wood on. "
Konsalik's book is about the daily routines and the thoughts of the soldiers, their bitter hatred and, despite the cruelty of the war, their willingness to love.
Historical context
With his novel Konsalik takes up the fact that during the “Great Patriotic War” around 800,000 to one million Russian women did their military service in the Red Army. The image of so-called Russian " shotgun women " shaped the ideas of the time. An image that was particularly inspired by the propaganda of the Third Reich. Their missions at the front were viewed either with mystification or, later, with discrimination. Precision shooters such as Nina Petrowa, Nina Lobkowskaja, Lidjia Gudovanzewa, Tatiana Baramsina, Natalja Kowtschowa, Olga Schirnina, Rosa Schanina, Ziba DeNoise / Ganijewa, Jefgenia Makeewa and Maria Poliwanowa received special attention. One of the most famous snipers with the most kills (309 hits) was Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlitschenko , also known as "Lady Death", who may have inspired Konsalik for his work.
Text output
- Heinz Konsalik: Women's Battalion . Hestia Verlag, Rastatt, 1981. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach, 2002. 508 pages. ISBN 3-404-14684-0 .
literature
- Susanne Anneliese Schimetta: Consumer novels. The image of women in Heinz G. Konsalik's novels, and how these novels are read by women. Dissertation University of Salzburg, 1984.
Web links
- Reference to Konsalik: Frauenbataillon in the review Anton Kremenz: Der Bär
- Peter O. Chotjewitz: War fuckers and survivors. Laudation to Heinz Günther Konsalik for his book “Frauenbataillon” on the occasion of the award of the war prize . Concrete , 11/1981.
Notes and individual references
- ^ Heinz Konsalik: Women's Battalion. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich, 1995. Original edition Hestia Verlag, Rastatt, 1981. pp. 338–339. ISBN 3-453-08602-3
- ↑ German translation peach
- ^ Heinz Konsalik: Women's Battalion. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich, 1995. Original edition Hestia Verlag, Rastatt, 1981. P. 369. ISBN 3-453-08602-3
- ^ Heinz Konsalik: Women's Battalion. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich, 1995. Original edition Hestia Verlag, Rastatt, 1981. P. 369. ISBN 3-453-08602-3
- ^ Heinz Konsalik: Women's Battalion. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich, 1995. Original edition Hestia Verlag, Rastatt, 1981. P. 53. ISBN 3-453-08602-3 .
- ^ Die Welt, October 16, 1981
- ↑ Place # 6. Fiction, non-fiction. DER SPIEGEL, December 28, 1981
- ^ Matthias Harder: Experience of War. To depict the Second World War in the novels by Heinz G. Konsalik. With a bibliography of the author's German-language publications from 1943–1996 (Epistemata - Würzburg scientific writings. Literature series, Volume 232). Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1999. p. 190
- ^ Anti-communism and hostility to the Russians before and after 1945: The novels of the bestselling authors Edwin Erich Dwinger and Heinz G. Konsalik
- ↑ Interview with Heinz G. Konsalik. THE MIRROR. December 31, 1990
- ↑ Susanne Anneliese Schimetta: Consumer novels. The image of women in Heinz G. Konsalik's novels, and how these novels are read by women. Diss. University of Salzburg, 1984. S. 118ff.
- ^ Heinz Konsalik: Women's Battalion. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich, 1995. Original edition Hestia Verlag, Rastatt, 1981. P. 92. ISBN 3-453-08602-3
- ↑ "Loving Beasts?" Review of Konsalik's women's battalion ( memento of the original from August 19, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Swetlana Alexejewitsch: Mascha and Nina and Katjuscha - Women in the Red Army 1941 - 1945. Ch. Links Verlag 2002. ISBN 978-3-86153-281-1 .
- ^ Hitler's war of extermination. Helping victories. Women were omnipresent in the Eastern campaign: They fought with weapons, worked in administration and cared for the injured. The horror of the Soviet "gun women". Zeit Online, May 24, 2011
- ↑ May 8th: The forgotten "gun women". About 1 million women fought against Nazi Germany in the Soviet Army. Voluntary. After that, they were ostracized in their homeland for it. The soldiers were heroes, the women soldiers whores. Sonia Mikich, long-time TV correspondent in Moscow, writes about the heroines - from her point of view. Emma, May 6, 2015
- ^ Judith Kessler: Women in the Red Army. Article from May 5, 2015 on AVIVA-Berlin .de, accessed on May 1, 2020.
- ↑ Soviet female snipers in World War II. These twelve women shot 775 soldiers! BILD newspaper, January 19, 2015
- ^ Post-colored photos of famous female snipers in the Soviet Union. Daily Mail, April 19, 2017
