Shutze Hofchen
Name; Gunter Hofchen
Born; 1923 Lerbach, Niedersachsen
Civilian Occupation; Machine Fitter
I was born in Lerbach, near Osterode am Harz, on 12th January 1923,
the son of a lathe operator. When I left school I was trained as a machine
fitter until I volunteered for the army in October 1942. I joined the
replacement unit of Motorized Infantry Division Großdeutschland;
4.(M.G.)/ Inf. Ers. Regt. GD, staying until the beginning of February
1943, when I left for Russia.
I arrived soon after at the Motorized Infantry Division Großdeutschland
and was assigned to the 2nd Kompany of Grenadier Regiment GD. My new
home was in the Ukraine. They had recently seen extremely heavy fighting
west of Kharkov. And just as I arrived the division was being pulled
out of the line and was moving to where it could to be rested. Shortly
after Großdeutschland was moved back into the line in preparation
for our counteroffensive to recapture Kharkov.
Early in July, we along with the rest of Großdeutschland, struck out in the direction of Sirtsev, accompanied by our Panzers. However the minefields soon halted the Panzers and half-tracks attached to our battalion. Clearing the paths through the mine fields cost us dearly that day!
Finally with combined attacks by other GD units from the North, the Soviet's began to break under our pressure.
After fierce close-quarter fighting, the Soviets withdrew from Sirtsevo.
The next evening our shattered battalion was combined into an armoured
task force with Aufklärungs-Abteilung GD and Sturmgeschutz-Abteilung
GD, for our next objective Hill 230. The Soviet defenders were supported
by tanks, so we knew tough times were still ahead!
