Storm of Steel. Ernst Junger

[Paul Hederer]

Thanks for looking egbert.

Surely there must be info on the Regiment CO somewhere?

Colonel von Oppen.

He commanded the 73 IR from autumn 1914 to 1918.

Owen,

Oberst Gustav von Oppen commanded the regiment until 1917. He went to Palestine and died of disease there in 1918.

If you're really interested in Juenger take a look here:

http://www.juenger.org/

Vey interesting thesis on Juenger that discusses his writings and observations about his diary.

Paul

[Owen D]

Danke kameraden.

Ich gedenke aus die Deutsche soldats gefallen.

Nicht einzig Britisch Unfalle.

[spike10764]

Not at all.

The wording of my post was carefully considered before I hit the "send" button.

So there is a missing thread????

John, I should have known better, precision is your watchword.

Keep the dummies in everybody.....

And I'll stop sidetracking this thread, sorry Owen

[George Armstrong Custer]

Two steel helmets, one German and one British, which sit to this day in Ernst Junger's study and which were worn by two men who met on the battlefield on a night in June 1917 in an encounter fatal for one of them, also attest mutely but powerfully to the veracity of Junger's accounts of incidents in 'Storm of Steel'.

The first incident, in June 1917, is recounted on pp. 154-155 of the original 1929 English translation of 'Storm' by Basil Creighton (it appears on pp 151-152 of Michael Hofmann's 2003 translation). In this, Junger and 20 men were occupying an outpost to their company's front, when they were attacked by a force of the 1st Hariana Lancers.* Junger and his men beat off the attack and made it back to their own lines. The next evening, he was again ordered to occupy the outpost where the previous night's fight had taken place. Junger writes:

"At the spot where we had beaten off the flank attack the night before were lying three dead. Two of them were Indians, and one a white officer with two gold stars on his shoulder straps; a lieutenant, therefore. He was shot in the eye. The bullet went through the opposite temple and had smashed the rim of his helmet - which is now among my collection of sinister trophies......."

The second incident involves an attack at Cambrai on 1 December 1917, and is related on p. 234 of Creighton's translation (and p. 215 of the Hofmann):

"In the midst of this tumult I was struck to the earth by a terrific blow. Sobered, I tore off my helmet, and saw with horror two large holes in it. The N.C.O. Mohrmann, who sprang to my help, comforted me by the assurance that nothing was to be seen on the back of my head but a scratch. The shot of a far distant rifle had pierced my helmet and grazed the skull............"

Junger writes later that he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the House of Hohenzollern with Swords at the end of this action, adding:

"This cross, my perforated helmet, and a silver cup inscribed 'To the victor of Moeuvres,' presented to me by the three other company commanders of the battalion, are my souvenirs of the battle of Cambrai."

Eighty years later, in January 1997, the London 'Times' correspondent Roger Boyes visited Ernst Junger at his home at Stauffenbergstrasse, Wilflingen, to profile him on the occasion of the publication of a new biography by Thomas Nevin. At the time of the interview Junger was aged 101. Boyes began his piece thus:

"High on a shelf in Ernst Junger's orderly house sits the steel helmet that saved him from a warrior's death and allowed him to live to the age of 101. Helmut Kohl admired it and so too did Francois Mitterand when they visited the still-sharp writer who is regarded as one of the most controversial literary figures of the century." [Kohl and Mitterand visited Junger on the occasion of his 100th birthday, 29 March, 1995]

Junger had brought his own holed helmet home after the war, together with the Indian Lancer officer's bullet-holed Tommy helmet, and kept them sitting side by side on a bookshelf in his study until his death on February 17 1998, just weeks short of his 103 birthday. Junger's helmet souvenirs are tangible corroboration for his accounts of two seperate battlefield incidents in his 'Storm of Steel'. They are also indicators of two different totemic values. On the one hand, Junger's own Stahlhelm is a talisman which preserved his life, whilst on the other hand the Tommy helmet symbolises victory over, and respect for, a vanquished enemy warrior. It ought to be possible to identify from records the Indian lancer lieutenant killed by Junger and his men in June 1917, and whose battle-scarred helmet can still be seen reposing on Junger's bookshelf by visitors to his home (now preserved as a museum). And here are the two helmets which could tell such tales:

* Junger got the regimental number wrong; it was men from the 7th Hariana Lancers, who were actually serving on attachment to the 20th Deccan Horse in the May/June 1917 actions against Junger's 73rd Hannoverians.

Ciao,

GAC

[SiegeGunner]

Thanks, GAC, for telling the tale of the two helmets - and thanks also for quoting the relevant passages from the Creighton translation rather than the recent Hofmann version. I've just compared the two translations of the passages you quote with their respective originals and against each other, and the second passage, especially, illustrates a fault that runs all the way through Hofmann's translation, namely departing from the original and resorting to second-best terms and phrases in a deliberate effort to avoid using the same words as Creighton.

Mick

[Immo]

Thanks for looking egbert.

Surely there must be info on the Regiment CO somewhere?

Colonel von Oppen.

He commanded the 73 IR from autumn 1914 to 1918.

Hi,

Gustav von Oppen was buried in Hannover.

[TonyJoe]

Regarding corroboration of Junger, I am reading "Storm.." at the moment, and just read about the truce he mentions in December 1915, when opposite the "Hindoostani Leicestershires" - I have also borrowed "Of those we loved" by I L Read from the library - Read mentions the same truce from the British side.

[SiegeGunner]

Gustav von Oppen was buried in Hannover.

Immo,

Thanks for the photo, but are you sure he's actually buried there? The wording on the monument reads more like a memorial than a gravestone - and if, as Paul posted earlier, he died in Palestine, it seems unlikely that his body would have been returned to Hannover.

Mick

[Immo]

Mick,

I don't know for sure, but as far as I know it was not unlikely for officers to be transportet to their home after they were KIA, especially when they were awarded such high decorations like the Pour le Mérite. But I have to admit, that from Palestine to Hannover it is a very long distance...

Immo

[SiegeGunner]

Just searched Oberst Gustav von Oppen on the VDK register and can't find him, but there is this entry:

ZUM GEDENKEN

Nachname: von Oppen

Vorname: Gustav

Dienstgrad: Hauptmann

Geburtsdatum:

Geburtsort: Kiekebusch

Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 06.08.1870

Todesort: Spichern Gefecht bei Spichern

I wonder if this was his father or grandfather?

Mick

[Immo]

Just searched Oberst Gustav von Oppen on the VDK register and can't find him, but there is this entry:

ZUM GEDENKEN

Nachname: von Oppen

Vorname: Gustav

Dienstgrad: Hauptmann

Geburtsdatum:

Geburtsort: Kiekebusch

Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 06.08.1870

Todesort: Spichern Gefecht bei Spichern

I wonder if this was his father or grandfather?

Mick

Mick, that was his father! He was wounded in Spichern when he held the rank of a Captain within Grenadier-Regiment Nr.12 and DOW in Saarbrücken.

Immo

[SiegeGunner]

A discussion of Oberst Gustav von Oppen on the Axis History forum earlier this year says (without citing sources) that von Oppen commanded the Asienkorps in Palestine, and that he died of cholera in 1918 and was buried in the German cemetery at Damascus — which, if correct, is apparently unknown to the VDK. Mention was also made of the possibility that his Pour le Mérite was, strictly speaking, posthumous, as it was gazetted on 1 November 1918 and he died, I think, on 31 October.

Mick

[Hedley Malloch]

It is indeed possible to name the officer whose helmet graces Junger's shelf. He was 2nd Lt. Edward Enfield Lawson of the 20th Deccan Horse. At the outbreak of the War he was working as a rubber planter on his family's estates in Malaya. Like many young middle-class men working in mining or plantations in Asia he joined the Indian Army Reserve of Officers, being commissioned on 27 November 1914. He was attached to the 20th Deccan Horse on October 8 1915.

According to his family he was indeed blonde, but they are less sure about his size warranting Junger's description of him as a 'giant'. He appears to have been well-educated and to have spent one year in a German university - Heidleburg I seem to recall. His body, if recovered, was never identified. The place where he was buried was the scene of heavy fighting in 1918. Today he is commemorated on the Indian Memorial at Neuve Chapelle.

[George Armstrong Custer]

Thank you, Hedley, for rounding off the story of these helmets with that most interesting identification of Edward Lawson - it answers a question I've often wondered about, so it's worth temporarily breaking my self-imposed exile to comment!

[Forton]

Hi George

I know this is a bit irrelevant to the discussion. However, Ernest Junger was in love with my grandmother when both studied together at Leipzig University in the early 1920s. She used to tell a few funny stories about him, but she wasn't interested and thought him a bit of a philistine! Anyway, in my next book I'm going to engineer a reason for sticking in a picture of the pair of them taken in a class photograph. Wherever my grandmother is in these images, Junger is directly behind.

All best and good to catch up in Dundee

Richard

[George Armstrong Custer]

Hi Richard, I think you mentioned that to me out in Gallipoli in 2011 - I was fascinated by that fantastic connection then, and still am now. You must use it in your next book! I was lucky enough back in 1995 to be able to get Junger to sign my copy of the 1994 hardback reprint of the Creighton translation of 'Storm of Steel'; he also gave me a fine signed photo (both attached). If the photo is of any interest for your book let me know and I'll let you have a high-res scan.

Yes, I enjoyed the evening in Broughty Ferry enormously - we must get together again sometime on another of Pete Hart's fabulous battlefield tours of Gallipoli (little bit of gratuitous advertising from a happy customer there) - so clear some space in your diary!

Best,

George

[Forton]

Wow, George! What an autograph and dedicated to you too. I heard he was on the Somme as late as 1997ish Was that where you got you book signed?

All best

Richard

[David Filsell]

I suspect that the recent - last year? - German only publication of Jungers actual diaries would throw up more names for those expert in the language. What a joy an English translation would be.