Soldier of Germany to Soldier of God - remarkable journey of Fr Franz X Dirnberger (Post 4 of 4)

What if I tell you, a German soldier condemned to die in Eastern Front survived and was instrumental in saving hundreds of girl children condemned to die in remote rural pockets of Madurai?

From being a Wehrmacht soldier under Erwin Rommel to a fighter against female infanticide, Fr Franz X Dirnberger's journey is something remarkable.

Born in a devout Catholic family in Ruhland in Germany in 1916, Dirnberger wanted to become a priest and joined seminary when the great war sucked him into its whirlpool. Mandated to take military training after schooling, all abled-bodied men were recruited into the military machine that churned for the aspirations of Hitler when war broke out in 1939.

After initial training, Dirnberger was absorbed into 87th regiment of the 7th Panzer division headed by the 'Desert Fox' Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

After short action in France, Dirnberger soon found himself in Eastern Front (the Russian Invasion) in 1942. But the Nazi Germany like Napoleon Bonaparte fell to the Great Russian winter.

On February 2, 1943 when the siege against Stalingrad crumbled with heavy German casualties, Dirnberger was lying in the snow heavily bleeding after hit by bullets in neck and arm. Russians left him to die among the fallen. But it was not his day.

Having lost blood and thirsty, he chewed some snow and mustered his strength to walk back. Next day, his fleeing regimental mates found him walking and took him to hospital. Fighting till the end of war, he ended up as Prisoner of War in the American hands.

During the custody, an American Chaplain learnt that he was studying for priesthood before war and expedited his release. Three years after the war, he was ordained as priest in 1948.

Dirnberger's next leap of faith came in 1970s, when he was asked to travel to India to establish the missions of his congregation. Never been to the country or knowing little English, he came down to India with two young Indian missionaries and he established numerous mission centres in the country in the next span of two decades in spite of suffering a major accident in 1980.

Notable among his missions is 'the Mercy Home' for abandoned girl children in Madurai. In 1987, India Today published the article 'Born to Die' estimating that 1500 girl children are killed in female infanticide in Madurai villages. Having established a mission centre in the hinterland of Madurai at Karumathur then, Dirnberger got into action. During my short association with the congregation, my mentors used to narrate how as the old man in crutches - the fair looking German missionary - went around villages urging villagers not to kill their daughters but hand them over to him. His Mercy Home today is the nodal agency in Madurai District for Tamil Nadu's Cradle Baby scheme and it had saved hundreds of babies which otherwise would have perished.

Dirnberger was asked to return back to Germany and spend twilight years in homeland. But he preferred to stay back in India and breathed his last in the year 1993 at Karumathur, Madurai. The mission centres he established at India and Sri Lanka for the Claretian Missionaries (the sons of Immaculate Heart of Mary) cater to the education and empowerment of the poor communities.

PS: Germany like India is the home of many inventions and philosophies. It had many princely states till Bismarck united them as Prussia. Germans among Europeans are very much family oriented like us. But when the fascism (read Nazism) took over, the God fearing Germans were reduced to beasts unleashing unimaginable terror on anyone branded as 'non-Aryans'. This country today is very much like the Germany of 1930s when the poison was injected in German brains and nationalism was fanned for the ulterior gains. The question remains how it would end here?

Kurt Knispel - the gentleman amidst a dirty war (Post 3 of 4)

How does one feel in spite of excelling in the field but never promoted and sidelined for not aligning with the ideology (destructive) of the majority. Perhaps, Kurt Knispel never minded it all through his short span of life...he was at peace with his conscience.

Kurt Knispel (1921 - 1945) is today hailed as the finest aces of tanks with 168 hits to his credit during World War II. He was a master marksman with extraordinary reflexes and situational presence of mind. At the height of war, Knispel hit an enemy tank as far as from 3000 meters, an impossible feat with those era tanks.

Knispel was born in a small town of Salisov in Czecoslovakia which was later annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938. His father worked in an automotive company and the boy had a passion for vehicles. As the war progressed he soon enlisted in German Army (Wehrmacht) and happily went into Panzer Division (German tank regiment).

Knispel's first action was in Operation Barbarossa, the German offensive against Soviet Russia. He quickly progressed from a loader to gunner and started gaining on his skills with his precision on guns. He soon befriended Alfred Rubel, a young tank commander who remained his friend for lifetime.

Knispel would have quickly progressed in ranks if he had kept quiet like most of people in a fascist regime. On July 26, 1943 while going to war front after collecting brand new Tiger Tank, he heard a painful screaming of a man at Krakow railway station in Poland.

A SS (the same Social Service organization) guard was beating a Russian Prisoner of War to pulp. Knispel couldn't bear the brutality and intervened with a pistol and the SS guard ended up in train rails. For the Nazi ethics, he should have ended up on death row because SS was elite division meant only to exterminate all enemies of the nation (read Hitler).

Knispel's reputation on marksmanship saved his life that day. The German military police and 'high command' took a 'careful note' of him.

Though four commanders recommended him for Knights Cross of the Iron Cross for bravery over course of war, he never actually got it. He was never promoted beyond a 'Feldwebel' (NCO) and got a chance to command a tank at the fag end of life. Knispel continued what he is best at, knocking one tank after another across Eastern Front.

As the tides turned against Germany after the failed invasion of Russia, the retreat became inevitable and Knispel defending a 'Last Stand' at Urbau in German occupied Czechoslovakia ran out of his luck. Mortally wounded after his tank was hit, Knispel died on April 28, 1945 ten days before war ended. Though he was officially credited 168 hits, it is believed he would have scored more than 200. He happily stepped back if someone else claimed for a hit and never bothered about the count. It is also said he never left behind a crew member in the war front.

Knispel's mortal remains were finally found in a church cemetery at Vrbovec in 2013 and moved to the military cemetery at Brno in 2014. Knispel had a mind of his own and he believed in ethics of war as a soldier. He remains a legend among the tank crews.

Pic courtesy: Wikipedia

Rommel - the legend who went behind a wrong 'leader' (Post 2 of 4)

When fascism reaches its mad frenzy it starts consuming its own flesh.

Erwin Rommel, Nazi Germany's most decorated Field Marshal, was facing it on October 14, 1944 when two of Hitler's aides have given him three choices in which suicide was on top. They have even brought a cyanide capsule for him.

Unlike the other generals of Wehrmacht (German Army) who mostly hailed from aristocracy, Rommel carved his way to become a military genius from humble background. His method of penetrating into enemy lines and quickly reaching flanks to throw surprise attack from rear has turned him a national hero by end of World War 1. His book on Infantry Attacks is famous text book in military schools.

Hitler had great admiration for Rommel and vice versa because they were aware that both of them came from streets.

Post WWI, while Hitler blamed Bolshevik and Jews for all the unrest, thereby fanning nationalism for his manipulation, Rommel knew it was the hungry stomachs causing that all.

In spite of admiring Hitler, its still doubtful how much Rommel imbibed his Fuhrer's ideology. Rommel's Africa Corps have a reputation of treating the Prisoners of War with dignity and not indulging in war crimes especially against Jews. Rommel still date is a discussion of complexity.

After the failed 'July Plot' to assassinate Hitler by Claus von Stauffenberg and team, Hitler and his aides initiated a largest purge and killed some 20000 Germans and the purge has come to Rommel's house. Though adored by his soldiers and subordinates, the Field Marshall had many enemies in high circle close to Führer. Couple of conspirators spurted out his name during interrogation though its widely believed Rommel had no role in the plot. There were numerous attempts on Hitler in the past and Wehrmacht staffers were aware of it.

He was given choices of committing suicide whereby his family and staff would be spared or he face 'Public Court' (our courts are actually heading here) for a 'trial'.

Rommel chose to kill self and save family and staff. For having missed to plan for Normandy action, he was expecting a suspension in fact (he returned home for wife's bday that day) and for all the adulation he had for Hitler, he could never believe he was given a death warrant. It is said the Field Marshall had a smile of contempt on his face post death, may be he knew where his Fuhrer was heading to.

No matter what, Rommel's legacy lives even today and so the notoriety of Hitler. For all the good skills Rommel had, he believed a wrong 'leader'.

Pic courtesy: Wikipedia. Rommel pushes his car caught in slush along with his staff. His leadership style was to lead from front and treat his subordinates with respect, a trait I aspire.

Random thoughts on 'July 20' Plot (Post 1 of 4)

Today marks the 76th Anniversary of the 'July Plot' which if succeeded would have ended the Great War one year in advance and saved millions of lives from the unnecessary blood shed though it was clear by 1944 that Hitler's Germany has almost lost the war.

The man behind July Plot, Claus von Stauffenberg, was associated with the conspirators of German Resistance against Hitler for long but couldn't bring himself to be convinced that Hitler should be eliminated. He was enamored by the 'Furher' and his principles (very much like here now) but the course of war and the brutalities of SS Division (initially started as a social service organization to help in conducting the Nazi meetings) against Jewish people turned Stauffenberg aghast.

A devout Catholic, he couldn't stomach the extreme cruelty of Nazi regime and after severely wounded in his African campaign, losing an eye, hand and fingers, Stauffenberg became a ringleader of conspirators to eliminate Hitler and bargain an armistice with Allies.

On July 20, 1944 Stauffenberg almost succeeded in assassinating Hitler if only the suitcase in which he planted the bomb was not moved by another colonel in the Wolf's Lair in Prussia. Having left the Lair, thoroughly convinced of the plot success, Stauffenberg initiated Operation Valkyrie to take control of Berlin.

Hitler inadvertently survived the plot and all the conspirators were quickly rounded up. Stauffenberg was held after a brief gunfight and put before a firing squad. The film 'Valkyrie' staring Tom Cruise vividly captures those last moments. I like the particular scene where Stauffenberg tells very much shaken General Olbricht, 'look into their eyes and they will remember you' before he was grabbed by the shooting squad.

Stauffenberg and his team reminded to world that not all in Germany agreed with Hitler's brutalities and there were good Germans who risked their lives to prove the world it's not Hitler's Germany altogether.

With so much of hatred in vogue again, we need good people like Stauffenbergs in this world and people whose minds are not clouded with pseudo nationalism, racism and casteism. It's also imperative that Stauffenbergs should act bit more swiftly before it's too late