Training period at the Baltic Sea coast, Stralsund

Then I received a letter in the post, informing me that I was to register for training in Stralsund. I had to look the place up on a map, as I had no idea where Stralsund was. I then left my hometown on the evening of the 30 March. Only a day before, my mother had given birth to my youngest sister and thus was of course unable to help me with anything. So I packed my suitcase myself and, after a long farewell, left Dillenburg the next morning by train.

On the train I met a young man from a small village near Dillenburg who was also on his way to the Baltic Sea coast. In Giessen we met two more young men on their way to Berlin, just like us two “farm lads”. When we arrived in Berlin, we had to take the tram from the arrival station to another station. The capital seemed incredibly huge to us and we were constantly amazed by things we didn’t know and could not have imagined.

In the other station was a special train to Stralsund. Only young men of our age were on the train, all of whom were recruits being transferred to the Baltic Sea for training. We left quite late and arrived in Stralsund at two o’ clock in the night. Our conscription orders said that we were to report at the barracks of the 7th “Schiffsstammabteilung” (the divisions was called “Schiffsstammabteilung”) at six o’ clock. A recruit from Berlin who was in our compartment said that we would then have enough time to have a look at Stralsund before we had to report to our units. We all liked this idea and were already looking forward to our nightly stroll through the city. There were six of us when we entered the terminal station in Stralsund. Outside there were men in uniform, calling up the three “Schiffsstammabteilungen” 7, 9 and 11 for mustering (The 9th “Schiffsstammabteilung” was stationed directly in Stralsund, while the 11th and 7th division were located on the island of Dänholm). We were not very impressed and tried to sneak out of the station. When we got to the exit, an officer noticed us and we received our first reprimand, and a loud one it was at that. So we had to join our group, but not without first having had our names registered.

View of Stralsund from the church tower, 2007

After this we marched through Stralsund to our quarters. All the recruits in uniform in the streets made fun of us and we were told that our instructors would tear us a new one, that we would be drilled and th