Karl Gauggel

Munich 42, June 15th

Fürstenriederstr. 12

Dear Eugen!

Thank you very much for your lovely letter which I received today . I cannot even tell you how pleased I was to learn from it that you made it out reasonably well from the terrible years that lie behind us. Since September 45 I have been back in Munich, if I had suspected that , I would have written to you sooner, then we could have met up well in Mu. in December 46. 

I must say, you have quite a few experiences of a warlike nature behind you. You can almost describe it as a miracle that you came home safe and sound through all of that . The fact that you lost everything a few times due to bomb damage filled me with regret, as I well know that it cost you great diligence and foresight to create and maintain all of this. But I see that you didn't let yourself get beaten down and are going about it quite cheerfully to secure a good existence for yourself again . I wish you the best of luck from the bottom of my heart. 

Although I did not have to go through such difficulties , I still want to give you a brief report on how things went for me . 

In the spring of 42, I was at the Donets near Slaviansk with an advanced ammunition depot, which the Russians had always "bothered a bit" with their mortar launchers, when they were finally successful with a direct hit , blown up into the air with it . At first it didn't seem to look so bad, but I had to go to the field hospital in Konstantinovka, where, as dear companions, typhus, Volhynian fever, arthritis, as well as jaundice also set in. Once I was fit to travel, it went via Lemberg to Vienna. And there my life hung by a thread for the second time . A severe kidney and pelvic infection left me bedridden for months, until in September 42 I landed with the Gen. Kp. of the replacement battalion in Reichenhall. My "great intellectual qualities" qualified me there to take the position of a clerk . Until spring 43 I then hustled around there , rushed from one medical examination to another, but I did not become fit for front-line duty again, despite "all efforts" of the Kv. machine. Since my "mighty intellectual powers" (for these had to replace the now lacking physical ones) apparently could no longer "come to full development" in the Chinese Company, Dept. IV a drew my attention to the fact that I fulfilled the conditions for a "fantastical military upward development". I agreed and so in April 43 I moved to Munich for a 14-day induction with subsequent exam , which I passed – unfortunately? Months of studying at the Nachr. Ausb. Abt. 7-Munich following that, slowly drove me crazy. In the late summer I finally attended the Army Administration School in order to make the streets of Munich unsafe as a Zahlm. d. Res. effective 1.11.43. Until after the heavy attacks in the summer of 44, during which I also just got away with a whole skin in the barracks, I remained in Munich, only to then be transferred to a permanent post in Lenggries. There I had it quite nice so far, but the almost peacetime operation with an even more peacetime-like colonel of the old sort at the top (see casino life) did not suit me, the craziness was too much for me. In Munich during the rolling attacks, that had – thank God – stopped long ago. Since the gentlemen at the OKH apparently thought I would make an excellent Inf. officer , I was sent to Grafenwöhr in Nov. 44 for retraining. After they had seen me there for a few hours, the sight of me was apparently so distasteful to them that they said, what do you want with your broken legs in the infantry. And so I was most graciously dismissed. But since someone still thought it might work with the artillery after all, they piloted me through the whole of Germany all the way to Gross-Born near Neu-Stettin. But even the "veterinarian" there, who would have gladly made the lame and people without heads healthy again (if he could have -), waived my participation in service after a week; I hadn't gone there anyway and preferred to organize wood and tend to the stove so that, when my comrades came home , frozen and half-starved, they would at least have a warm room. After several weeks I was then sent home as definitively no longer fit for front-line duty. My family, who in the meantime had been evacuated to relatives in Lower Bavaria, I could then honor with my visit over Christm. and New Year 1944-1945, only to be sent following that by the W.V. VII to Lauingen to a newly formed heap (thankful task?! ). With an "offshoot" of this heap I then moved to the beautiful Danube near Rain a. Lech in order to "receive" the Americans who were coming closer and closer. For three days our rocket launchers could deny the "boys" the crossing over the Danube a bit , which, however, served little purpose, and then it was time to scram. During this time I was alone with a few hundred people and because of the procurement of rations it knocked me around heavily. But "captured" vehicles from our own comrades always remedied these shortages and when the "paymaster" after an adventurous detour was able to organize a vast amount of tobacco goods and besides that some useless critters, the situation was saved once again. In the mountains we had to let ourselves be captured, for better or worse. At the beginning of May 45 I landed in the Fürstenfeldbruck prisoner of war camp and after a starvation cure of a few weeks, I was a free man again after 8 weeks . My evacuated family, which in the meantime had grown to 2 boys and 1 girl, I brought back to Munich in Sept. 45 to the old apartment, which was only slightly destroyed. From Jan. 46 until April of this year I was in the office of an Americ. agency, and now since the beginning of June, as a dodgy student of an interpreter school, I am acquiring the final polish in the English language. I wouldn't really like to return to my old company , but rather, after improvement of the economic situation, engage somehow in export, preferably in my former branch (textiles). Now I have told you everything about how I have fared so far. It is difficult to say anything about the future . I just have the feeling that huge things will still happen before one can see a clear path ahead again. Shoving the coal-steam (starving) is exactly the same with us, despite some rural relatives. I don't have much to give away either, and so it remains just occasional foraging trips with "light baggage". But I tell myself that after this time another time must and will come again. 

If you ever come to Munich, dear Eugen, then I definitely count on you showing your face at my place. Despite the naturally now restricted living conditions, you can easily stay overnight with me. I can clear a bed for you then. Do you still think of our nice paddleboat trips? Who would have thought back then what kind of a time lay ahead of us. I think if we had suspected that, we would be somewhere in Africa or somewhere else with the savages, who are after all better better people. 

Please excuse my many mistakes. The ribbon, dissolving into many parts , is slowly annoying me and, although I have a new one , I don't know where I can have it re-inked, since it has dried out in the meantime . But I believe you will find your way through my letter . And please let me hear from you again sometime. If you ever need an experienced foreign correspondent in your "world company" that is to be built up , please think of me too. Or as a foreign representative of the Stuttgart and Munich Debris Utilization Company. 

For today I send you many warm regards – also to your wife

Your Karl with family