Desert Mystery: “Letters from Afrika”, Part Three

In Part 2, I described how Afrika Korps Gefreiter, Hans Walden, had written to Fraü H. Bronnold about not having had any leave, having his hair cut (“eine fläzte”) and drinking salty coffee.

His next letter to Hildegard Bronnold was of the 7^th of August 1942 from “Agptien” (Egypt) and begins with him writing that he had received her letter of the 20^th of July with, “So my letter did reach you after all – it has often happened that a letter has arrived months later.” Hildegarde apparently in her letter had written that her husband had been ill which prompted Hans to comment that “I wish him a good recovery. Such diseases are also very common here. I am still healthy – with which you have to be satisfied with here” and that “fourteen months without civilisation somehow made itself felt” indicating that he had been in Africa since around June 1941.

Hans goes on to ask if Hildegard had received a package he had sent her containing “den Kaffee und das Corned-Beef” which reveals that his source was probably captured British supplies.

Typical Afrika Korps food was tinned Portuguese sardines, raw onions and black bread supplemented with “Alte Mann” (Old Man), which was a tinned mystery meat supplied by the Italian AM company. German crackers made by Bahlsen (still making biscuits today) that apparently were more like hardtack, were also eaten along with Italian-supplied crackers. This would be supplemented by whatever they could buy from local Arabs, such as eggs, chickens or goats, or even hunted for in the desert such as antelope.

Raiding an abandoned or captured British supply dump gave them access to better quality foods such as tinned corned beef, for example Swifts Plate Brand from Argentina and Three Bulls from Paraguay, tinned bacon and tinned jam as well as chocolate, biscuits, coffee and tea.

Hans continues “With this letter is a piece of toilet soap”, probably also purloined British, but he has to break off as “Unfortunately I am being called – I was just about to write to you about our bathing beach by the sea. Service comes first – so a nice blue one for your mail and good wishes”. A nice blue one being the Italian airmail envelope he puts the letter in.

At the beginning of September 1942, the Panzerarmee Afrika were defeated at Alam el Halfa Ridge (south-east of El Alamein) which was approximately 390 km or 240 miles from their Suez Canal objective.

In his letter to Hildegarde of the 5^th of September 1942, he enclosed a coloured pencil sketch with “poorly I imagine the Nile to be like this! – Little Renate might have fun with this picture”.

Renate, the daughter of Hildegard (née “Kuring”) and Paul Bronnold, had been born on the 9^th of September 1939 according to a family announcement in a local Düsseldorf newspaper.

This letter to Hildegard was incorrectly addressed to “Alte-Garde-Ufer:25” and was presumably corrected by the delivering postman to “24” before the address was crossed out and it was sent on to “Solitude-Allee 36” in “Stuttgart Konstal” which was where Hans had earlier received a postcard from, sent by Paul Bronnold.

Paul Bronnold was a Handelsvertreter or Sales Representative for Bosch and, from Hildegard’s diaries, appeared to spend most of his time travelling to different German cities with significant automotive and aircraft production. Presumably Hildegard had temporarily moved with her daughter to be with her husband whilst he was working in Stuttgart for an extended period.

Hans next sent a letter to Hildegard on the 22^nd of September 1942 to her original address in Düsseldorf. In this letter he begins “In the meantime I have received letters from you again. Plus the packet with the lighter and the mechanical pencil. For that my special thanks. The lighter in particular has been put to good use – such an item is very rare here. The two items will remind me of our funny exchange of letters.”

Unfortunately, Hans has got his hopes up about possible leave as “For me today is a happy day – we have learned that replacement is becoming due. This means that I can expect to leave African soil in the foreseeable future.” He goes on with “When the time comes, – when exactly, of course one doesn’t know that yet – then I’ll give you a call! Agreed?”

He goes on to tell her “The last letter with the pictures, was probably a somewhat mad idea of mine? Don’t you think so? But the Sun has already caused impairment of brain volume. So – don’t laugh at me. Your description of your daughter’s birthday, I read it with pleasure. By the way, I was born on the 8^th of September, so my birthday was the day before – the 2^nd in Africa. That’s it for today – how was it in Stuttgart?”

In “Letters from Afrika” Part 4, Hans survives a sandstorm, is robbed by a Tommy and begins the long retreat back to Libya whilst thinking about Christmas.
 

© John Tull 2024