Hans Heßmer

He served as a sergeant in a German parachute division and his unit was ordered to defend the village of Bienen. In the course of the battle, Hans Heßmer was wounded on March 25th, 1945, and taken prisoner.

Our anti-tank unit, Panzerjäger-Abteilung 6 of 6th Parachute Division, had been badly mauled before it withdrew from the “Wesel Pocket” to the eastern bank of the Rhine. We spent a few days in a small town near Wesel, then we were moved to the village of Bienen. Our unity was billeted in private houses near the church. I was housed with some comrades at Paul Becker’s. We spent those days in relative calm, and I remember that Mrs. Becker sometimes prepared a delicious milk soup for us soldiers. A few times I accompanied my comrade Heinz Otto to the Bienen parish church which was in our neighbourhood. Heinz Otto was training to be an organist. He played the organ there and I had to blow the bellows for him. We were shown into our defensive positions and were also busy improving these. We were just equipped with our infantry weapons. We did not have any anti-tank guns, which we absolutely needed as an anti-tank unit. We only had the Panzerfaust and the “Panzerschreck” bazooka, weapons that are only suitable for defence at close range. Our company HQ was on Millinger Straße. Our company CO was Helmut Franz. We enjoyed the days of rest in Bienen but knew that they would not last long. It was assumed that the Rhine crossing would take place in this area. About two to three days before it started, a farm worker was killed while ploughing a field by strafing fighter bombers in the immediate vicinity of our quarters. A comrade of mine had to shoot the severely injured horses.

On Friday, March 23, at around 5:00 PM, the preparatory artillery barrage for the attack from the other side of the Rhine began. We soldiers advised the Becker family, who had no secure cellar in their house, to go to a more suitable shelter in the Aryus house. We accompanied the Becker family on their hasty move. The very heavy, concentrated shelling continued continuously until the next morning. Then things calmed down a bit. Reinforcements arrived at several locations in the village, including at our church square. Several tanks and assault guns were moving into position at the church square. These were attacked by enemy fighter-bombers firing rockets during the morning of Saturday, March 24th. We were taking cover, and when the fighter-bombers turned away, we saw what they had done. A crew member of the tank, presumably the commander, who had left the tank before the attack, desperately searched and called for a crowbar. His tank had been hit by rockets, and the hatch wouldn't open from the inside or outside. We heard the desperate cries of those trapped inside, and smoke poured out from inside. Shortly after, there was an explosion—the ammunition inside the tank had exploded. We already knew there was nothing left to save. 

The house we had been billeted in was on fire. Suspicious yellowish smoke was rising from one spot on the church roof. In our experience, this could have been caused by a phosphorus shell. A friend and I climbed the church tower from inside, but we couldn't get any further into the attic of the central or side aisles, so we had to go back downstairs. Whether the church caught fire from these phosphorus shells or was hit in the attack by the fighter-bombers, I can't say for sure. Later, I was able to throw another such incendiary shell out of the Aryus house. In the late afternoon of Sunday, March 25th, 1945, the battle for Bienen was decided. Our group was gathered at the Aryus house, and we were about to sneak out to make it to the main road. We were in the hallway of the house when a shell fired by a tank hit us. Some comrades were fatally wounded, and others were seriously wounded. I received a thigh wound. We received makeshift dressing in the basement. The daughters of our host did an excellent job. The Canadian soldiers who arrived shortly afterward took us upstairs and loaded us onto a transport vehicle. We remained on this vehicle at the Aryus house all night without receiving any further care.

(Published in: Josef Becker, Bienen 1939-1945. Erinnerungen, Erlebnisse, Berichte, Bienen 1999)