Die letzte Schlacht des 3. Panzerzuges der deutschen Wehrmacht im Bahnhof Vaiņode

On October 8, 1944, the armored train No. 3 arrived in Vaiņode and established contacts with the 61st Infantry Division, which had also arrived. According to the Chief of Staff of the 61st Infantry Division, the enemy's positions were as follows:

The enemy is approaching Vaiņode from the southeast. The Elkuzeme station to the west of Vaiņode has been occupied by 15 enemy tanks. The highway north of the station has been crossed by an enemy. Armored No. 3 now had limited mobility, so it occupied defensive positions. The 14th Tank Division is located in the western part of Elkuzeme and is under attack eastwards. In Vaiņode itself there is one battery with four 8.8 cm anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery cannons and four 2 cm cannons, one 61st Infantry Division battalion, three heavy and two medium anti-tank cannons. Additional parts of the 61st Infantry Division arrived overnight. The train began reconnaissance of the area to the west to break out of the enemy's siege to the west at night. As a result, it is found that the tracks 2 km west of Vaiņode have been blown up and demolished. On the evening of October 8, the involved construction unit is attacked by enemy tanks and infantry, and it retreats, but if possible, some track improvement works are carried out. Two armored train crews with anti-tank grenade launchers (Panzerfaust) destroy one T34 tank in melee. An attempt to break into the night appears to be unsuccessful, with the consequent loss of the armored train and its crew. On the morning of October 9, the division commander inspects the train. Communication cables are laid for the armored train, two front observers (2 VB) are placed. One artillery officer with surveillance capabilities to the west to support the attack on the 14th Tank Division, and another to the southeast near the battery. In the early morning of October 9, the commander receives information from the Chief of Staff of the 61st Infantry Division that the radio message of the enemy tanks has been intercepted: “The enemy is defending. I'm in battle. The enemy has opened fire from the armored train. Answer: Show heroism and finally destroy that armored train. ”

Around 12:00, the enemy tanks and infantry attack from the east, southeast, south, and the enemy tanks and anti-tank cannons are fired from the west and northwest. Ours retreat from the east back to Vaiņode. After an ammo was fired at noon in the afternoon, which was filled at night by a supply train (Trosszug) standing directly behind the armored train. The stock of the armored train was completely restored and around 13:30 the battle began with the attacking enemy from three sides. Around 13:20 the battery changed its position so that the train was no longer covered. To prevent a safe death, the train tries to break west again. With the infantry unit in front, the armored train went into the woods west of Vaiņode and received fire from rifles, submachine guns and machine guns, so the infantry unit had to retreat. Leaving the forest cover, the train was fired from anti-tank guns and tanks. One enemy cannon was immediately destroyed, the crew of another cannon was completely destroyed, and the cannon was damaged and two enemy tanks were hit. The enemy also hit the locomotive of the 21st armored train, which was hitched to the train in case the real locomotive was damaged. The tracks were again blown up and broken. The fire of the minesweepers from the west hit the train very close. As the train had only 1.5 km of track left, it went in the direction of Vaiņode station, firing from all possible weapons in all directions, where six enemy tanks were facing the station. The locomotive of the 21st armored train also received a direct hit at the station, and thus the train lost its ability to move due to the shooting of technical lines. The tanks were 450m behind the hill. All but a few of their infantry were no longer visible. At this point, the train commander decided to blow up the train so that it would not fall into the hands of the enemy. After everything possible was evacuated from the train, specially assigned people blew up the train at 14:30. At the same time, tank shells hit the train, so that parts of the train flew in all directions. The train crew retreated north.

Because the enemy tanks were in close proximity and the train was constantly fired, leaving the train in the shortest possible time was the way out to prevent giant losses. This was confirmed by the fact that several wagons received direct hits and the tank 38 (t) tower was torn down. As they retreated, the train crew was continuously fired from tanks from the east. There was no contact with the division and it was not clear about the situation, which was constantly changing. The crew with four injured went through swamps and forests to the highway north in the direction of Priekule. Due to the events of the last few days, the continuous reconnaissance and retreat through the swamps, the group was weakened and soaked. The aim of the commander was to take his crew to Priekule and wait for half of the armored train from Königsberg on October 15 to go to battle again. Arriving in Priekule on October 10, the commander of the armored train informs about the bombing of the armored train and learns that it is no longer possible to get to the supply train by rail and it is not possible to leave the area. On October 11, the commander received an order from the command of the German 18th Army to arrive on the 26th armored train with personnel. Composition: 2 officers, 2 specialists, 1 doctor, 8 instructors and 16 men.

Missing: 1 officer (Lieutenant Walper), 3 instructors (Fuhrmann, Mansky, Trost) and 16 men. There is a possibility that those who went missing on October 5 broke into the southwest towards Telšiai. 3 injured were transferred to the main dressing point.

Signed by Schade - Lieutenant and Commander