This Date in History: September 19

 

Northwest of Stalingrad on September 19, 1942, the 76th Infantry Division defended in sector southwest of Samofalovka and north of Borodkin, against the 308th Rifle Division, the 173rd Rifle Division, the 298th Rifle Division and the 258nd Rifle Division.  To the northwest was the 305th Infantry Division; to the east was the 60th Infantry Division (Motorized.)  Enemy attacks were supported by heavy artillery fire and rockets.  The division lost 42 NCOs/enlisted killed in action; eight officers and 178 NCOs/enlisted were wounded in action; one officer and ten men were listed as missing in action.  (Stalingrad: The Death of the German Sixth Army on the Volga, 1942-1943)

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Friedrich Hildebrandt, SS-Obergruppenführer, born September 19, 1898 in Kiekindemark/Parchim, Gauleiter Mecklenburg, winner of Nazi Golden Party Badge, convicted of war crimes, executed by hanging November 5, 1948 at Landsberg am Lech, Germany, said as his last words: “Captain, for twenty-six years I have been fighting against the Bolsheviks out of deep conviction, as a Mecklenburg farmer.  They have sentenced me to death, but American marine soldiers delivered me from them.  I am a victim, not of your courts, but of Communist elements who made statements against me.  Since my home is in the Russian zone, I was not able to get all the material for my defense.  God, protect my family and my poor five children.”  (2,000 Quotes From Hitler’s 1,000-Year Reich)