Otto Degen

Otto Degen (* 8. May 1920; †1944, orscha) was a german soldier. He is the main character in Dusty Faces.

Childhood
Otto Degen was born 1920 in Helmsdorf. His father and his mother own a little hostel, that ran more and less successful. Otto sheltered grew up in the Eichsfeld. His mother was a caring women who take care of little Otto as good as possible. His father was silence and introverted. Nevertheless he loved his son. Because Walther Degen was technical skilled and helpful the family was very liked in the village. Otto, 6 years old, visited the church school and stayed for many years until he switched to the Volkschule in summer 1928. This means a 40 minutes long footpath. In his new school the 8 years old boy did well and found some friends. With the global economic crisis from 1929 this situation changed. The hostel went bad and his father to his great bitterness couldn’t pay the school fees. Otto had to leave the school for some time. Only when the father lent the money from his relatives, Otto could go to school again.

Photo: From left to right: Cousin Luise, father Walther, brother Theodor, brother Wilhelm, sister Klara, mother Giesela and Otto.

At the time of the takeover Otto was 13 years old and understands not much about politics. In fact, he has very different things in mind. He was in love head over heels with his cousin third grade Luise. Together with his mother he visited his relatives in the Ruhrgebiet. While palying tag in the garden it happened to him. However the contact lost in the short term, because Otto was too involved in the activities of the Hitler Youth. Most boys from his village went into the HJ and his father, who voted for the Nazis in 1933, thought that would be a good activity for his son. The family spends happy days again. The leader of the local council was an enthusiastic national socialist and took care for Walter Degen to have many guests for his hostel. Otto, who was a good student, soon began his Abitur (school leaving examination), which he finished in 1938. The imminent shadow of war, which began to rise, again stayed hidden for Otto, because his old love from childhood visited the Degens with her complete family in summer 1938. Both spend a flowery summer in which he lost his virginity. The families were happy about this love affair. After all it wasn’t that bad to get a Degen for a son-in-law. But Otto wasn’t ready for an engagement.

The War
In spring 1939 Otto began to work in the hostel. In the summer his father died, what made the planned engagement with Luise impossible for the time being. Gisela Degen suffered heavily due to the loss and Otto too suffered terribly from his father’s death.

The visits between Otto and Luise were limited by the distance between them. Luise was training as a nurse, now hardly had any time for herself and there was nothing left to do but to write wistful letters.

When the war began in September, Otto was shocked. He hadn’t visited the Hitler Youth in months. He had been exempted in order to help his mother. In the evening, after the work in the hostel, he met with his friends and they talked about the events at the front. In winter 1940 he drove to the Ruhr area for a few weeks. There he finally asked Luise's farther for her hand. The elder Tolsdorff cried out with joy. The happiness of the newly engaged couple lasted a whole ten days, then Otto had to return to help his mother. Otto followed the amazing successes of the Wehrmacht with great attention. Otto was exempted from the Reichsarbeitsdienst because of a good relationship to the local council leader. In winter 1941, when Otto was 21 years old, a catastrophe was looming. The eastern front collapsed and there were heavy losses. Still, Otto didn’t worry. But in April the letter came. His call- up to the German Wehrmacht. Many times the local council leader had been able to lay the draft order aside, for the sake of Otto’s mother. Otto didn’t know anything about it. But this time is was not possible. Full active duty and Otto was almost glad. An adventure. A veritable adventure. Only the mother was in a terrible fear of losing Otto. Even Luise took her last holidays to say goodbye.

So the 22-year-old, as one of the oldest recruits, moved into the barracks. The instructors, sensing that someone had made use of his privileges, even if unknowingly, drilled him very hard. After a short time Otto lost all joy in the army. But first ties of comradery were built - most strongly with Dahlmann and Hafner.

** First mission**

The newly trained soldier experienced his first deployment in Russia with the Army Group Centre. Mostly routine engagements and nothing very dangerous. The soldier’s boring, daily grind caused Otto to be very homesick. For months the unit laid around in the vicinity of Kursk without doing anything. Winter approached and his comrades became restless. There was heavy fighting in the south and here they were, sitting on their asses. When winter finally came everyone was happy. The more experienced soldiers said there was no fighting during winter. The heavy battles in the south appeared to have spared them. But it still seemed to Otto that the Russians were stronger than he had anticipated. In any case, the winter kept the enemy from attacking Army Group Centre.

The first Christmas at the front was the saddest time in Otto’s life thus far. Nevertheless, his comrades Dahlmann and Hafner, were there. And an experienced soldier joined them. Erich. They got along very well immediately. As soon as it got warmer Otto was able to go on his first leave. Not much happened and he did not have much to tell of back home. But his mother was happy to have him back. Luise too came to Helmsdorf. Once Otto was back at the front, all hell broke loose upon his unit. The Russians attacked the southern part of Army Group Centre with all they had. Otto’s unit suffered heavy losses and was pushed back. The Russians shot at everything and everyone — even prisoners. Otto saw it with his own eyes. Only in March were they able to stop the enemy advance. Otto was unhurt but he saw friends dying. He lost contact with Dahlman and Hafner. Presumably they got killed or taken as prisoners. He didn’t wish that on anyone. They were all scared of being captured, as much as of being shot. Otto stayed close to Erich. The unit withdrew. They got off lightly. But the situation was stabilized.

The company got replacements and a new lieutenant. Another man was assigned to Eric and Otto’s machine gun unit, Theo. In May the unit was deployed to the south of Kursk. Otto sensed, like his comrades, that now the battle would really begin. In July they got the order to attack. This time Otto was afraid. What would happen to them?

It is here that the first episode of “Dusty Faces” begins.