Erich Richter

Erich Richter (*23. March 1917; † 20. July 1943) was a german soldier, who fought in World War II. He is one of the main characters in Dusty Faces and was a member of the 2nd Company and best friend of Otto Degen.

Early Childhood
Little Erich was born in 1917. His father sired him during a furlough from the front. His mother, Liselotte, was reluctant to let her husband return to war, but she knew what the situation required and said goodbye. Albeit with tears, she kept her composure. After all, the French had to be beaten.

As soon as the year turned, 1917 brought on a terrible winter. TheHunger-Winter. So Erich's first year was full of privations. That would not change over the next few years. His father returned alive but the war was lost. Scarred by years of fighting, he had few tender words left for his wife and he began to drink. Liselotte, who had devoted herself entirely to the upbringing of her little Erich, died in the winter of 1923. Erich was just six years old, but he understood only too well that he was now alone with an alcoholic father.

Erich's father was strict and often beat him over trivial things. There was a lot of poverty in “Red Wedding,” Berlin's left-leaning, working class district, where Erich grew up. Erich's father, one of the few who held a job, worked as a foreman and spent most of his money drinking.

School held little attraction for Erich. He hardly had any friends there either. Most of his friends drifted around the alleys between the housing blocks. Soon, when he was 12 years old, he was increasingly truant from school and would just hang around with his shiftless friends. His father was indifferent.

Wild Years in “Red Wedding”
Erich's father was a passionate communist-hater. In 1931, that could be very dangerous in a place like Red Wedding. Fortunately, most people there did not take the old drunk seriously when he flung himself into one of his harangues.

As Erich grew older, he became increasingly interested in the opposite sex. Then came Roswita. She was known in the blocks. She was 30 years old and, for a drink and a smoke, if she liked you, you could spend some time with her. In this way, Erich had his first amorous experiences.

But the frivolous life that he was living as a 15-year-old came to a sudden end. The Nazis took power and his father joined the SA. “Finally, one could make something reasonable out of Wedding!” Order had returned at last! Having regained a purpose in life, his father foreswore the drinking and devoted himself wholly to the Nazi party. Erich, on the other hand, did not think much of his father's attempts to make up for his lost years. He was unwilling to listen to a single word his father had to say.

The climax of the quarrels finally came in the summer of 1936. Erich split from home and went to hang with friends. Since everyone he had ever known came from the construction trades, he knew nothing better than to start off as a construction worker. So he went to work and, over time, whether through a predisposition or just plain boredom, he took to drinking. And of course to ladies of easy virtue.

One evening, on Erich's 21st birthday, friends invited him to a party. They were drunk and dancing when the police raided. It would be an understatement to say that this conduct was ill-advised. Drugs and prostitutes were something that people did not like to see out in the open in the Third Reich. Erich spent the rest of his birthday in custody. He stayed there for a couple of days until he was finally released. But that did not last long. Not a week later, these same friends met up again and before they knew it, were arrested again. There was no mercy this time. This time it was prison. Erich was expecting the worst when his father showed up and talked to the officials. He succeeded in springing Erich out once more. His father did not speak to him until they returned home. Then he beat him up. Erich took the punishment without protest and they never talked about the incident again. He resumed living with his father and began training as a mason in the old factory where his father worked. Before long the old quarrels started again.

The outbreak of war in September 1939 came as a salvation for Erich. He volunteered immediately. His father had no objections. Erich moved into the barracks and was at once drilled to a fine edge. Still, he was happy for the relative freedom. Before his unit was ready to move to the West, he visited his father one last time. His father seemed to like his son's uniform. He went to a drawer and fetched out a pocket watch. Without a word, he handed it to him and shook his son's hand. So they parted and Erich drove straight back to his unit. He would never see his father again.

Erich's unit was transferred to the West, where at first great boredom prevailed. The Phoney War was in full swing. Then, suddenly, in May 1940, the true war started. Now things were moving but not for Erich and his comrades. They laid up in front of the Maginot Line and tied down the French troops. Although the fate of France was decided after a short fight, it would still count as Erich's first taste of fire. However, as the Wehrmacht wanted to protect its troops, the line of French fortresses was simply encircled and cut off from the rest of the French army. With this short fight and bloodless victory Erich thought he had experienced war.

Beautiful Paris What followed were long nights in occupied France. As often as they could,Erich and his comrades took the long-distance train to Paris and settled in at the expense of the occupied inhabitants. The alcohol flowed and the women were not averse to the good-looking soldiers. Six months passed quickly. Meanwhile, slowly but surely, the leadership, began to plan for a landing in England. The plans then shifted toward the East. The troops on the ground received the news that they would be redeployed to Poland with great annoyance. Once in Poland, Erich was very quickly disillusioned. Drill was back on the agenda. Even if the troops had free time, once spoiled by France, they could find little pleasure in sparse and rural Poland. Maneuvers followed upon maneuvers. A short vacation took Erich back to France and to extravagant nights in Paris. As they say, “one last drink before the big dance.” Whether the war would take them to Iran or to India against the British, nobody knew anything for sure. To the East One by one, as their encapments shifted toward the eastern border, it began to dawn the men, what would now follow. The war against the Soviet Union came. The newsreels announced victory upon victory but for Erich and his comrades for the next six months it was only marching upon marching; fighting and marching. And march again. Slowly the losses increased and Erich began to realize what war really meant. His comrades fell. And slowly but surely he became a real grunt or Frontschwein as they were called. Silent and withdrawn.

The first setbacks came with the onset of winter. In heavy fighting, his Erich's unit withdrew and 90% of his comrades fell. Miraculously, Erich did not receive a scratch. But the more his comrades fell the more he felt the need to look at his father's watch. This watch had accompanied his father throughout the previous war and he was not wounded once. For the next few months, Erich did everything that a soldier could possibly imagine. Retreat and attack and then boredom again. In 1942, it remained mostly quiet in the middle section of the eastern front. Things did not heat up until the spring of 1943. The Russians attacked with everything they had and, once again, Erich's new found comrades began to fall. Much of Erich's unit died. When the attacks were stopped, Erich was finally transferred. He was assigned to the second company as a replacement. There he met a young guy, Otto Degen, who quickly attached himself to him. That did not bother Erich. Erich actually thought Otto was very nice. Back in Berlin, Erich's friend Kalle used to say that there is always someone with whom one synchs. Kalle was such a person and it seemed to Erich that Otto could be one as well.