Daniel Götte

Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr in Dresden

Crimea 44: A War Report

The special exhibition at the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden, planned for the end of 2025, focuses on the war experiences of Hauptmann Dr. Heinz Roesch in Crimea in April and May 1944. With a detailed report and numerous photographs, the general staff officer of the V. Corps of the 17th Army documented the withdrawal of the Wehrmacht and its allies to the Sevastopol Fortress, and then the destruction of the army there.

In this context, Roesch asked about the military, political and human (non-)sense of war, searched for the legitimacy of violence in ideological images of friends and enemies, and ultimately resigned himself to unfulfilled hopes. He saw the high human and material losses in the battle on all sides and ultimately recognized the senseless actions of the Wehrmacht. The exhibition uses Roesch’s descriptions and pictures to illustrate the operational, social and economic doubts he had regarding German warfare when the 17th Army collapsed.