Mikhail Mikhailovich Cheremnykh
(Born Tomsk, 1890; died Moscow, 1962)

From the History of the Combat Group of the 408th German Infantry Division, TASS No. 1204, April 6, 1945

Stencil
1672 x 825 mm
Bruno Wieber, a captured junior officer of the combat group of the 408th German Infantry Division, testifies:

[1]
Our regiment suffered great losses. Some soldiers ran off. The regimental commander Major Mayer-Scholler combined the remnants of the defeated detachments into a combat group. Major Herold was named commander of the combat group.

[2]
After the regimental commander left for division headquarters Major Herold transferred command of the combat group to an ober-lieutenant, a former pilot, who had only just arrived at the regiment. Then Major Herold departed.

[3]
An hour later the ober-lieutenant also declared that he was leaving for division headquarters to request assistance, handing command of the group to a junior officer. It was clear that the officers were running away to save their lives, leaving us to our fate.

[4]
I gathered a group of soldiers. We decided that if we continued to fight we would surely die, so we decided to surrender.

Inscription on the banner:
Hitler Kaput!

-- Sovinformbiuro [Soviet Information Bureau], 13 March 1945
Ne boltai! Collection, Obj: 206044