“Wir Waren Kameraden” is a new upcoming World War II movie based on the true story of a German soldier, Helmut Böttger.
Böttger, now 92 years old, fought during World War II in the Luftwaffe before ending up in the Heer (Wehrnacht). The movie is based on the experiences of Böttger and will depict his service from 1943, when Böttger started his service with Infanterie-Regiment 31 of the 24. Infanterie-Division until 1946, when he ended up in the Rheinwiesenlager.
Helmut Böttger is excited and his only wish is to be able to see the movie when it’s finished. Various scenes were shot throughout Europe, such as Bad Berka in Germany and Milovic in the Czech Republic.
Wir Waren Kameraden is foreseen to be released in October-November 2016. It will be made available on DVD and one theatre in Genthin, Germany agreed to screen the movie. “We suggest this film to anyone who’s enthusiastic about movies based on true events” said Heintje Peter.
Funds are still needed in order to launch this movie, you can buy a calendar (filled with photographs from Wir Waren Kameraden taken during principal photography) on their Facebookpage.
Heintje Peter, the director of this movie, started filming in March 2014 with a budget of just €15.000 of which most was donated. A large portion of the budget was spend on explosives and many of the vehicles were made available by private owners. Helmut Böttger – on which the movie is based – will be played by Paul Kowalski.
Wir Waren Kameraden
You can see more on their Facebookpage. Feel free to give them a like and send them a message if you would like a calendar. See here a video of a film shooting for Wir Waren Kameraden.
This is great. The German soldier of WW2 needs to have his side of the story told. The Wehrmacht was the finest army in the war. German movie theaters that won’t play this movie insult their forefathers and the suffering that they endured,
Actually the Wehrmacht was not the Army. The Wehrmacht was the Armed Forces which included the Army, Air Force and Navy. The German Army was called the Heer
The Luftwaffe was part of the Wehrmacht. I think you meant to say he fought in the Heer (Army) after being in the Luftwaffe.
During the war as the German air force (Luftwaffe)’s planes were fewer and fewer in number, and the Wehrmacht’s losses were greater and greater, and there were no replacements available. Therefore, the Luftwaffe ground crew, whom had no planes to service were conscripted into the Heer (regular German army)divisions, or created into Luftwaffe field divisions of which most were sent to Italy and France. One group of these divisions were formed into a large formation known as the first Parachute army.Often this led to tragedy, as the Luftwaffe had few if any antitank weapons and only light equipment. Even worse the coordination of the SS divisions , Heer units and newly formed Luftwaffe divisions had independent leadership and often were placed together in the front. Conflicting instructions to the different units, along with volksturm units with no combat training as units, completely lacking training of any kind, and often were of the very young and the very old. This tactic led to a complete collapse of tactical leadership and as an effective modern army. Thus from mid 44 to spring 45, the timeframe of this practice, the German forces were clearly beaten on all fronts.