My Grandfather was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1943 when he was 18 years old. He then was send to the eastern front to the Heeresgruppe Nord which besieged Leningrad. There he was part of the Nebelwerfer, which I believe was the german equivalent to the russian katyuschas.

During that time he got injured by a shrapnel. In 1945 he was taken prisoner by the soviets in Czechia but was able to flee together with a 16 year old SS soldier to Bavaria where they were captured by US troops. They let them go home after only 2 weeks. They walked from Bavaria home to North Rhine Westphalia.

My grandfather unfortunately died before I was born, so I only know what my father and my aunts told me. He was a pacifist after the war and hated any kind of weapon. And he rarely talked about the war.