A typical example of German stubbornness in defense is the case of Gunner Lance Corporal Eduard Hoog. Hug enlisted in 1941 in the 5th Infantry Division as a private and fought during the invasion of the Soviet Union.
In February 1942 his division was converted to a Hunter division and he was promoted to lance corporal for his action while serving with the 1st Company of the 75th Hunter Regiment.
His division was deployed in the region of Staraya Russa near Novgorod. On September 2, 1943 his group was deployed there awaiting the imminent Soviet attack, as the command had informed.
Due to losses the team had fewer men and Hug was alone, with an MG 42 machine gun in a trench waiting for the enemy. Another team's machine gun flanked his own team's front.
The storm soon broke out with Soviet artillery digging into the German position. Behind the Soviet rolling barrage followed masses of infantry. In the midst of the pandemonium, Hugh realized that the machine gun flanking his team's location had gone silent.
Immediately grabbing his machine gun he ran to find the location of the flanking machine gun. As he was running, he noticed about 70 Soviet soldiers approaching. Immediately, completely uncovered, he stopped and opened fire, machine gun slung over his shoulder, taking his opponents by surprise. Some of the Soviets fell from his fire.
The rest retreated. Hug took advantage of their retreat and took up the fighting position, finding the servants of the other machine gun dead.
From there, Hug single-handedly repulsed six Soviet attacks . The Soviets were not disappointed. They launched a seventh attack, this time better coordinated and supported by friendly machine guns.
Hug was forced to take cover in his trench which was bombarded by the enemy's guns. Soviet infantrymen thus managed to get within 30 m and began to fire grenades at him. The German tried to fire back but was horrified to find that his machine gun had jammed.
Without losing his courage he responded to the attacking Soviets with grenades pinning them down for a few critical moments.
Immediately he untied his machine gun, cleaned it and re-sealed it, just as the opponents were about to launch a charge against him. Before they could catch up, Hugh's MG 42 started firing again, spreading death.
Hug single-handedly held his team's location for hours until reinforcements arrived. The bodies of 60 Soviets were counted around his trench.