Most Of The Germans Were So Shaken By Americans That They Stayed In Their Shelters (Ep.12)

(Part 12) Step into the harrowing experiences of a WWII soldier as he recounts the gripping events from the Saint-Lô breakthrough to the liberation of Paris. In this detailed narrative, follow the soldier’s unit as they navigate through enemy bombings, desperate battles, and the emotional highs and lows of war-torn Europe.
From the chaotic nights of German air raids to the intense pursuit of enemy forces across France, this memoir offers a poignant glimpse into the realities faced by soldiers on the front lines. Witness the resilience of these brave men as they overcome treacherous river crossings, encounter hidden mines, and navigate the jubilant streets of a liberated Paris. #audiolibrary #america #ww2 #audiobook #audio #ww2 #japan #us #germany @WW2LIVEHISTORY@WW2Stories1 @WW2Legacy
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Link of the playlist https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVvCA4vUrfdDIUq-CBYfFLk4QN1_zDcOj&si=YKnxeMeUzoW7h9x2
Link of Part 1 https://youtu.be/jfy3N7uU9Ko?si=xJwgFFGZNt1UkxNI
Link of Part 2 https://youtu.be/m0KxEqaXmoA?si=7GZr58oz2OtXkGXh
Link of Part 3 https://youtu.be/fllCpZhUVso?si=o7iprmuVhE3KuNcg

Link of Part 4 https://youtu.be/HE2F8kFgi8Q?si=m1jHXpYcwrDGbHID

Link of Part 5 https://youtu.be/0IrinLywZgA?si=n7D9lhQtsrQOi8xo
Link of Part 6 https://youtu.be/8mIGtgoU52k?si=IK7HLRb7DeJrnWKl
Link of Part 7 https://youtu.be/F3Zm8vgmbJs?si=MvH98PANdK6nhImF
Link of Part 8 https://youtu.be/SVICLix5oAA?si=4oVe29yATM4_wkwb
Link of Part 9 https://youtu.be/WxI0rW47csg?si=5ZatoBfXwNFkCpc3
Link of Part 10 https://youtu.be/V1tV1ABsbfU?si=yr8esdBgdM6v9zdJ
Link of Part 11 https://youtu.be/fqjgpZV7PjY?si=vEnbnKYWFdmtecDx

the 22nd infantry with its first and third battalions leading the attack once again sliced through the seed line at the same spot it had before just east of bushe and Slightly North of branchid the Infantry Advanced by fire and movement supported by artillery and the fire of tanks and with the use of hand grenades and flamethrowers when the men got close enough some pillboxes had grenades dropped down their Smoke Stacks others had their apertures blasted by flamethrowers at least one was plowed under by a bulldozing tank the Germans never should have started this business we proved once again that fortifications can be taken the second Battalion moved on through our first and third battalions and headed Southeast going into defensive position east of the Fortified Village of branchid this time in contrast to its frustrating fight in September the Third Battalion swept right into branchid and took many of the pill boxes from the rear at that branchid was not a joint ride for the Third Battalion for even after they had taken the town and were being relieved after dark by a battalion from the 90th division they were hit by a strong Counterattack the Germans swarmed in on top of the normal confusion of men Trading Places and soon hand-to-hand combat was taking place in the darkness with some Americans being killed by others for a while our troops were afraid to move but after a Time the enemy was sorted out and driven back next day the first and second battalions continued Ed the attack Eastward towards celerah HOA soon we came to the edge of some woods and looked out on a valley and Hillside that brought back a frightening recollection to a few of us this was the place where the German artillery had massacred a battalion back in September we had been up on the hill on what was now our left front and we’d been helpless Spectators in grandstand seats as the attack Battalion had come out of those very woods and swept the Germans before them in what looked like a classic exercise in tank infantry support it wasn’t until they’d gotten way out into the open that the Germans brought down deadly barges of artillery that tore the attackers apart and finally sent them in Stampede back to the woods to cross the same Valley where so many had been casualties that September wasn’t a pleasant Prospect and I was glad that most of our people didn’t know its history we certainly were forwarned however and we made sure our men were well spread out and alert to incoming Crouch shells this time the wet slush and mud prevented us from taking any tanks along and we were therefore less of a Target in the open we had also heavily shelled the hills ahead before we attacked we did run into some well-entrenched Kraut infantry but with the help of our artillery we were able to overrun them and we made quick work of taking celera HOA and its roads and ridges leftenant gestner the OSS castoff really distinguished himself as a good tough infantryman he was all over the place moving his platoon I saw him using three different weapons a carbine an ml rifle and a Thompson point 45 caliber submachine gun he seemed to be firing a lot more than most officers and instead of stopping to reload he’d trade guns with one of his men or pick up a fallen man’s weapon they all thought he was great one time when he ran out of ammo at the edge of a trench he jumped in and began to Club a German with his rifle butt the poor German quickly threw his hands up while at celer caho we ran into and were victimized by one of the major defects in the Army’s generally reliable system of rank and command the man with the higher rank always gets the nod over one with lower rank with absolutely no regard for qualifications this assumes that all promotions are fair and deserved that all majors are better than all captains that captains better than first left tenants and so on this procedure is partly excusable in the sense that there’s really no way of knowing which man is better qualified until he’s tested the worst part of this system ironically was the end to which the entire Army effort was pointed combat itself in combat which is what the Army is supposed to be about the testing was quick and conclusive yet those who qualified yes even survived to be useful were not quickly promoted even when there were existing vacancies in rank thus Captain Nukem who was serving so beautifully as Battalion exec which position called for a major was always in danger of being being bumped by an inexperienced new major this sort of Injustice was Legion among combat officers but complaints about it are not the petty griping they may seem experience was a matter of life and death in combat anyway the problem struck us at this time the Army had lost so many higher ranking officers in the htun and in the Bulge that Personnel officers scoured the core of rear Echelon and Garrison officers and shipped them to the front as infantry Replacements instead of promoting qualified men already doing the jobs this is not to imply the new men were not good people they simply were not experienced and most of them were deeply embarrassed and uncomfortable at these circumstances beyond their control so Captain Nukem was replaced by a major and sent to take command of f company and I was reduced to company executive officer which forced leftenant Lee Lloyd down to platoon leader everyone was unhappy particularly leftenant Colonel Keenan who was not responsible for the assignments but had to live with their results but it was a reunion of sorts for nem Lloyd and myself we’d all been together in the old e company Captain Nukem was very quiet when he arrived to take over command of f he was the only D-Day officer left in second Battalion and he had long since deserved a majority Lloyd and I were a little depressed In fairness it is probable that those people who should have been pushing our promotions had been too busy yet the memory of Colonel Lam’s words if you survive I’ll promote you was beginning to irritate from celer aahoa second battalion’s attack continued Eastward with one of the rifle companies drawing the nasty job of taking Hill 553 this hill was directly in the battalion’s path to both Oben and nidaan and from its height the Germans could control with artillery all the approaches to both towns in addition to Elevation the Germans also had the advantage of concealment in the two sizable patches of woods near the crest a few hours before Dawn our attack company went up the open slopes of Hill 553 in full darkness and was lucky enough to surprise the Defenders and Route them before there was enough light for the company to completely set up their defenses The cruts Struck back in a furious Counterattack led by bellowing SS troops our men were quickly thrown back a underscore the hill though most of them made it back to where they’d started this misadventure was no fun for the attack company and it turned out to be even less fun for us because Captain Nukem was called to Battalion headquarters and ordered to retake Hill 553 at once in broad daylight the advance just had to continue and it couldn’t unless we had that Hill Colonel Kenan gave him the use of tanks and tank destroyers but said they’d have to stay on the road because the ground was thoring and the heavy tanks and tank destroyers might get mired in the mush Captain Nukem asked me to go with him to reconter possible approaches and the two of us walked several hundred yards southeastward along the road from sarisha HOA to nidaan the uphill side of the road was thickly lined with trees and the banks were high we were able to move about easily behind this cover from which we had a good view of Hill 553 and its surroundings from our concealment we used field glasses to study 553 and its patches of woods from a distance of about a thousand yards after a while Captain Nukem The Old Pro at about 20 7 veteran of every battle since D-Day turned to me and said this looks like the place to jump off from we can move the tanks and TDS along this road and use them to give us support fire we discussed using heavy barges of artillery but decided to use the direct fire of tanks and TDS as the primary weapon with the artillery in support the other attack company had told us about the formidable log bunkers up there and we figured lowline direct fire would be more effective we brought our men up against the high Bank of the road out of sight of the enemy and lined up the tanks and TDS along the flat stretches giving them specific target areas in the patches of woods they would be firing directly over the heads of our advancing men and they’d use high explosive shells to keep the Germans under cover while peppering the area with their 30 caliber and 50 caliber machine guns the artillery fo was also with us and he had the same targets Captain Nukem then had the men spread out widely and he personally LED them out out onto the open Hill slope as I directed the tanks and TDS to commence firing the only problem in the beginning was the stunning shock waves from the 75 mm and 90 mm rifles of the armor as the men were still close in many of the men had to sling their rifles so they could get both hands up over their ears the Rolling Thunder of the big guns made it impossible to tell whether the enemy was firing back I could not see any evidence of incoming artillery with Captain Nukem in the center and the platoon leaders and their plon spread out to his left and right and behind him the attack moved in orderly fashion with everyone walking very fast I was coordinating the whole show The crucial decision for which I was already tensing though I had a few minutes yet was when to lift the straight line overhead fire of the tanks and TDS artillery was also laying down an intense barrage on the hilltop but its shells arked in with plenty of clearance of the ground troops and could be lifted later the tough decision was when to lift the 7 5es and ’90s if I stopped the firing too soon the Germans would rush out of their bunkers and blast our men when they were Exposed on the open slope if I waited too long I might wipe out my men from the rear I was sweating but at least I could clearly see the men and the shell bursts of our 75s and ’90s I watched closely through my binoculars as the advance continued and I knew the men were scared to death hearing their own shells whip a few feet over their heads while waiting for the enemy to open up all all I could do was watch and worry it was the first time I directed that kind of fire and I could only hope this was not the first time the armor had done it I also knew that short rounds cropped up occasionally and I gave a fleeting worried thought to the workers back in the States who had packed the shell cases now and then I put down my field glasses and checked the men directly because I didn’t want the magnification to make me think they were closer to the top than they actually were when I finally gave the command to fire the barrage was extremely intense and accurate giving us exactly what we wanted the Kuts could not come out in that awful blasting they must have been terrified strained to the limit of their nerves our men continued to walk rapidly up the slope and I knew they were not getting any return fire because none of them hit the ground My Moment was almost at hand and I watched closely through my field glasses when they seemed to be only 100 yards from the edge of the woods I couldn’t hold out any longer and I signaled the tanks and TD to cease firing the artillery fo then raised his range slightly to clear our men as they reached the edge of the woods as they got near the bunkers the Infantry was firing from the hip most of the Germans were so shaken that they stayed in their shelters they offered almost no resistance as our men moved in and captured them their SS Commander tried to get them to fight but was unsuccessful I made my way quickly up the hill and when I arrived a few minutes later everything was completely in our hands and our boys were jubilant German prisoners were being led out along with an arrogant SS officer in full dress uniform and long coat he was mad as hell and I only wished I could understand his German sputtering Captain Nukem was busy setting up our new defense so I took over the care of the Wounded of which there were only two both were given some first aid they were then able to walk back to the aid station on their own remarkably enough only a few of the Germans were wounded a testament to the quality of their bunkers the sides of those dugouts went down about 4 feet into the ground and stuck up another 2 feet with the dirt from the excavation being piled against the front and on the roof the walls were logs about 15 in thick and they could take anything but a direct hit the entrance was in the back and in front were machine gun trenches and communication trenches inside the walls were lined with bunk beds enough to accommodate eight men comfortably 12 in a pinch the attack had been an absolute classic Worthy of any textbook on tactics the advance had been almost a thousand yards uphill across a wide open slope with close overhead fire support against a strongly entrenched Defender it was my first experience in this kind of precision attack and I’m not so sure I would have thought of the correct solution all on my own I hated to think of the losses we might have had if a green company Commander had had the job I marveled at The Savvy of Captain newom and while I was as disgusted as he with his demotion I had to to admit it probably had saved a good many lives all the gratification of this Triumph was taken away by one of our discoveries it seems that after the Germans had retaken the hill with their vicious Counterattack earlier in the day they had taken a small number of prisoners and tied them up with telephone wire probably for safekeeping at the outset of our tremendous shelling the Germans had apparently rushed to their bunkers and abandoned the prisoners it probably would have been too much to expect a German to risk his life to save a prisoner and and thus some more Americans were killed by their own shells it was small comfort that only a few were found there the defense was all set up for the night and we had just finished our K ration supper when Captain Nukem received word from Colonel Kennan to report to Battalion for a company Commander meeting much to my surprise and some consternation the captain asked me to go in his place he should have been flushed and excited from the afternoon’s great achievement but instead he was just quiet and reserved never before had I known him to beg off anything at all but I didn’t ask questions the company Runner and I walked back down the hill to celisha HOA and Battalion headquarters the moon was bright and the countryside so Serene and peaceful that we almost forgot why we were there we turned right at the road and soon were close to the scattering of buildings that was the Hamlet several men seemed to be loitering in front of one of the buildings and they didn’t bother to challenge us this slackness irritated me as I came closer all set to ball them out I realized they were krauts and quickly turned my rifle on them and yelled at them to put their hands up they did at once being as surprised as I I found out later they had been on patrol they were lost in the darkness and had been too busy talking to recognize us we took them prisoner then to further ruin my disposition the guard at Battalion headquarters only 50 yards away also failed to challenge I grumbled to Colonel Kennan he was pretty upset because almost any one could have captured his headquarters one of his staff went right out to check and I’m sure someone caught hell the colonel asked briefly about Captain newom and then got right down to business the next day February 8th F company was to wait until it was relieved by another company and then swing down the Northeast slope into Oben now controlled by G company f and g then were both to attack Eastward across the swollen River to The High Ground Beyond while another Battalion would attack a breast of us on the south side of Hill 553 and go on to take niden Captain newom still somber and very quiet gave the briefest of routine instructions to the platoon leaders he then led the forward elements in a wide semicircle to the rear and cut right around to the long wide slope into Oben enemy artillery began to pick them up as they reached the edge of town but most of the men found safe shelter in or behind the buildings it was my turn with the rear elements of the compy company and I pushed them ahead as rapidly as possible over the exposed Hillside the shells soon started to drop in forcing us to take cover after each Salvo we got up and moved quickly forward and we always managed to stay ahead of the next volley suddenly the great good luck the almost Sensational good fortune that had blessed me for eight months abruptly left me there on the open road to Oben I clearly heard the whistle of the shell and could tell by its sound that it was falling on me I threw myself flat on The Frozen Ground so hard that my chin strap broke and my helmet flew off at that I had a little luck left for the shell hit about 20 ft directly in front with a blast that seemed to split my head in an instant I heard the shrapnel whipping past and also got a sledgehammer blow on my left foot I shuddered with the impact as I lay there stunned by the concussion the top of my snow pack had a jagged hole with blood showing and I wondered if my toes were gone the whole foot was numb for which I was thankful everyone else seemed okay so I yelled at the men to keep going and to tell Captain newom I had a slight wound in my foot and would call him from the Aid Station some of them looked a little surprised but they kept on toward town as I began to limp back to the Battalion aid station I was interestedly watching the medic cut off my boot and expose the wound when I heard leftenant Lee Lloyd announce over Colonel kenan’s radio that leftenant Wilson had been wounded and Captain Nukem had been killed I lay there in tears I had no idea what the medic was doing to my foot and I only vaguely heard the colonel fill in leftenant Loyd on the attack plan nothing really registered with me during my months of Frontline combat death was something that came and went I had lost some very good friends and had had to keep going but never had the loss been so close and personal Arthur o Nukem was my best friend in the Army and I’ll never forget February 8th 1945 captain Nukem was by far the best company commander in combat that I ever knew though he really didn’t look the part Hughes short and of slight build with a sober unprepossessing personality but with a quick dry wit and an exceptionally sharp mind he took everything in stride thinking ahead all the time and never giving way to panic his men and officers grew to love him because for one thing they knew that if anyone ever could get them through it would be Captain newom leftenant Colonel Kenan who was also so terribly unsettled by the tragedy later observed that Captain Nukem was of that rare breed that can act and can Inspire others to act courageously on a battlefield he was an exceptionally able Brave and Gallant Soldier it was difficult to imagine any harm coming to him he was I believe an RC officer and he used to talk a lot about the good times he’d had at the University of Wyoming and in the west He also mentioned quite a bit about his family and their sheep Ranch in the Hills sometime later later friends at F company told me that shelling forced them to take cover in buildings as soon as they had reached Oben Captain Nukem had been entering a building when a shell hit the doorway a battlewise veteran Captain Nukem should have taken any cover available yet Witnesses said he had made no effort to protect himself the 22nd Infantry Regiment went on a few days later to take the important rail Center of PR the main mission of that campaign but of this I am not able to give a firsthand account as I sat flat on the floor of the Battalion aid station my mind was on Captain Nukem and I was only dimly conscious of the medic sprinkling Sulfur powder on my foot and dressing it I returned to reality when a Jeep took me to the rear Battalion aid station although I was still deep in shock a medical technician used some surgical forceps to remove the piece of shrapnel from my big toe telling me that the toe was broken and that I’d be going back for a nice long rest at the next stop down the line regim mental aid station a doctor looked at my foot and decided to leave it alone he ordered a medic to put a tag on me with a brief description of the wound a short time later I was loaded into an ambulance with three other wounded men then the driver headed for the field Hospital 50 Mi farther back the trip was very bumpy over torn up roads the medic riding with us had to spend the entire time sitting or kneeling beside a casualty in an attempt to keep plasma flowing into him he was typical of all the Medics I saw they did their best willingly and unhesitatingly we infantrymen knew that if we got hit a medic would run out and drag us back in if at all possible they were so dedicated it seemed they simply ignored bullets actually they were just as scared as we were it was almost dark when we reached the field hospital and our stretchers were lined up on the floor of a large receiving room that must have been a gym the place was unheated and someone threw a blanket over each of us medic walked up and down the lines of stretchers weeding out the most urgent surgery cases and my turn came after about a 2-hour wait as I looked out across the gym at row after row of stretches the scene reminded me of one in Gone With the Wind it is always the infantryman who suffers worst in War I was stripped of all my clothes and personal belongings by an orderly nothing was ever returned perhaps it was a bit of poetic justice the most valuable object I had was a gold watch with a diamond marking each hour I had taken it from a 50-year-old German who had been sent to the German infantry as a replacement when we first attacked the zig freed line in September 1944 he had formerly been stationed As an interpreter in Paris where he had taken it from a shop though offered as much as1300 for the watch I had decided to keep it I wonder if the orderly ever got home with it I also lost a very good luga pistol surgery was a small room with a few gas lanterns and the usual table the young surgeon who worked alone there looked extremely tired he gave me a local and quickly began to clean out the wound then he began to cut along each side of my toe to get at the ends of the severed tendon and tie them together he told me there was nothing he could do about the bone which was cut almost through I tried to sit up to watch him in action but he firmly pushed me back and said sorry but you can help me more lying down he finished tying the tendon sewed up the wound and then taped a protective wire cage over the foot early next morning we were moved by train to a nice large Hospital not far from Paris there my wire cage was replaced by a walking cast we stayed about 2 days and then were put on a train to cherborg where we were loaded on a hospital ship for the crossing to England while on the English Channel headed for Plymouth England my stomach got very upset and I vomited at first the doctors thought I had the usual seasickness but when it persisted after my arrival at the 10 1001st General Hospital near brist the doctors became quite interested three were assigned to work on my problem after experimenting for three or 4 days with the usual tests and remedies for stomach ailments with no cooperation at all from the patient’s stomach they gave it all up and decided to start from scratch they went into my medical history right back to Childhood particularly about digestive problems of which I had had none then they came up to the recent past and asked about my eating habits in the army they probed and and found out I had been almost entirely on K rations since June 1944 that they couldn’t believe so I explained that I’d been on the front continuously for eight months and that we received normal food from our kitchen trucks only when it was safe to bring them close to the front that had not happened very often I said it was a safe bet that about 90% of my total meals had been KS and that there were stretches of several weeks at a time when we never saw our kitchens the doctors explained that they had had a great many combat veterans come through but never anyone who had been in combat so long I felt they were being polite that they really didn’t believe me so I told them to check my records they finally took my word for it and decided the long Siege on K rations had gradually changed my stomach so much that it couldn’t readjust to regular food then they put me on pap and my digestion cleared up right away though not my disposition I was starving and they wouldn’t help me the other men in the ward got deliciously loaded trays and all I received was a little dab somewhere in the center of my plate after about a month they relented and put me on a regular diet I never thought hospital food could taste so great while my toe wound was legitimate enough about 20 other men were in the ward and everyone was in worse shape than I which made me feel somewhat out of place a couple of them had been riding in Jeeps that were blown up by mines and their bodies had been shattered worst of all was a soldier who had 19 fractures in his arms and legs he was strung up in traction with several pins through each leg his condition was so bad the doctors couldn’t even move him into the operating room for the setting of still more fractures so a team of doctors and nurses worked on him in the ward I watched in Fascination as they knocked him out with a shot and then used a bone drill and put more pins in his legs we could hear the bones great as they were being set that night this poor fellow who never complained had a bad dream he screamed and thrashed around in the bed and yelled at his men as he fought a battle all over again I rang for a nurse who was elsewhere and then hobbled over to his bed and tried to Rouse him out of the nightmare by talking to him and very gingely shaking him he didn’t respond so I slapped his face quite gently which brought him around I hated to do that but the nurse later told me he was probably doing himself a lot of damage tossing around the doctors worked on him for several more hours the following day then kept him under heavy ation for the next few days after the war I met our Ward nurse near home much to our mutual surprise she told me the poor fellow was in her Ward for over a year but finally did recover about a week after my cast was removed I was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital near Barnstable there we went through a program of exercise some pretty darn severe but it did have the salutary effect of getting us back in shape for recreation we played volleyball and pingpong and after a while we were given passes to Birmingham 18 M away while there I also managed a short orientation course Under The Exchange program at Birmingham University and I even wound up living in a very Posh private boys school adjacent to the university there despite the war everything was most formal as part of the course we also visited some Public Schools a government slaughter house and the city’s water system this last was a major problem because the water for that city of over 2 million came over open viaducts from rivers in the Hills 75 M away the Germans had sabotaged the system for a while and the people suffered shortages water had to be trucked in most interesting of all was our trip to the very old city of Coventry the site of the immortal King Arthur and his legendary Round Table less than 100 yards from the King Arthur collection was a church dating back to AD 500 that had been hit by German bombs about 75% of the church was in Ruins but the local people had pledged to rebuild it in mid April I must have been in a most peculiar state of mind because I actually passed up a chance for a brief vacation in Ireland it seemed I was silly enough to want to get back to the 22nd infantry before the war ended soon I found myself in a replacement Center reppel Depot we called them near Birmingham because my records showed I’d been a company commander in combat I was given command of a company of 200 black troops and was told to get the equipped and delivered to France for a staff I had five white officers and one black and I should mention that at this time in history there was no such thing in the Army as integration all the officers had been wounded and were returning to duty of the 200 enlisted men only three had been wounded in battle the rest were mostly VD casualties it was something of an adventure to keep the men equipped what was issued one day might be gone the next everyday thefts were reported to me some of the men sold traded or gave away their personal equipment I soon learned that some of the local English women were available for cash or Goods most of the men had had very little schooling and their ring leaders most of whom had decent educations seemed devoted to keeping them stirred up the black first sergeant was very good however and he soon had the ring leaders picked out our job then was to try to keep them so busy they didn’t have time to bother anyone nonetheless I did have to break up one knife fight and I also had to sto dice games which usually led to combat though not the kind we were in Europe to fight at last we were ordered to stand final inspection before embarcation and some of these actors went all out to louse up the inspection and delay returning to their units one character even lipped to underscore to the inspecting major when ordered to turn in his personal luggage to the sergeant for shipment home this black soldier a really huge man deliberately addressed the major as Captain and told him he’d have to come and get the luggage himself if he wanted it so damned bad without an instant’s hesitation the major jerked the luggage from the man’s hand and tossed it to the sergeant the big Soldier just sulked as his cardboard suitcase was taken away later the major confided to me that he thought the soldier wanted to be thrown into the brig and that the best punishment for such men was to return them to the front next the doctors lined the men up for short arm inspection and of course that also had its Antics some of them still had d d and when these Souls were pulled off the list for shipment out they laughed and clapped their hands with Glee and sometimes did a little jig a few days later our group did indeed reach La AR France to my immense personal relief the unit was broken up and the men were shipped out to their own units mostly service or truck companies my stint as their Commander had lasted only 10 days and I very much doubted I could have coped much longer keeping the men in the proper equipment was constant worry lack of cooperation can be immensely more frustrating than some days of actual combat I was immediately assigned to a replacement pool next day we began a series of moves back to our outfits if this had been the time of the Bulge we could have been shot back to the front by Express but now we had no great priority and the Army seemed in no hurry to return us to our units our first stop was a French military base behind the magino line and we stayed there for 3 or 4 days in nice brick officers quarters much like the permanent buildings on the main post at Fort Benning Georgia one day we toured the magino entering this massive underground defensive line through huge doors in the rear the French Captain guiding us admitted that the Germans had taken that sector of the impregnable line simply by going through a gap and approaching from the rear which was not defended the fortifications of the magino line were four stories of concrete with two stories below ground and with the excavated dirt being piled on the sides and on top so that it looked like a long low Ridge there were apertures for small arms fire for machine guns and for Cannon large gun turrets facing the front were retractable and had Periscope sights so the crew could operate entirely behind the cement walls what amazed me though was that the largest guns behind all these elaborate expensive turrets were only the old 75s of World War I other features that impressed me were the Conveyor Systems for feeding ammunition to the guns the comfortable living quarters for the crew and laders with enough supplies to withstand any sort of siege for at least 3 months overall it was a tremendous engineering feat of which the natives still seemed quite proud it was an even more outstanding example of military futility the old French generals had still been planning on static trench warfare even if they’d been able to stop the Germans from breaking through a gap it would have been easy for the Germans to drop paratroops and take the undefended rear and yet the Germans the inventors of the Modern Warfare that obsoleted the majino themselves built a SE freed wall which we were able to break through in only one day in addition to touring the majino we were also allowed to visit a nearby town of some 500 folks one thing that should be said about France and probably much of the continent is that they openly accept as matter of fact and part of normal life some institutions that more straight laced Nations endure if at all more discreetly thus the local sin Emporium was flourishing in no small way supported by Army personnel and the base commander recognized it to the extent of sending in Army doctors to examine the girls then all of a sudden some higher Army Commander ordered those Spar closed at once and it became the job of the current guard led by me to execute the orders and evict The Madam and about 20 girls our orders did not require us to follow through however so the girls were soon out on the streets and enterprising finally after so many long Bleak years for the natives and pain and suffering for all of us victory in Europe VE day arrived May 8th 1945 the population exploded into the streets and danced and drank the night away amid fireworks and everything else they could cut loose with some of us got a little homesick all of us celebrated on this happy occasion the balance of our trip to nurburg was interminable slow and unpleasant for we no longer rated anything but the infamous 40 and8 box cars 40 men or eight horses and I wouldn’t treat a horse that way occasionally we were sidetracked for Supply trains headed east into Germany and for Long Train loads of pitiful Frenchmen who had been slave labor for four years and who were headed home to France their faces were thin and their eyes were set in deep dark sockets they were jammed in worse than we with barely enough room to stand though dirty and helpless they still were going in the right direction and they waved in Wild excitement as their box cars crawled past I couldn’t help thinking of the awful shock some of them might be facing houses in Ruins wives who had fraternized children fathered by the enemy no money no jobs no prospects and nothing but the shakiest government nurenberg which we went through on trucks was my first view of a major city bombed by the Allies besides being an important rail head it was also a highly emotional Target as the sacran heartland of the Nazi cult the Wellspring of Hitler Mania the breeding ground of the Third Reich plague British and American bombers had attacked day and night hitting it with everything from incendiaries to Blockbusters fire Shad raged out of control and we heard that casualties on one night’s raid reached 75,000 blocks and blocks were level Acres of rubble now and then we would see a building with some outer walls gone the inner floors still suspended in midair with Furniture rugs and bedding standing intact looking like a huge dollhouse the old walled inner city was completely demolished nothing was standing nothing moved it was all Broken Bricks and dust The Rail Yards were a mess of shattered box cars steam engines and roundhouses heavy rails were bent like wires some being Twisted into giant cork screw spirals 30 or 40 ft in the air wooden ties were splintered or burned and even the steel supports under box cars were melted so they sagged to the ground at one point we passed the massive deserted Stadium Hitler had built for his Mass rallies and I remembered the newsreal shots of the Sea of rabid uniformed chanting disciples responding to his posturing and ranting our trucks continued out of town toward Bamberg present home of the fourth Division and I couldn’t get used to the sight of former German soldiers still in uniform for that’s all they had to wear straggling Homeward they were walking even the few who had bicycles just walked beside them as though afraid to ride on the highways with all the American trucks they didn’t eye us directly and their appearance was most ragged and dejected nevertheless I had the feeling they were deeply relieved that it was all over the other civilians we happened to see were mostly women and their expressions were uniformly stiff and unsmiling in addition to the usual fear of conquering Invaders still an unknown quantity they must have had their worries about whether any of the stragglers would turn out to be Sons or husbands I reached Bamberg headquarters of the fourth division about May 10 and soon I was in a jeep headed for Rothenberg and the 22nd Infantry Regiment Colonel Ruggles our new regimental Commander greeted me warmly and told me Colonel Buck lanam had been promoted to Brigadier General and transferred we had a pleasant chat about all the changes in the 22nd and in my second Battalion during my absence then I asked if he knew what had happened to my promised promotion to Captain he told me that all promotions for the second Battalion had been scrapped I gathered that for some reason Colonel lanam had gotten mad at the entire second Battalion had discarded the suggested promotions and had even replaced liutenant Colonel Kenan I was never able to learn why I told Colonel Ruggles that it didn’t seem fair to penalize those who had earned and deserved promotions and I asked him to recommend me for a captaincy based on his personal knowledge of my Rec ORD this may seem pretty pushy but I knew I deserved a captaincy and was gradually learning to speak up for myself without hesitation Colonel Ruggles said he would be happy to put my name on the list but that he couldn’t promise anything now that the war in Europe was over as it turned out the Army had Frozen all promotions he tried again once he reached the states but that too was denied so I remained a first leftenant a Jeep now took me to dinkles sple headquarters of second Battalion where I reported to our new commanding officer major Clifford swed Henley I had heard of the big swed and had seen him a time or two but never had met him his welcome was warm and pleasant and he introduced me to several of the new officers I also shook hands with some of the veterans including Captain George Kerr and Captain mlan major Henley was extremely decent to me and I could tell by his somewhat uncomfortable manner that he was most reluctant to have to tell me he had no company Commander positions left in the Battalion that the best he could do was offer me a job as company exec what I replied in effect was from all I can see sir my experience alone makes me senior to almost any company commander in this Battalion I want a company here or in another Battalion if you really can’t make enough changes to give me a company then I’ll go back to Colonel Ruggles and ask for a transfer I can’t imagine myself having said anything remotely like that a few short months earlier and it’s a wonder he didn’t throw me out instead he just said well give me a couple of days to see what I can do hang around Battalion headquarters and maybe we can work things out so I was given a room in the small hotel that served as Battalion headquarters and a few days later major Henley sent for me and asked if I would agree to take command of H company that’s about the way he phrased it I told him a heavy weapons company would be new toome but I was sure I could handle the job so it was arranged Charles pillard H company’s Commander went to to Battalion headquarters as an assistant S3 and I became commander of H company in h company’s area of operations was a German military Hospital filled with Wounded German soldiers and this had to be guarded I assigned Sergeant flipper witz and two squads of men to the job they had no trouble at all keeping things under control also nearby though not my company’s responsibility was a large prisoner of war Stockade filled with German soldiers as Might Be Imagined German officers and noncoms kept the strictest discipline within the Stockade these Germans were still official prisoners and it must have been odd to them to see former comrades in arms who had Lain down their arms at the end of the fighting walking about freely on the outside as they straggled Homeward as a matter of fact there was some irony in this for we American conquerors were still indentured to the military while our vanquished paraded around as instant civilians of course we had another war going on Halfway Around the World in the Pacific and some of us worried that MacArthur might be aware of the fine combat record of the fourth infantry division he was we learned later another thing we kept a wary eye on Was An Old Camp for a few hundred displaced persons just released from slave labor these poor people had existed in Long quanset Huts where they were packed in like animals being forced to sleep on the floor in rows they had been imprisoned in filth and the first steps in their emancipation were hot showers and delousing a clean set of clothes clothes and burning of the old rags