JCSM Shareware Collection 1996 September/JCSM Shareware Collection (JCS Distribution) (September 1996).ISO/elec_bks/letdos1.zip/CHAP18

Text File | 1994-03-22 | 18KB | 329 lines

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          *           THE WAR ENTERS ITS FINAL PHASE                *
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          As Eisenhower was leaving a death camp near Gotha, he
          turned to a GI sentry and said, "Still having trouble hating
          them?" This was on April 12, and in the days that followed
          Allied forces overran even worse scenes at Buchenwald and
          Bergen-Belsen. As the news of these camps spread, it had
          a profound effect on our attitudes toward the Germans. As
          a result of the use of false Allied propaganda during World
          War II, we had been somewhat skeptical of the reports we
          had read about Nazi barbarity. We also found it hard to
          believe Russian and Polish reports that a million and a half
          people had died in the Majdanek concentration camp. The
          reports we read and pictures we saw in our own press
          drowned any doubts. When added to the anger we felt
          because the Germans were continuing a hopeless struggle,
          we were in no mood to take any more casualties than
          absolutely essential.

          After crossing the Rhine, I was Assistant S-3 in the 29th
          Field Artillery Battalion. Hence I helped supervise the fire
          direction center, which coordinated the fire of three artillery
          batteries. Each of these had four 105 mm howitzers. When
          circumstances required, we could also call on other artillery
          units for support, including division and corps artillery.

          We did a great deal of firing in our dash across southern
          Germany, aided by ample supplies of ammunition. Although
          much of this period is a blur in my memory, there were two
          combat incidents which stand out, one of which I was
          ashamed and the other proud.

          At one point, a forward observer called upon us to fire white
          phosphorus shells. When these explode, they scatter small
          elements of burning phosphorus, which are both destructive
          and frightening. In calculating the direction of the fire, I
          made a ninety degree error. As a result, the shells landed
          behind our lines. I immediately got a telephone call which
          informed me of my mistake and was relieved to learn that
          the shells landed in an empty field.

          Shortly after this, Col. Thomason came into the fire direction
          center, and I told him what had happened. He looked at me
          for a moment and then said, "John, you should not make
          an error like that." Nothing more was said, but thereafter I
          was doubly careful.

          While I was relieved to get off so lightly, Tommy's reaction
          did not surprise me. If he ever got angry with anyone, I was
          not aware of it. He had a talent for getting the most out of
          all officers and never asked them to do things of which they
          were incapable. He also understood that we were all human
          and hence capable of mistakes. His approach encouraged all
          of us to do our best. As a result, the battalion functioned
          well and managed to keep its casualties to a minimum.
          (There were three officers and forty-six enlisted men killed,
          most of them when the landing craft carrying B Battery hit
          a mine just before reaching the beach.)


          WE FORCE THE SURRENDER OF ELLWANGEN WITHOUT A FIGHT

          The other event which is clear in my mind was our attack
          on Ellwangen, a small town in southern Germany. It took
          place before my visit to the death camp. However, by the
          time of this operation we were aware of these installations.
          Furthermore, having spent many months with the infantry,
          I was in no mood to see our men die just because of a
          stubborn German commander.

          The 4th Division After Action Report for April, 1945 tells the
          story of the situation which confronted the 8th Regiment as
          it approached Ellwangen. (The numbers are map
          coordinates.)

          22 April 1945. "The defense of Ellwangen was directed from
          a line roughly estimated to exist along the edge of the woods
          from S-733433 to S-738439, thence east through the town
          of Mitteldorf (S-7244) and Ratstadt (S-7844) and from this
          point possibly southwest to include the town of Neunheim
          (S-7545). The town of Eggenrot (S-7244) also contained
          enemy and presented another outpost before entering the
          main defenses of Ellwangen. Within the town limits of
          Ellwangen a castle at S-759434 was organized as a
          strongpoint."

          "The 8th Infantry...initiated movement beginning at 0400
          when the Ist Battalion, motorized, began its advance to the
          south. At 0700 the 2nd and 3d Battalions continued the
          attack and initially moved without opposition, the 3d
          Battalion advancing approximately seven kilometers in the
          right of the regimental sector and the 2d Battalion two
          kilometers on the left. Both battalions, upon reaching the
          outskirts of Ellwangen (S-7543), met determined resistance
          from a reported force of six hundred (600) enemy infantry,
          SS troops, defending the city. Repeated attempts to assault
          the enemy's positions resulted in failure and a coordinated
          attack was planned on 23 April."

          It was a beautiful sunny day, and once the attack halted we
          were getting no requests for fire at the fire direction center.
          I wandered over to see my friends at the 8th Regiment
          command post, to see what they were up to. They told me
          they were planning an attack on Ellwangen for the next
          morning.

          Given the defenses, this was going to be a tough fight and
          could mean many casualties. I suggested, therefore, that we
          first see if we could persuade the city to surrender. The
          story of what happened then is told by the After Action
          Report of the 29th Field Artillery Battalion for April, which
          was signed by Lt. Col. Joel F. Thomason.

          "On 22 April 1945...a strongly defended town of Ellwangen,
          Germany, was encountered. The town was defended by a
          battalion of SS troops. Beginning at 1700 until 0700 23
          April 1945, over 1500 rounds of all caliber ammunition were
          fired into the town. Supplemented by a few rounds of
          propaganda. At 0800 23 April, the Burgermeister came out
          and surrendered the town to an infantry battalion
          commander. It is believed the artillery caused the
          townspeople to force the defending troops to withdraw from
          town, where they were in a well defended position."

          As I recall, the firing was not only done by the forty-eight
          guns of the 4th Division Artillery but also larger caliber
          guns from the corps artillery. In order to maximize
          destruction, shells were set with a delayed fuze so they
          would penetrate the roofs of buildings and explode inside.
          White phosphorous shells were also used. The propaganda
          leaflets of which Col. Thomason spoke contained leaflets
          explaining how to surrender a town.

          For nearly half a century, I have wondered what was
          happening in Ellwangen while our bombardment was going
          on and how the decision to surrender the city came about.
          Thanks to Prof. Dr. Immo Eberl, the town historian, I now
          have an account written not long after the bombardment by
          Wolfgang Hoegg, which appeared in the Ellwangen yearbook
          for 1936-1946.

          The SS garrison had about four hundred men, many of
          them boys of sixteen or seventeen and men between forty-
          five and fifty. It had only light weapons and a few mortars.
          It began setting up strong points to defend the city on
          March 1. In addition to its population, the town had several
          thousand evacuees and about eight hundred wounded. The
          SS misused the red cross, even marking their barracks with
          it. Although there was an order to destroy all bridges and
          offices, the telephone exchange was spared.

          Despite a request from the deputy mayor to surrender the
          town, the SS commander decided to comply with
          instructions to defend it. The threat that anyone not
          carrying out such orders would be executed no doubt
          encouraged this decision.

          After the bombardment began, chaos reigned. During the
          night, the Nazi leaders and the SS commander and his
          troops left the town and fled south. The city fathers then
          debated how to surrender the town. The plan to send a man
          in a red cross ambulance was given up when it was realized
          the bridge had been blown. Various schemes to fly white
          flags from the church and ring bells were tried but did not
          succeed in getting our attention. The fact that it was a
          stormy night did not help.

          Finally, at about six in the morning, they sent a man
          carrying a white flag to our lines. He was taken to the 8th
          Regiment headquarters in Stocken, where the surrender took
          place.

          Hoegg's account recites the destruction of buildings in detail.
          There are also a number of drawings which illustrate the
          results of our shelling. There were, however, few casualties
          and only five people killed. The population was hiding in
          cellars and air raid shelters.

          In the course of these events, according to Hoegg, a number
          of bizarre episodes took place. Shortly before reaching
          Ellwangen, our forces captured an SS headquarters on April
          21. The officers were suffering from hangovers, from having
          the night before celebrated Hitler's birthday.

          In addition to the SS, there were Volkssturm units raised
          from the local populace. They, however, had few arms. When
          their leader asked the SS commander about this, the latter
          said, "When my men fall, yours can use their weapons."

          Before the bombardment, the 8th Regiment interpreter
          talked to a Nazi leader on the telephone and urged him to
          surrender the city. The reply he got was, "Kiss my ass!" This
          same man, during the night, abandoned his bravery and
          Nazi uniform and fled the city.

          Although I was relieved that we had killed so few, seeing
          recent pictures of this charming town has reinforced my
          regret that the SS commander did not accede to the Deputy
          Mayor's wish to surrender. Hoegg's account, however, makes
          it clear the bombardment was necessary if we were to avoid
          casualties. Furthermore, any sorrow I may have felt was
          stifled a few days later.


          A LETTER HOME AFTER A VISIT TO A DEATH CAMP

          Although informed of the camps overrun by American and
          British forces, I was still unprepared for my visit to a death
          camp near Landsberg. This came about in a casual way. We
          were bivouacked in a woods. We had heard that another
          unit had overrun a concentration camp (which is too mild
          a term) near us. Another officer suggested we go see it. At
          that time, I had not talked to anyone who had seen one and
          was unsure what to expect.

          It was a beautiful day, with a clear sky and the sun shining
          brightly. As we left a hard surface road to turn into a gravel
          lane which led to the camp, I noticed a tidy looking house
          at the junction. In the front yard, a small girl was happily
          playing.

          There were a number of camps in the Landsberg area, and
          I do not know which one we visited. One report says that
          there were over 4,000 dead buried in two sites near
          Landsberg.

          When we reached the camp, I went into shock. Rather than
          trying to recreate this scene a half century later, I will quote
          the letter I sent home shortly after this traumatic
          experience.

          April 30, 1945, Germany

          A promise has been made to myself that the next letter I
          write to each of my correspondents will be about the
          concentration camp near Landsberg, Germany. You'll
          remember that Landsberg Prison is where Hitler wrote his
          Mein Kampf, while imprisoned there.

          When I walked away from the double barbed wire fence that
          surrounded the camp, with the filthy odor still promising me
          that it was true, my mind simply refused to believe what my
          eyes had seen. Such things do not, simply cannot, happen
          in a civilized country.

          Perhaps then Germany is not civilized. Maybe the fiends who
          perpetrated these crimes and the people who condoned them
          have completely left the pale of our modern world. It's
          possible that they do not deserve to live alongside other
          people. I don't know.

          But this I do know, because I saw it. No one can deny it.
          No one can ever erase the sight from my mind. It is etched
          there as clearly as though it were ever before me.

          The camp was surrounded by a double barbed wire fence,
          with the top electrically charged. At each corner was a guard
          tower. About it for several hundred yards were open fields.
          Escape was impossible. Once a man entered, it would seem
          that only death would permit him to leave.

          The hovels in which the victims lived were sunk in the
          ground to the roof. The roof was covered with dirt, sand,
          and grass. The only ventilation was from the door and a
          small window above it. Dark, damp, and uncomfortable, the
          room stank with a filthy odor. No sanitary facilities were
          evident.

          I know not what the victims were, insane, Jews, or political
          prisoners. But no human could treat a dog as diabolically.
          No reason could possibly excuse such an existence and
          death being forced on any man.

          In the yard of the camp there were three hundred bodies.
          They were laid out in neat, efficient rows. Some were
          burned. Some were shot. Some had been tortured and
          maimed. Others may just have died. All were unbelievably
          emaciated. There was simply nothing left on them but skin
          and bone.

          And now I could believe anything. I thought it just an
          occurrence of war when I've seen our men murdered when
          taken prisoner. Some of the treatment given occupied
          countries could have been the result of provoking acts by
          their people. But this, this can never be explained or
          pardoned. No, never.

          The leaders who caused and the men who performed these
          crimes must die. Imprisonment is too good for them. They
          must all pay with their lives, must pay in the most
          humiliating way by being shunned by our peoples. Their
          slaves and the prisoners who survived must be cared for by
          them. Destroyed Europe must be rebuilt with their money,
          and where needed, their toil. Above all, they should never
          again be given the means to control their own nation, let
          alone other nations, for generations to come.

          This is not heated thought. It is a reasoned conviction,
          forged together by what I have seen and know to be true.

          This unsigned letter contains strong statements about the
          Germans and how we should treat them which events and
          reflection would later force me to abandon. It was also
          written in stilted, self-conscious language. It reflects,
          however, the anger I felt at the time. Furthermore, it also
          left a residue of concern about how Germans might behave
          if they were confronted again with the circumstances which
          produced Hitler. As time went on, however, I came to realize
          that Germans have no monopoly on cruelty.

          Since the war, we have also learned that Allied governments
          were reluctant to face up to the reality of the camps, even
          though they knew a great deal about them. It is difficult to
          understand why, for example, Allied bombers were not used
          to destroy the railways leading to the camps and the ovens
          in which so many people died.

          Shortly after my visit to the death camp, we moved to
          Wolfratshausen, a small town south of Munich. The 4th
          Division paused there, while other units moved on south to
          Austria. We were in Wolfratshausen when we heard of
          Hitler's death, one of the happiest moments of my life.