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OCCUPATION DUTY 1. Hesse
POINT SYSTEM DETERMINING PRIORITY FOR RETURN TO U.S. When the war in Europe ended not enough ships were available to return all troops to the U.S., so a point system was devised to determine an order of priority. Points were given for length of service, time overseas, awards earned, and for being married. I had almost enough points to be among the first to return to the U.S. but was short because I was not married. A few officers were eligible for discharge and this called for some transfers among those remaining. I was transferred to the 307th F.A. Bn. and assigned to a battalion of infantry as liaison officer. The 307th F.A. was sent to the town of Wetzlar in Hesse. Leica cameras are manufactured here, and when the town was taken by our troops, soldiers were stationed at entrances to the plant to prevent looting. The guards had strict orders not to let anyone - regardless of rank - to enter the plant. GERMAN PRISONER OF WAR COMPLEX A complex where German non-commissioned officers were trained was just outside Wetzlar. During the latter part of the war it was converted into a place for holding war prisoners captured by the Germans. When we arrived almost 1,000 Russians, 200 French, and a sprinkling of Yugoslavs, Czechs, and Italians were being held there. A few of the Russian PWs were women. My battalion was assigned to operate the facility until the PWs could be repatriated. I was put in charge of the PW installation with about 30 GIs, one of whom spoke some Russian learned from his parents. The remainder of my battalion was stationed a few miles away. My men and I were billeted in the two-story headquarters of the complex. The senior officer of the Russians was a captain who had been captured in the Battle of Stalingrad, and I conferred with him regarding matters dealing with his men. The language barrier made this rather difficult, but with the help of the Russian-speaking GI we managed. The senior officer of the French was a rather dapper lieutenant who spoke good English. When I first met with him he asked if I spoke German or French. When I replied in the negative he expressed surprise that an American officer knew no language except his own. "Do you speak Spanish?" I asked. He said he didn't and I said, "Well, I speak Spanish. My claim was quite an exaggeration for it was based on what I learned in high school. A few days later the French lieutenant came to see me bringing someone with him. "Oh mi capitaine, I am so happy. Here is a soldier who speaks Spanish." I knew enough of the language to ask them to be seated and the lieutenant asked if we should continue in Spanish or English. "My Spanish is a bit rusty," I replied. "Let's continue in English." Later he offered to teach me French if I would teach him English. "But you speak good English now," I said. "Oh, but I want to learn American English." INCIDENTS INVOLVING THE RUSSIANS Shortly before we arrived at Wetzlar, some Russian soldiers had broken a store room, found some chemicals and experimented causing an explosion. It blew out one wall of the building and I suppose killed all the men in it. In another incident, several of the Russians died from drinking a cocktail based on fluid used to propel rockets fired at us. An indication of the low regard the Russians had for human life involved an incident that also happened before we arrived. Quite a bit of war material discarded by the retreating German soldiers was lying where it was dropped, and some of the Russian PWs found a hand grenade and played catch with it. One of them pulled the pin before tossing the grenade to another one. It exploded as he caught it, killing him. When the soldier was missing at roll call the squad leader asked if anyone knew where he was. One man said, "Sure, he's right over there," and led him to a shallow grave with a crude wooden star for a headstone. Unlike American soldiers, the Russians ate out of a common bowl. The squad leader would go to the mess hall and get a big bowl of food and a spoon for each man. One day Gen. Parker visited the compound and asked to see the mess hall. The men were eating when we entered, and the general was appalled to see them eating out of a common bowl. "Make these men eat like our soldiers do," he said to me. "I'll do the best I can, Sir," I replied, "but I don't speak Russian and the GI who translates for me has an extremely limited knowledge of the language." Fortunately, the general didn't return to check on his order for I made no attempt to carry it out. TROUBLE WITH SOME POLES A few days later I received reports that a mob of displaced Poles who had avoided being repatriated, roamed a rural area outside Wetzlar beating and robbing farm families. I took a few men and drove to the trouble spot to investigate. We were told about the problem and that the Poles were expected to return that evening. I sympathized with the Poles for they had been brought to the area as forced labor but it was our job to keep order. I went to the village the Poles had been terrorizing the residents and were expected to return that evening. I stationed GIs in positions where they could intercept the marauders if they returned. Nothing happened for almost an hour and then I heard the opening notes of Wagner's Reinzi Overture sounded on a horn somewhere in the distance. Within a few minutes a farmer came running up and said the Poles were raiding a village a few kilometers away. We jumped in our jeeps and sped to the village being attacked. When we arrived we saw a group of men armed with pitch forks. They leveled their pitch forks and moved toward us in a menacing manner. I drew my pistol and my men aimed their carbines at the men, but just before giving the order to fire I realized they thought we were the Poles. "Halt! Amerikanish Soldat!" I shouted. The men stopped, peered at us in the dim light, then lowered their pitch forks and said, "Danka, danka, danka!" and "prima, prima" and patted our weapons. It was a narrow escape for they were coming at me and we were about to fire on them. I asked where the Poles had gone, and they pointed to a large patch of woods about two hundred yards away and shrugged their shoulders, indicating that was all they knew. I had one of my men fire several rounds toward the woods to let the Poles know guns were available to protect the farm families. When I told my commanding officer, Lt. Col. Don Adams, about this incident he said I should have sent some men to the trouble spot, but should not have gone myself. I didn't tell him, but I have never believed in ordering my men into a potentially dangerous situation unless I shared in the danger. A TRAGIC INCIDENT One afternoon I heard an explosion, grabbed my .45 and rushed outside to a scene as gruesome as any I saw in combat. Three boys about ten years old were lying on the ground, one of them dead, another fatally wounded, and the third slightly wounded. The boys had found a German hand grenade and were trying to take it apart when it detonated. One boy was holding the grenade by its wooden handle looking down at it when it detonated, blowing away the top half of his face. Fragments ripped open the front of another boy's lower torso, exposing his intestines. The third was standing back and had the top part of his ear ripped off. I yelled for a medic and told one of our men to call for a German ambulance. The medic sprinkled a powder on the boy's midsection to prevent infection. The medic could speak some German and later he told me the boy asked, "Am I going to die?" "No, you are going to grow up to be a big, strong man," the medic replied. But he doubted the boy would last through the night. He didn't. Soon an ambulance came and carried the boys away. The medic was visibly shaken by this experience (so was I), and I told to come with me to my quarters. When we got there I said I've never seen anyone who deserved a drink as much as you do, and poured one for him. I don't recall how I happened to have any whiskey but it was put to good use for later when I was censoring the medic's mail his deep appreciation was included in a letter he wrote home. A MAY DAY CELEBRATION
That evening we were served a drink before the meal. "Vodka?" I asked the woman soldier serving us. "Nicht," she replied, "Schnaps." Regardless of what she called it there was no doubt of its potency.
FIGHTING BOREDOM After about a month in Wetzlar, we were moved eastward to a hamlet named Hofgeismer, and told we were designated to move into Berlin to relieve the 101st Airborne Division as occupation troops in the American sector of the city. Meanwhile, keeping the men occupied was a problem for going through "dry run" drills (simulated firing of the cannons) when they had months of experience in actual combat was dull. Softball games some afternoons and the showing of an American movie in the few evenings they were available helped pass the time. Some of the townspeople came to see our movies, standing in the rear. Apparently, some of the higher-ups considered this a violation of Eisenhower's non-fraternization policy for we received an order prohibiting them to attend the movies. I thought this was wrong for we were occupying the homes of many of them, and there was nothing else for them to do. Supply trains were having difficulty getting sufficient food to our troops scattered over western Germany, and our meals were quite skimpy. The only dessert we had was canned peaches, and to this day I don't care for them. After we returned home, however, I was told canned peaches were not available in the U.S. probably because they were all being sent overseas. PIANO LESSONS The officers also had time on their hands and I was no exception. A piano was in the house where I was staying and as I had always wanted to learn to play one I decided to give it a try. One day a young girl who lived in the house came there to get some of her things, and I asked her where her piano teacher lived. She gave me the address. I drove to the nearby town of Warburg and found a music store with a book for beginners with facing pages in German and English. I bought it and went to the piano teacher's home. When I arrived she was giving a lesson to a child while several others were waiting for their turn. I tried to tell her I wanted to take piano lessons but she thought I was going to take her piano and started crying, explaining that it was the only way she could make a living. I used charades and my limited German to assure her I didn't wasn't going to take the piano but only wanted her to give me lessons. She dried her tears and showed me her schedule of pupils. I pointed to the time I preferred and she wrote "Herr Hauptman" on it. I held up German occupation marks in one hand and a few tea bags in the other to see which she preferred as payment. She immediately grabbed the tea bags, leaving no doubt she preferred them to the marks as stores had very little to sell. The next afternoon I walked into her classroom and the children cringed - they were afraid of the military. I removed my helmet and pistol belt with my .45, ammunition clip, and first aid kit, sat down on the piano bench, and began my first lesson. She would point to the instructions in German and I would read the English translation on the opposite page. My first lesson was to learn the scales while counting, "ein, zwei, drei, vier." Unfortunately, that's about all I learned for a couple of weeks later I was transferred to the 903rd Field Artillery in another town. We had the same problem of keeping the men busy and after going through routine drills and patrolling they often played soft ball. THE JAPANESE SURRENDER The rumor that our division might be sent to the Pacific was laid to rest by the Japanese surrender, and assured that we would go to Berlin. My battalion celebrated by having real eggs instead of the powered variety. It was the first time I had them since leaving the hospital. SIGHTSEEING IN SWITZERLAND To help keep up morale of the troops waiting to return home, SHEAF Headquarters designed trips to Switzerland, Brussels, and Copenhagen. Some of the officers and men weren't interested - all they wanted was a trip home. Not me. I had done a favor for the sergeant major in charge of arranging the trips, and told him I didn't want to deprive anyone of a trip, but I would go on any trip that didn't reach capacity. As a result, I got to go Switzerland, and Brussels. I was also sent to a seminar for officers held at the University of Paris. The 10-day trip to Switzerland cost $35, including transportation, meals, and lodging. We were processed at Mulhouse, France, where we were oriented to local customs, and permitted to exchange $40 into Swiss currency. No other medium of exchange was legal, including U.S. money and American Express Travelers Checks.
On the boat ride we noticed some large boulders on the shoreline, but as we drew close to them saw they weren't boulders but camouflaged positions for machine guns to use in case the Germans attacked Switzerland. We also learned that the tunnels leading into the country were mined, and all able-bodied young men had to take military training and be ready to fight. Some of them boarded our train dressed in uniform and carrying a rifle. We were frustrated by having so little spending money, and I couldn't buy any of the watches displayed in the stores. I did have enough to buy a bottle of Chanel No. 5, and an alarm clock with a musical tune for the alarm. I don't recall what I did with the perfume but I decided to give the clock to Gretchen if I ever saw her again. Our tour included a bus trip to Brig, a village high in the Alps, Lausanne, and another to Geneva before we headed back to Basel and then to France. HELPING A COUNTESS I was on a tram in Geneva when a well-dressed lady seated near me heard me tell an officer from another division that the 78th was going to Berlin soon as occupation troops in the American sector. The lady apologized for interrupting and asked if I would carry a package to an elderly aunt in Berlin. She explained that her aunt badly needed warm clothing as winter was approaching and there was no way of sending it to her. I agreed and she introduced herself as Countess (I don't remember her name), and asked me to meet her in the lobby of her hotel. I never met a real countess and was impressed. The next day I went to her hotel. She met me in the lobby and gave me a package which she said contained a handknitted woolen shawl. I took it with me when we moved into Berlin in November. On the return to France, we had to change trains in Strasbourg. Buildings in the downtown area were pockmarked by bullets and there was other evidence of the street fighting that took place here. A TRIP TO BRUSSELS
The American Officers' Leave Club in Brussels held dances almost every night so we got to meet local girls (all of whom spoke English). I went with one of them a play. The actors' lines were in French but she translated enough for me to understand what was going on.
"I really can't say. There's too many blokes running in and out of it to suit me." We rode the ubiquitous trolley cars frequently and noticed the car cards as well as street signs were in both French and Flemish. One police officer whom I asked for directions spoke only Flemish. STUDYING IN PARIS A short time after returning from Brussels, I took the opportunity to attend the seminar at the University of Paris, and made the long drive from Kassel in a jeep with a driver. Only essential repairs had been made to the roads since the fighting ended, and as jeep had no springs it was a rough ride. Again we stopped at some places where we had fought. Classes were held at the university in the mornings but the afternoons and evenings free for sightseeing. One day I had my jeep driver take me to Versailles, but it was a disappointment. The mirrors in the Hall of Mirrors had been removed for safekeeping, and its gardens not been kept up. Other attractions also were effected by the war. The Louvre Museum was closed, and the first landing of the Eiffel Tower was the only one open to the public. We had a fine view of Paris from it, however. Beer was no longer served there as some GIs had thrown glasses off the tower endangering people on the ground. VISITS TO THE PARIS OPERA I attended two performances at the Paris Opera House, Thais and Herodiade, both by Massenet. One night when my jeep driver let me out in front of the Opera House, he asked if we weren't in Paris. "Of course," I replied. "It's Saturday night?" "Yes." "And you're going in THERE?" I tried to attend a performance of Faust but it was a sellout, and people were still trying to buy tickets. The operas began at 6:00 p.m. to so those attending them could catch the metro (subway) by 10:00 as they stopped for the day at that time. The only other means of public transportation was by taxi and they were prohibitively expensive. The last trains of the evening were packed and reeked with the odor of unwashed bodies. Once I thought someone was trying to lift my wallet from my back pocket but were packed in so tightly that I could neither turn around or reach back to protect it. Fortunately, it was not taken. When I returned to my unit there was little to do while waiting to move into Berlin, but in November we finally received orders to go there. By that time the weather had turned bitterly cold, and we put up makeshift shields on the side of our jeeps to ward off the bone-chilling winds. But just before our convoy moved out General Camm, artillery commander, ordered them removed as they were non-regulation. But later we saw he didn't remove the non-regulation shield on his jeep. RHIP (rank has its privileges). We cleared the check point at Helmstadt, eastern boundary of Russian-occupied territory, and then moved on to Berlin. By terms of an agreement (which I still don't agree with), we had to let the Russians get to Berlin first. We were the third U.S. division to occupy the American sector of Berlin. The first one was an armored division as tanks would be needed if fighting broke out with the Russians. Later an airborne division replaced the armored division, but there were some problems and the 78th was sent in to replace this division.
The 78th's engineer battalion was assigned to guard the Templehof Airport and repair its damaged runways. (Templehof was in the Russian sector and I never knew why a U.S. division was given this assignment). Duties of other units in the division was to patrol the streets and to make the U.S. presence known in Berlin. In order to see more of Berlin than the area we occupied, we engaged a woman who was a native of the city as a guide. When we came to a large open square with a building with a balcony, I asked our guide if this was where Hitler spoke. "Oh, I don't know. I never came to hear him." We got the same answer when we asked about other places where Hitler may have made public appearances. None of the people we talked to would admit they had anything to do with the Nazi regime. KEEPING A PROMISE As soon as I had the opportunity, I took a jeep to deliver the package the countess in Geneva had asked me to take to her elderly aunt. Ed Jones, a lieutenant from Virginia, went with me and we drove through rubble-strewn streets to the address the countess gave me. We finally found it - a two story apartment building only slightly damaged by bombing but standing amid other buildings that were heavily damaged. It had no heat so I understood why the countess wanted the woolen shawl delivered to her aunt. We climbed the stairs to the second floor, knocked on the door of her apartment, and heard someone say in German to come in. We entered and saw an elderly woman in a bed. I told her why we were here and gave her the package. She went at it as a child does when opening Christmas presents, tearing it open a fast as she could. "No chocolates?" she asked after searching the package. "I'm sorry, but no," I replied. Fortunately, Lt. Jones had a chocolate bar with him and gave it to her. She removed the wrapping faster than she did those on the shawl. Not a single tree remained in the park by the Brandenberg Gate. A few Germans wandered through the park picking up the small branches lying on the ground to use as fuel. The first Russian tank to enter Berlin was mounted on a pillar as a shrine. When the Russians entered the city they looted and raped and committed other atrocities. I asked a girl who worked at the house where we were billeted what happened to her. She said her mother kept her in the attic of their house until the Russian soldiers were brought under control. I had been in Berlin only about three weeks when I had an opportunity to return home and I took it. I rode in a convoy to Bremerhaven at the mouth of the Weser River on the North Sea. It was a long drive in the bitter cold (no heaters in our vehicles), and it was dark when we arrived. When I awoke the next morning I was surprised to see the superstructure of a large ship gliding past we were billeted. I was not aware that we were close by a levee on the navigable Weser River. Next chapter: Return to the U.S. |
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