GoodGuy
Posts: 1467
Joined: 5/17/2006
From: Cologne, Germany
Status: offline
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My grandfather got drafted when the war started, but since he died in 1978, there are few pieces of info regarding his experiences. He used to tell my mother and her siblings a couple of stories when they were kids, it seems like it helped him to cope with the experiences, and the kids also showed some interest in how he fared during the war. I am in the process of putting a few pieces together right now, but I have no accounts covering 1939 or 1940. In 1944, he had received the Iron Cross second class, and the cert states that he was with an Engineer Bn at the time. He went to an agricultural technical school and had worked as mason (I think) before the war, so these skills were probably the determining factors when he was assigned to an engineer unit.
Whatsoever, he was deployed to Norway (not sure whether he participated in the fighting in 1940) in 1940 or 1941, but since he was there for a longer time (at least 1 year), his unit must have been on construction/repair duty (infrastructure/barracks/defense perimeters), as part of the occupation force. There are pictures showing him and his comrades living in a log cabin in the woods, cooking food outside, shaving ... rather pieceful scenes. They enjoyed that time, and he kept talking about Norway enthusiastically, stating how beautiful that country was.
I know he told my mother that he fought in Russia, and looking up some of the records (of what I think may be his unit) seems to point towards a re-deployment either in late 1941 or 1942, to Leningrad.
He was wounded twice.
The first injury occured during an incident in Russia (I think):
One of the unit's soldiers was lying (and probably calling) in the distance, on a field, and severely wounded, but that spot was in range of enemy weapons. Still, when the CO asked for volunteers to save the poor chap, my grandfather and a mate volunteered to get the wounded comrade, they grabbed a stretcher and ran to the fella's position. Once they had put him on the stretcher, and after they had raced towards German lines with the stretcher for some time already, heavy artillery fire kicked in right on the field, with shells exploding all around them, where they then -in that mess- had to drop the stretcher (and the poor chap) to try and make it back to their own positions with lightspeed. IIRC, the bombardment was so fierce, that even their first line started to dissolve or search for shelter, and my grandfather just ran and ran and ran way behind the German line, right to the field hospital, where he then passed out on the spot.
It seems like he had made that sprint with his last ounce of strength, as it turned out that a shrapnel of a shell had hit the back of his head and was stuck there. If it would have travelled a few more millimeters through the bone he would have been done for sure, according to the surgeon.
He was then sent to a hospital in Germany, if I am not mistaken.
Another incident he kept telling his kids, was an occurence of pure luck: If I am not mistaken, he said that he used to attach his helmet to his waist belt (which held it at hip level) in non-combat situations, but suddenly a fire-fight evolved and one of the bullets flying around hit his helmet, basically shooting the helmet off the belt and sending it flying out (in a wide arc). If he would have put on the helmet before the projectile flew his way, it would have torn up his abdomen or his hip bone.
With the second injury, he received a bullet wound in the knee, and he was sent back to a hospital in Bad Nauheim, Germany. The city maintained a popular spa and hospital facilities, which were visited/used by William Randolph Hearst (the US media mogul), Einstein and other VIPs during the 1920s. During WW2, these facilities, along with confiscated hotels, were used as military hospitals, which also housed injured Allied officers. It is believed that this was the reason for the Allies refraining from bombing the city all through the war. It was one of the few rather safe places. My grandfather was captured when American units had reached the hospital (1945 I guess).
On a sidenote, my mother has a birthmark at the very same spot where the bullet entered his knee and of the very same size of his scar (looking like a triangle).
Whatsoever, after being captured in the hospital, he was then transfered to a POW camp in France. Regarding reparations and reconstruction labor, the French and the Russians were probably the most pushy, to say the least, often employing the German POWs in mines, woods or road construction, and particularly in de-mining large areas.
In that camp, my grandfather got word that quite some of the comrades from his camp never returned from their de-mining missions. During a medical routine check the doctor noticed his bulky fingers (an attribute that ran through his family), and was convinced that these were frostbites received during his deployment in Russia.
When asked, my grandfather did not object there, especially with the high fatality rate among the de-miners in mind, so he could skip the de-mining and was sent to a POW camp in the US (Michigan).
As far as I know, the majority of German POWs in Michigan used to be sent out for farm work and road construction. In Michigan, my grandfather sent the usual pre-printed Red Cross POW form to my grandmother, telling her that he would reside in a camp at or in Fort Custer, Michigan. I have not figured the exact location of that Fort yet, my guess is that the Army demolished the base/camp some time after the war.
If someone has an idea how to locate the Fort, it would be much appreciated.
Either before he was transfered to the POW transport ship to the US, or right before he got captured in the hospital, he had managed to pass a postcard to a nurse, who then sent it to my grandmother, telling him that he was alive and on the way to the US, the first sign of life to my granny, who had not heard from him for a long time.
He was then released early (in 1946) and sent home to Germany, and 9 months after his return my mother was born. He brought oranges from Michigan (?), something my Aunt, who was around 5 yrs old when he got back, had never seen before, just like many Germans.
He so liked the country, that he spoke about going there some day. If my grandmother would have been more open-minded, they might have emigrated to the US.
< Message edited by GoodGuy -- 12/26/2011 4:42:06 AM >
_____________________________
"Aw Nuts"
General Anthony McAuliffe
December 22nd, 1944
Bastogne
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"I've always felt that the AA (Alied Assault engine) had the potential to be [....] big."
Tim Stone
8th of August, 2006
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