Germany 1945
About the middle of February 1945, after we had succeeded in pushing the Germans back, came a command decision to move forward. We packed and loaded up. We crossed the Saar River and went into Germany for about twenty miles. Someone picked out a big building for headquarters. The building was large enough to house the whole staff. While others were unloading and setting up, I had my driver drive me around the new territory. We drove a little way into the countryside. I noticed many dead soldiers whose bodies were spread across a hill side. Thinking they were Germans, I said to my driver, “I guess we’re winning the war; see all those dead Germans?”
When we got closer, I had the driver stop. I got out and walked through the dead. Everyone was an American! I apologized to my driver for my misidentification. We drove back to headquarters.
The general asked me to prepare maps in case we had to make a strategic retreat. I called on several survey personal to hep do those maps. Everything had to be checked and rechecked. That took about two days.
In the meantime, we received our liquor rations. We light officers (from major on down) decided to have a party. We had a good party which lasted into the wee hours of the morning as we drank and shot the bull.
The next morning the general decided to have a meeting. I was still drunk and feeling no pain. While the general was talking, he noticed I was having trouble standing up. He walked over, put his hands on my shoulders and pressed me against the wall. He then said, “Brown, I want you to make a reconnaissance for me.”
I got my driver and away we went. We headed straight into Germany, maybe ten miles or more. All of a sudden, I realized we hadn’t seen a living thing for the last five minutes. I commanded, “Stop this car. Drive back as fast as you can the same way we got here and don’t stop for anything.” We drover all the way back to headquarters. I was sober now. Reported to the general my findings and then went to my room and to sleep.
We spent a week to ten days at this place just inside Germany. Nothing special happened so we didn’t have a strategic retreat. The order came to move forward again. This time we moved as a unit in a long column just the way we used to move in the States. Guess what; we were shelled. All the vehicles stopped and each and everyone scurried for his hide. I ended up in a ditch where I stayed until the shelling stopped. It appeared they overshot us. Anyway, we continued to our destination, the new artillery headquarters.
We chose a large two-story building that looked as though it had been shelled and re-shelled over the years. Now it was our temporary home. My sleeping quarters on the top floor was covered with crud, but it was a home, so here I was. Where the window was on the east side of the house there was just an open hole. I looked out and lo and behold, I could see the Siegfried Line, German’s response to the French Maginot Line, both constructed before WWII. Seeing this scared me. On the floor was a sheet of plywood just about the right size to fill the open hold where the window was supposed to be. I put the board in the opening and felt a lot safer.
I looked up a medic and told him my sleeping bag was lousy. He gave me some white powder to shake in it. It probably was DDT. Whatever it was, it worked. No more itchy.
When I went downstairs to the division artillery operations center and headquarters, I found maps all set up on a table. There also were two telephone switchboards and radio with operator. The only officer present at the time was a Major Adams. He was looking out the window watching men erect a corrugated tin privy. This privy had shown up in Sarreguemines and probably would go wherever we went. It was someone’s contribution to the cause. I helped the major watch.
As soon as the privy was completed, we saw a colonel enter. While the colonel was meditating, a shell landed in the vicinity and hold immediately appeared in the corrugated tin privy. The major turned, looked at me, and said, “Brown, go out and see if the colonel is all right.” I told the major that if he wanted to see how the colonel was, he should go himself. The issue was settled when just at that minute, the colonel emerged from the privy and walked away just as though nothing had happened.
In a few minutes the general arrived with a handful of officers, whereupon we have a staff meeting. General McGaw, in charge, said something like this: “In the morning at 6:00am, we’re going to breach the Siegfried Line. In addition to our regular artillery, we have the equivalent of 128 batteries of artillery attached to us. We have had several units attached just for this operation. I already have ordered continuous fire. I was thinking to myself, I’ll be glad when he finishes so I can go to my room and get some sleep. The general finished by saying, “Capt. Brown, you’re in charge, I’ll see you in the morning.” On the way out of the meeting, one major said to me, “Why in the hell did he pick you?” I’m sure several other high-ranking officers felt the same way.
This was a big responsibility, but I was ready for it. I made sure there was a continuous fire all night long and ordered at least 100 fire missions during the night. How anyone could sleep that night, I’ll never know. There was the unceasing booming of the artillery and the sound of mortars the whole night. There was a mortar setup right behind our headquarters. They were dropping shells in it every 10 seconds. That plus the shotting of every artillery piece available made a horrendous racket.
We received requests by runner, telephone, and radio. We executed them all. When a request came in the night, I had them select an area on a map which they’d like obliterated, and we would then accommodate them.
Someone called early in the evening wanting to know if some incoming artillery was going overhead. In the beginning it was, but in about five minutes it stopped. Maybe we got that gun.
An unusual thing happened that night. I noticed an interior door move just a little. I went over to close it. I couldn’t because behind the door stood a man in his underwear, shaking, and staring off into space. I knew him, so I just put the door back into its original position and left him standing there. I couldn’t help him.
When morning came and the last shell was fired, if there was anything living out there, I’d like to know what it was. The general came in at 6:00 and thanked me for the job I had done. The tanks and troops started pouring though the Siegfried Line in a day – long continuous movement meeting little or no resistance.
This next day division artillery moved out. We moved about 30 miles, then help up for a few days. At first the fields and roads were littered with dead German troops and broken down a busted military equipment. As we continued on, the dead no longer littered the ground; they were replaced by walking, living German troops begging for someone to surrender to. It must be awful to lose in war and then not find anyone to surrender to. We Americans just kept pointing for them to continue to walk toward the rear.
Move and wait. That was the order of the day. The rat race was on. Somewhere along the way, we ended up in a German castle with a most. The general then requested a party. He had never done anything that stupid before. Lt. Ted Brett took orders for cognac. $5.00 for five gallons of cognac plus all the champagne and cherry brandy we waned for free.
The castle was built entirely of stone, and just at the entrance a mammoth room in which sat a piano. The floors, walls, and ceilings were of stone. I can still hear the echo of footsteps as the men walked across the floors. There one could imagine the Knights of Yore displaying their talents in days of chivalry. The party was made up of about eight of us officers, the general and thirsty U.S.O troop. The only formality was that everyone drink. We really did our best to consume all the liquor. Somebody played the piano, and we all sang. We sang the artillery caisson song. I’m sure everyone ended up with a mammoth headache equal to the occasion. It’s all in a day’s work, if you’re not trying to kill the enemy, then you are trying to kill yourself.
