NAME: Victor Feigelman, 2nd Battalion Anti-Tank Platoon, 385th Inf. (10 Dec. 2002)
Recently,while searching the net, I came across your request for
reminiscences
of the brief US "occupation" of parts of eastern Germany in 1945. Perhaps you
would be interested in this ironic story.
I was with the 2nd Battalion Anti-Tank Platoon,385th Inf.,76th Division. As
you know, we arrived on the preliminary Yalta line about 10 days before May 8
and awaited the arrival of our Russian allies. My squad with our 57mm AT gun was in position at the crest of a long grassy slope overlooking the city of Chemnitz. There, I witnessed what may have been the last wartime death in the ETO; and it was not a GI or a German soldier.
On the morning of the 8th, word came down that all firing would cease at
midnight. I have a photo, taken that morning, we're sitting around with broad smiles and glasses in hand.
Midafternoon,a rifle squad dug in halfway down the slope received orders to
pull back to the village behind our position. They could sleep in beds that night.
About 3PM, we saw 4 boys about 10 or 12 years old playing around near the
abandoned foxholes and chased them away. But they came back. Ten minutes later there was a loud pop. Somebody had gotten sloppy and left a hand grenade on the ground, and sure enough, one of the kids had picked it up and pulled the pin. One boy was down and the
others were dancing around and screaming. About five of us ran down the hill and
half-pulled and half-carried them up the road behind the position. There was one of our trucks nearby and we
loaded them in and took off to the Battalion aid-station. I had the least
seriously (injured) kid on
my lap next to the driver. The others were in the back of the truck.
As we approached the village, I recall seeing a civilian walking by the edge
of the road;
there was no road shoulder. He was dressed all in black,cap coat,pants,boots,
and was pulling a large wooden cart on four wheels. The next thing I knew, the truck
veered into the cart, and the cart-puller and pieces of wood were flying
ahead. The civilian was dead
about seven hours before midnight, so he may have been the last wartime
casualty in the
ETO.
The driver was beside himself,saying he doesn't know what happened-he just
blacked out. None of us in the truck, including the injured kids were hurt in the accident. The next day, those of us involved were told to report to a Battalion officer.(The war was now over maybe he had to explain to the local
Burgomeister).
Was the driver drunk?
No sir,not as far as I could tell.
Was any drinking going on?
Well, everybody had had a drink to celebrate the end of
the firing.
Alright----dismissed.
Sir,how did the kids make out?
They all survived.
Thank you, sir.
Over the last 57 years, I've told this story to only a few people, but I've
replayed it in my mind often. I know that sometimes memory can embellish
events and change details, but
this is the way I remember it.
Victor Feigelman
vicf5319@aol.com
NAME: Bernard Z. Lee, Anti-Tank Company, 385th Inf. (26 May 2003)
I served in the Anti Tank Company of the 385 Infantry Regiment.
In the last days of the War we were in a gun position just outside of
Zwickau. We were positioned near an autobahn and protecting an
underpass. Our gun was about 300 yards on our side of the autobahn and we
could observe the Germans, about the same distance on the other side.
There was occasional sniper fire from their side and we had orders to and
did destroy a two story building from whence it came. Our orders were
to hold this position until the Russians reached the other side. The
end was imminent.
After a few days of this sort of activity, our squad leader, Sgt.
Camac, an old man (40ish) by our standards, we were all in our early 20s,
decided to take us over to where the Germans were located, to pursuade
them to surrender. None of us were keen to join him, so one morning, under a
bed sheet on a pole, Mac, who spoke no German, he headed off,
alone,through the underpass.
He was gone an interminal time and finally returned to say that a
delegation from the German side would be over next day to discuss the
situation. The next day, I would guess it to be the 5th or 6th of May, just days before VE Day, 2 German soldiers came through the underpass, under a
white flag. Expecting them we had alerted Company headquaters and we were
joined by our Exec. 1st Lt. Darrell T. Morrison.
The 2 Germans were Sergeants and clearly had seen a lot of the War.
The wore their decorations which included the Iron Cross and we were
their equivalent of the Purple Heart, with several clusters.
With my bad high school German I acted as an interpreter. Lt. Morrison
did the talking for our side. I was to tell them to surrender,
forthwith. They refused. Morrison said we'd call on the artillary to blow
them out. They still refused. Morrison was now hot and suggested we
would call in some air to bomb them into submission. Again they refused.
But this time with some expanation.
Firstly, they knew the end was near. They and we could hear a
hellacious battle going on behind them, which we both knew to be with the
Russians. And their experiences on several fronts told them how to deal with
both artillary and bombing, so they were unconcerned. But they did not
want to surrender, at least not just then, for fear of reprisals on
them or their families, should it not be over. They would not surrender to
the Russians and should the end really be at hand they would come our
way, voluntarily.
While this hardly pleased Lt. Morrison it was clear we could do no more
other than to agree to an armistice, which we did. No more firing at one
another. As they were leaving, they proposed we put together a football team and
meet the following day for a match. Needless to say that did not
please Lt. Morrison, in the least.
Two or three days later hoards of German soldiers of all sorts of rank
including a Colonel came parading through the underpass in surrender.
Our small squad of 8 was besieged by hundreds of newly created
prisoners of war. It was VE Day!
Bernard Z. Lee
bzlee@mondegroup.com
NAME: 1st Sgt. Fred Jennie, Company K, 385th Inf. (27 Oct. 2003)
In browsing the internet, I was surprised to see the posting by Allan Thomas. His story was exactly what happened. I know, because I was the 1st Sgt. of Co. K from Camp McCoy to Zwickau, near the Czech border on May '45.. After crossing the Saar river at Echternach and capturing the pillboxes, we lived in them for a few weeks. When the Jerries left the pillbox they graciously left several cases of german canned beans for us. They tasted pretty good. We were actually somewhat 'pinned down' in the company headquarterd pillbox, but when the weather cleared, out we went and General Patton never looked back. We did not like his rules, but we never lost a battle. We even had a Silver Star recipient! Best regards to Allan Thomas and other Co K members. I think we did a helluva good job over there!
Fred Jennie
fjennie@fea.net
NAME: A. E. Thomas, Company C, 385th Inf. (12 Nov. 2003)
All who are concerned:
My father, A.E. Thomas, is a WWII Veteran and a member of the 76th
Infantry Div. 385th Regiment 1st Batallion CHARLEY Company. He is now
eighty-one years old and has only recently begun sharing stories, photos,
and memories of his war experiences. I have found the 385th's website
helpful and inspiring. Anyone with additional information about or
memories that would connect to my Dad would be very much welcomed. I plan
to offer pictures and stories once we are able to identify each fully
and record linked stories. In the meantime I can be reached at:
jnacthomas@charter.net
Thanks, and God Bless Our Veterans!
J.E. Thomas
NAME:Edward J. Jesz, Company L, 385th Inf. (23 January 2008)
Dear Mr. Brown
My father, Edward J. Jesz, was a member of the 76th Infantry
Division, 385th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Battalion, "L"
("Love") Company. My dad passed away in February 2001, but I wanted to
forward these photos with you to share with any surviving
veterans of the 76th. Unfortunately, I do not have any additional
information regarding the other soldiers in the pictures,
but maybe someone may be able to provide additional
identification if the photos are added to the web site.
I hope you find these photos helpful.
Regards,
Ron Jesz
Rockwall, TX
NAME:CWO Charles B. Larrison, Service Company, 385th Inf. (25 February 2008)
Hi,
My name is Marie Larrison. I am a granddaughter of CWO Charles B. Larrison, who served in the Service Co of the 385th. My knowledge of my grandfather's service is sketchy at best because he wouldn't talk much about it. But I'm fairly certain of a few things though. He lived in Buffalo, New York before the war. He had 2 children, my father and my Aunt Eve. He was a member of the New York National Guard. I'm not sure how he ended up in the 385th or even the 76th Division but it must have been fairly soon after his call up because I believe he went with the division to Camp McCoy. It was there he met the woman who would become my father's stepmother.
Even though he wouldn't talk much about the war we did get a couple of stories out of him or at least through my father's stepmother after the war. One story is kind of funny even though he almost got shot by his own men as a result of it.
It was after his unit had entered some small town or village in Germany and Grandpa was checking a house. It turned out that the family living there had had their son KIA earlier in the war and they had a few momentos of him in the house including his leather overcoat and garrison hat (I'm not sure what they called in the German army but it's the round hat with the front bill). I don't know what ever prompted him to do it, but when the family offered the coat and hat to my grandfather he put them on and walked to the front window of the house and stood there for a while. Well, when the troops passing the window saw him, they raised their rifles and were about to shoot him when he pulled off the cap and shouted at them not to shoot , it was him! It seems he had a hard time living that episode down.
Another time, he was in convoy along some road or another when the convoy came under artillery fire. Per SOP, the convoy halted and everybody dove for the nearest ditch. After they had been lying there awhile with their faces in the dirt the people around him heard Grandpa start laughing. When they asked him what the hell he was laughing at, he told them he had left the Thompson submachine gun he had wrangled so hard to get, on his truck. Apparently, he thought it would be hilarious that something he wasn't really supposed to have in the first place would get blown up at the end of the war.
The not so funny story involves Grandpa and a tank. The story we get from Dad's stepmother is about when Grandpa's unit was involved in the relief of Bastogne. Even though the advance through the Bulge had stalled and the Germans were beginning to get pushed back, it seems they still had some fight left in them. I don't know where, when or any other details but apparently Grandpa's was dug in with his unit when a German tank showed up from somewhere. They didn't have any antitank weapons with them so they couldn't stop the beast. So not only did it keep coming but it ran right over the foxhole my Grandpa was in. Dad's stepmother said Grandpa would have nightmares about it years after the war.
Grandpa returned from the war and became a supervisor for the US Post Office in Syracuse, NY. He passed away in November, 1985 after a long illness. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
I would be interested in knowing if anybody who remembers Grandpa is still living and where.
I hope this is of some interest to you.
Regards,
Marie Larrison
Federal Way, WA
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