Warbird Information Exchange

I have my Gramp's "diary" that he kept while he was a US Infantry Captain slogging through wet and muddy Germany at the end of the war....Just for the heck of it, I'd like to share his entry from 8 May 1945, written in Fahrbinde. All language is his own (I am not editing for "political correctness").

Fini la guerre! Thousands of Heinies passed thru us today, preferring to surrender to us rather than the Russkies. Have to keep them moving -- nothing to feed them. Have a big fire going in the main square of the town - burning rifles, etc. which we took from those passing thru our lines. Don't dare to leave them around - too many of them; too few of us. Andy Wall & I killed my last liter of cognac this PM. He's sure lucky. Thru the whole show without a scratch.
PS: Today my 25th birthday. What a long year it has been.

Beachgirl,

Thanks for sharing a part of your grandfather's war diary. While reading it I suddenly had images of Bill Mauldin's characters "Willie & Joe" come to mind. Please feel free to share more as I'm sure others would be interested as well.

John

your grandfather, my dad, same command responsibility except he was in the south pacific. - captain of an infantry rifle company. he retired a major. wish my old man kept a war diary. dad's now pushing 91 in july, still golfing, fishing, gardening, & the ceo of our family business. he even passed his driver's vision test 4 days ago, he needs no glasses to drive!!! i'm 45 & can't drive with out them day or night!!!! they are the greatest generation!!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

AWESOME!!! Thanks for sharing!

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Never drive faster than your Guardian Angel can fly!!

http://www.390th.org/
www.LSFM.org

Trae

More please!

Careful what you wish for!

Keep in mind that it's written on the "notes" pages of a little leather-bound book, kind of a pocket-sized farmer's almanac, as near as I can make out from what little "Third Reich" German I can read! It looks to have been printed and distributed by a fertilizer company or something like that.........Again, I'm not very good with German, just guessing mostly! I'll take some pix of it later on...........Keep in mind that all spelling & phraseology (etc) is all his!


29 April 45
Still moving up. In convoy all day. Passed thru Braunschweig and Paderborn. Paderborn nothing but rubble. Rained all day. Soaked from ass both ways - no windshield on jeep. Land here as flat as a table. Bivouac this PM in spruce forest - way out in middle of nowhere. Cold chow, no sleep - too damned wet.

30 April 45
By truck until 2 pm. Getting near the show again - artillery up ahead a way. By foot until dark. Very muddy going - road loaded with Jickey lorries. Bivouac in woods again. Hot chow - don't like that! Only time it happens is just before a big show. Mail hasn't caught up yet.

1 May 45
A large day - very glad to be putting this down. Moved out about 1 in the morning to fwd assembly area. Arrived about 4.30 am in some dump called Bleckede on the Elbe. Jickies holding bank. Just before dawn, loaded into a British gadget called a buffalo - sort of amphib tank or personnel carrier. My company left Co. of battalion, first wave. 2nd Bn of Inniskillen Fusiliers on my left - they were better fighters than the Jickies with us at Brest. The show was held up until it was very light - wonder why? Rough trip over - river about 300 yds wide and under fire all the way. The damned Royal Marines took us over - thought they were having a P-rade - did dress right dress with those water beetles in the middle of river with Herman's stuff really nicking us. No artillery coming in - don't think Herman has any left, I hope. Very hard fight 1st hour after reaching far bank. Hedgerows, well dug in. They had no reserves, and when we flanked them, they broke and ran. Chased them all the way to this place - Hagenow, 35 km from the river. Company worn to frazzle, all pooped out. They fought well until we flanked them. Had 8K 19W - no old timers - nearly all in 1st hour. Took no PW. Men too teed off over casualties on bank. Estimate enemy in front of our bn, probably an undersized bn - mostly Flak Troops. Don't believe there is any organized enemy between us and Berlin. Good news from everywhere. The thousand years are almost over. CP in house tonight. Plenty of chow around. Kalufels, pickled stuff, and eggs. These people were in no danger of starving until we got here. No orders yet for tomorrow - maybe they'll let us sleep - my ass is really dragging. No mail.

How's that for "Installment One" ?????

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And the 2nd Installment:
2 May 45
Moved out about 1130AM. My Co. advance guard for Battalion. Few shots fired at us from extreme ranges. Didn't even bother to deploy. No casualties. Took 22 PW at a German PW Lager - they were guarding what was left - about 300 of the 1st Bn Argyll & Sutherland Regt captured at Calais in 1940. PWs for nearly 5 years - Wow! Heinies were just waiting to surrender to us. Scotties fell all over us. One gave me his bonnet - only part of his uniform he had left. I'm going to wear it too - it will stop a bullet as well as this tin chapeau I've been wearing. This place called Rostau - about 15 houses. Our obj is the haupt-chaussie between Schwerin and Ludwigslust. We are about 75 miles WNW of Berlin. Wish we'd get some replacements. Only me and 32 enlisted men left in co. after yesterday's whingding. No mail.

3 May 45
Didn't move. Slept all day. Plotzman butchered a cow this AM - plenty to eat. 3rd Bn moved thru us and have met organized resistance at Wobbelin - about 7 km down the pike. Estimate enemy at 1 Bn with no reserve or support. We are moving out at midnight. Will attack at dawn, passing thru 3rd Bn. Our artillery will fire 20 min prep, H-hr 0530. Our Bn on left, 2nd on right, 3rd reserve. My company reserve co of Bn - to follow at 150 yds. The rest will put on the show alone except for the 28th FA Bn. Hope none of my people get hurt - It must be near the end. No mail.

4 May 45
Good show. Really mowed them down. Practically no resistance in front of our Bn. Like shooting fish in a barrel. 2nd Bn had a rougher time. There was an SS Pioneer Co in the troops in front of them. Had MGs in church, but they cleaned them out. No more than 50 got away. Whole business lasted about 45 minutes. 117 German dead, 302 PW - many wounded. Far as I can find out, we have only 11K, 34W, 1 missing (probably found a good-looking fraulein somewhere) for the whole regiment. Concentration camp in the town filled with corpses - all starved to death. Must be 1000s of them - at least 5 - only a few alive. Three box cars filled w/bodies in camp - every bldg crammed w/dead. Terrible stench. Mostly Poles, Danes, and Norwegians. Doc Cohen was crying when I saw him. Hope we get out of here fast. Wrote what I laughingly call a poem this PM. See back of this notebook. No mail yet - it must be strapped to the back of a snail with the instincts of a bloodhound.

Final bit........some of it, of course, repeated from yesterday......

5 May 45
Moved to Fahrbinde this AM. About 1/2 way between Schwerin and Ludwigslust and the haupt-chaussie. Nice town. Ran Heinies out of enuff houses to move in the whole (joke) Co. Lots of chow hereabouts – wonder how we’d have done if we really had depended on the Quartermaster for chow? No orders yet and no mail.

6 May 45
The old man says we’re to wait here until the Russians meet up with us. Bentley has a diesel generator he stole somewhere. 3500KW job. Going to have lights. Haven’t seen a German in uniform for 2 days now. The burgomeister is now slightly smartened up to the fact that he has to get up a pound of butter per man per day, a dozen of eggs per man per day and such bread and meat as I may require.

7 May 45
Nice day. Not much doing. Refugees coming in, fleeing from Russians. Keep them moving – town already overcrowded. Mail finally arrived – oh, happy day.

8 May 45
Fini la guerre! Thousands of Heinies passed thru us today, preferring to surrender to us rather than the Russkies. Have to keep them moving -- nothing to feed them. Have a big fire going in the main square of the town - burning rifles, etc. which we took from those passing thru our lines. Don't dare to leave them around - too many of them; too few of us. Andy Wall & I killed my last liter of cognac this PM. He's sure lucky. Thru the whole show without a scratch.
PS: Today my 25th birthday. What a long year it has been.

9 May 45
Nice lazy day. We’re going to Kassel within 10 days. From there – who knows. Mail again today.

Other than the poem, which I will not bore you with, the only other entry in the journal is a handwritten will…………I’ve left out his full name, etc…..I just thought it was rather interesting…….

Last Will & Testament
Being now of sound mind and body, I do hereby make this my last will and testament and do revoke such prior wills as I may have made. I, B.P.H., a soldier in the army of the United States of America do direct first that all my debts be paid and all the rest and residue of my estate become the property of my beloved wife A.H., even to include that or those properties or things to which I might be heir, to be hers forever. Second, that if I be killed in combat that I be buried close at hand with those men of my company who were or are killed on the same day.
Witness my hand
BPH
28th Inf. Reg.
This 22nd day of April 1945 at Schwelm, Germany

My Gramp ended up becoming a career Army man, retiring as a full Colonel in 1976. He served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam (that one, much to the dismay of his family, as he was not a "keep your head down and stay out of the way" kind of officer!). Yesterday would have been his 87th birthday. He passed on 10 years and 6 days ago, and we still miss him terribly! I hope you all don't mind that I shared all this stuff with you!

Very interesting read!!!

Thanks for that.

Thank you for sharing such personal items with us. I found it interesting how the mail was so important to him. It just shows how the instant communication of today must make things much easier for the troops today, vs. what the WWII generation dealt with. Just a simple letter from someone your Grandfather loved was such a huge morale issue.

Very interesting stuff. Thanks.

Gary

Very neat stuff! Thanks for sharing.

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P-51, The Cadillac of the Sky!

Very interesting stuff. Thank you!

I loved reading this! Thank you for sharing. Such an interesting look at what he was going through. Your grandpa had a fantastic sense of humor too. Thank you again for sharing it with us!

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"It is the greatest shot of adrenaline to be doing what you have wanted to do so badly. You almost feel like you could fly without the plane." Charles Lindbergh

Thanks for the added installments beachgirl. Just curious if you know what unit your grandfather served with in WWII?

John