Post by Guinness on Jan 5, 2006 23:42:58 GMT -5
A while ago I was surfing around the web as I usually do searching on the string "WWII Veterans Stories" or something like that, just trying to find as many "I Was There" kinds of accounts as I could read.
I came accross one that like a DA (Dumba**) I didn't bookmark and have been trying to find and re-read again. It was actually several veterans war accounts all put together and it lead you from one to another very nicely.
But the one that stood out that I want to track down again was one about either the very beginning of the Battle of the Bulge, or maybe it was about Hurtgen Forest- I'm not entirely sure. The thing that I remember and that stood out about it was this account of I think a little 1st Leutenant or 'Butter Bar' as we called them in the Air Force that had decided to take a little walk up this road and around a corner that he and his squad were supposed to be guarding. I think he had heard some engine noise or something and decided to go take a look, he thought it was probably some American trucks or something I guess- so he walks down this road and around a blind corner and as soon as he gets around the corner he is face to face with a German tank- I think it was a Tiger or perhaps a Panther. So anyway here he is in the middle of the road nose to muzzle with this German tank- he freezes because he's thinking "Well sh**- I'm done" he looks up and the Germans have hatches open and are just as surprised staring back at him- a few seconds go by, and then the Germans just start laughing, and motion for him to get out of the way- and a column of tanks just roll by this guy, now standing on the side of the road, holding his carbine, and as each tank passes they either laugh, smile, or wave going by.......
I think he stood there dumbfounded, then eventually collected himself and started back to his guys- I think he was paniced now because he thought for sure his little squad holding the corner would have been wiped out, but he reached them in kind of the same state- If I remember they either had a .30 cal set up or maybe a couple of jeeps or a truck at the crossraods or something, but the Germans did the same thing- they just passed on by without firing a shot or taking any prisoners- just waved and kept on going.
Anyway I'm probably leaving something out or mixing a couple of different stories together, but if anyone else has read this or heard this or is familiar with this account please let me know where it is
I love these kinds of 'Humanity in times of Horror' or maybe just 'humor in times of war' stories that show a somewhat different side of things and history and love to read them. That is why one of the things that I didn't like about the Band of Brothers series is when Malarkey passes the Wehrmacht soldier in Normandy and says "Where ya from Boys" jokingly, and the one guy answers "Oregon" or something and Malarkey stops and talks to the soldeir and discovers that they are from the same town- It really disturbed me when in the next scene, they show Lt. Spiers shooting the prisoners. That was not in the book by the way. I know that ugly things happend during the war, on both sides, (mainly theirs ) but I didn't see the need for that 'fictional' addition to the story.
Anyway, *Tangent Alert* lol, if anyone has read the story I started this thread with, or better yet, has a similar thing to add, please post them here- I love these kinds of things!
-G
I came accross one that like a DA (Dumba**) I didn't bookmark and have been trying to find and re-read again. It was actually several veterans war accounts all put together and it lead you from one to another very nicely.
But the one that stood out that I want to track down again was one about either the very beginning of the Battle of the Bulge, or maybe it was about Hurtgen Forest- I'm not entirely sure. The thing that I remember and that stood out about it was this account of I think a little 1st Leutenant or 'Butter Bar' as we called them in the Air Force that had decided to take a little walk up this road and around a corner that he and his squad were supposed to be guarding. I think he had heard some engine noise or something and decided to go take a look, he thought it was probably some American trucks or something I guess- so he walks down this road and around a blind corner and as soon as he gets around the corner he is face to face with a German tank- I think it was a Tiger or perhaps a Panther. So anyway here he is in the middle of the road nose to muzzle with this German tank- he freezes because he's thinking "Well sh**- I'm done" he looks up and the Germans have hatches open and are just as surprised staring back at him- a few seconds go by, and then the Germans just start laughing, and motion for him to get out of the way- and a column of tanks just roll by this guy, now standing on the side of the road, holding his carbine, and as each tank passes they either laugh, smile, or wave going by.......
I think he stood there dumbfounded, then eventually collected himself and started back to his guys- I think he was paniced now because he thought for sure his little squad holding the corner would have been wiped out, but he reached them in kind of the same state- If I remember they either had a .30 cal set up or maybe a couple of jeeps or a truck at the crossraods or something, but the Germans did the same thing- they just passed on by without firing a shot or taking any prisoners- just waved and kept on going.
Anyway I'm probably leaving something out or mixing a couple of different stories together, but if anyone else has read this or heard this or is familiar with this account please let me know where it is
I love these kinds of 'Humanity in times of Horror' or maybe just 'humor in times of war' stories that show a somewhat different side of things and history and love to read them. That is why one of the things that I didn't like about the Band of Brothers series is when Malarkey passes the Wehrmacht soldier in Normandy and says "Where ya from Boys" jokingly, and the one guy answers "Oregon" or something and Malarkey stops and talks to the soldeir and discovers that they are from the same town- It really disturbed me when in the next scene, they show Lt. Spiers shooting the prisoners. That was not in the book by the way. I know that ugly things happend during the war, on both sides, (mainly theirs ) but I didn't see the need for that 'fictional' addition to the story.
Anyway, *Tangent Alert* lol, if anyone has read the story I started this thread with, or better yet, has a similar thing to add, please post them here- I love these kinds of things!
-G