04 April 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

4 April, 1945      0850

Germany

Dearest sweetheart –

Well – I feel all pepped up this morning – even so early – and this time it’s from an unusual cause, dear. Last night we got a quota for 1 officer to go to England on 7 Day’s Leave and 3 officers to go to Paris on a 3 day pass. The first name out of the English hat was mine. I didn’t know what to do at first, but I ended up by declining. There are several reasons, too, one of them being the long distance to the coast from here; another is that I’ve seen London – and a good part of England up, down and sideways; and finally, from what we’ve heard – you have to waste a good deal of time at the channel ports until you actually get across – both coming and going.

All in all – it’s about a 3 week affair and I don’t want to be away for that length of time. Well – another officer was chosen. Then came the Paris drawings (sounds like a lottery, doesn’t it?) and sure enough – I was the first out of the hat – and hell – I accepted. I’ve never before been so lucky in winning drawings – and don’t forget – a couple of months ago – I was picked to go to Brussels and turned that down. Anyway, dear, Paris is a 3 day affair – not counting traveling time. It’s a long way back, at that, and all in all – I’ll be away from Battalion about a week. But a pass doesn’t count as time off, while a 7 day’s leave in England – would. There’ll be 3 of us going from Headquarters – which makes it nice, too. We’ll have to get an early night’s sleep tonite and start out very early tomorrow a.m. We drive a certain distance, and somewhere on the other side of the Rhine – we make train connections. My writing will necessarily be spotty, darling, because it will be impossible to write going there and coming back – but I’ll do the best I can – and I know you’ll understand. I’m rather looking forward to getting away from the routine. The last time was about 5 months ago when I went to Verviers. Since then we’ve seen a might lot of action, believe me.

Other than that, dear, there isn’t much news. Yesterday was a quiet day for the most part. I believe I told you about our flag. I went up to see how it was coming out – the Nuns in the village are making it – and they’re doing a swell job. I was amazed to see one Nun working on the stars. She’s embroidering them – or some such thing and we’re going to have a class A flag.

Later in the day I went down to a prisoner of war enclosure that we’re taking care of here. There was a mob of them – and a sad lot, too. They had been out in the rain – and it would have been easy to have felt sorry for them – if you didn’t remember vividly their dirty work in the Belgian bulge. Every American soldier swears when he thinks of it – and when I left the P.W. area – I was sorry only that the weather wasn’t freezing – as it was in Belgium.

I read your letter in which you told me of your visit with Verna and Irv – and staying over. It sounded quite cozy and made me homesick – but in a pleasant way. You told me how you’re always thinking and talking about me – and it really thrills me, sweetheart, to realize that I occupy so much of your thoughts. I’m thrilled particularly – because the reverse is true. I want – as much as you – to be your husband, and I have – in fact – lived the past over in my mind so often and so thoroughly, that often it doesn’t seem as if we were merely engaged. Despite separation, distance et al – I feel tremendously close and accustomed to you in every respect. It’s going to be very easy to step right into the role – darling – wait and see. Above all – we’ve got to hang on in these closing months – and I think they are closing. One of the reasons I didn’t want to go to London is that I was afraid I wouldn’t be around for the kill – and sweetheart – after all this time – it’s worth being around for.

And then dear – perhaps I’ll have that chance to come home and tell you I love you and want you to be mine alone – What a day! Better close now, get some things done, and see what I have to get ready for tomorrow. Until later, then, so long – love to the folks and

All my everlasting love

Greg.

* TIDBIT *

about Prisoner of War Temporary Enclosures

By April of 1945, the Allied Armies had swept across the Rhine, deep into Germany. About 200,000 German prisoners were already taken, and the number increased day by day. The Ruhr pocket brought in an additional 300,000 men, who had to be processed through Allied hands responsible for guarding and processing German POW's in the area around the Rhine river.

The Rhine Meadow Camps (Rheinwiesenlager) was the official name of the Prisoner of War Temporary Enclosures (PWTE). The group of 19 transit camps held about one million German POWs. The camps were founded in April 1945 and remained in existence until September. There was a similar plan for the construction of all the camps. Open farmland close to a village with a railroad line was enclosed with barbed wire and divided into 10 - 20 sub-camps, each housing 5,000 to 10,000 men. Existing field paths were used as streets of the camp and surrounding buildings as the administration, kitchen and hospital. The prisoners of war, forced to surrender their equipment, had to dig holes in the earth by hand.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Map of Rheinwiesenlager Locations

The "Eaglehorse" (2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment) web site once explained the situation:

U.S. Commanders and leaders at all levels were to insure that prisoners were disarmed, interrogated when possible for locally important information and then sent quickly to the rear. Combat troops handed responsibility off for POWs as soon as possible with battalion and division support troops usually shepherding long German columns to the rear. POW camps were the responsibility of the Military Police within Corps and Army rear areas but by the Spring of 1945, their numbers were stretched thin by the sheer volume they faced and under utilized units with no formal training in prisoner administration increasingly were ordered to the POW task.

In central Germany, the number of POWs reached proportions that began to strain the abilities of U.S. forces to adequately process the vast broken army. The Wehrmacht was dissolving and given the choice between surrendering to the Americans or the Russians, the roads and forests became choked with unarmed soldiers in gray fleeing to the west - southwest to reach American custody, hide in the woods or simply make their way home. In the British sectors of responsibility, surrendering Germans were often directed, led or chased towards the boundary with U.S. forces. The numbers of POWs were astounding.

Aerial View of a Prisoner of War Temporary Enclosure

At the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces, to help guard all the prisoners, additional forces were allocated to include the men from most of the U.S. anti - aircraft battalions deployed in Germany. From 30 March until 5 April 1945 this included the 438th AAA Aw Bn (Mob). Open air camps holding tens of thousands of men became the norm, the prisoners had no shelter beyond the tent halves they may have brought with them. There was no running water or sanitary facilities. Logisticians tried to insure that at a minimum, each POW received one C ration per day.

Camp administrators organized captured German medics and doctors to form local POW hospitals overseen by Allied medical personnel. It was said that sufficient medical measures prevented mass death from disease. Nonetheless, credible estimates for German POW deaths in these camps range from about 3,000 to 10,000, in most part occurring from starvation, dehydration and exposure to the weather elements. Thousands more would have died of exposure were it not for the late Spring of 1945 being relatively mild.

03 April 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

3 April, 1945         0920

Germany

Wilma, darling –

It’s quiet here for now, anyway, and maybe I can get a letter off to you without being interrupted. That would be novel. In yesterday’s V-mail I told you a little about our present set-up. It is extremely comfortable, and I had a very pleasant night’s sleep. We have one room downstairs which is sort of a lounge. Perhaps today sometime we’ll be able to sit around and relax. The people here were “kind” enough to leave behind a few bottles of some rather select stuff – including 1929 Vintage Burgundy, 3 or 4 bottles of Vermouth and a variety to other stuff. I’m always writing you about the liquor and wines we find, dear, and you must think that that is all I think about; but that isn’t so, dear. Some of the fellows do make pigs of themselves because it’s all free. Personally I’ll take some wine with my evening meal and perhaps later in the evening if we’re playing Bridge. As a matter of fact it has been difficult not to drink in the past week or so. One of our Captains had a Birthday on the 28th of March; the Colonel and one Major had Birthdays on the 31st; yesterday was another Captain’s Birthday, – and well – they all drank at my Birthday, dear – and I have to reciprocate.

So you do have a couple of closets full of war “relics” – and “relics” is the word? That reminds me, somewhere around January and February I sent our several packages – and to date – you’ve only mentioned one or two. Did you ever get that dagger I sent out? The other day we came across a Nazi health clinic – pretty well stocked. I found a couple of blood pressure machines and a couple of other things. I’ve sent them out. Will you keep an eye out for that package, dear?

Below are two photos of the dagger

CLICK TO ENLARGE

And about Mollie – of course you didn’t do wrong. I’m glad you told me – and I’m glad you felt that you ought to tell me, dear. The fact is – I wasn’t surprised. I had been told she was sick – cancerous – and that was enough.

In one of your last letters you mention Mother B and the fact that she has been ill again. You said you would mention more about it in your next day’s letter – but that one is still missing. Now, darling, from what I gather – she’s been doing a heluva lot of flowing and one way or another I think it’s high time she did something about it. I wish you’d get after her. Has she been to a consultant yet?

1030

Sorry, darling – I was called away. We’ve been thinking that we don’t see enough American flags around. As a matter of fact – the only place you see one is over the building of Military Government – and they are set-up only in the larger cities. We have a flag – but it is silk and will be ruined if we keep it out. So we had the mayor of town in just now and ordered him to have a flag made just like the silk one we have – and it must be completed by this afternoon. It’s a good sized one, too – but what could he say, but ‘yes’? I had to act as interpreter.

Today – or yesterday rather – completed my 33^rd month of Army service and now more than half of my service is overseas. All that ought to count for something when they start figuring things out. Gosh how I want to get home to you, sweetheart! Sure – this is all adventure over here – but damn it – I’ve had enough of this kind. What I’m interested in right now is a little different type of adventure – with you, dear. Oh Boy! Hold me down! We’ll have it, too, darling; no fear about that. It’s just kind of tough waiting it out. But the worst is by and we have a whole life ahead of us. So sit tight, dear – and I’ll be home to love you hard – some one of these days. All for now, love to the folks – and

All my sincerest love –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about The Third Escape of Willie Sutton

From the "Famous Cases & Criminals" portion of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) web site comes this biography of Willie Sutton, who made news on 3 April 1945.

Born on June 30, 1901 in Brooklyn, New York, Willie Sutton was the fourth of five children. He attended school through eighth grade, then left home to secure a job. Sutton’s employment included jobs as a clerk, a driller, and a gardener. His longest continuous employment lasted 18 months. Sutton was married in 1929, but his wife divorced him after he was incarcerated. He remarried in 1933. Before his death, Sutton co-authored “I, Willie Sutton” and “Where the Money Was.”

Willie Sutton acquired two nicknames, “The Actor” and “Slick Willie,” for his ingenuity in executing robberies in various disguises. Fond of expensive clothes, Sutton was described as being an immaculate dresser. Although he was a bank robber, Sutton had the reputation of a gentleman; in fact, people present at his robberies stated he was quite polite. One victim said witnessing one of Sutton’s robberies was like being at the movies, except the usher had a gun. When asked why he robbed banks, Sutton simply replied, “Because that’s where the money is.”

On February 15, 1933, Sutton and a confederate attempted to rob the Corn Exchange Bank and Trust Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sutton, disguised as a mailman, entered the bank early in the morning. The curiosity of a passerby caused the robbery attempt to be abandoned. However, on January 15, 1934 Sutton entered the same bank with two companions through a skylight. When the watchman arrived, they forced him to admit the employees as usual. Each employee was handcuffed and crowded into a small room.

Sutton also executed a Broadway jewelry store robbery in broad daylight, impersonating a postal telegraph messenger. Sutton’s other disguises included a policeman, messenger and maintenance man. He usually arrived at the banks or stores slightly before they opened for the day.

Besides being known as an innovative robber, Sutton recommitted in June 1931 on charges assault and robbery. Sentenced to 30 years, he escaped on December 11, 1932, by scaling the prison wall on two 9-foot sections of ladder that were joined together.

Sutton was apprehended on February 5, 1934 and was sentenced to serve 25 to 50 years in Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the machine gun robbery of the Corn Exchange Bank. On April 3, 1945, Sutton was one of 12 convicts who escaped the institution through a tunnel. Sutton was recaptured the same day by Philadelphia police officers; this had been his fifth escape attempt at this prison.

Here is a drawing of the escape route
followed by photos of the tunnel entrance and exit.

[CLICK TO ENLARGE]


   

Sentenced to life imprisonment as a fourth time offender, Sutton was transferred to the Philadelphia County Prison, Homesburg, Pennsylvania. On February 10, 1947, Sutton and other prisoners dressed as prison guards. The men carried two ladders across the prison yard to the wall after dark. When the prison’s searchlights hit him, Sutton yelled, “It’s okay,” and no one stopped him.

On March 20, 1950, Willie “The Actor” Sutton was added to the FBI’s list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Because of his love for expensive clothes, Sutton’s photograph was given to tailors as well as police departments. A 24-year-old tailor’s son recognized Sutton on the New York subway on February 18, 1952 and followed him to a local gas station where Sutton purchased a battery for his car. The man reported the incident to the police who later arrested Sutton.

Sutton did not resist his arrest by New York City police, but denied any robberies or other crimes since his 1947 escape from Philadelphia County Prison. At the time of his arrest, Sutton owed one life sentence plus 105 years. He was further sentenced to an additional 30 years to life in New York State Prison following a jury trial in Queens County Court.

Seventeen years later, the New York State penal authorities decided that Sutton did not have to serve two life sentences and 105 years. Sutton was ill; he had emphysema and was preparing for a major operation on arteries in his legs. On Christmas Eve 1969, 68-year-old Sutton was released from Attica State Prison. Ironically, in 1970, Sutton did a television commercial to promote the New Britain, Connecticut, Bank and Trust Company’s new photo credit card program.

On November 2, 1980, Willie Sutton died in Spring Hill, Florida, at the age of 79.

02 April 1945

V-MAIL

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

2 April, 1945      1700

Germany

Dearest sweetheart –

Now, Now – I know dear, but I just can’t help it – honestly. On days like this – V-mail has to fill the bill. O.K.?

And this place – just so you won’t think we don’t have variety – is an inn – a typical German inn – with hunting house, shot-guns, trophies etc. Just as cozy and comfortable spot as you could imagine and situated on the top of a high hill – overlooking the city below. I’ve got a nice room – with a bed. I mooched around and found a closet full of sheets etc. so I’m all ready for a good sleep time, dear. Oh – yes – I made the bed myself.

This may be the Hunting Lodge to which Greg referred.
It became a Protestant student residence called "Vilmarhaus".

   
   
   
   

Tomorrow, darling, perhaps I’ll be able to write a regular letter. On top of everything – we lost another hour last nite – double summer time. And now, dear, I’ll say so long. Remember I love you deeply – where-ever I go. Love to the folks.

All my everlasting love,

Greg

Route of the Question Mark


[CLICK TO ENLARGE]

(A) Gisselberg to (B) Marburg, Germany (2.5 miles)
30 March to April 2 1945

April 2... Ober-Marsburg. A village on top of a mountain, and it looked as if it had never heard of the war, yet the dance hall where we lived had been turned into a factory for manufacturing submarine parts. T/4 [Cecil W.] ALEXANDER dynamited a stream, and the Motor section had a fish fry. T/5 [George W.] CHEETY dressed up in a German uniform and posed for photographs.

* TIDBIT *

about The Bombing of Nordhausen

Nordhausen was a sub-camp of the concentration camp Dora-Mittelbau. This camp was created by the SS for prisoners too weak or too ill to work in the tunnels of Dora on the fabrication of the German V1 and V2 rockets. Following the Nazi terminology, Nordhausen was a "Vernichtungslager", an extermination camp for ill prisoners. The extermination methods used by the SS were not the same as the ones used in the great extermination camps: there was no gas chamber but, in Nordhausen, the prisoners died by starvation and total lack of medical care. The conditions of life in Nordhausen were so terrible that the few survivors often said that "If Dora was the hell of Buchenwald, Nordhausen was the hell of Dora"...

The SS used the Boelcke Kaserne, a former barracks in Nordhausen city, as a dumping ground for hopeless prisoner cases. The camp of Nordhausen was a huge complex of installations and hangers made of concrete. There were absolutely no sanitary installations and the inmates had to stay in the hangars nights and days, without any food until they died. Even for a man in healthy condition, this could lead very fast to extreme weakness.For prisoners who were already exhausted and ill, these cruel conditions of life meant quick although miserable death.

Because the camp was installed in concrete buildings and hangars, the US Air Force thought that it was a munitions depot of the German Army. On the night of 2 April 1945 the Allies sent 247 Lancasters and 8 Mosquitos of Nos 1 and 8 Groups to attack what were actually barracks, not munitions storage, in two nighttime fire raids. 1,500 sick prisoners were killed when they were forced by the SS to stay in the hangars which were set ablaze by the bombs. 2 Lancasters were lost. As part of the raid, three-quarters of the town of Nordhausen was destroyed and approximately 8,800 people died.

01 April 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

1 April, 1945  &nbso;   0940

Germany

My dearest fiancée –

Happy Easter! And I hope you have a nice day. The weather here is chilly – but it’s an excellent day for me – and I’ll tell you why. I got a swell batch of mail last night at midnight, and because of poor black-out conditions, I couldn’t read my letters until this morning; I’ve just finished and I’m in excellent spirits. To be exact, I got 2 V-mails, 16 and 20 March; and 6 airmails – ranging from 16 to 23 March. How’s that! In addition, I had a letter from Lawrence, one from Carolyn Gardner (I’ll let you read it after I’ve answered it), one from Dave Becker in Salem (he runs Kay Jewelry there) and one from Barbara Tucker. That’s a pretty good haul, but then – we hadn’t received mail in several days due to conditions.

I don’t remember exactly what I wrote you yesterday, darling, but I hope I told you how much I love you. I’ll repeat that today – but remember that love is one day fuller, one day richer – and one day nearer to being satisfied. When I write I don’t recall yesterday’s letter, darling, I’m serious. These are confusing, exacting days – and things are happening – and I’m seeing them happen – that I’ll remember as long as I live. I know history is being written on every piece of territory I’m traveling over – and there’s a certain satisfaction in being here to see it. Our mission, incidentally, is for the time being – changed. It seems like a good job – but we don’t know of course – how long it will last. At present we’re in the outskirts of a pretty fair-sized town. This city goes back to the middle ages, has a medical and law school here – but I had never heard of it, myself. The people still don’t seem to know what the score is and we’re still finding dead families in different parts of the city – cases of mass suicide – by people who believed the Nazi propaganda that the Americans would torture, rape etc. Concerning the latter – there’s a lot to be said that I can’t say in a letter, by the way.

Same day       1600

Well, sweetheart, I was taken away and I’ve just returned, a little tired and plenty dirty. It was an interesting day but I’m sorry, I can’t write about it.

In one of your V-mails you wrote you were able to save only about $25.00 per week. Hell – I think that’s excellent, dear. I had no idea you could save that much. I’m saving just about all the $200 I’m drawing each month. I get $100, and the other goes to the bank. Of the $100 I got last month, I still have $100, and I got another $100 today. I’ll send it all home. The only use I’d have for it would be for a 3 day pass to Paris – which I might get one of these days. But I could borrow the money and write a check for the amount.

I was interested in your story about Lennie Bernstein and the OWI. I wonder if he’s really coming over. And Irv must really be taking it pretty bad if what you imply is true. If so – I hope he can go along. It would make him feel as if he’s doing something.

And now before I close – let me thank you dear for your snapshot which I loved. It’s swell. I’ll have to get hold of a folder that holds several photos – I don’t know which one to leave out. I showed your picture to all the boys and they want to know when you’re coming over here to serve donuts, coffee and build up the morale. I told them all I wouldn’t dare let all these G-I’s get near you. But your uniform looks swell on you. Wrinkles or no – and I’m tickled with the snap. And send more over!! D’ya hear?

Have to go now; I’m going to try and get myself bathed. Who knows? Maybe. Will write tomorrow darling; for now – so long and all my deepest and sincerest love is yours.

Greg

P.S. Love to the folks

* TIDBIT *

about The Ruhr Industrial Valley is Cut Off

The snapshot that follows was taken from Normandy to Victory: The War Diary of General Courtney H. Hodges and the First U.S. Army, page 355, maintained by his aides Major William C. Sylvan and Captain Francis G. Smith Jr.; edited by John T. Greenwood, copyright 2008 by the Association of the United States Army.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

31 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

31 March, 1945      0820

Germany

My dearest sweetheart –

At last – a little peace and rest – perhaps for the whole day, too! I believe it’s the 31st today – although it seems as if I lost a day somewhere. Anyway – I’ll remind you, as I do myself, dear, that we’re engaged a year today. I’ve had – up until the past several days – time to reflect on our engagement – and the result is satisfactory, warming and stimulating. I’m convinced we did the correct thing – and that despite hardships – it will all have been worthwhile. So Happy Anniversary, sweetheart – and just don’t forget to chalk this one up too. Boy – they’re sure mounting!

I don’t remember what I wrote you in my last letter, sweetheart, although in reality – it was only a couple of days ago, I know. It has been one sweet rat-race since we crossed the Rhine (I believe it’s permissible to tell you that now – if you haven’t already suspected) and we’ve been helping to chase the rats. And it has been good fun. Our impressions here are so different from those in France and Belgium – and even in the first part of Germany that was fought over so bitterly, there – we met surly, stony glares. Here – when we tear thru a town – the looks are those of bewilderment, disbelief. These people just can’t understand it. If Hitler counted very much on these people to fight us – then the people let him down. There’s no fight in them at all. In fact, it’s just the opposite. I went along on a reconnaissance for a new C.P. We just look over a house or two – the bigger and more luxurious – the better. There’s no argument, debating nor anything. After we look over a place – the people say “By what time do we have to be out of here?” They’re a whipped people.

One of the most gladdening sights I’ve seen – is the hundreds of liberated French, Polish, Russian, Moroccan etc. soldiers streaming westward toward the Rhine. They’re wearing their old tattered uniforms, they’re beat up and tired after 4 years of slaving – and they’ve got a long way to go on foot – but they cheer us and are all smiles as we pass by. The French and Belgians are particularly happy. Each step brings them nearer to home. We talked to a few the other day. One old man was from Normandy, a young man was from Fontainbleau and another from Paris. They were then about 50 miles this side of the Rhine and had a long way to go. But tears came to their eyes when we asked them how they felt about walking home, getting home – after all these years.

Liberated French stop for rest on way to Rhine and home
March 1945

Well – sweetheart – I’m going to go along now and do some work – I think. There is supposed to be a couple of thousand wounded Germans – soldiers – in the hospital in this town. I may help out – I’ll see. Anyway – I haven’t the patience to sit around. Everyone is keyed up, tense, and raring to go – and I’m no exception. For it all brings me one step nearer to getting home, holding you in my arms and letting you feel – all that I’ve been trying to express to you in words – these long months gone by. Darling – it won’t be long now!

Love to the folks – and

All my sincerest love

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about The Rose Pocket

CLICK TO ENLARGE

The Ruhr Pocket became known as The Rose Pocket

From Mission Accomplished - The Story of the Campaigns of the VII Corps (written by the U.S. Army and published in Leipzig, Germany by J.J. Weber in 1945), page 59:

Because of the importance of the attack in which Major General Maurice Rose was leading his division when he lost his life and to honor his personal courage in battle, VII Corps and First Army adopted the name of the "Rose Pocket" for the operation which isolated the Ruhr.

From Marburg the racing armor drove north. In a single day's record advance of 90 kilometers, several thousand more prisoners were taken, and our spearheads reached the area just south of Paderborn. This maneuver was of far-reaching importance to the allied cause, for by this action the enemy defending the Ruhr valley were practically cut off. VII corps forces now encircled them on the west, south and east along a 200 mile front.

Part of one day's collection of prisoners

To protect our long left flank against possible counterattacks in strength was a big task. The 78th Division extended its zone farther eastward along the Sieg and the 4th Cavalry Group and 8th Infantry Division moved in to relieve elements of the 1st Division still farther east, while the 86th Infantry Division took over the defense of the Rhine's west bank, a task from which VII Corps was soon relieved.

As the 3d Armored columns closed on Paderborn, they encountered increasing resistance from enemy strongpoints, roadblocks, and stubborn opposition in defended villages. While First Army was breaking out of its bridgehead, troops of the Ninth U.S. Army had crossed the Rhine north of the Ruhr and were now driving east toward Paderborn, paced by the tanks of the 2d Armored Division. A link-up of the two American armies in this area would be a crushing blow to Germany, for it would isolate one of the Reich's largest industrial areas and the thousands of troops defending it. And so thousands of SS troops, the elite of the Wehrmacht, were thrown into the battle as the enemy attempted to stabilize his defenses and to hold Paderborn's important road center, to keep his Ruhr escape route open.

While the 3d Armored Division was driving north to close the pocket, the 104th was following closely in the eastern part of the Corps zone, and the 1st was moving more slowly against stiffer resistance farther west. Intelligence was received of a proposed enemy attack to break out of the rapidly closing Ruhr trap by a tank-and-infantry drive east in the vicinity of Winterburg. The attack to the north was therefore suspended for one of the regiments of the 104th Division, and it deployed to the northwest to counter the threat. With characteristic Timberwolf speed, our troops seized the enemy's line of departure before he could attack, and for the next four days beat back all enemy attempts to penetrate the VII Corps ring in that area.

An armored task force from the Spearhead Division made a firm junction with elements of the 2d Armored and 83d Infantry Divisions (XIX Corps) at Lippstadt on April 1st. The Ruhr trap was closed, a trap which isolated about 5,000 square miles of enemy territory, including some of the most highly developed industrial area in Europe. Completely encircled by American troops, over 350,000 enemy, units of German Army Group D, were cut off from supplies and reinforcements. This was one of the greatest operations of its kind in all history, and a heavy blow to the already hard-pressed German army and nation.

30 March 1945

V-MAIL

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

30 March, 1945      1640

Germany

Dearest darling Wilma –

This will break all records for brevity, I think, but honestly, dear, I’m pooped! I can’t remember being so tired in a long while – but we’ve been on the road for I don’t know how long. And – we were up all night. No one minds particularly because it certainly is a thrill to travel this way. It’s amazing – what we see. I’ll try to be more specific tomorrow sweetheart – if we stay put – but for now I know you’ll excuse me if I say ‘so long’. But not before I remind you that I love you dearly, dear – and you alone! Gonna try to get some sleep now. Will write tomorrow. Love to the folks.

All my deepest love –

Greg

Route of the Question Mark


[CLICK TO ENLARGE]

(A) Bad Marienberg to (B) Gisselberg, Germany (44 miles)
30 March - 2 April 1945

30 March... Gisselberg. The beginning of the end, for we hauled 20,000 prisoners for VII Corps, and worked at this until it seemed that we had carried the entire German Army in our trucks. Pfc [Franklin A.] PORTER caught two of them, single-handedly, in a shack in the woods.

* TIDBIT *

about The Death of Major General Maurice Rose

Maurice Rose was born on 26 November 1899 in Middletown, Connecticut, the son of a rabbi and grandson of a rabbi and went on to become the highest ranking Jew in the United States Army. During his military career he earned the following honors:

• Distinguished Service Cross
• Distinguished Service Medal
• Oak Leaf Clusters
• Legion of Merit with an Oak leaf Cluster
• Bronze Star with an Oak Leaf Cluster
• Purple Heart with an Oak Leaf Cluster
• French Legion of Honor
• French Croix de Guerre with palm
• Belgian Croix de Guerre with palm

The Third Armored Division's official history of World War II, published after Rose had been killed in action, states, "He was over six feet tall, erect, dark haired, and had finely chiseled features. He was firm and prompt of decision, brooking no interference by man, events or conditions in order to destroy the enemy." According to Robert K. Pacios, veteran of the 3rd Armored Division, Rose was a stand-offish person with those around him. No one in the 3rd Armored Division really got to know much about his personal life. Married twice, he kept his life so secret that his two sons, by different wives, did not know the other existed until many years after some digging by one of the authors of his biography, Major General Maurice Rose: World War II's Greatest Forgotten Commander by Stephen L. Ossad and Don R. Marsh. He demanded absolute loyalty from his men. He would not accept any excuse from any of his subordinate commanders -- accomplish your mission or move on!

Major General Rose received his first military experience as a private in a cavalry troops of the Colorado National Guard in 1916. In France in WW I Rose served with the American Expeditionary Force and won the Purple Heart and the Silver Star. Named Chief of Staff of the Second Armored Division in January, 1942, he went overseas in December of that year and served in the First Armored Division in the battle for Tunisia in 1943, where he earned a Silver Star. Back with the 2nd Armored Division, he was promoted to Brigadier General just before the invasion of Sicily, where his unit was the first to enter the island's capital, Palermo. In Normandy in June, 1944, General Rose's unit beat back a major German force near Carentan. As captured documents later revealed, this action may have saved the whole Normandy beachhead.

In August, 1944, General Rose was given command of the 3rd Armored Division, receiving his second general's star several weeks later. What then followed was his daring and legendary leadership of the "Spearhead" Division, as its troops aggressively advanced and engaged German forces in northern France, Belgium, Germany, in the Battle of the Bulge, and finally in the heart of Germany itself.

The following account of the death of Major General Maurice Rose was written by Paul Leopold of the Website Staff of the Third Armored Division's History of WWII.

[Note: "This account is based on information available to me in 1966 at 3AD headquarters in Frankfurt, plus details I later found in books and on the Internet. The biography of General Rose by Don Marsh and Steve Ossad, first published in 2003, greatly amplifies what I've written below. -- Paul Leopold]

On 30 March 1945, the 3rd Armored Division lost its Commanding Officer, Maj. Gen. Maurice Rose, one of the highest ranking American servicemen killed in World War II. Military historians argue whether a general's proper place is normally at the front or the rear of his troops. If action reflects opinion, there can be no doubt what General Rose thought. He led from the front so consistently that his troops used to call him "the Division point."

Biologists have a chemical explanation for why some men (more rarely women) thrive on putting their life at risk. Rose's soldiers would, I'm sure, have explained it as sheer guts. But they knew where that kind of guts could get you. They would wonder how many cat's lives Rose had left after each brush with death.

They also knew Rose was a shrewd and careful strategist. Said to have a photographic memory, his grasp of situations was instantaneous, his responses as shrewd as they were bold. Though a strict disciplinarian, Rose rarely provoked resentment in his men, for they knew he was as hard on himself as he was on them.

Once, approaching a bridge which might have been mined by the enemy, Rose insisted on being the first to drive across it. This was pure theater, but it had an effect on morale -- an effect which he had no doubt rapidly (and accurately) calculated. The risk must have appeared just small enough to justify going for the payoff in morale. But risk there was -- and nobody said Rose had to take it.

If soldiers love a leader the more for not worrying too much about his own safety, they also respect one the more for not standing on his dignity. Rose never pulled rank. Once during the drive on Paderborn, he and his aide, Maj. Robert Bellinger, caught sight of some Germans in uniform running from the road. He told his driver, T-5 Glen Shaunce, to stop the jeep, and all three men jumped out and chased the fugitives into a nearby cemetery. Division Artillery commander, Col. Frederic J. Brown, and his driver, Pfc. A.C. Brazeal, pulled up and joined the pursuit.

Wielding tommy guns and pistols, the five -- enlisted men, field officers, and a general -- captured twelve of the Germans. When Cpl. James Omand, the messenger, arrived on his motorcycle he saw a sight he would never forget: the Division Commander herding a bunch of prisoners at pistol-point!

It was this sort of "gallant carelessness" and the habit of establishing his command post within small-arms range of the enemy, that allegedly earned Rose the nickname among the Germans of "the American Rommel". And after he died, Chicago Sun correspondent Thomas R. Henry, compared him to Stonewall Jackson, declaring in his eulogy that "in Maurice Rose's death [the U.S. Army in Europe] has suffered its greatest single loss."

The circumstances of Gen. Rose's death are not -- and perhaps never will be -- perfectly clear. The accounts of the two men who were with him are substantially consistent, but perforce obscure, as the shooting occurred on a dark country road, suddenly, and while both witnesses were diving for cover. The identity of the third witness, the German who shot Rose, was never discovered.

This is how it happened.

With his aide Bellinger, and driver Shaunce, Rose was in a jeep accompanying Task Force Welborn along a dirt road heading for Paderborn. Ahead of them in another jeep was DivArty commander, Col. Brown; behind them in an armored car, the Division G-3, Lt. Col. Wesley Sweat. Their motorcycle messenger followed behind.

Suddenly Welborn's column was raked by intense small-arms and direct tank and anti-tank fire from both sides of the road. Cradling a tommy gun, Rose leapt into a roadside ditch. Shaunce and Bellinger dove for cover beside him. Just then one of the Task Force's tanks in front of them was destroyed by direct fire.

Unaware of their commander's predicament, Division officers in the rear tried to contact Rose by radio. When Division Chief of Staff, Col. John A. Smith Jr., learned that the column had been cut he knew the situation was grave; the more so when a radio message from Rose arrived ordering Col. Liander L. Doan's Task Force to move in and close the gap. It was Rose's last order. Minutes later he and his party became aware of German tanks closing in on them from the rear. Caught in a vise of enemy armor, their only hope was to make a dash across-country and attempt to join forward elements of the Task Force.

Under a hail of bright tracers, the command vehicles cut sharply to the right off the road and into an adjacent field. The messenger left his motorcycle and joined the G-3 personnel in the armored car. It was dusk now, and the Germans were sending up flares to silhouette the American vehicles.

Further ahead, Rose's party turned back onto the road, heading for what looked to them like the silhouettes of Pershing tanks. But when they'd driven past the first of these one of the men noticed that it had two exhaust pipes. Pershings had only one. They were among German Tigers.

Turning back was out of the question. Safety lay up ahead with the main body of T. F. Welborn. DivArty commander Brown gunned his jeep past three of the tanks, ripping off a fender as he squeezed past a fourth. By now the Germans realized they were in contact with the enemy. The fourth tank clanged to a halt and swung sideways, in an attempt to block the American vehicles. Brown barely got his jeep through. Rose's driver floored the gas in a desperate bid to follow him, but was caught in a wedge, his jeep pinned between the huge panzer and a tree.

As Brown looked back to see if Rose had managed to get through, he caught sight of another Tiger bearing down on him. Swerving sharply to the right, he gunned his vehicle over a ditch and cleared the road. Abandoning the jeep in the middle of a field, Brown ran for cover. "Everybody scrambled out and headed for the woods," he later recalled, "as by now the Germans had sent up flares and their tanks were firing."

Before Rose and his companions could scramble to safety, the top-hatch of the Tiger opened and a German soldier appeared flourishing a machine pistol. Perhaps he was one of the half-trained recruits the Wehrmacht were rushing into service in the last months of the war. He seemed excited, even panicky -- possibly trigger-happy. He shouted something unintelligible.

Rose reached toward his pistol belt. The tanker shouted again, seemingly gesturing at the general's side-arm. Can he have thought Rose was about to draw it? It seems incredible that Rose, his .45 still in its holster, would have tried to shoot it out with a man who already had him covered with an automatic weapon. Yet that must be how it looked to the other, for he suddenly fired a volley of bullets at Rose. At least one struck him in the head and killed him. Meanwhile Shaunce and Bellinger threw themselves under the tank and managed to crawl to safety in a nearby ditch.

Shaunce was lightly wounded and, after a series of narrow escapes, reached another Task Force; Bellinger spent four days behind enemy lines before being liberated. Several others got away clean; though Lt. Col. Sweat and his G-3 staff were captured and held for a month in Stalag XI-B in Fallingbostel before they were liberated by British forces.

The next day two 3rd Armored sergeants recovered General Rose's body.

General Rose was the eleventh American general officer killed in action in this war. Eight others have died in airplane crashes and fifteen from natural causes, while eight are missing and nineteen are prisoners of war. Cheated by his untimely death of the national fame he deserved, Major General Rose was buried in the American Military Cemetery in Margraten, The Netherlands. In this large and majestic cemetery, the remains of over 8,300 United States servicemen fallen in WWII rest in peace. To this day, the grounds are lovingly cared for by the people of Margraten.

The following is a brief video of Rose's first interment ceremony, before his re-internment in the Netherlands. Also included is a still photo of his parents, Rabbi Samuel Rose and Katherine Rose, at their home in Denver, Colorado, after learning of his death.

29 March 1945

V-MAIL

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

29 March, 1945

Germany

Hello Sweetheart!

This one is on the fly and I’m writing on a rough board – so excuse the scrawl – or don’t I always? The weather is rather sour today – but our spirits are still excellent – as is the course of the war. It’s pretty difficult to keep up with it – even over here because of security blackouts etc; reminds me of the breakthrough into Belgium by the Germans last winter when we hardly knew what was going on – but how different!

Nothing much else to tell you, darling because we’re hopping around so much and besides – I’m on my way again. Always time to tell you I love you, dear, and miss you. But maybe soon – maybe soon. Love to the folks – Happy Passover and

All my deepest love

Greg

Route of the Question Mark


[CLICK TO ENLARGE]

(A) Schoenberg to (B) Bad Marienburg, Germany (30 miles)
26 March to 29 March 1945>

March 29... Marienburg. We lived in what was once a clinic, and had to have four guard posts. A fine spot, nevertheless, and we would liked to have stayed longer, but we got a march order in the middle of the night and pulled out almost as soon as we arrived.

* TIDBIT *

about Passover in Germany in 1945

From Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 29 Mar 1945 comes this article:

In all of Germany's oldest Jewish settlements - Frankfurt, Cologne, Trier - American Jewish soldiers this evening began the traditional observances of Passover.

The handful of Jewish of civilians who remain in this area will celebrate their first open Passover in more than a decade as guests of the American soldiers as a result of a decision by the military authorities who ruled that this would not constitute fraternization with the enemy since the Jews, having been legally outlawed by the Germans, were, therefore, not enemy nationals. In addition, civilian attendance at religious services of soldiers has been authorized in cases where no local leader of the religion exists.

SEDER HELD IN GODESBERG IN ROOM WHERE HITLER SAW CHAMBERLAIN. Of all the Seders being held along this front tonight at various places, the choicest location will be the Dreesen Hotel in Bad-Godesberg, where Chaplain Sidney Lefkowitz, of Richmond, Virginia, will preside over the feast and religious ceremonies in the conference room where Hitler conferred with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, in 1938, a few weeks before the Munich Pact was signed.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Dreesen Hotel, Bad Godesberg, Germany in 1938

   
Chamberlain and Hitler meeting at the Hotel Dressen
in September of 1938

What will be probably the largest Seder will be held in Erefeld in the only comparatively intact synagogue found so far in Germany. Here, Chaplain Captain Marvin Goldfine, of Philadelphia, will hold services for about 1,000 men. All new dishes - and therefore kosher for Passover - have been obtained from a German warehouse.

Synagogue in Krefeld, Germany, before Kristallnacht in 1938

  
Remains of Synagogue in Krefeld, Germany
- after Kristallnacht
Photos from the "Center for Jewish History" web site

In Cologne another American Jewish chaplain will conduct services for the city's Jewish civilians in the ruins of the once impressive synagogue on Monart Strasse.

Many of the Seder locations, which were planned several weeks in advance, had to be shifted suddenly due to the forward rush of the rears. Nevertheless, it is estimated that at least two-thirds of the Jewish soldiers will have an opportunity to participate, Men of the 9th Tactical Air Camps of the 9th Air Force will attend services in a former German barracks. Capt, Meyer Goldman is officiating at the services of the 29th TAC of the 9th Air Force, where Lieutenant General William Food Simpson of the Ninth Army and Brigadier-General Richard Magent of the Air Force will be guests of honor.

REFUGEES FROM REICH CELEBRATE PASSOVER IN GERMANY AS GUESTS OF U. S. CHAPLAINS. Captain Lefkowitz, who has been storing his Passover supplies in a room adjoining Ritler's former suite at the Dreesen Hotel, said that the matzohs were baked in England for the American Jewish Welfare Board, the wine was obtained from a vintner in France, but Germen hens are supplying the baked eggs required at the seders. German gardens are also providing the traditional bitter herbs, symbols of the oppression in Egypt, the escape from which Passover celebrates.

Wherever possible, men in the front lines across the Rhine are receiving time out to attend Seders, which is the customary procedure in the Army for all important religious observances. These boys will be taken to rear installations by truck and then returned to the lines.

The chaplains have worked terrifically hard to arrange these services and many of them are planning to conduct six or seven Seders and services within the next two days. Two of them, Capt. Wolf Plant and Capt. Herman Dicker will be celebrating passover in their own homeland, for they fled from here after the rise of Hitler.

Here is one person's account of that Passover, as written by Dennis McCarthy in the Los Angeles "Daily News" on 5 April 2007 and titled "BROTHERS OF FAITH CELEBRATED PASSOVER ON THE BATTLEFIELD".

The care package from home caught up with Sol Rothman while he was sitting in a foxhole on the front lines in Germany a few days before Passover in 1945. The German army was retreating and the war was winding down, but men were still fighting -- and still dying.

"What'd you get, Sol?" a couple of his buddies asked, eyeing the package and hoping it contained homemade cookies that their good buddy Sol would surely pass around. The 19-year-old ripped open the package and smiled. It wasn't cookies. It was a Passover "kit" from his parents back in Brooklyn. A couple of boxes of matzo, a small bottle of Manischewitz wine and 10 Haggadahs -- books containing the order of the Seder service and prayers.

"We had a new company captain named Silver, a red-haired Jewish gentleman," said Sol, now 81, running his fingers across a Bronze Star for bravery, one of the proudest possessions of his long career as a medical doctor. The citation says Sol earned it at the Battle of the Bulge for crawling through heavy enemy fire not once, but twice to drag wounded buddies to safety. Sol always figured if the bullets didn't get him that day, the pneumonia he was suffering from certainly would. Luckily, neither did. That was why a few months later, he was sitting in that foxhole opening a care package from home, and praying the war would finally end.

"The captain decided we should celebrate Passover, so the company cooks rounded up chickens and vegetables from the German farmhouses to prepare the meal, and I supplied the matzo and wine," Sol said. "The only problem was there were only nine Jews in the whole company, and we needed one more for a minyan (the minimum number of men for a prayer service). We were pulling our hair out trying to find that 10th Jew when a Catholic chaplain walked up and asked if he could be the 10th man. We looked at each other and said, 'Sure, why not?"

So there they were, nine Jews and one Catholic celebrating Passover -- the exodus of the Jews from Egypt -- on a battlefield in Germany.

"It went great except for the wine," Sol remembered. "We were each supposed to drink four cups, but we only had one small bottle of Manischewitz for 10 guys. Each cup was only a few drops. Other than that, it was perfect. Afterward, the chaplain gave each of us a hug. He had tears in his eyes. He reminded us his boss, Jesus, was Jewish, and the Last Supper was a Passover celebration."

Jews, Christians -- didn't make any difference, Sol said. They were all brothers of faith standing out there on that battlefield in Germany 62 years ago breaking matzo and sipping Manischewitz.