World War II Chronicles

A Quarterly Publication of the World War II Veterans Committee ISSUE XXX, Summer, 2005 VICTORY! Pacific

Atlantic World War II Chronicles A Quarterly Publication of the World War II Veterans Committee WWW.WWIIVETS.COM ISSUE XXX, Summer, 2005

Articles -In This Issue- Over the River and Into the Reich by The Final Days 7 Ben McCarty The Allied armies strike into the heart of As 1945 progressed, the outcome of Hitler’s Germany World War II became clear: the Axis powers would fall. The only remain- A Victory in Perspective by ing questions were how long Ger- 16 Geraldine Genzardi many and Japan could hold out, and The story behind the atomic bomb and the at what cost would victory for the final bloody battles in the Pacific that neces- Allies come? The months leading up to the ultimate victory in the Atlantic sitated its use and Pacific theaters of war were as brutal as ever. Germany was implod- ing, and facing a Red Army bent on revenge. Imperial Japan, refusing to The Flying WASPs by surrender, resorted to even more drastic and fanatical tactics in an effort to 23 Adriel Sanders inflict as much suffering as possible before its final defeat. In this issue, the The first female pilots in American military story of the final days of World War II is told by those who will help to history take to the skies carry on the legacy of the Greatest Generation for decades to come... The Last Days of World War II by Features 27 Wolfgang Nitsch The fall of Germany as told from a different 3 The Greatest Generation and the Latest perspective Generation From the Editor Committee Activities 31 World War II Book Club The National Memorial Day Parade A Farewell to Two Friends 4 The successful follow-up to the 2004 Parade 32 Remembering General Andrew J. Goodpaster Salute to World War II Veterans and Captain Lillian K. Keil

Available from the World War II Veterans Committee!

From Foxhole to Freedom Reduced Price! The World War II European Journal of $10 (Hardcover) Captain H. Dale Helm of Indiana Was $14.95

H. Dale Helm of Indianapolis arrived in France with the 79th Infantry in June of 1944, just after the Normandy D-Day invasion. There he joined in the struggle to wrest the hedgerows and villages of France from the hands of the Germans. Eventually after desperate, unrelieved fighting over a period of five months, he was part of the American forces crossing the Rhine into Germany. To order, send $10 (plus $2 for shipping) for each copy desired to: Edited by Helm himself in 1945 after he returned home, this journal was compiled from the World War II Veterans Committee 1030 15th St., NW Suite 856 over one hundred letters to his wife and new baby—and then set aside. After that, he never Washington, DC 20005 spoke of the war and his experiences again to anyone in his family. The 125 pages of the journal are supplemented by Captain Helm’s wartime snapshots and selections from the Or order with credit card by calling Indiana State Archives collection of World War II materials—ration books and civil defense 202-777-7272 and war bond posters and illustrations.

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 2 From the Editor The Greatest Generation and the Latest Generation By Tim G.W. Holbert

Sixty years ago this summer, with the end of World War II on the the National Memorial Day Parade and our various speaker pro- horizon, Americans began to turn their attention toward rebuilding grams. In November, the Committee will hold its Eighth Annual a world shattered by six years of brutality and destruction unmatched Conference, where veterans from around the country will meet to in all of human history. Nazi Germany had been utterly defeated, share their stories with hundreds of high school and college stu- its surviving leaders rounded up and awaiting their fates that would dents, fellow veterans, and a public grateful for their service sixty soon be decided at Nuremberg. Imperial Japan, determined to fight years ago. World War II Chronicles continues to give voice to the Greatest to the bitter end, was growing ever more desperate, its soldiers and Generation, publishing stories by and about World War II veterans. airmen resorting to suicide attacks on American forces at every turn, on land and at sea. With Okinawa lost, the Japanese military As the veterans who fought and won World War II pass from the began training women, and even children, to defend their home scene, it will be up to these future generations to preserve their islands in the event of the seemingly inevitable American invasion. legacy, and to pass on their stories. Every year, the World War II Some prepared to fight using nothing more than Veterans Committee sponsors an internship pro- sharpened bamboo spears. Both sides knew that gram, bringing college students to its offices to the invasion would leave thousands, perhaps learn about, and from, World War II veterans. hundreds of thousands, of Americans dead. Each intern is assigned the task of researching The number of Japanese killed, military and a topic related to World War II, meeting with civilian, would be astronomical. But instead of and interviewing veterans, then writing a story storming ashore in the face of blistering ma- to be published in World War II Chronicles. As chine-gun and artillery fire reminiscent of has become tradition, the summer issue of Normandy and Iwo Jima, the American forces Chronicles has been turned over to them, these would enter the Japanese homeland relatively future journalists and historians who will be quietly and peacefully. On August 14, 1945, news counted on to tell the stories of World War II arrived in the United States that Japan would The World War II Veterans Committee’s intern veterans in the years to come. This year, the surrender, fully and unconditionally, something class for the summer of 2005, pictured left to Committee welcomed: right: Geraldine Genzardi, Steven Mosley, Ben that only a few weeks earlier had seemed to be McCarty, and Adriel Sanders out of the question. Despite the fierce objection Geraldine Genzardi. Geraldine is a senior at of many in the Japanese military, Emperor Hirohito, persuaded by Alfred University in New York. She is a communications major with the deployment of the atomic bombs against Hiroshima and a minor in political science. She writes for her school’s newspaper, Nagasaki, capitulated to the Allied forces led by the United States. and next semester will serve as News Editor as well as Program The terrible power of the bombs dropped on Japan killed many Director for her campus television station. In the future, she hopes thousands, it is true; but war is hell, and the eventual peaceful occu- to study abroad and become involved in international relations. pation of Japan by the American forces saved hundreds of thou- sands, and perhaps millions, of lives on all sides of the conflict. Steven Mosley. Steven is a sophomore honor student at the Uni- versity of Maryland. He is majoring in journalism and plans to pur- With victory achieved, Americans did what they have done so often sue a career in broadcasting. Steven is an Eagle Scout and remains throughout their history: shown their decency and generosity by active in his community (His article, Uncommon Valor: An African aiding their former enemies and building free, peaceful, and pros- American’s Service on Iwo Jima appeared in the spring, 2005 issue). perous societies. Over the past sixty years, Germany and Japan have become two of the world’s wealthiest nations, and two of America’s Ben McCarty. A senior at the University of Portland, Ben is a strongest allies. This positive spirit was brought to America’s former political science major with minors in communications and theol- enemies by her young soldiers, sailors, and airmen, who despite ogy. He writes for his school’s newspaper, The Beacon, and is Sports having suffered through years of war and depression, still believed Editor. After graduation, Ben plans to pursue a career in journalism in the ideas that made America great, and looked to share these or politics, and dreams of one day writing for Sports Illustrated. ideas with others. This generation would rebuild Germany and Ja- pan, then come home to build families and businesses, have chil- Adriel Sanders. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Adriel is a dren and then grandchildren, and lead America to victory in the senior at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she is a double Cold War. Some went on to further greatness; others retired to quiet major in political science and journalism. Adriel plans on attending lives. All were instrumental in achieving victory in World War II. law school after graduation, and hopes to become a corporate law- yer or lobbyist, and might one day run for Congress. Now they are leaving us. Six decades after the end of World War II, only a fraction of the veterans who brought us victory remain. Yet All four interns did an outstanding job, and if they are any indica- there is still so much to learn from them. The mission of the World tion, the World War II generation has left us one final, great legacy: War II Veterans Committee from its inception has been to preserve children and grandchildren who respect the sacrifices made by those the legacy of the Greatest Generation for future generations. In the who came before them, and are eager to keep the spirit of the past year, we have seen that mission continue with the creation of Greatest Generation alive. WWII

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 3 World War II Veterans Committee Sponsors The National Memorial Day Parade

On a beautiful sunny day, 170 military units, veterans’ organizations, and community groups marched in front of over 50,000 spectators in the inaugural National Memorial Day Parade held in Washington, DC. Passing in front of the U.S. Capitol, the parade proceeded down In- dependence Avenue in a magnificent salute to America’s veterans and in honor of all who have died in her service. The parade built on the success of last year’s “Parade Salute to World War II Veterans,” which was held on Memorial Day and coincided with the dedication cer- emonies of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall. Both parades were organized and largely funded by the World War II Vet- erans Committee, and it is hoped that the tradition of a Memorial Day parade in the nation’s capital, which ended over 60 years ago after the breakout of World War II, will be revived.

The theme of this year’s National Memorial Day Parade was “Hon- oring Our Veterans and War Dead from the Revolution to Opera- tion Iraqi Freedom.” Organized chronologically, from re-enactors of Continental Army and Civil War-era soldiers to veterans of more recent conflicts, the parade sought to pay tribute to the sacrifices of all who have served America throughout her history.

A highlight of the parade was the inclusion of 105-year-old Petty Of- ficer 1st Class Lloyd Brown (pictured below), one of the few remain- ing American veterans of World War I. Brown enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1918, and was assigned to the USS New Hampshire, a battle- ship in the escort fleet that was tasked with protecting the troops mak- ing the perilous crossing of the Atlantic from America to Europe. “All the fellows were joining up,” he remembered. “And of course, all the girls liked seeing someone in uniform.” Riding in a 1910 vintage car, Brown served as the Honorary Grand Marshal representing veterans of the First World War. In addition to Mr. Brown, distinguished veterans from other previous conflicts served as Honorary Grand Marshals for the parade. Representing World War II was Major General J. Milnor Roberts, while Korea was represented by Lieutenant General Julius W. Becton, Jr. Rear Admiral Robert Shumaker and Admiral Tom Marfiak represented Vietnam and Desert Storm, respectively. Honorary Grand Marshal for America’s most recent war, Operation Iraqi Freedom, was Staff Ser- geant Joe Bowser of the United States Army. Though this was the inaugural National Memorial Day Parade, it garnered attention from around the country, re- ceiving coverage from all three network news broadcasts, as well as countless other cable and local programs, and a variety of national newspapers. Also, as was the case with last year’s Parade Salute to World War II Veterans, ABC’s Good Morning America broadcast its weather reports from the parade. The event proved such a success that plans are underway to televise, live, the 2006 National Memorial Day Parade.

In the months leading up to the parade, as the World War II Veterans Committee worked to raise the funds to put on the event, it encouraged those making dona- tions to attach a note of appreciation for what America’s servicemen and women have done for our country to small American flags provided by the Committee, before returning them along with their donation. The flags, along with the at- tached messages, were passed out to veterans participating in the parade, as well as spectators lining the street. In all, over 10,000 flags were distributed, thanks to the generous contributions of patriotic Americans from across the nation.

Many of the attached messages were poignant, and from veterans themselves. “Survived sinking of ship in convoy by German aerial torpedoes,” wrote Ted N. Andrews of Fresno, California. “God Bless America.”

Another, from Norma Childs of Middletown, Rhode Island, said: “I lost a brother in World War II. God bless.”

Citizens grateful for the sacrifices made by those who have worn the uniform will have the opportunity to send similar messages for next year’s National Memorial Day Parade. The flags, along with the in- structions on attaching a message and returning them, will be auto- matically sent to all donors to the World War II Veterans Committee in early 2006.

As James C. Roberts, President of the World War II Veterans Committee and Chairman of the National Memorial Day Parade Committee, told the Washington Post, “Every town of any size has one of these (parades). But for the nation’s hometown not to have one is amazing.” He continued, “I am delighted that our Com- mittee is able to bring back that great tradition back to the nation’s capital as we give a much-deserved salute to all those who fought and died for our country over the past two centuries and more.”

Planning is already well underway for the 2006 National Memorial Day Parade, with the effort again led by the World War II Veterans Committee. With the success of the 2004 Parade Salute to World War II Veterans and the inaugural National Memorial Day Parade, it appears that this is a tradition that will continue for quite some time.

WWII The World War II Veterans Committee’s Eighth Annual Conference November 10-12, 2005 Washington, DC

This Veterans Day weekend, join the World War II Veterans Committee as we learn from and honor the Greatest Generation at our Eighth Annual Conference. From November 10-12, veterans of the Second World War, their family, friends, and admirers will gather in Washington, DC, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, and to pass their stories on to future generations. Capped off by the Edward J. Herlihy Awards Banquet, which recognizes the heroics of some of America’s greatest living veterans, the World War II Veterans Committee’s Eighth Annual Conference will prove to be an event that none who attend will soon forget.

Scheduled to Appear

General Paul W. Tibbets and Major Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk Pilot and Navigator of the Enola Gay Ambassador John E. Dolibois Last surviving interrogator of the top-ranking Nazi leadership prior to the Nuremberg trials and former United States Ambassador to Luxembourg The Honorable Celia Sandys Noted author and granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill Donald Burgett Veteran of the 101st Airborne and author of Currahee!, the only book written on World War II personally endorsed by Dwight D. Eisenhower C. Windsor Miller Leader of the first tank battalion to cross the Remagen Bridge Seven Men from E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry, 101st Airborne The famed Band of Brothers PLUS - Panels on the China-Burma-India Theater, including veter- - A tour of “The Price of Freedom: Americans at War” ex- ans from the legendary Merrill’s Marauders and Flying Tigers hibit at the National Museum of American History - Veterans from the battles of Okinawa, Iwo Jima, D-Day, - The Eighth Annual Edward J. Herlihy Awards banquet, where and the Battle of the Bulge special tribute will be paid to the heroes of World War II - Survivors of the Nazi death camps - A World War II-era swing band dance featuring a 21-piece - A wreath laying ceremony at the World War II Memorial on orchestra the National Mall AND MUCH MORE! - A Choral Evensong church service at the historic Church of For more information or to request a registration form, call the the Epiphany in downtown Washington World War II Veterans Committee at 202-777-7272 ext. 220 Over the River and Into the Reich The Last Stand of Germany in 1945 By Ben McCarty

As spring dawned on the battlefields of Europe in 1945, Adolf bridge across the Rhine, those officers who failed to destroy it Hitler’s “Thousand Year Reich” shuddered in its death throes would be shot. This was exactly the predicament the German after just over a decade of existence. The last major German defenders of the Ludendorff Railroad Bridge at Remagen found offensive had been stopped in the Ardennes, and German forces themselves in as they guarded one of the last bridges across the were collapsing inward towards Berlin on all fronts. By the end Rhine. The bridge was being used as a main avenue of retreat for of April, Hitler would be dead, committing suicide in his bunker German forces and refugees and they were ordered to keep it in Berlin. Yet for those final few weeks Germany fought on, its open as long as possible. Then, over the horizon, they began to empire stripped away, its cities in ruins, and its military all but see the flashes of American artillery drawing steadily closer. obliterated. In the closing days of the European Theater of World War II, the last desperate battles would spill over the Rhine and The Ninth Armored Division believed that it was going to en- into the streets of Berlin, and rage in the skies over Europe. While counter nothing but a few beams and a pile of rubble when it defeat was inevitable, the Nazi regime reached Remagen. Allied bombers had was determined to hold out to the end, reportedly destroyed the bridge a few causing as much destruction as it could months earlier. However, when the com- before it collapsed. As he prepared to mander of the Ninth Armored, Gen- kill his family and then commit suicide, eral William Hoge, learned that the bridge Hitler’s minister of propaganda, Joseph was still standing, he sent scout units to Goebbels, vowed that, “[t]he Earth will Remagen as quickly as possible to assess shake as we leave the scene.” Indeed, the situation. What the lead units found with legions of fanatical Hitler Youth when they crested the rise above the indoctrinated to fight to the death for town was a heavily damaged, but still their Fuhrer, and terrifying new technol- usable bridge stretching across the Rhine. ogy such as the V-1 and V-2 missiles and Hoge gave the order to take the bridge Me-262 jet fighter, the Nazis were pre- intact if possible and ordered Company pared to make the Allies pay dearly for A of the 27th Armored Infantry to fulfill their ultimate victory. In the west, Ameri- that task. Just as the GIs prepared to American GIs advance through the fabled, and can, British, and other Allied nations con- move onto the bridge, the massive struc- supposedly impenetrable, Siegfried Line tinued to bomb German targets relent- ture leapt off its foundations in a terrific lessly from the air, while on the ground they moved to isolate explosion as the defenders set off the demolition charges they German resistance into a pocket around Berlin. In the East, the had already placed upon the bridge should such a situation arise. Russians under Field Marshals Georgi Zhukov and Ivan Konev For a moment both Germans and Americans breathed sighs of mercilessly pushed their way towards the heart of Germany, pre- relief. The Germans were thrilled that they had destroyed the paring to execute Stalin’s orders for a final drive into the bombed- crossing just in time, and the Americans glad that they would not out German capital. have shoot their way across the well-defended bridge. However, as the smoke cleared, the bridge still stood intact across the river. Part I: Lucky Break at Remagen Before the Germans could set up to try and try to finish off the bridge, Lt. Karl Timmerman ordered his men across. In a quick Following the defeat of the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge, firefight, Lt. Timmerman led the company onto the bridge, tak- the ability of the Wehrmacht to fight an offensive war was all but ing out the German machine guns in the bridge towers as they exhausted. The western Allies were piercing into Germany, with stormed across. Sgt. Alex Drabik, Timmerman’s second squad General George S. Patton’s Third Army providing the spear tip. leader, was the first GI across, becoming the first invading sol- Only one obstacle stood in the way of the Anglo-Americans and dier since 1805 to reach the eastern bank of the Rhine. the heart of Germany: the Rhine River. No invading army had crossed the great river since the time of Napoleon, and it had Staff Sergeant Richard Ballou first saw that the Bridge at Remagen always been Germany’s natural barrier to invading forces. Allied was still intact while riding in a halftrack heading down towards bombers had destroyed many of the bridges that crossed the the Rhine. Figuring that the bridge had already been destroyed, river earlier in the war, and the Germans dynamited those re- the 27th Armored Infantry Brigade was tasked with boxing in the maining as they retreated in a bid to bring the Allied advance to a German defenders of the town. However, as he looked down standstill. The Germans tasked with defending the bridges where at the river, Ballou could see hordes of people streaming back put in an almost impossible position. Hitler made it very clear to across the bridge. “Our orders were not to cross the river, but them that he wanted the bridges held, but if the Allies captured a when we started moving to the bridge in the halftrack I saw

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 7 General Hoge.” When he spotted his commanding officer con- the rarely before seen AR134 jet bombers against the bridge. sulting with headquarters, Ballou “knew there would be some When these aircraft attacked the bridge at night, the guns criss- action.” Ballou came across in his half-track approximately an crossed the night sky with tracers, trying to bring down the un- hour and a half after the bridge had been captured. As part of seen raiders. the first army since Napoleon to cross the Rhine, Ballou said he “knew it was a big event, but I was more concerned with how As wave after wave of German planes came against the bridge, far it was to each shore, [because] even though I was a pretty fierce anti-aircraft fire rose up to meet them, and American fight- good swimmer that was a strong current.” As the 27th fought to ers flew dozens of missions to protect the bridge from fanatical solidify its beachhead over the next several days, the Luftwaffe German attacks. American Mustang and Lightning fighters, as attempted to stop the flood of American forces across the bridge. well as RAF Tempests, engaged in dogfights against the German The Luftwaffe used everything in its arsenal, from the obsolete planes, and oftentimes struggled against their own anti-aircraft to the futuristic to try to bring down the bridge. “Troops after gunners as well. In the melees, the gunners in one of the largest troops were just flowing through,” Ballou said. “There was lots concentrations of anti-aircraft firepower in the war sometimes of ground activity to try and get the planes had trouble distinguishing between friend down.” and foe. Gregorovich said that most American planes knew to get well clear One of those helping to put a curtain of of the bridge when German attacks lead in the path of the German bombers where expected, because they had no de- was 18-year-old Private Charles sire to be caught in the crossfire. How- Gregorovich, who helped to operate an ever, in the twilight of the evening, the P- M15 Anti-Aircraft halftrack for A Bat- 51 Mustangs could look like German tery of the 482nd Anti-Aircraft Battalion. Me-109 fighters, and several had close calls The 482nd was an automatic weapons with the guns of the 482nd. Any incom- battalion, and was equipped with the M16 ing German planes would have to come and M15 halftracks. The M16 mounted in high and drop their bombs quickly, be- quad-50 caliber machine guns and an au- cause if they came in low, they would met tomatic fire control system while the M15 with a storm of 20mm, 90mm, 40mm, had a rapid-fire 37mm gun and a pair of American troops and equipment pour across the 37mm, and .50 caliber fire. Practically ev- 50 caliber machine guns. Combined the bridge at Remagen ery type of anti-aircraft gun the army pos- two vehicles could spit out a hail of withering fire. The men of sessed was assigned to protect the vital bridge. As his fighters and the 482nd rode in some of the first vehicles to cross to bridge, bombers failed to bring down the bridge, Hitler grew more des- and as Gregorovich went across in his half-track, he thought to perate and became obsessed with its destruction. He ordered V- himself, “I can’t swim and that’s a wide river!” Gregorovich’s 2 missiles fired against the bridge, the first time they were launched battery located itself up-river of the bridge to get a clear field of against targets inside Germany, and sent frogmen on suicide mis- fire to cover the area. As the sun rose sions to destroy the bridge. in the morning and set in the evening, Gregorovich remembers hearing the the Luftwaffe would appear, attack- V-2s hit and feeling the tremors as ing out of the sun to try to destroy they detonated. However, even these the bridge. Because of this, the gun- proved ineffective, and thanks to the ners of the 482nd were required to concentrated fire of the anti-aircraft have their positions manned from an groups, not a single German bomb hour before sunrise and an hour be- or missile hit the bridge. The bridge fore sunset. As the German planes at Remagen would stand until March swooped in to attack, anti-aircraft 17 before it finally collapsed from the batteries all along the river would light The Remagen Bridge collapsed on March 17, 1945. No strain of near misses, hundreds of up. To those standing nearby, the German bombs or missiles ever struck the bridge after its tanks rumbling across, and the rattle rhythmic pounding of the guns capture by the American forces of artillery fire. However, in that time sounded like “the hammer of Hell.” When they saw use as anti- the Allies had established a permanent foothold across the Rhine infantry weapons in the Battle of the Bulge, the .50 caliber and and were driving into the heart of Germany. SSgt. Ballou had a 37mm guns of the 482nd had torn men to bits. On the German feeling that he and the others who stormed across the Rhine planes attacking the Remagen Bridge, the effect was just as dev- “accomplished something, but the job wasn’t done. We were astating, as .50 caliber rounds as thick as a man’s thumb punched getting closer to the end of the war but it wasn’t over yet.” through instruments, controls and fuel lines. Among the first air- craft to attack the bridge was the JU-87 Stuka. Modern and ter- Part II: “Blood n’ Guts” Gets His Glory rifying at the start of the war, the Stuka would scream down at a target with its Jericho Trumpets wailing; striking fear into anyone South of the bridgehead at Remagen, General Patton’s ego was below it. However, by 1945, the plane’s time had passed and all smarting. Not only had he been beaten across the Rhine by the eight Stukas that attacked the bridge fell to anti-aircraft fire, with- more cautious General Hoge, but his Allied archrival, Field Mar- out making a single hit. Very soon, though, the gunners protect- shal Bernard Montgomery, was scheduled to cross the Rhine ahead ing the bridge would face a much tougher foe: the future of of him as well, on the morning of March 24. Patton could not aviation. On March 9, the Luftwaffe deployed the Me-262 and stand being upstaged by not one, but two fellow Allied com-

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 8 manders. Thus, as the Rhine lay basked in moonlight during the and looked at the blue-painted Navy landing boats that would night of the March 22 and early morning of March 23, Patton ferry him and the rest of the men of the assault force across. It sent lead units of the Fifth Division across to seize the opposite was Rahie’s 26th birthday, and as he faced the prospect of cross- bank. The men in the assault boats had little in the way of diver- ing the river under heavy enemy fire, he could only think, “Well if sion to distract the German fire because the division’s artillery I get it now, at least I have lived a full quarter of a century.” Rahie batteries had just been notified earlier in the day of the planned would cross the Rhine on the afternoon of March 23, after the assault, leaving them time only to send harassing fire into the initial forces had already reached and cleared the opposite bank. German positions on the opposite bank. The soldiers in the boats However, that in no way meant that the action was over. As a would have to paddle across the rapidly flowing river, a painfully navy landing craft ferried Rahie and fellow members of Com- slow task as they fought against the stiff current. Company K of pany M, a heavy weapons outfit with the 2nd Infantry across along the Third Battalion 11th Infantry reached the opposite shore with- with their 81mm mortars, the landing craft began to zigzag through out firing a shot. However, the German defenders soon spotted the thick smoke shrouding the river. Apparently, the engineer driv- the boats from the First Battalion crossing the river and German ing the boat had succumbed to stress and had been hitting the machine guns sent tracers reaching out into the dark waters of bottle too hard. As the boat landed, Rahie asked the engineer the Rhine. The German side of the river quickly began sparkling whether he was sure if they had in fact landed on the correct side with flashes of automatic weapons fire as the rest of the invasion of the river. “Get the hell off my boat!” the engineer roared. forces came under heavier fire by the Rahie, bringing up the rear, needed no fur- minute. ther encouragement and quickly scampered ashore. The GIs presently found that they Jack Davis had been one of the lucky ones. were indeed on the east side of the river, The 21-year-old Pfc. and the other mem- and made their way into the town of bers of Company D, 10th Infantry had en- Trebur, which was situated on the bank of countered very little resistance on their ini- the river, and linked up with sections of tial crossing. They moved to the southeast the 11th Infantry regiment which held the to broaden the base of the landing after town. As they moved into the town, Ger- getting ashore and encountered scant op- man defenders in the hills above opened position until they came across a group of up with 20mm anti-aircraft guns, then fol- Volkssturm militia soldiers in a nearby vil- lowed up with heavier artillery. The GIs lage. The German militia consisted mostly took what cover they could find and of old men with World War I weapons, hunkered down for the night. It would many of which did not even work. They Under heavy fire, American GIs make the prove to be a long one. surrendered almost immediately upon en- perilous trek across the Rhine River countering Davis’ company. “We just took their guns and sent Around midnight German planes roared overhead, strafing the them home,” Davis said. As the company settled in for the night, American positions on the river. Anti-aircraft fire streaked up to German artillery began pounding their position. Just as the rounds meet them, and American gunners managed to bring down sev- started to fall, an American tank destroyer company tried to make eral planes, which Rahie found “pretty impressive” since they a dash through the village. Davis kept his head down and stayed were firing into a black night sky. As the planes left, the German behind cover as shrapnel whistled through the air. When the bar- infantry struck. The Germans attacked the town with a reinforced rage finally stopped, Davis lifted his head. “When we looked out battalion, cutting the supply lines into Trebur and engaging U.S there was a tank destroyer man laying on a door with his head forces in a series of fierce firefights. They came within yards of shot off. They had pulled him out of the tank and laid him on a the house that Rahie and others were defending, shooting up the door. [His body] just laid there.” It was the climax of a long jeeps parked outside the house. Unfortunately, for the defenders, week for Davis. When he decided he was going to cross the their bags of hand grenades had been stored in those jeeps, forc- Rhine, Patton had to pull the stretched out Fifth Division back ing them to do without the deadly little pineapples. Eventually the together to spearhead the operation. The 10th Regiment had been German attacked was repulsed. They came so close to the Ameri- fighting near Kyll when Patton ordered them to pull away and can position, that a German mortar was found set up within 15 move with all possible speed to Oppenheim, where they would yards of Company M’s mortar position. join up with the rest of the Fifth Division. They arrived the morn- ing before the scheduled crossing and their commanders peti- By the next day, the GIs expanded the bridgehead to five miles tioned Patton to delay for a day to allow their troops to rest. deep and seven miles wide. The Third Army was across the Rhine Never one to give the chance that might allow the enemy an and off and running into Germany. Over the next several days, opportunity to get ahead of him, Patton refused to even con- the Fifth Division would take several key German cities, culmi- sider it, yelling at his officers that they were going to cross that nating with the capture of Frankfurt on March 29. With the Ger- night and no later. While Davis had gone several days with no man army crumbling before him, Patton hoped that he could sleep, he could understand Patton’s insistence that they cross im- drive the Third Army straight to Berlin. As Patton himself crossed mediately, not to cross then would have been contrary to Patton’s the river, he ordered his driver to stop, and took the opportunity way of doing things. “Patton pushed us hard,” Davis said. “But to relieve himself into the Rhine. Patton had been promising his when he didn’t push us we [took] more casualties.” troops for months that he intended to do so if given the oppor- tunity, and he went about it with great gusto. He had been filling On the afternoon of March 21, as the Fifth Division brought up up on fluids all day long and stored up for his big chance at the equipment to support the crossing, Staff Sergeant Joe Rahie sat river crossing, a moment that an army photographer managed

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 9 to capture on film. After he crossed, Patton made a typical ap- could barely keep up with the current. Some drifted downstream, peal to the history books, scooping up dirt from the ground and and others simply got turned around entirely and disembarked remarking, “Thus William the Conqueror,” in emulation of his their troops back on the Allied side. The U.S Ninth Army began hero’s actions following the Battle of Hastings. Never one to crossing after another thunderous artillery barrage at just past pass up an opportunity to stick it to Montgomery, Patton called two in the morning of March 24. As the night wore on Allied General Bradley on March 23 saying, “for God’s sake tell the ground troops fought their way inland against stiffening German world we’re across…I want the world to know Third Army resistance. With communications breaking down and lines of battle made it before Monty starts across.” However, at the same time, blurred, individual units began fighting frantic battles in the dark. Patton could not resist taking a swipe at Eisenhower as well, who had shut down his advance into Germany to divert supplies for The rising sun on the morning of March 24 glinted off the wings Montgomery’s Market-Garden plan in the of thousands of aircraft as the aerial fleet fall of 1944. Patton sent a message to Allied that made up Operation Varsity roared into high command stating: “Dear SHAEF, I have the sky. It was an awesome sight to see; some- just pissed in the Rhine River. For God’s sake, times the streams of planes seemed to cover send some gasoline.” After receiving the news the sky entirely. As they passed over Allied from Patton that the Third Army was over positions on the Rhine, loadmasters gave the the Rhine, General Bradley released an an- paratroopers inside the transports their nouncement to the press stating: “Without countdowns. The airborne soldiers made their the benefit of aerial bombing, ground smoke, final checks, said a few last prayers, and pre- artillery preparation and airborne assistance, pared to do what many had done several the Third Army at 2200 hrs, Thursday times before: drop out of a seemingly peace- evening, March 22nd, crossed the Rhine ful sky into hell on earth. Attached to trans- River.” Bradley intended for the statement ports by the end of long towropes, Allied to bruise Montgomery’s ego and light a fire glider pilots waited for the release signal from under the slow moving British Marshal. the planes in front of them. The long inter- Nonetheless, on the night of March 23, the woven nylon ropes stretched out from the ever-methodical Montgomery intended to transports, eventually splitting in two at the make use of every one of the preparations end, where a pair of heavily loaded gliders that Patton had forsaken for the British na- were attached to the plane. When they got tional hero’s own grand crossing of the Rhine General George Patton fulfills his pledge the green light from the crew chief in the in what would prove to be one of the most to...relieve himself...in the Rhine. This astrodome on top of the transport they complex operations of the war. photograph was altered by the U.S. Army to would only have a few seconds to release edit out any offensive material before their tow ship was pulling out of for- Part III: Montgomery’s Master Plan mation. As they crossed the Rhine, flak began bursting around the vulnerable Allied planes. Along the formation, glider pilots Montgomery intended to cross the Rhine in a massive two-part received the release signal and hundreds of the unpowered craft operation. The first, Operation Plunder, would send troops across began their silent descent towards the ground below. the Rhine in landing craft and assault boats. The second, Opera- tion Varsity, would deploy an airborne armada to drop the U.S Drifting towards the earth in his Waco CG-4A glider, 22-year 17th and British Sixth Airborne Divisions, commanded by Gen. old 2nd Lt. Tipton “Tip” Randolph peered through the dense Matthew Ridgway, behind enemy lines to disrupt the German white smoke shrouding his LZ, trying to find an acceptable land- defenses and clear the way for an infantry advance. Planned to ing site. Moments before Randolph had been riding in the long redeem Montgomery’s airborne planning abilities after the failure tow position behind a C-47, the plane pulling him through a sky of the even more audacious Market Garden, the operation in- that “was darker than any flight we had ever had from anti- volved amphibious tanks and troop transports, hundreds of trans- aircraft fire.” Randolph had already seen his share of death that port aircraft, gliders, bombers, and escort fighters. For days be- day. Only an hour after takeoff, the glider in the short tow of the fore the jump-off for the combined operations, Montgomery position suddenly folded up and dropped towards the earth. had kept his forces hidden behind a towering smokescreen on The crew of the C-47 tow ship struggled to keep their plane the west bank of the Rhine. While it served to protect the prepa- from stalling out as the doomed glider pulled the tail of aircraft rations from accurate German artillery fire and prying enemy down. Randolph could only watch as the glider snapped off its eyes, it also gave the German defenders a clue that something big end of the towrope and plummeted away towards the earth was coming their way; in addition to hindering Allied movement below. Now, as shrapnel punching into the glider it sounded as behind the smokescreen when the wind blew the white cloud though the fragile craft was being beaten like a big drum. With back over them. At just after 1700 hours on March 23, Opera- flak buffeting the air around him, Randolph received the com- tion Plunder started with a bang as over 5,000 Allied guns began mand to release from the aircraft. As he approached the ground, firing from behind the smokescreen, sending a storm of artillery trees and buildings began to rush past the cockpit windows through fire into German positions across the river. The crossing of the the drifting smoke that shrouded the landing site. After the glider river got under way just before nine at night, with the fabled touched down, its occupants scrambled out as quickly as they Scottish Black Watch regiment being the first to hit the opposite could and regrouped. There a trooper approached and pointed bank. The Buffalo landing craft that Allied forces went across in out that Randolph’s co-pilot, a dual-rated C-47 pilot who had

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 10 only a few hours of training experience in gliders, was still sitting fell, they dug in and posted sentries to keep watch. While he dug in the cockpit. The pair set out to rescue him, but as they got into his position with the 75th, 31-year old 2nd Lt. Kenneth Crocker closer to the front of the glider, they could no longer see him in looked around to admire the German architecture. “I was sur- the cockpit. Figuring the co-pilot had started heading towards prised at how modern the houses were, as compared to some the rear to get out, they headed in that direction to meet him. of the ones in France and England,” he said. As darkness shrouded However, at that moment, another glider came in to land and the landscape, Crocker would have less time to view the sur- clipped Randolph’s glider as it passed, spinning Randolph’s craft rounding houses and would instead be more concerned with around twice in rapid succession. When Randolph found the co- staying alive. pilot, he was lying behind the glider knocked out cold, having been thrown from the glider when it was struck, or had been hit Just after midnight, a large group of Germans, supported by a on the head by the tail as it spun around. He was lucky enough to tank and a pair of 20mm flak guns, stumbled across the 75th be evacuated and shipped home. All around Randolph, Allied platoon’s line, engaging the 75th in what Crocker called “a little airborne units now on the ground were fighting pitched battles skirmish” before the Germans withdrew and headed north, run- against dug in German positions. ning straight into the 77th Platoon, which was dug into a corner at a nearby crossroads. As soon as the Germans were within range In the midst of the battle, British and American gliders continued the gunners of the 77th opened fire, spraying small arms and landing, and occasionally crashing, into machine gun rounds across the front of the landing zone. Because paratroopers the German attack. As the Germans ad- had not cleared the LZs before the glid- vanced, Flight Officer Elbert Jella lined ers came into land, the Germans sub- up the German tank with his Bazooka. jected many of the fragile craft to with- It was Jella’s first experience of actual ering ground fire as they came in. The combat, and while he had been trained two main gliders used for the opera- to fire the Bazooka, he had never had tion, the American Waco and British the opportunity to use it in combat until Horsa, provided their crews two dif- this moment. His rocket blazed towards ferent ways of surviving the German the tank and blew off one of its tracks, fire. The Waco was made out of a steel Waco gliders are pulled toward their drop zones by C- stopping the tank cold. The tank halted frame, making it more rugged and able 47 transport aircraft immediately and frantically began back- to survive rough landings. However, this ing up, running over the 20mm flak guns strength also provided its greatest weakness. If the cargo inside in the process. With their support gone, the attacking Germans the glider was hit and caught fire, the men inside could find them- faltered and fell back. During the same time, the men of the 76th selves trapped, the steel bars that had saved their lives just sec- and 78th Platoons were also fighting fierce automatic weapons onds before now trapping them like a cage. On the other hand, duels with attacking Germans, and managed to successfully hold the Horsa glider was made out of wood and could crack and their lines against repeated German attacks. While the glider pi- break up as they hit the ground. In case of a fire, the men inside lots may not have wanted to take up being an infantry grunt as could break their way out by chopping through the glider’s wood their full time job, Crocker felt they were well prepared to com- frame. However, in a hard landing the Horsa was liable to shat- plete their mission. Crocker had personally been trained in basic ter, exploding, as Randolph put it, “like a dropped watermelon,” infantry tactics and had received training on virtually every small and shattering into a hail of splinters that could kill a man as easily arm infantry weapon the 194th possessed. Most of the pilots as steel shrapnel. Whatever craft they flew, the glider pilots devel- participating in Varsity had taken part in Market Garden and the oped a sense of pride in their abilities as pilots and became used pre-Overlord airborne assaults as well, so they had seen enemy to the characteristics of their gliders. Regardless of their abilities fire and were no strangers to the battlefield. Nonetheless, the as pilots, what the glider flyers were not used to doing was ground experience of the 435th that day marked a unique moment in fighting. airborne history. The engagements the glider pilots fought that night would go down in Air Force lore as “The Battle of Burp Before Varsity, pilots occasionally served in ground combat roles, Gun Corner,” the first time in history that pilots had specifically although it was most often as guards or stopgap infantry until been assigned to a ground combat role, and a battle for which regular infantry units could replace them. However, a few weeks every participant would eventually receive the Bronze Star. before Varsity was scheduled to take off, the 194th Glider Infan- try discovered that it was one company short of what it needed As the glider pilots nosed their aircraft toward the earth, hun- to complete its assigned objectives. The 435th Troop carrier group dreds of transports rumbled across the sky overhead. Trans- was assigned to fill the needed manpower, creating an all-officer ports double towing the gliders, heavy four-engine bombers company made up entirely of glider pilots. The pilots were trained loaded down with supplies for the troops once they hit the ground, in infantry tactics by the 17th Airborne and divided up into four and the always-reliable C-47s, which, along with the heavier platoons assigned to help the 435th secure its objective northeast double-door C-46 Commando were hauling sticks of paratroop- of the town of Wesel. After landing their gliders under fire, the ers into battle, all roared over the Rhine. Weaving in and out of members of the 194th formed their platoons and headed to- the smoke-darkened sky around the aerial fleet were the nimble wards their assigned objectives. For many of them, it would prove fighters, tasked with intercepting the Luftwaffe and suppressing to be a very long and interesting evening. The first part of their flak. The hunting would be plentiful for fighter pilots looking for mission seemed routine enough as they cleared several houses of flak guns that day. Montgomery’s smoke screen had given the straggling Germans and dodged occasional sniper fire. As night Germans plenty of warning and on the east side of the river

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 11 hundreds of anti-aircraft weapons sat ready, their barrels pre- dove off the road just as a German shell exploded behind him, pared to spit death into the sky. The German battle plan relied on throwing him through the air. The stunned paratrooper stood up blasting the Allied aircraft from the sky before they dropped and looked around for the fellow soldier that had saved his life. their loads of gliders and paratroopers. As the Allied planes came There was no one there. “I guess that was my guardian angel,” into range, dark clouds filled with a lethal hail of shrapnel puffed Rademaker said. He had little time to reflect on the incident, how- into the sky. Planes began to plunge to earth as flak filled the air ever, because Rademaker would soon find his services to be in around the formation. Every aircraft was boxed in, unable to high demand. He had jumped into the battle carrying a bazooka, take evasive action for fear of colliding with another aircraft. To and across the landing zones, troops were calling for more fire- their horror, the crews on board the C-46s soon realized that power. Rademaker could hear cries of “Bazooka man! Bazooka their plane’s lack of self-sealing fuel tanks, large fuel load, and man!” up and down Allied lines. He eventually hooked up with extremely vulnerable fuel lines meant that they were in control of members of his company and put his Bazooka to use taking out a flying incendiary bomb. As shells and shards of shrapnel lanced a sniper nest. into the lumbering Commando transports, they would start a fire that would follow the fuel lines along the back end of the As the sun rose on March 25, the east side of the Rhine was plane, covering the aircraft in a sheet of flame. The crews tried all secure. Ground units had fought their way forward and had joined they could to hold the plane steady to give the paratroopers time up with the airborne units who had dropped in front of them. to get away from the burning aircraft, before the plane dropped The glider pilots pulled back towards the Rhine, as soldiers who out of formation. The craft then either plummeted to earth with had crossed under the cover of the very same smokescreen that a thick trail of black smoke marking its death dive or simply they had struggled to land in came up to relieve them. British exploded in mid-air, adding to the black smudges already blot- Churchill tanks, which floated across the river on makeshift rafts, ting the sky. growled their way towards the frontlines. Rademaker and many of his fellow airborne troops hopped aboard the tanks and be- One of those jumping out of the boxed in transports was twenty- gan fighting their way deeper into Germany. year-old Private James Rademaker. Outside his transport, the sky was clear, with only a few wispy white clouds obscuring the heav- Varsity marked a series of firsts and lasts for Allied forces as the ens. As they neared the drop zone, the transport pilots encoun- war neared its end. It was the first time that glider pilots received tered the same problem that Randolph and his fellow glider pi- a pre-designated combat role, the only time in the war in which lots experienced. While the sky above may have been bright blue Air Force pilots were officially designated to serve as infantry. and clear, a thick fog of white smoke from the Allied smokescreen Varsity also ended up being the final major glider operation of hid the ground below. The deadly black clouds of flak buffeting the war, as plans to include them in an invasion of Berlin and the planes were a marked contrast to the harmless blue sky. “Boy invasion of Japan were scrapped when they became unnecessary. that flak was heavy,” Rademaker remembered. “But the day was The operation also marked the first time that glider troops were beautiful.” The day before the jump, the paratroopers heard “Axis sent to seize objectives that had not been occupied by paratroop- Sally” on the radio proclaiming that the Allies would never touch ers, and this partially accounted for the horrific losses sustained the ground on the opposite side of the Rhine. “Men of the Sev- by the glider crews. Additionally, the operation marked the first enteenth Airborne Division: We know you are coming. We are and only time that the C-46 Commando aircraft would trans- waiting and ready for you on the Rhine. You won’t need your port Gen. Ridgway’s paratroopers, for as the battle demonstrated parachute; the flak will be thick and you can walk down.” For the aircraft could turn into a flying death trap with a single hit. many of those floating down in silk canopies on the east side of The lessons learned from Varsity were costly ones, but were les- the Rhine, it oftentimes indeed looked as though they could al- sons that would never need to be employed as Varsity would most walk down on the bursting black blooms of smoke. Many prove to be the last major airborne operation of the war in Eu- pulled themselves high on their risers or desperately swerved to rope. The western Allies now had a firm hold on the Eastern avoid German fire. The paratroopers would be outnumbered bank of the Rhine and could roll further into Germany. In the and outgunned, and often landed almost directly on top of Ger- East, the endgame was approaching as Russian forces over- man positions. Rademaker’s pilot had been so busy simply trying whelmed the ill-equipped and demoralized Wehrmacht and swept not to be blown out of the sky and keep any semblance of their way towards the German heartland. bearings that by the time the paratroopers jumped, they were miles off course. “We landed entirely in the wrong place,” Part IV: The Gathering Storm Rademaker said. “It was terrible, a really bad jump.” While the British, Americans and French moved into Germany in As Rademaker’s feet finally touched the earth, a deep rumble carefully orchestrated pincers in the West, the Russians were en- filled the air. Behind him, a B-24 Liberator roared into view, fly- veloping the country in a massive wave from the East. Over six ing just above the ground. As it cleared the tree line behind million Russian soldiers were marching through Hungary and Aus- Rademaker, the bomber was hit by flak and plowed into the tria on their way into Hitler’s “Fatherland.” In Vienna, the Rus- German soil, taking out a row of houses as it skidded and came sians encountered fierce German resistance, and they responded apart. Rademaker pulled himself free of his parachute and looked in kind. During a week of vicious street fighting and thunderous around for familiar faces, but he could not see anyone from his bombardments, Soviet forces reduced much of historical Vienna company. “I couldn’t find anyone I knew so I just headed out to rubble. As the Red Army moved on to the key port city of down the road,” Rademaker said. As he worked his way along Danzig, German defenders became almost fanatical. Hitler Youth, the road, taking him towards what he hoped were Allied posi- determined to die for their Fuhrer rather than surrender to the tions, he heard someone shout, “Get off the road!” Rademaker hated Russians, attacked the advancing tank columns with

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 12 Panzerfaust rocket launchers and Molotov Cocktails, making the low) was being developed only as fighter, instead of a bomber, Russians fight through the city block by bitter block. German and demanded that the plane be entirely re-tooled to fit the civilians desperately streamed toward the harbor, where the final bomber role. Only after the Allies fully demonstrated their air remnants of the once proud German navy waited to take them superiority did Hitler finally allow the plane to be used in its true to safety. Flights of Russian aircraft pounced on the fleeing col- interceptor role. The Luftwaffe also rolled out the Me-163 Komet, umns, littering the roads with bodies and burnt out vehicles. The a rocket interceptor, which carried a load of 30mm cannons or Russians pulled artillery to the high ground in the city and set their rockets and could reach a height of 10,000 feet in less than a sites on the evacuation ships in the harbor. Shells soon began minute. The Komet would streak upwards through bomber for- blowing ships packed with refugees and retreat- mations pouring cannon rounds and rockets ing soldiers to splinters. On March 18, the last into the underbellies of the lumbering planes German defenders pulled back from their de- as it streaked past. The bombers were seem- fenses and the evacuation fleet sailed from the ingly defenseless against the new German planes. harbor. With the capture of Danzig and the Often times the Me-262s would attack from annihilation of a delusional Heinrich Himmler- the 12 o’clock high position and with a closing led counter-attack out of the Oder region, the rate of 600 mph with the bombers, the gun- Russians faced only the crumbling remains of ners on board the Allied planes barely had the Wehrmacht. Almost within their grasp, just enough time to notice the jet flashing towards beyond the scorched earth that lay before and them, much less react and try to shoot at it. behind the Red Army, was their ultimate prize: Nonetheless, as they had so often before, the Berlin. Allies learned to adapt. While American fight- ers could not hope to catch the much faster Germany found itself squeezed from three di- 262s or 163s in a sprint, they could outturn rections, the Anglo-American alliance in the west, them. Also, because their fuel supplies were the Soviets in the east, and the combined air burned up so quickly, the German jets had very Fierce house to house fighting marked forces of the Allies from above. With the ap- little flight time to engage the bombers, thus the last weeks of the war pointment of A.T “Bomber” Harris as the head once they had turned for home, American fight- of British Bomber Command in 1942, the Allies began an in- ers would shadow them until they reached their aerodrome and tense saturation bombing campaign of German occupied terri- then shoot them down as they slowed to land. American fighters tory and Germany proper. From late 1942 on, the Allies oper- would also go on hunter-killer missions to try to locate airbases ated with virtual impunity over German airspace. The advent of where the German jets flew. Once they had found the base, they the P-51 Mustang and P-38 Lightning meant that Allied bomber would attempt to destroy the jets on the ground, or shoot them crews had “little friends” to escort them to their targets and back down as they scrambled to take off. Jets were not the only to base. In late 1943, the RAF and USAAF began a constant Luftwaffe hazards Allied bomber crews faced in the dwindling pounding of Berlin from the air, often delivering over 2,000 tons days of the war. They also had to deal with occasional suicide of bombs in a single raid on the German pilots as well. German pilots, flying Me- capital. The RAF, with the lighter armed 109s or Focke-Wulf 190s would attempt Lancaster bombers, kept Berliners awake to ram Allied bombers. Bomber crews through long nights of air raids, while the could hear the German pilots being urged USAAF with the sturdier and heavier armed to die for their country over their radios. Flying Fortress and Liberator dominated the With the Germans in full retreat on all fronts, skies by day. As the war drew towards its many crews began to wonder why they close, the Germans became desperate to were still flying at all. The Allied air forces stop the relentless Allied bombing. The cit- in Europe were running out of large tar- ies of Nuremberg, Hamburg and others gets to bomb, and bombers continued to were burned to the ground by wave after fall victim to German jets and flak as they wave of Allied fire bombers. By the spring A B-17 falls victim to the German jets carried out their missions. However, the of 1945, the bomber crews were used to bomber crews dutifully carried on, until the flying over Germany with dominating fighter cover; able to swat linking of American and Russian forces at the Elbe River made away most of the planes the Luftwaffe was able to send to inter- mass bombing mission unnecessary for the rest of the war. cept them. Oftentimes, their main worry was not falling victim to the flak that enveloped the formations as they flew over their Part V: The Curtain Falls targets. However, they were given a new worry in the form of bright flashes with trailing clouds of dark smoke that seemed to Eisenhower conceded Berlin to the Russians at the end of March, come streaking out of nowhere towards the formations of cabling Stalin to inform him that he had no intention of driving bombers. The jet age had arrived. the Anglo-American forces to the German capital. He recog- nized that taking Berlin would have required fierce, bloody street The Luftwaffe had been working on jet fighter aircraft since be- fighting that in the end would accomplish virtually nothing for fore the start of the war. Hitler, refusing to believe that Germany the western Allies. While they could boast of beating the Russians would ever be fighting a defensive war, delayed the project re- to Berlin, it had already been decided at the Yalta Conference to peatedly. Even in 1944, as Allied bombers were pounding Ger- split the city into occupation zones, and that the city itself would many, Hitler became furious that the Me-262 Schwalbe (Swal- be deep within territory designated to the Russians at the end of

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 13 the war. Eisenhower was not willing to pay the price in lives to artillery reduced Berlin to rubble, the Red Army was advancing accomplish an objective that no longer had any real military im- towards the city. As the Russians rolled towards Berlin, Stalin portance. Patton and Montgomery, who both had their eyes fixed pitted his top two commanders, Konev and Zhukov, against one on Berlin, were both extremely frustrated when instead of or- another, spurring them on toward the German capital like a vi- dering them to knife towards the prized city, Eisenhower halted cious jockey. Of the German forces that remained, most chose their advances. Patton particularly felt he could reach Berlin easily, to die in battle rather than surrender to the hated Russians. With but Allied high command overruled him. Instead, Patton and the desire to capture Berlin overpowering them, Zhukov and Montgomery received lesser assignments. Montgomery was tasked Konev threw their forces at the German defense, attempting to with firming up the Anglo-American hold on Denmark, which overwhelm them with superior numbers. Russian close support Allied high command felt that the Russians might try to seize, and artillery often fell among Red Army troops, and tanks often drove Patton was tasked with occupying Hitler’s redoubt in the Alps, right over the infantry in their haste to advance, leaving their bod- where it was feared that the Nazis would make a last stand. Nei- ies crushed into the bloody German soil. Officers that did not ther fear proved to be realized, but it did it tie up Eisenhower’s move fast enough, or soldiers who did not seem to be fighting two most egotistical commanders rather than simply having them hard enough, were executed on the spot. Lacking electronic or sit in place until the end of the war. tank mounted mine detectors to clear the German mine fields, Zhukov simply used old- With seizing Berlin no longer a goal, the fashioned mine detectors: human beings. Pris- Anglo-American drive into Germany began oners or soldiers charged with treason or to slow down. Many soldiers now just cowardice were marched ahead of advanc- wanted to make it out of the last weeks of ing Soviet troops to clear the way. With over the war alive. Now instead of encountering six million men at their disposal, Zhukov and columns of German armor, they found Konev felt little need to employ actual strat- themselves facing streams of refugees. Many egy; they simply hurled their force against the were fleeing the advancing Russians, attempt- enemy in a ruthless race to be the first to Ber- ing to make it to western lines where they lin. The Russian commanders urged their men knew their fate would be far less severe. While on, telling them that if they moved too slowly some Allied soldiers vented their frustrations their rival, or worse, the western Allies, would on civilians and surrendering German sol- Why we fought. Dead prisoners at the capture the city before they did. diers, for the most part the Germans were Buchenwald camp treated with civility, and many of the soldiers On April 21, Zhukov won the race. His tank were only lightly guarded, if at all. However, this began to change columns rumbled into the edges of the demolished German capi- as the advancing armies began to come across the concentration tal and began fighting their way into the city. Hitler Youth fighters camps that had been deep behind German lines. hid in houses, and ran from street to street, blasting Russian tanks with Panzerfausts. The Russians brought the full force of their The existence of the camps was well known within the Russian army to bear on the fanatical teenagers that resisted them. Tanks, and western Allies’ high command, but the full scope of the assault guns, artillery, flamethrowers, heavy machine guns, and horrors would not become apparent until the liberation of the demolition charges were employed to destroy the buildings oc- camps began. As Allied tanks rolled into the camps, they found cupied by the remaining German forces. Then the Russian infan- themselves surrounded by swarms of living skeletons. The smell try would move into the rubble, where oftentimes the Germans of death was everywhere. The Third Army came across the were still holed up and firing, and wipe out any that remained in Buchenwald camp and discovered stacks of bodies still waiting bloody close quarters combat. On April 25, the Soviets sur- to be put into the crematorium. Those German guards that did rounded Berlin, and nearly half a million Soviet soldiers, backed not retreat from the camps in time received little in the way of by thousands of tanks, artillery pieces, and rockets began clearing mercy; some were simply shot on the spot or hung by the former the city. The remaining German defenders numbered no more inmates. The main American commanders, namely Patton, than 100,000, most of whom where either young Hitler Youth Eisenhower, and Bradley, all made tours of the camps, and or- or old, ill-trained Volkssturm militia. They knew that there was dered as many soldiers as possible to tour them, so that in the no longer any option of surrender, because if the Russians did future they could attest to the horrific sites that they had seen. not kill them, then the feared SS would. Civilians from the surrounding towns were ordered to bury the bodies so they could see what horrors had been committed in As German civilians hid in the cellars or in the subway tunnels the name of National Socialism. For the first time, the soldiers under the city, soldiers on both sides fought the last desperate saw why they had fought their way across Europe. actions of the war on the streets above them. In his fortified bunker, Hitler moved non-existent armies across planning charts, April 20, 1945, marked Hitler’s birthday. In Berlin, most people unable to comprehend that his empire no longer existed. He were too busy standing in bread lines or seeking shelter in cellars blamed his commanders and the German people for the failure or subway stations to notice the occasion. However, both the of his grand plans, because if they were true believers Germany Russians and the Eighth Air Force remembered and made good would not be heading toward defeat. On April 29, Hitler and his on Goebbels’ promise that the “earth would shake” as the Nazis new wife, Eva Braun, killed themselves in his command bunker faded. The Allies sent Hitler a special birthday greeting in the as Russian artillery shells and rockets rained down outside. Admi- form of a bombing raid and a massive Russian artillery barrage ral Karl Doenitz succeeded Hitler as the next Fuhrer of the Reich, into the center of the city. While the Allied air forces and Russian taking over a government that would continue to function for

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 14 little more than a week, and counted the territory that it actually there was precious little gasoline to go around. With the bulk of held to be little more than a few acres. On April 30, the Russian the fighting behind them, soldiers now just wanted to get home army raised the Hammer and Sickle over the Reichstag and mer- alive, but like the aircrews, they too would suffer their share of cilessly attacked the few remaining German defenders. At three senseless tragedies in the last days of the war. Soldiers moving in in the afternoon on May 2, the Russian guns finally ceased firing; areas where they thought there was no more resistance suddenly the capital of the “Thousand-Year Reich” had capitulated. would find themselves under German fire. Some who had been in combat for the duration of the war would fall in the last few Elsewhere scattered fighting would continue days, within sight of heading home. The last until V-E Day on May 8, when the German confirmed American combat death in the Eu- surrender was announced. During the twi- ropean Theater came on May 7, 1945. The light hours of the war, soldiers continued to Second Platoon of C Company from the U.S. fight and die, earning largely unknown deaths 803rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, which was in unknown places. For the Allies in the west part of the Fifth Infantry Division that had it was especially hard. As they continued to stormed across the Rhine two months ear- advance through German occupied territory, lier, was patrolling near Volary, Czechoslova- many Germans either did not realize, or sim- kia when they suddenly came under fire from ply did not care, that the war was lost. Iso- a nearby tree line. The GIs had not been an- lated resistance continued. Allied bombers con- ticipating German resistance and quickly tinued to fly, although now, their mission was A German Volkssturm general lies dead scrambled to find cover. In the brief firefight no longer one of death and destruction, but next to a shredded portrait of his that followed, Pfc. Charles Havlat, a 34 year- one of mercy. Operation Chowhound-Manna beloved Fuhrer, choosing suicide over old Czech-American from Nebraska, raised his saw thousands of Allied heavy bombers roar- the humiliation of surrender to the head from behind his jeep to observe the scene. ing low over areas that had been occupied by hated Russians As his head came up a German rifle bullet the Germans, and drop hundreds of tons of food and badly struck him in the forehead, killing him instantly. Ten minutes later, needed supplies to the citizens below. After raining death from a ceasefire took effect all across Europe. At 2301 on May 8 1945, their planes for so long, many of the crews were happy to know the surrender of the German Reich, signed by Generals Wilhelm that their payloads were helping to keep people alive, rather than Keitel and Alfred Jodl, became official, bringing the bloodiest killing them. However, even these mercy missions were not en- conflict that Europe had ever seen to a close. tirely safe. A pocket of German resistance in Holland shot down a B-17 on a food supply Epilogue mission, on May 7, the last day of the war, sending the plane plunging into the North Sea, The Allied drive into Germany in 1945 was leaving only four survivors. The plane would one of the most impressive feats in modern be the final bomber to be shot down by en- warfare. Just two years before, most of Eu- emy fire in the European Theater during World rope was under the control of Hitler’s War II. Additionally, Allied aircrews, knowing Wehrmacht. Even during the last weeks of the that the war was all but over, let their guard war, there were still some die-hards who be- down a little too much at times, resulting in lieved that Germany would win the war unnecessary casualties from avoidable acci- through the “wonder weapons” that Hitler dents. Crews died in violent mid-air collisions; Wilhelm Keitel formally surrenders to promised them. However, the advanced Ger- some planes missed runways and exploded in the Red Army. Though General Jodl man technology came much too late and in to tree lines, while still other crewmembers met had surrendered to the Americans the few numbers to stop the Allied advance. With gory deaths at the hands of whirling propel- day before, the Red Army demanded a the close of the Second World War, a new lers on the flight line. As tragic as the losses ceremony of its own conflict would brew for the next forty-five were, they were a massive drop off from the days when close to years as the Soviet Iron Curtain fell across Eastern Europe. Some half of a bomber formation would not return from a mission, have questioned the western Allies’ decision not to move further and the crews kept themselves going knowing that their work into Germany and to take Berlin before the Russians. However, was almost done. hindsight is 20/20, and in the heat of battle, one can hardly fault Eisenhower for not wanting to sacrifice over a hundred thou- For the troops on the ground, things proved to be no less haz- sand soldiers’ lives merely to accomplish a political goal. To be ardous. They continued to face pockets of resistance as they sure, the Cold War was a tragedy, replacing one lunatic dictator’s moved to set up occupation zones. The massive battles of the empire with another’s. But, as history has shown, all such empires war had ended, and now all that remained was to defeat the are doomed to fail. Today, all of Europe stands free from both tattered remnants of what had once been the unstoppable Nazi Fascism and Communism, and where freedom was once crushed, war machine. Entire units on the Eastern Front had simply ceased it can now flourish, thanks to the sacrifice of those who fought to exist, annihilated by the Red Army, while on the Western Front, through icy winters, bloodstained fields, and soggy mud to liber- Hitler’s armies were now manned by teenagers and old men, ate it. All those who perished opposing Hitler’s crazed plans, from with only a few rounds of ammunition each and no gasoline to the first dissidents sent to the concentration camps to the last fuel vehicles. The Luftwaffe was all but destroyed, and Allied soldier on the battlefield, gave their lives so that the world will fighters went hunting for the few planes that remained. Even never again have to fight the nightmares that shook the earth of getting into the air was a rare occasion for the Luftwaffe because Europe six decades ago. WWII

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 15 A Victory in Perspective Behind the End of the Pacific War and the Manhattan Project By Geraldine Genzardi

The story often told of the final defeat of Japan overlooks vital Relations with Japan had been strained long before the United pieces that bring together the events that took place at the end of States entered into World War II, and military leaders believed World War II. For instance, today many people have never heard that war was inevitable. The American military had been prepar- of the Manhattan Project, learned about the tremendous casual- ing a plan for any conflict with the Japanese for four decades ties both sides experienced during the bloody Pacific campaign, prior to World War II, entitled “War Plan Orange.” The strategy or grasped the decision President Truman was forced to make of War Plan Orange was to mobilize the United States’ Naval regarding the atomic bomb. Each of these events are related to Fleet and protect the outlying Pacific islands from capture. After one another, and must be understood the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United to have a firm sense of the actions taken States immediately realized attention by both the Japanese and the Americans must be turned to the dominance of air- at end of World War II. The final defeat craft in naval warfare and the outline of of Japan in 1945 was the result of per- War Plan Orange changed. sistence by the American forces in the Pacific campaign, strategic planning for Twelve years prior to the initial detona- the invasion of Japan, and undertaking tion of the atomic bomb in 1945, pre- the Manhattan Project and the dawn of mier Jewish scientists, including Albert the nuclear age. Einstein and Leo Szilard, were fleeing Europe to escape the growing threat of To many veterans, the Japanese today fascism and racial hatred. In 1938, Ger- are very different from the Japanese of man scientists Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, World War II. Japanese soldiers com- and Fritz Strassmann succeeded in split- mitted an overwhelming number of ting a uranium atom, discovering fission. atrocities that many still deny. The 1937 At the White House, President Harry S. Truman For the scientists that had fled Europe, conquest of Nanking, China, is com- announces the surrender of Japan on August 14, 1945 the implications of this event were over- monly referred to as the “Forgotten whelming. The Nazis could now pursue Holocaust” and “The Rape of Nanking.” Much of the city was the development of an atomic bomb. Szilard felt that President burned to the ground. The Japanese raped and murdered Chi- Roosevelt should be informed about this possible threat. He knew nese citizens on a massive scale. The blades of Japanese soldiers’ that he would likely not be taken seriously, as a foreign man telling swords were often ruined, as one of their favorite methods of the president that the Germans could make a bomb that would execution was to cut Chinese soldiers in half, helmet and all. Another destroy a whole city. Considering this, Szilard convinced Einstein, method of killing Chinese prisoners at Nanking was to bury them, already a prominent figure, to write a letter to Roosevelt explain- leaving only their head above the ground, then crushing them by ing the dangers nuclear fission posed in the hands of the Ger- riding over on horses or in tanks, or by gouging them with bayo- mans. Upon reading this letter, Roosevelt formed the Advisory nets. Others were used as guinea pigs in testing new anesthetics Committee on Uranium on October 11, 1939. The development before being killed. Some were shot in an effort to teach Japanese of the atomic bomb would become a race pitting the United surgeons how to remove bullets. States against Hitler’s Germany.

In April 1943, the first reports of the torture and murder of With the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the American prisoners surfaced following the infamous Bataan Death United States officially entered World War II and found itself March. Soldiers were outraged when they heard of the treatment countering a Japanese offensive in the Pacific. The first move of POWs. Army Psychologists asked GIs if they agreed with the would be to dispatch troops from Washington and Alaska to following statement: “I would really like to kill a Japanese sol- defend the islands of Samoa, Guam, Johnston, Midway and dier.” Thirty-eight to 48 percent agreed, while in comparison, to Palmyra. However, from a political standpoint the Pacific Cam- the question of killing a German soldier only five to nine percent paign was second to the defeat of Germany. agreed. With no Hitler to focus their aggression on in the Pacific war, soldiers lumped all the Japanese together into one loathed Even though the Pacific was not the top priority, an attack on killing machine. Meanwhile, a Japanese soldier’s purpose was to Japan was still in the minds of United States Navy and Army live so he could die in battle. The Japanese frowned upon the officers, and with new developments in 1942 of amphibious war American soldiers that surrendered and considered them vehicles, an attack in the Pacific was becoming more of a cowards. A Japanese soldier’s acceptance of death was morbid, reality. Japanese troops would seize control of the Philippines, frightening and shocking to most American troops. Malaya, Burma, most of coastal China, and the entire Western Pacific by spring of 1942. The eventual conflicts between the

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 16 United States and Japan in the Pacific theater would result in some how to create a bomb of this awesome power before the United of the bloodiest battles of World War II. States. It was a race of wit, ingenuity and time.

After the United States declared war on Japan following the bomb- Dr. McAllister Hull was a member of the Manhattan Project and ing of Pearl Harbor, the development of an atomic bomb was stationed at Los Alamos. “Secrecy was ingrained in us from the pursued more seriously. The nuclear program was turned over to time we entered the Manhattan Project,” Dr. Hull said. “I first felt the Army and placed under General George C. Marshall’s com- it when I was put in charge of a small group of other GIs travel- mand. Marshall put General Leslie R. Groves, Deputy Chief of ing from Oak Ridge to Los Alamos and had to call a number Construction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in control each time the train stopped to report.” He continued: “Then, we of a secret operation called the Manhattan Project. In October were given strict instructions whenever we left the site about how of 1941, a secret committee created by Roosevelt called the “Top to answer curious questions and our mail was censored as if we Policy Group” began advising him on the development of the were overseas. Armed Military Police patrolled the fence that sur- atomic bomb. The members consisted of rounded the site and manned the few Vice President Henry Wallace, Vannevar gates in or out, you could neither leave Bush, Chairman of the National Defense nor enter without proper credentials.” Research Committee James B. Conant, General George C. Marshall, and Secre- Although the work at Los Alamos was tary of War Henry Stimson. Yet though very secretive, there was always the threat there were many involved in the project, of security breaches. “There were secu- its existence was kept quiet from most of rity leaks,” explained Dr. Hull. “An Ameri- the nation, and the government, including can technician secretly worked for the Senator Harry S. Truman. Russians, and Klaus Fuchs, whom I knew, was a Russian spy. At Los Alamos, this At the University of Chicago, scientists caused little comment; we knew the im- under the direction of Enrico Fermi set portance of secrecy. Married workers had The Bataan Death March. American prisoners use to work building a reactor in a squash some problems, I imagine, (since) they improvised litters to carry their comrades who, due court under the stands of the university’s could not tell their wives what they were to lack of food and water, fell along the road. football stadium. There they performed doing.” Atrocious treatment of prisoners, combined with the first controlled energy release of an the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, created a searing atom on December 2, 1942. This devel- Dr. Hull served in the Special Engineer- hatred of the Japanese resulting in battles featuring opment in atomic energy use was an im- ing Detachment, part of the Army Engi- carnage beyond belief portant early step in the creation of the neering Department. He lived in the bar- atomic bomb. racks, was subject to ordinary Army discipline and received an ordinary salary according to military rank. Hull worked with chemi- The next step was to produce fuel for the bomb. It was now a cal explosives and was in charge of developing the explosive lenses priority to separate the isotope Uranium-235 from the Uranium- for the “Fat Man” bomb. After his team figured out a way to cast 238 isotope. Three methods were used during the Manhattan the explosive lenses, he was put in charge of a group of civilians Project to separate U-235 from U-238: gaseous diffusion, ther- tasked with producing them. Dr. Hull worked with Fermi, mal diffusion and electromagnetic separation. All three methods Oppenheimer and other the other legendary names associated were costly and extremely challenging for the scientists with the project. He recalled, “I was not intimidated at all. I knew involved. The Army selected several areas throughout the United enough physics then to know who these people were, but the States to build plants whose sole responsibility was to produce tone set by Oppenheimer was that everyone had the same goal, the U-235 needed to fuel an atomic bomb. One of these loca- so everyone was important.” tions was where the bomb would ultimately be built. According to Dr. Hull, most of the people working along side In November of 1942, the Army purchased 54,000 acres near of him on the Manhattan Project were not necessarily in favor of Los Alamos, New Mexico for $440,000 with the explanation that using the bombs. “There should never be a war when nuclear they would use the area as a demolition range. Groves selected weapons are used, except in a last effort to save the country from Los Alamos because it was far enough inland so that no subma- defeat, which was not the case in 1945,” stated Hull. However, he rines or planes could detect it, and because he thought it was a continued, “The Japanese were defeated, but an invasion was oth- beautiful area to be isolated. Groves chose J. Robert Oppenheimer, erwise seen as necessary to bring about the surrender of a stub- a theoretical physicist from Berkeley, to organize some of the born enemy, with the prospect of a million Allied casualties and leading scientists from around the country at Los Alamos for the twenty-five times that many Japanese.” For Hull, it was important development of the atomic bomb. Oppenheimer brought in chem- to weigh the estimated causalities of each proposed action (inva- ists, engineers, mathematicians and physicists, all working in isola- sion versus bombing). With no sign of imminent Japanese sur- tion toward the singular goal of constructing a fission bomb ca- render, the atomic bomb proved the lesser of two awful evils. pable of destroying a city. Working as part of a project that consisted of thousands of people The scientists involved in the project worked mainly as volunteers. but not being able to discuss any events of the day regarding Most of them did not even believe in the use of nuclear weapons. what work was being done or problems that were encountered However, they knew the penalty if they let the Germans discover was a daunting task. The people responsible for making the Man-

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 17 hattan Project possible had to remain quiet for several years. To- bugs’ and ‘the holes in the donuts.’ As long as they were evasive, day, this feat seems remarkable and almost unbelievable. there was no risk of giving away information about the Manhat- tan Project. As a result of these planned communities, the areas In 1942, Groves chose a site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to build a chosen in Oak Ridge and Hanford became some of the largest uranium separating plant. Oak Ridge was hidden deep in a valley cities in their respective states. Encompassing all the facilities and of the Appalachian Mountains, making it easy to keep the town universities used in the research and development of the atomic concealed from the outside world. Few people were living there bomb, the undertaking involved about 120,000 people and 37 at the time, so it was not an expensive purchase. This government facilities. operation was a tightly kept secret. It required gates, workers were to wear badges, and the whole development was fenced in. The The strategy employed by the United States in the war was to cut Army built prefabricated homes and dormitory-style housing to off the Japanese home islands while bombing with overwhelm- accommodate the employees of this new project. It became a ing aerial assaults, presumably forcing Japan to surrender. How- planned community that was never placed on any maps because ever, the United States refused any compromise and demanded of its secretive nature. In fact, the area was referred to as the an unconditional surrender from Japan. By 1943 it was believed “Clinton Engineering Works” until 1949, when the town was of- that in order to achieve unconditional surrender, the United States ficially named Oak Ridge and finally recorded on maps. might have to invade Japan. The United States Joint War Plan Committee (JWPC), which represented the Navy, Construction for the first plant at Oak Ridge be- Army and Army Air Force, decided that they gan in February, 1943. The plant, called Y-12, used needed to draft a plan for the final defeat of Ja- calutrons (large electromagnets) to capture U-235 pan. The strategy consisted of a six-phase opera- for fuel. Groves was in such a hurry to get the tion. On October 25, 1943 plans were completed bombs built that he only gave the contractors of that would involve the invasion of Hokkaido, a the Y-12 facility six months to build the northern Japanese island, in the summer of 1946, plant. Electromagnets were used to separate U- followed by an attack on Tokyo later that fall. When 235 from U-238. The method proved challenging the Joint Chiefs of Staff reviewed this new plan in because the magnetic arc often contained dirt or November of 1943, none of the United States small particles that made cleaning the magnets a military officers approved of it. Many ideas were constant chore, delaying the process. being tossed around; some suggested cutting off Japan’s oil, while Roosevelt wanted a joint effort The second uranium separating plant at Oak Ridge against Japan with the help of China and the So- was built in September, 1943. Called K-25, it cov- General Leslie R. Groves, viet Union. The final invasion of Japan would be ered an area of 2 million square feet and was the charged with overseeing the difficult to plan for and even more difficult to fight. world’s largest steam electric plant. At K-25, the Manhattan Project Troops being shipped out knew that Europe was method of separating the uranium was gaseous “the war of choice,” and would be over long be- diffusion. This process involved uranium being converted into fore the fight against Japan. gas form and then put through several porous barriers. U-235, once separated from U-238, was a lighter gas, so the other side Most of the troops that would be involved in this final invasion of the porous barrier would have a higher concentration of U- were completely unaware of their fate. Many of them were coming 235 than U-238 and could be gathered for fuel. from other areas of the Pacific campaign and would not be given much leave, if any at all. The fighting, which was sure to be as The discovery of plutonium in 1941 by Glenn Seaborg gave the intense as what was seen on Okinawa or Iwo Jima, would be Manhattan Project another fuel option for the bomb. Groves carried on by overworked troops in a war that seemed like it selected Hanford, Washington as the third location to produce would never end. fuel. Plutonium-235, a synthetic element, was manufactured in the reactors at Hanford. Hanford was chosen for its remote location After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States provided China and its proximity to water, which worked as coolant for the three much needed aid of guns, money and advice on how to fight reactors that would be built there. The site was 625 square miles Japan. They believed this would prove a strong incentive to pres- and construction began on August 27, 1943. The plutonium pro- sure China to fight alongside the Allies. However, China’s leader, duced in Hanford was the same plutonium used in the first suc- Chiang Kai-shek, wasted the money and did little with the arms. cessful explosion of an atomic bomb and in the atomic bomb His army was by no means capable of adding much to the fight dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. The existence of the site was also and warlords controlled many of the Chinese armies, making kept secret until the end of the war. This new discovery of pluto- them undependable. Officers of the armies would steal and sell nium gave Groves another fuel option should the bombs need to the rations of their own soldiers, and Chiang was more interested be deployed. in fighting Communism in China rather than defending his coun- try from Japan. After the Doolittle bombing raid on Japan, many Employees at both Oak Ridge and Hanford were never told Chinese became troubled with the Americans. Chiang knew about exactly what they were doing. They were told how to do their the bomb raid before it happened and tried to stop it, fearing jobs and that it was going to end the war but beyond that they Japanese revenge in China. Any Chinese citizens that helped Ameri- were left in the dark. Even the information they did know they can flyers after crash landing their planes in China after the raid were not supposed to talk about. When asked about their jobs were killed by Japanese troops. Following these events, China employees were told to say they make ‘the light for the lightening demanded three things in restitution from the United States: 500

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 18 United States combat aircraft to be based there, three United Marines and servicemen who landed on Iwo Jima were killed or States Army divisions to be shipped to fight in China, and 5,000 wounded. And this was merely a preview of the upcoming battle tons of supplies to be delivered every month. The United States for Okinawa. saw these appeals as a stunt and disregarded them. During the summer of 1943 it was reported that China had broken out into Capturing Okinawa would give the United States a strong strate- civil war. gic position relative to the main island chain of Japan. Okinawa was 350 miles southwest of Ryukyu, one of Japan’s home Roosevelt also pressed for support in the Pacific from the Soviet islands. Okinawa was not only the bloodiest battle of the Pacific Union. At the Tehran Conference, Joseph Stalin affirmed his pledge campaign, it was also the largest amphibious invasion of the cam- to enter the war in the Pacific following the defeat of Germany. paign. There were more supplies, ships, troops and bombs The United States could then launch bombing raids on Japan dropped at Okinawa than at any other time in the Pacific. Over from the Soviet coast. Roosevelt was also willing to allow the 100,000 troops from the 10th Army (half Marine, half Army) Soviet Navy to use bases occupied by the U.S. However, it would went ashore during the battle. Okinawa had been heavily fortified come to pass that Stalin did not give Roosevelt the support he from the beginning of the war and unlike Iwo Jima, had a large had hoped for. population of civilians. Being the most recently annexed island of Japan, natives of Okinawa were often looked down upon by the November of 1944 would mark another rest of their new country. The invasion of presidential election. Though his health was the American forces was seen as a way for clearly in decline, Roosevelt was determined the people of Okinawa to prove their loy- to live to see the end of the war, and to alty to Japan by defending it to their deaths. run for a fourth term. And though his Commanders on both sides believed that popular support was eroding, Roosevelt still this battle would be the model the inevi- won a solid victory over his Republican table invasion of Japan would be based opponent, Thomas Dewey. on, codenamed by the Americans as Op- eration Downfall. The real competition in the election would be for the vice presidency. Roosevelt sup- The Army’s 77th Infantry Division captured ported his incumbent vice president, Henry islands of the Kerama Retto chain as a base A. Wallace, but with FDR’s health failing, to anchor ships on March 26 and 27th. The many in the Democratic Party were wary first landings on Okinawa were made on of having the far-left wing Wallace so close A view from the deck of the USS Bunker Hill the southwestern shore on a five-mile to the presidency. Instead, the moderate shortly after being hit by two kamikazes on May stretch of beach, chosen for its proximity senator from Missouri, Harry Truman, was 11, 1945. The attacks would leave 346 men dead, to two airfields. With surprisingly little mili- nominated for the position, which he re- 264 wounded, and 43 missing tary opposition, the Army and Marines luctantly accepted, unaware of just how came ashore with few problems. Once quickly he would be thrust into the spotlight. advancing inland, however, they would encounter tenacious Japa- nese defenders in tunnels, hilltop pillboxes, and caves ready to Even after his election to the vice presidency, Truman never gained fight. Initially, the biggest threat facing the Americans was the ka- Roosevelt’s complete confidence. In February of 1945, Roosevelt mikaze assaults on Allied ships. Kamikaze pilots were often vol- and congressional leaders met to discuss the progression of the unteers and would stop at nothing in their pursuit of targets. These Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb. attacks, part of what the Japanese called Operation Ten-Go, suc- Yet Truman was kept entirely out of the loop. In fact, Roosevelt ceeded in destroying a number of American ships, and left many never briefed him on most of the situations, plans, and agree- servicemen wounded or severely burned. ments made concerning the war in the Pacific. On April 12, the Japanese launched a new series of deadly at- In early March, Truman met with Roosevelt to discuss certain tacks, this time employing a new and terrifying weapon, the “ohka” aspects of the war, but he was still not made aware of the Man- or “cherry blossom.” The ohka was basically a flying bomb, each hattan Project or plans for future Soviet support in the Pacific. one manned by a pilot, bent on suicide. Though the ohkas suc- Just weeks later, on April 12, 1945 Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, ceeded in sinking several ships, they had to be transported to their Georgia, due to a cerebral hemorrhage. No longer could Truman, targets by larger carrier planes before being launched, leaving them now president, be kept in the dark. The weight of the presidency, vulnerable to attack. In all, it has been estimated that roughly 1,900 and the war, was now on his shoulders. It would be up to him to Japanese suicide missions were launched against the American fleet end the war in the Pacific, and to weigh the cost of a bloody off Okinawa. Though Japanese military leaders realized that suc- invasion of Japan against unleashing the most terrible weapon cess in the war was not possible, they were determined to make ever created on a defiant enemy. the Americans pay dearly for their victory. The escalation of ka- mikaze attacks during the battle of Okinawa further demonstrated The campaign in the Pacific demonstrated time and time again the lengths to which the Japanese would go to defend their is- the ferocity of the Japanese troops, determined to achieve vic- lands. tory or die trying. The result of the invasion of Iwo Jima would give Truman’s administration even more cause to make the deci- While the Japanese pounded the American fleet with suicide at- sion to drop atomic bombs on Japan. One in three American tacks, the Army and Marine forces slowly gained ground along

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 19 the beachfront. The Americans were constantly under fire from Okinawa, the model for the future invasion of Japan, was the hidden Japanese troops, who had established a defense position bloodiest battle of the Pacific. Yet estimated losses for the battle that came to be known as the Shuri Line. The Japanese defenses for Japan would make Okinawa look like a mere skirmish. The were difficult to crack because of the tenacity of the fighters. On events at Okinawa have often been eclipsed in the public’s memory April 12, the troops were further disheartened by the announce- by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 1945, Sid Moody, ment that President Roosevelt had died and would be replaced a journalist for the Associated Press stated, “Before Hiroshima by Harry Truman. Many had no idea who Truman was and had a there was Okinawa. Because of Okinawa, in considerable part, hard time accepting Roosevelt’s death. there was Hiroshima.” Moody’s statement illustrates just how horrific the fighting was on Okinawa and gives insight into Truman’s Immediately upon taking office, Truman set upon educating him- reasoning for choosing not to invade Japan. self on the plans and strategies of the war. On April 25, he met with Stimson and Groves to discuss the mysterious Manhattan Captain Harold “Hal” Braun, of the 158th Infantry recalled fight- Project. There he was given a lengthy packet on the project and all ing during the Pacific campaign as “brutal.” Braun described the the information regarding it. Truman decided to form an interim intense hand-to-hand combat between Japanese forces occupy- committee to follow the development of the bomb. Still, like ing the Philippines and his company in 1944: “They would attach Roosevelt, Truman was burdened with overseeing a war on two bombs to themselves and then jump in the foxhole you were in. fronts, and could give only so much attention to the Manhattan You had to kill them before they had a chance to explode.” He Project. However, his full focus could soon be turned to the de- compared this strategy to the suicide bombers we know today. feat of Japan, when on May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered One morning he recovered two bodies of American paratroop- to the conquering Allies. ers. They had been cannibalized by their cap- tors along with four Japanese soldiers who had Mr. Maurice Reeves, a staff sergeant who been eaten by their own men. “The war over fought in the Battle of Okinawa, commented there was a different kind of war,” explained on the way the Japanese fought: “The Japanese Braun. “Japanese troops would use twelve foot today are different from what they were then. long bamboo poles with knives on the end of They were very vicious during the war. No one them and stab men in foxholes.” No one ever wanted to be taken prisoner because they did knew what to expect. On the night of May 30, not last very long. They were good fighters but 1944 one of the enemy shouted at him, “To- we were able to overpower them.” POWs night you die, Braun!” Braun believed that they held by the Japanese died at a rate of 20 to 35 knew his name because he was a captain. This percent; in comparison, only two to four percent chilling message gave Braun an uneasy feeling United States Marines fight to take of those held by the Germans did not survive. from then on, and all day June 9, Braun’s birth- Wana Ridge before the town of Shuri day, all he could think was, “I’m sure to be on Okinawa. Fighting against the Before the bomb was dropped, Reeves was wounded.” Fortunately, Braun made it through hidden enemy was intense, and snipers preparing for the invasion everybody knew was the day without any problems. Yet the very next were a constant threat coming. “We were on Okinawa getting ready day, on June 10, Braun was wounded. Two to go into Japan. My unit was on the line for 82 days of that men he served with, Sergeants Acuna and Peregoy, joked, “It’s campaign and then they dropped the bomb and it was over,” still your birthday back home!” Braun received five wounds dur- Reeves explained with a sense of relief. ing World War II (three of which he treated himself), but this wound would send him to the hospital. The Japanese were re- Reeves also fought in the Philippines during the Pacific campaign lentless in each struggle against American forces. Braun is now 86 and shared what he could remember. “We were the first troops years old and living in Sun City, Arizona. He says he’s lived a full back in the Philippines after the Bataan Death March. It was a life and has been honored by having his story included in six dif- 110-day campaign before we went to Okinawa. Leyte was the ferent books on World War II, two articles in World War II maga- start of the Philippines campaign. My infantry annihilated a por- zine and several television programs. tion of the division that conducted the Bataan Death March.” Reeves also remarked on the severe conditions he faced while In early 1945, General Marshall and Admiral Ernest King informed fighting in the Aleutians. “The weather was so cold and wet. People Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin that plans for the final defeat of had died more from frozen feet than from gun fire.” Japan were ready. The strategy would involve invasions on the Japanese home islands of Kyushu and Honshu. The initial inva- On May 21, the 6th Marine Division broke the Shuri Line. The sion of southern Kyushu would be code-named Olympic, while strength of the Japanese forces was dwindling as they had lost the assault against the main island of Honshu would be code- over 65,000 troops and civilians. The campaign officially ended named Coronet. Allied military leaders stated that the invasions on July 2 when General Roy Geiger declared Okinawa secure. It would begin after the defeat of Germany and most likely end the has been estimated that nearly 110,000 Okinawan military per- war approximately 18 months after the initial invasion. Both op- sonnel, Japanese troops, and civilians died. At the end of the battle, erations required massive quantities of troops, planes, and sup- many of the surviving Japanese took their own lives, rather than plies, and it would take at least five months to transport every- surrender and appear weak to their countrymen. Once again, the thing from the European Theater to the Pacific. Allied leaders Japanese demonstrated that they lived by the mantra of kill or be aimed for December 1, 1945 for the launching of Olympic and killed. At Okinawa, American losses totalled about 13,000 sol- March 1, 1946 for the launching of Coronet. One of the big diers, Marines, and sailors killed, with 36,000 wounded. questions regarding the invasions would be who would com-

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 20 mand the offensive, Admiral Nimitz or General MacArthur. On made; Truman was going to drop the bomb. The targets chosen May 26, it was decided that the well-liked and magnetic MacArthur were Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata and Nagasaki. Hiroshima was would lead the attack on Japan. According to the actual plans of where the headquarters of 25,000 crack Japanese troops of the Olympic, the main concepts were to seize two ports to prohibit 2nd Army was located and was a main point for the shipment of entry and use from the enemy. Operation Coronet would consist supplies. Nagasaki was selected because it was also a major ship- of massive attacks on the Tokyo-Yokohama area through the use ping post as well as a naval center. Prior to the bombings of of air and naval power. Both operations were planned with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki pamphlets were dropped warning citi- assumptions that the Japanese would continue zens that something tragic was about to happen the war no matter what the cost, and that they and that they should evacuate. Whether or not would defend their country with all the means they took this pamphlet to heart was their deci- available to them. A second assumption was that sion. forces would not only face fierce military op- position but also the “fanatically hostile popula- On August 6, 1945, a B-29, the Enola Gay, pi- tion” of Japan. MacArthur would have at his loted by Colonel Paul Tibbets set off from the disposal 252,000 soldiers and 87,600 Marines base at Tinian to drop the first bomb, “Little in the Kyushu assault, many of whom did not Boy,” on Hiroshima. “Little Boy” was fueled know their fate would be to enter a presum- by Uranium-235 and produced at the Oak Ridge ably bloody and drawn out battle to end the site. A weapon of this magnitude had never war. been tested prior to the attack on Hiroshima, and it was not altogether certain whether it would With the war ended in Europe, Truman was work. After the successful bombing, the White forced to address the Pacific campaign with House released a statement for the people great care. As Lieutenant Walter Switzer said, of America that was also directed towards “It’s necessary to examine the circumstances Then-Colonel Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Japan. It said that if Japan did not accept and the options as Truman saw them in the Gay, waves from the cockpit prior to takeoff the terms of an unconditional surrender, they summer of 1945.” Truman’s ultimate decision to deploy the atomic would suffer another devastating bombing. When no response bombs had to be weighed against the estimated losses of Ameri- came from Japan, conventional bombings resumed. On August can and Japanese lives in an invasion of Japan. He also had to 8, more leaflets were dropped over Japan, imploring citizens to acknowledge the fact that if he did not drop the bomb, and the demand that their emperor offer his country’s full and uncondi- American people found out he could have ended the war and tional surrender. Still, there was no reply. The following day, Au- saved thousands of lives, he would in all likelihood be gust 9, 1945, another B-29, Bock’s Car, piloted by Major Charles impeached. And though some scenarios drawn Sweeney, dropped the second atomic bomb, up for the invasion of Japan predicted lighter “Fat Man” on Nagasaki, first passing over casualties, many predicted very high casualties Kokura due to poor visibility and anti-aircraft that would far outweigh those caused by the fire. “Fat Man” was a plutonium-fueled bomb use of the atomic bomb. and similar to the model that had been tested at the Trinity site in New Mexico. Finally, and de- Few planners of Olympic and Coronet knew spite the objections of many in the Japanese about the Manhattan Project. While at the military, Emperor Hirohito agreed to the stipu- Potsdam Conference in a Berlin suburb, Truman lations of the Potsdam Conference and offered learned of the first successful detonation of a his country’s unconditional surrender on August plutonium-fueled atomic bomb in Alamogordo, 14, 1945 (U.S. time): V-J Day. The formal sign- New Mexico, on July 16, 1945, at a site ing of the surrender documents occurred on codenamed Trinity. When meeting with his ad- September 2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay aboard the visers, Stimson, Leahy, Byrnes, King, Arnold and battleship USS Missouri. Marshall, Truman discovered they all agreed on utilizing the atomic bomb, with the exception The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and of King. Nagasaki killed approximately 160,000 The attack on Nagasaki, August 9, 1945 people. Today the use of the bombs against Truman contemplated attacking Japan with a Japan remains a controversial issue. Some agree massive barrage of conventional bombing in an effort to force with Truman that the war needed to be ended quickly, and this surrender, but decided this would take months and even last as was the best way to do it while minimizing the number of lives long as a year. American lives would not be the only ones on the lost. Japan, as a constitutional monarchy, could not surrender with- line; more Japanese would be killed in a year of bombing than by out the unanimous consent of their whole cabinet. With many the use of two atom bombs. Stimson believed that an invasion cabinet members being militarists, there likely would have never would be too bloody to be acceptable and the alternative of the been a unanimous vote and no hope for peace. Some Japanese atomic bomb would be a better plan. On July 26, the United historians believe that civilian members of the cabinet saw the States offered Japan the opportunity to surrender. If they refused, atomic bomb as a way out of the war. The deployment of atomic Allied forces would “strike the final blows upon Japan.” With weapons proved to the militaristic cabinet members that no mat- Japan showing no signs of submitting an unconditional surren- ter how strong, loyal or persistent they were, their troops could der, the decision that would be debated for the past 60 years was not hope to fight a country that had this powerful a weapon,

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 21 persuading them to surrender. Opposition to the use of the bomb In time, the British liberated Thomasian and his fellow prisoners, says that there were too many civilian lives lost at the expense of taking them to a hospital ship, and then on to Calcutta. “We were a speedy end to war. Debates on the use of atomic weapons will there for a month to be rehabilitated. It seemed like all we did continue; however, it is clear that the circumstances in 1945 called was eat.” Nurses would put a bowl of vitamins on the table and for drastic measures to end a bloody war that would have contin- “we ate them like they were jelly beans,” remembered Thomasian. ued for months. If the bombs had not been dropped, many more lives, American and Japanese alike, would have been lost. They Once sufficiently recovered, it was time to fly home. Thomasian would only have been lost in different ways, whether through and his fellow servicemen boarded a C-47 and set a course for conventional bombings or combat missions. No one can be cer- the United States. As they neared New York City, the pilot of his tain what would have happened had Truman decided against us- plane told them they were about to land. “We could see the out- ing the atomic bombs, though we can speculate. And while we line of the coast and he said ‘fellas look out the right side window. must live with the reality of what did happen, any debate sur- I got something I want you to see,’ and he dove down and then rounding the use of the bombs must take into account the cir- he banked around with his wing tip down and there she was, the cumstances of 1945, everything that was and everything that might Statue of Liberty. She was fantastic. She was superb. We knew we be. That said, it is altogether relevant and important to discuss the were home.” current situations of nuclear weapons and the way they should be regulated, because unchecked nuclear power in the wrong hands It has been 60 years since the end of World War II. Though Japan can have devastating effects. is now one of America’s strongest allies, the scars of the atrocities carried out by its fanatical military can never fully heal. It is impor- Karnig Thomasian was a POW who can recount the brutality he tant for people to be educated about all the events that occurred experienced at the hands of the Japanese, and is a living example leading up to the end of the war, because without this knowledge of why the war needed to end. Thomasian, staff sergeant in the they cannot accurately judge Truman’s decision to use the atomic 40th Bomb Group explained, “If you were a prisoner of the bomb to end the war. Even if the United States had not pursued Japanese, you were very aware of the differences in culture. Their the development and utilization of an atomic weapon, other coun- philosophy of life was so different from ours.” Thomasian com- tries would have. Any debate on the use of atomic weapons against mented on how the Japanese perceived the prisoners of war: Japan should always point out the sacrifices of the thousands of “They looked upon us as dogs, because they would have fought brave soldiers and Marines who gave their lives in the brutal fight- to the end and died.” They also treated their own soldiers as they ing the Pacific and China-Burma-India theaters. A great debt is treated prisoners. One evening Thomasian peered into the court- owed to them that can never be repaid. They died for the rights yard of the grounds and saw a Japanese officer beating one of enjoyed by all the free world, and for this we thank them. his soldiers with a teak wood club. Their mantra seemed to be, “always inflict physical harm,” said Thomasian. WWII Thomasian went on to speculate as to why the Japanese may have World War II Chronicles been especially resentful towards pilots. “They hated us even more because we were airmen,” he said, explaining how the Doolittle raid was such a blow to morale that they associated all airmen A Quarterly Publication of the with Doolittle and the bombings. “I was a POW for six months, but some British fellows were there for three years or more,” said World War II Veterans Committee Thomasian. He spoke of the rigors of just trying to stay alive: Issue XXX, Summer 2005 “My thoughts as a prisoner were to survive day by day and never lose hope. So long as you are breathing you had a chance to David Eisenhower, Honorary Chairman survive.” Many prisoners lost the will to go on. “A lot of soldiers, James C. Roberts, President officers, men, would just give up and lean against the wall or lay Michael Paradiso, Publisher there motionless on the ground. They did not eat or show any sign of life left in them. You could tell when they were starting to Tim G.W. Holbert, Program Director/ give in. They had this look about them. These were not stupid or Editor ignorant men, they just could not take it anymore. We would try to push them or kick them to wake them up or tell them they had World War II Chronicles is to eat and stay alive. We lost tons of weight.” published quarterly by the American Studies Center Thomasian continued, “The one thing I did, almost religiously 1030 15th St., NW, Suite 856 was to keep fit. For example, I volunteered to be in the cook shack.” It was important to keep busy and at least attempt to stay Washington, D.C. 20005 in shape, as it kept a prisoner’s mind off his situation for a little 202-777-7272 while. Eating whatever one could was also imperative. “There was a ground meal that tasted awful but it was the source of The World War II Veterans Committee vitamin B, which was very important. If you got beriberi, water is a project of The American Studies Center, would accumulate in your body and start at your feet. Your body a 501 (c) (3) non-profit public education would just swell and once it got to your lungs you were finished,” foundation. said Thomasian grimly.

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 22 The Flying WASPs The Story of the American Military’s First Female Pilots by Adriel Sanders

It was 1941. In the United States, the Great Depression had The WAFS and the WFTD operated independently until 1943, strangled the economy and left millions out of work, but America whereupon the U.S. War Department fused the two groups into endured. Patriarchal family structure dominated life within al- the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). Jacqueline Cochran most every American household; men worked and provided was named the director of women pilots while Nancy Love for the family while the women tended to the home and the continued to specifically direct the ferrying division. children. It was the standard of life, one that few people chal- lenged. Almost no one believed in a woman’s ability to pilot Shortly after this announcement, Lorraine Rodgers—then airplanes as competently as men, and fewer still could ever enter- Lorraine Zillner—heard of the program. tain the notion of a woman flying for the military. There were some, however, who did. Famed aviatrixes Jacqueline Cochran “Every Friday I’d get my paycheck and I’d go to the little local and Nancy Love were certain that women could not only fly as grass airport and I’d learn to fly. And one day, somebody said, well as men, but that they could also serve their ‘Do you know Jacqueline Cochran is coming into country by flying military aircraft in important op- Chicago to interview women to see if they want erations. to fly Army planes?’ My gosh, here I’m flying a little [Piper] Cub all around Chicago and I thought Meanwhile, in Europe, France and Poland had ‘Army planes!’ So, I went down and called her fallen before the might of the German and had an interview with her,” said Rodgers. Wehrmacht. And although the United States had instituted lend-lease with the United Kingdom, By this time, America had entered the war and Britain was still under siege. With American in- Rodgers was a recent graduate of the University volvement in the Second World War seeming in- of Illinois with a degree in psychology and lan- creasingly unavoidable, the Army Air Force (AAF) guage. Residing in Park Ridge, a suburb of Chi- began making the necessary preparations. As more cago, with her family, Rodgers got a job in the male pilots were sent overseas, General Henry personnel department of Douglas Aircraft Fac- Harley “Hap” Arnold, commanding general of tory. Rodgers’ fascination with planes was one the AAF, realized a growing shortage of quali- of the many things that spurred her love of fly- fied pilots for use in the domestic flying program. ing.

Cochran and Love, realizing how potentially dev- “Where I lived in Park Ridge the planes from astating this shortage would be at home, each offered a solution. Chicago Municipal would fly over when I’d be out in the yard,” Cochran wanted to recruit women to fly the Army’s various Rodgers recalled. “I’d look up and think ‘Where are they going, domestic missions, such as towing air target sleeves for aerial how does that big thing stay up there?’” and antiaircraft gunners, and testing recently repaired aircraft. After her interview with Cochran, Rodgers was well on her way Love, wife of Major Robert Love of the Air Transport to answering both of those questions. Soon, she would be re- Command’s Ferrying Division, opted to assemble a group of sponsible for flying planes around the country, ensuring that both highly qualified women pilots that would exclusively perform she and the plane reached their destination safely. But, before she ferry duty. could undertake this huge responsibility, she first faced the chal- lenge of being inducted into the program. Love and Cochran’s programs differed only slightly, primarily around the issue of militarization. Cochran, unlike Love, wanted “Over 3 years, 25,000 women applied. After applying, we had her female pilots to be militarized and subjected to the same an interview with Jacqueline Cochran or one of her representa- training as male cadets. Although this difference may have ini- tives. If the interview went okay, we had to go in for an Army tially seemed minute, it became a serious issue as the program physical and mental exam. Of the 25,000 women that applied, progressed and the women were successful. 1,830 were accepted for training, and of the 1,830 that were accepted, 1,074 earned their wings,” stated Rodgers. Eventually, in the fall of 1942 both Love and Cochran’s pro- grams were introduced. Love’s program was termed the After a successful meeting with Cochran and fulfilling the neces- Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Service (WAFS), based at New Castle sary requirements, Rodgers was welcomed into the program. Army Air Base in Delaware. Cochran’s program was called the “We had to be 5’2 and a half; later it went up to 5’4,” she recaled. Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD); initially based at “We had to have so many hours in the air and a license. But, the Howard Hughes Field in Houston, it relocated to Avenger Field requirements went down as the women kept proving themselves. in Sweetwater, Texas shortly thereafter. The very last classes didn’t even have to have a license because the women proved they could do it.”

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 23 Rodgers smiled softly as she spoke of her parents’ reactions fly in the afternoon and attend ground school in the morning. when they learned she had been accepted into the program. “My Training consisted of flight instruction and ground school, which father wanted to know all about it, and I told him what I knew. lasted 23 weeks. I looked at my mother, and she looked up and shook her head,” she said with a laugh. “She just looked up to the heavens, shook “We took the same training as the men did. In ground school we her head and said, ‘What next?’” had to take physics, recognition, navigation and Morse code. We learned how to use radios and we took apart and put together Soon after giving her family this news, Rodgers received her engines. It was pretty amazing,” said Rodgers. orders to report to Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas where she would begin training as a WASP. Her excitement peaked The trainees’ skills were tested regularly. Army check pilots ad- upon arrival in Sweetwater the day before training was to begin. ministered the flight examinations, also known as check flights.

“We were told we had to stay at the Blue Bonnet Hotel the night “We proved ourselves. We did it. We went through primary, we arrived and the next morning the bus would be there to take basic, advanced, instrument flying, and night flying, and we were us to the base. Well, we waited, and waited, checked by Army check pilots after each and waited for the bus except they didn’t segment. Every course we took, we were have any buses. We went to the base in a tested. Right there we were proving that cattle car. Those cattle cars were really hor- we could do it,” Rodgers said. rendous,” she recalled. Among other aircraft, the WASP program Rodgers’s class, 44-W-2, consisted of 150 trained women in the PT-19, BT-13, and trainees. They lived in military style bar- the AT-6, which was the same plane used racks with six women in each room. Each to train male fighter pilots. It was in a BT- woman had a locker and a bed. Also, ev- 13 that Rodgers became a member of the ery young woman donned the infamous “Caterpillar Club” when she had to bail zoot-suit. The Army issued each pilot two out of her plane after it entered an inverted GI flying uniforms—which were only Trainees in the WASP program perform their spin. manufactured in male sizes. The women, daily exercises on base therefore, termed their apparel zoot-suits, because of their “I was going out to an outlying field just to practice and I got up bagginess. there and I was just flying along just as happy as a bug in a rug,” said Rodgers. “But suddenly, my plane just flipped upside down “My name being Zillner, I was the last in my class to get a uni- and went into an inverted spin, which means the plane is upside form and I got a man’s 46 long,” chuckled Rodgers. “So, we’d down while spinning down so everything is reversed. You’re roll everything up, tie a belt around, pull it up, and staple the head is down and you’re looking at the sky instead of the ground,” sleeves and pants legs.” Rodgers explained.

Washing these zoot-suits proved as much of a chore as fitting “I worked with it,” she recalled. “I did everything that I’d ever them. “We had two of them but no washing machines,” Rodgers been taught, and then some things I hadn’t been taught because I explained. So, at night, we would stand in the shower with a bar was getting pretty desperate there. And then, when I looked out of soap, and we’d wash with these things on. The other one had and saw how close I was to the ground, I knew I had to get been drying all day, so we had something for the next day. That out.” was the way we did our laundry, in the shower.” “I tried to open and pull back the canopy but the weight of the Avenger Field, the only all female air base in history, was affec- plane, plus the outside pressure…oh boy,” she said. “And I prayed, tionately termed “Cochran’s Convent.” Trainees were not al- believe me I prayed and the canopy came open.” lowed to date, and should they be caught socializing with in- structors, they were kicked out, also known as washed out, of “I just pulled my safety belt. I fell out and said ‘One, Two, TEN’ the program immediately. The only evening they were allowed and pulled the rip cord,” Rodgers said as she held the very same off the base was Saturday. Cochran was determined to run her rip cord in one hand and in the other hand displayed a newspa- program the “Army Way.” She ensured this by not only enforc- per clipping that declared her the newest member of the Cater- ing a strict no dating policy with instructors, but by also guaran- pillar Club. “Suddenly, I hit the ground,” she said. teeing that her female trainees received training equivalent to their male counterparts. “I just laid there,” recalled Rodgers. “I opened my eyes and all I saw was blue and I thought ‘Oh, where am I, where am I?’ “We had to be at breakfast at 6 o’clock and we marched to Then, I heard the galloping of horses and I thought ‘Oh, I’m in everything. After breakfast we’d either have class, or we’d go Texas,’” she said. down to the flight line at 7,” she said. “These two cowboys came galloping over and jumped off of Because there were fewer planes than pilots, the class was parti- their horses. One opened my tie and my leather jacket so I could tioned into two groups. The first half would fly in the morning breathe and the other one pulled off my helmet and goggles,” and attend ground school in the afternoon; the other half would

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 24 Rodgers said. When her long hair fell out, both cowboys jumped Rodgers and her fellow classmates did in fact prove themselves, back and one exclaimed, “My gosh it’s a little girl!” and the best of it came on graduation day. Both Cochran and General Arnold were present at her graduation, said Rodgers “Then, I sat up and I looked over at my plane and just burst into while pointing to the picture of her with a big smile on her face tears,” Rodgers said. “Not from pain or shock. I saw that plane as General Arnold pinned her wings on her suit. and thought ‘I’ll never get to fly again.’” “He [General Arnold] was standing there pinning our wings on, Seeing the young Rodgers burst into tears was apparently too the head of all these pilots all over the world, and Jacqueline much for these cowboys to handle. “The cotton was blooming Cochran said to him, ‘General you really don’t have to stand and one of them ran over and got a big sprig of cotton and said there and pin their wings on them.’ He looked at her and said, ‘Here, here please don’t cry, don’t cry’ and the other took off his ‘I’m enjoying every minute of it’ and we burst out laughing. He red kerchief and said ‘Wipe your eyes and blow your nose,’” was just great, a wonderful person and he really fought for us,” Rodgers said laughing. Rodgers recalled, beaming.

Another plane flying nearby saw Rodgers’s plane go down. Its After graduation, Rodgers was sent to Love Field in Dallas, Texas pilot radioed in her location but assumed she was dead because where she worked in the Ferrying Command. An exhausting it did not see a parachute open. Shortly thereafter, an ambulance job, Rodgers said they never knew what kind of plane they would arrived and took Rodgers to the hospital, where she arrived still be flying. clutching onto her parachute’s ripcord, a souvenir she has kept to this day. Rodgers was fortunate enough not to have any serious “It was 7 days a week we flew. In a typical day we got up early in injuries, though she hurt her leg when it the morning. We had to arrange our own hit the plane’s rudder when she fell out. transportation and we’d go to the air- port,” she explained. “We had cards that “In the meeting this one officer kept say- we presented at any airline, a number ing ‘It is impossible to get out of that two priority, meaning anybody would be airplane in an inverted spin. It’s impos- bumped for us. Number one priority sible. I don’t believe you, tell the truth,’” was for the president. All ferrying pilots, Rodgers recalled. “So, I stood there at men too, had number two priority be- attention and repeated my story. This cause the Army needed those planes; went on about 4 or 5 times,” she said. there was a war going on. So, we’d go “Finally, I looked him straight in the eyes to the airport and be right on a plane.” and asked ‘Have you ever prayed?’” After reaching her destination, Rodgers Jacqueline Cochran (left) and General Henry “Hap” After this statement, the head of the board would report to the aircraft factory and Arnold present Lorraine Zillner with her wings dismissed her to her quarters, where check-in. If flying a new plane, she waited Rodgers was to wait for their decision. Some time later, she for the next one to come off the line. heard her name over the speaker: “Lorraine Zillner report to the flight line.” So, a nervous Rodgers headed to the flight line, pre- “Some of the planes I’d never flown before so, I’d say ‘well, pared to hear the worst. But, instead of being told to go home, until it comes off where’s the manual on it? I want to read and her instructor said, “Go suit up, we’re going to fly.” study it,’” said Rodgers. “Then, the plane came off the line and I took it up and tested it. If it was okay, I’d accept it on behalf of Not expecting this information, Rodgers replied, “I can’t fly, I the United States Army Air Force and fly it to its destination, any destroyed a plane.” place within the States, or I’d fly it to its point of embarkation. If the planes were fighters or bombers we’d take them to the port “No, you didn’t,” her instructor responded. “You didn’t destroy of embarkation and then the men would take them overseas.” it, your rudder cables had been cut.” “Or, if it wasn’t a new plane or, if it was a new training plane, “And to this day no explanation was ever given to me by the Air we’d go to the factory and deliver the plane to the base it was Force. If it was sabotage, if it was an accident, I’ll never know,” going to. Then, the plane at the base that was no longer worthy said Rodgers. of being flown, we had to take it out to the junkyard, which was in Arizona. Those flights were on a wing and a prayer,” Rodgers Sabotage was a concern of many female pilots. “So many of the recalled with a chuckle. “Nuts and bolts flying by…oh it was maintenance men were washed out cadets and this was one of something but, we got them there.” the reasons they were skeptical [about my accident]. Maybe some- body was very bitter. I don’t know,” she said. “It could have After delivering the planes to their destinations, Rodgers would been sabotage because a couple of girls were killed because [of return to the airport, train station, or bus station and return to sabotage], but this was not at Sweetwater, this was out at bases. her home base. “If we got in after 10 o’clock at night then we Some of the girls discovered that sugar had been put in their gas had the next day off but I never had that. I knew there was tanks when they would drain the tanks in the morning. The men work to do so I got back, and then, next morning same story,” were very upset; their last macho field and here we were proving she said. that women could do it.”

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 25 During these ferrying missions, Rodgers said men often reacted “We weren’t in there trying to prove anything. We were in there with disbelief when they discovered that she was the pilot. “They because of just plain patriotism. We just wanted to do our part couldn’t believe that women [were flying]. This happened to me and it was something that we loved, and boy we fought for it.” several times; I’d go into a base to refuel and the maintenance crew would say ‘Where’s the pilot?’ I’d say ‘I’m the pilot’ and The fight to win their country’s confidence, however, did not they’d look at me, turn around, and walk away. They didn’t be- end with the program’s deactivation. It found new life in 1976 lieve it. They weren’t accustomed to women flying,” she recalled. when Rodgers and her fellow WASP appealed to Congress ask- ing to be recognized for the sacrifices they made in World War II Ferrying planes, however, eventually took its toll on an exhausted and grant them Veterans Status. Rodgers. Thus, for her final assignment she was sent to Waco, Texas where she served as a maintenance test pilot at the training “We were fighting in ‘76 and ’77. We earned our Veterans Status school for the men. “All the planes that were in accidents when in ‘77, but it wasn’t signed until ‘78. I remember going up on the they were repaired, before an instructor or cadet could fly them, Hill and talking to all the different representatives and senators we had to test them,” said Rodgers. and talking about the WASP and what we did,” said Rodgers. It was not long after being stationed at Waco that Rodgers learned of the WASP program’s pend- Rodgers remembered a particularly interesting oc- ing disbandment. The Costello Bill, which would currence during Congress’s considerations of the have militarized the WASP and continued the train- WASP Veterans Status bill. “I was at the hearings ing program, was rejected by the House and on on the floor in Congress, and this one senator sat June 27, 1944, nearly a year to the day after the there and all of a sudden he slammed his fist down, program was organized, the Army announced stood up, and said, ‘Over my dead body will these its intentions to discontinue the program. The AAF prima donnas become veterans,’ and stormed out officially decommissioned the WASP on Decem- and slammed the door. And I thought ‘what’s the ber 20, 1944. The experiment was over. matter, were you turned down for aviation?’” Rodgers said with a laugh. “We really were not involved in the decision. We didn’t know what was going on. All of a sudden After the WASP program was deactivated, out of the clear blue we got the word; ‘thank Adriel Sanders with Lorraine Rodgers returned to her home in Illinois where you, goodbye.’ We had to find our own ways Rodgers in 2005 she accepted a job working at a local naval sta- home,” said Rodgers. tion.

The WASP flew 66 million miles in the United States. Thirty- “There was a naval air station five miles from my home and all I eight women had given their lives—two of them Rodgers’s class- wanted to do was be by the planes,” she said. “They hired me mates. With a cool handshake and a casual farewell, the remain- right away and put me in the operations office. I signed clear- ing WASP were sent home. The hundreds of potential trainees ances for pilots coming and going because I knew all the termi- did not even receive the honor of boasting the WASP insignia. nology all the weather, the whole works, that’s where I met my husband. He had been shot up out in the Pacific and they sent “Everybody was in a state of shock. One day here you are and him home on R and R.” the next day you’re on your way home. I mean it was a shock. If only we had had any kind of warning,” said Rodgers. Lorraine and her soon-to-be-husband, a naval aviator named George Franklin Rodgers, dated for six months before they were Rodgers recalled that many people were hostile to the bill that married. They had four children: two girls and two boys. After would have militarized the program in 1944. “The men started moving to Washington D.C., her husband suffered a fatal heart coming back after V-E Day and were going to be put into the attack. “It was nearly 24 years ago,” she said after a pause. walking army because the women had their flying jobs. So, they really stormed Capitol Hill. One, their macho spirit was deflated, Rodgers flew with her husband a few times and she continues to and two, they were going to be put into the walking army and fly to this day. Staring skyward and sighing, Rodgers described they were pilots. I can understand that,” she said. what it feels like to fly a plane:

Despite having to leave, Rodgers was not bitter but instead proud “It’s so clean, you’re so alive, you look down at all the cars. You of the accomplishments of her and her fellow WASP; they were can’t even see the people they’re too small, but you know the the first women in the history of the country to fly military air- chaos down there. Yet, here you are, up there all alone, with all planes. of this horsepower at your fingertips. You alone are controlling this big airplane and at your own will, you go wherever you “I never thought anything about [being a pilot]. I don’t think we want, do whatever you want. And it’s so beautiful, so beautiful even knew we were the first women to fly military aircraft. We up there. I bounce from cloud to cloud. There’s nothing like it,” were too busy to think about ourselves and they kept us busy. All Rodgers said calmly. “The first plane we ever learned in down at these planes had to be delivered and we were on the go and it Sweetwater was an open cockpit PT-19; how I loved that be- was exhausting. I never thought anything was great or outstand- cause there you’ve got the wind hitting you in the face.” Rodgers ing, but I just loved to fly. It was wonderful,” Rodgers explained. let out a long sigh and said, “It’s great.” WWII

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 26 The Last Days of World War II Seen Through the Eyes of a Young German Boy By Wolfgang Nitsch

Wolfgang Nitsch was a boy of 15 years old, living in Germany, as the Third The Soviets had no time to spare. On January 12th their powerful Reich crumbled around him. In the years following the war, he immigrated to winter assault broke loose from the Baranov staging areas near America, and would eventually join the United States Army to serve his Warsaw. Marshals Koniev and Zhukov attacked with their armies adopted country. of hundreds of thousands of troops along a 450-mile front. They commanded a crushing superiority: artillery 20:1, armor The last wartime Christmas in 1944 (our sixth) came under a 7:1, infantry 11:1. The German defenses could not stand up against spell of uncertainty and ill forebodings. My mother, sister and I this might and soon collapsed. In less than two weeks the Red were on the eastern border in Silesia, now Poland. We had been Army had reached the German borders. Most of East Prussia evacuated from our hometown of was overrun. The vengeance with Berlin due to the ever-increasing dev- which these troops appeared on Ger- astation caused by the Allied bomb- man soil cannot be described. They ing raids. My father was in the service left a trail of blood, murder and rape. and we saw very little of him during Revenge always hits the innocent. It the more than five years of war. hit women, children and men too old to fight. Survivors panicked and The deadly quiet atmosphere of a loaded suitcases and crates on horse- land blanketed in snow added to the drawn farm wagons and hit the roads feelings of anxiety and gloom in our fleeing en masse towards the west. The minds. The war was not over, yet there convoys, or trecks as they were called, still was hope. It is incredible how had tens of thousands of people on people in a state of despair cling to the icy roads, in sub-zero weather. the faintest rays of hope against all They were often overrun, rolled flat odds. The Nazi propaganda machine Smoke rises in the background as the Red Army raises its by tanks, thrown into the ditches, by had come up with the promise of flag over the Reichstag in Berlin, signaling the final defeat friend and foe alike who needed the “Wunderwaffen,” or miracle weapons, of Nazi Germany roads cleared for military movement. which could turn the tide. Wunderwaffen was the word of the day, everyone expected the Another route of escape frantically followed by refugees was arrival of the victorious miracle weapons. across the Baltic Sea. The German Navy had set up a large scale evacuation system, employing ev- Actually, some had already arrived with astonish- erything afloat to ship out hundreds of thousands ing effects: the V-2 rockets, the world’s first strato- of civilians and wounded soldiers. Here, on Janu- spheric missiles, were shelling London with hor- ary 30, 1945 occurred one of the most horrible rible results, ultimately killing over 8,000 inhabit- sea disasters of all time. The Wilhelm Gustloff, a Ger- ants. Faster than the speed of sound, they came man ocean liner of 25,000 tons and loaded be- down without any warning. Then the world’s first yond capacity, was torpedoed by a Russian sub- jet plane, the Messerschmidt 262 fighter-bomber, marine. Of more than 6,000 aboard, less than 900 had been put into action. It was invincible and left were saved. All others went under, disappearing the Allied pilots gasping for breath. Even the small into an icy ocean. anti-tank hand-held rocket, the Panzerfaust, was such a Wunderwaffe. It was fired by youngsters At the same time, the Battle of the Bulge came in the Hitler Youth, by grandfathers and house- to its end. After a few initial gains, the German wives, if they had the guts to let a tank come A ten-year old Wolfgang Nitsch in advance soon was halted due to gross misjudg- within 40 feet. A direct hit meant the end for 1940 ment of the American resistance, the Allied air any T-34 Russian or any Sherman tank. So why not expect other superiority, and the lack of fuel to drive the Tiger tanks. The miracle weapons of this kind to bring on the final victory? People’s crews had to abandon them in the field. fixation on such hopes helped to cloud their sense of reality. This became apparent after the turn of the year in 1945. Enemy armies were now at the borders in the East and in the West. The time had come to capitulate. However, the Nazi rulers

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 27 strongly defied any such thinking. Countless people, soldiers and city of Dresden, filled to the rim with thousands of refugees, civilians alike, who dared express their doubts about the out- was turned into a fiery hell. Three consecutive waves, two British come of the war were shot or hanged. Facing the Allies’ pro- and one American, with over 1,000 bombers, dropped 3,500 claimed goal, unconditional surrender, kept any man in uniform tons of explosives on the center of town, followed by 65,000 fighting till the end. No U.S. commander, Bradley, Patton, Gavin incendiary bombs that turned all into a firestorm. The total casu- would have acted otherwise. alties will never be known exactly. Estimates around 40,000 dead. In the inferno many had been shriveled into lumps of ashes the When our family learned of the break- size of a chunk of firewood. Dresden through at the Eastern front we packed had gone down in flames. up and left immediately. The very thought of “the Russians are coming” We got off the train at Nordhausen, at made everyone move at double time. the edge of the Hartz mountains, and There was nothing to pack; one piece proceeded to the village of Stolberg, of luggage per person was all that could where we had kept a small summer be carried on a refugee train. To be able house as a place of retreat. It was a log to get on one of the few refugee trains cabin on a basement of field stones, sit- heading up for the West was virtually im- ting off-side in the woods on a hill, now possible. I will never know how we our last station to await the end of the managed to succeed. Conditions at the war. It was now approaching from the train station were chaotic. The passen- west. With the Nazi propaganda assert- ger compartments were laid out to hold The medieval Gothic cathedral towers over the ing that all would perish at the hands of six people, three on each side facing each charred remains of the city of Cologne, utterly the conquerors, people in the village other. Now these compartments were destroyed by Allied bombing grew fearful. The war out here in the bursting with 10, 12, or more people, country had assumed a new deadly qual- each hanging onto a piece of luggage. The aisles were stacked ity. Instead of bombers, which we could see every day by the with people; children were put up in the luggage racks. There hundreds blazing across the skies towards Berlin or other targets, was not an inch of room. The freezing cold could not be felt we now faced the threat of strafing fighter planes. Flying low amidst this mass of bodies. Somehow ev- over the trees and fields they terrorized the eryone kept his sense of civility, all of them land and shot at everything that moved: trains, bound together by the same desire, to just trucks, any vehicle, even farm women in the get away from the east. The long coal-pow- field. I was now close to 15 years of age. We ered train moved along a few hours at a time. developed an acute sense of being able to Long stops, to let other trains pass or to re- tell which kind of plane we were hearing. Hit- fuel coal and water, were abundant. Passen- ting the ground was the only thing to do. Even gers fell into a numb state of exhaustion, the in this remote area the chance of dying was children stopped crying and slept. This went ever present. The villagers had built dugouts on day and night for about a week. Luckily in the woods, covered with logs. They were we were not strafed by fighter planes. moving out of their homes in fear of be- coming victims to the expected fighting. The It was on the evening of February 12 when German defense, at least here in the western the train pulled into the Dresden main sta- part of the Hartz mountains, was poorly or- tion. Again, the surroundings were unreal; ganized. But any stray unit of German sol- overcrowded platforms, Red Cross traffic American GIs, now in control of diers digging in to resist the Allied advance moving through with wounded soldiers on Cologne, guard the cathedral, now one could have meant the end for all of us. Meet- stretchers, screaming people, orders shouted of the few buildings still standing ing any resistance whatsoever prompted the by security police patrolling for deserters. My mother and a lady call in of air power to flatten the place, before the troops moved in our compartment had befriended each other, talking through on with their tanks and guns. Countless little farm villages thus the long hours. The lady got off in Dresden and urged my mother became piles of rubble. We prayed and prepared for the worst. to come along to her home, giving all of us a rest and a chance to wash and to eat from a plate. After our torment it seemed an On March 6th, US troops entered the city of Cologne, now a opportunity too good to be true. But my mother sternly resisted. ghost town destroyed by bombing raids, and one of the hard- Our final destination, Nordhausen, was only another day away. est-hit cities in Germany. Resembling a fata morgana, an eerie My mother, with many thanks, rejected the kind invitation. “We hallucination, the medieval Gothic cathedral was left standing in will stay on,” was her reply. It saved our lives. the middle of it. Improvised mass services were held there for the combat soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division. In the early morning hours of February 13th the train moved on. The British bomber fleets were already in the air. On this day, the

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 28 The memory of the war is ever present around the cities that depth. People who were responsible for such atrocities were not were targets in the bombing raids. Hundreds of duds are dis- worth dealing with. My family saw the first of these living dead covered each year in the Cologne area. Their removal, handled in striped clothing coming into the open after the American troops by detonation specialists, often requires the temporary evacua- had taken over. Not far from Stolberg, near Nordhausen, such a tion of the locals. camp had housed hundreds of slave laborers who had to as- semble V-2 rockets in underground factories. This was in our On the 7th of March, spearheads of the 9th Armored Division immediate vicinity. Due to the top-secret nature of the opera- reaching the bluffs overlooking the Rhine valley at Remagen did tions and the tight guard details we never heard or saw anything not believe their eyes when they saw a suspicious. Now these ghost-like people bridge left standing across the river. All showed up in the streets and stores, tak- other bridges had already been blown up. ing whatever they wanted. Onlookers Here the bridge commander tried to hold were horrified, and there were acts of out- out as long as possible to allow the enor- rage and revenge. The overriding feeling mous flow of retreating German troops was one of shame and humiliation. It is to come across. All was set for the explo- still with me to this very day. sion. General Hoge of Combat Com- mand B surveyed the situation and made Last year I was treated to a wonderful a historic decision. At first it was thought Thanksgiving by my daughter Diana and to destroy the bridge with artillery. Then her family in Bryan, Texas. By chance and came the daring idea: “Let’s try to take it! through another friend I met a veteran At the risk of suicide!” The task fell upon The small cabin near the Hartz Mountains where of World War II by the name of George a group of soldiers from Company A of the Nitsch family spent the last days of the war Cox living near Caldwell, Texas, not far the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion. What away. He was with the 746th Tank Battal- a coincidence of fate; they were headed by a young lieutenant of ion, part of V Corps, 1st Army, and saw action in the Hartz German origin, Carl Timmerman. The men stormed onto the mountains. In our talks we discovered that elements of his bat- bridge in the face of almost certain death. The talion pulled upon Stolberg on the evening of detonation charges went off when they were April 13th. They covered the eastern exit roads halfway across. Miraculously the bridge lifted a with “harassment fire” all through the night. bit, then fell back on its mooring. Too little dy- The war had finally arrived on our doorstep. namite. By then Sgt. Alexander Drabik had set Shells came in whining and exploded not far foot on the other side of the river. The stunned from our little block house. We were deathly Germans soon surrendered. General afraid. We would not close an eye, wondering Eisenhower determined that the bridge was what was to come next. worth its weight in gold. Quickly, more than four divisions, tanks, trucks, and supplies were April 14th, our last day of the war, dawned moved across. Finally the bridge gave up; after with billows of fog reaching almost down to 10 days it twisted, broke up, and fell into the the ground. From our uphill balcony we stared Rhine. Lt. Timmerman from West Point, Ne- into the distance. We could see them coming, braska, and his men are among the true heroes crouched, with their rifles at the ready. A group of the war. He should have received the Medal of men, in olive colored uniforms, with round of Honor. helmets. They were the enemy. Slowly they A victorious Soviet soldier smiles as moved up and came into the house. We were A story of such twisted dimensions of horror he displays the severed head from a frozen stiff. It didn’t take long, they inspected began to unfold such as will never be washed stature of the Fuhrer all the rooms, took a brief squatting rest in the off the name of Germany in all eternity: the living room, speaking quietly with words we discovery of the concentration camps. From could not understand. Then as silently as they my own personal experience I can only in all honesty say, that the had come, they left. My first impression: this was different. Ger- general public was not aware of what went on. I am sure many man soldiers with their hobnail boots, one could hear half a mile thousands knew, and perhaps tens of thousands were involved. away. These soldiers moved quietly like deer in the forest. The But with a population of close to 65 million what percentage is three of us almost dropped to the floor. We had held our breath it? The Red Army was first to open the gates at Auschwitz on for too long. I will never forget that morning. And thank the January 27th. All of the gas-chamber camps were located outside Lord for the fairness, grace and salvation we had experienced. of the country in the east. Other camps, overcrowded due to forced relocations in the final weeks, were discovered by the Later, we heard guns and bursts of machine gun fire in the woods western Allies in March and April: Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, around us. The house was patrolled frequently, by Americans Dachau and Mauthausen in Austria. The barometer of sympa- and by German soldiers as well, and sometimes by deserting thy, if any ever existed, for the Germans fell into a bottomless stragglers, requesting that my mother prepare hot coffee for them.

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 29 My mother tried to impress them with the danger of all this. Had This happy and adventurous time came to an abrupt end on July an American patrol showed up at the same time we all would 1st when the Americans pulled out and turned the territory over have been dead. This went on for a week. The first American to the Red Army, in accordance with the Yalta agreements. Again troops in this area as I learned many years later were from the 9th we were filled with anguish and despair. After all, the Russians Infantry Division 39th Regiment. had caught up with us. We did not flee this time. Only after a year under Russian occupation did we eventually escape to the west. I recall two other lasting impressions; first the silence! All of a sudden there was silence. War is a very noisy affair, humming On April 30th the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler shot a bullet into his crazed engines of planes, trucks and tanks, gun shots, sirens, blaring ra- brain down in the dungeons of his Berlin headquarters. He also dio announcements, noise everywhere. Now, all was silent, one shot his mistress, Eva Braun. Before, they had tested a capsule of could hear the birds singing. cyanide. They used Blondie, Hitler’s beloved Shepherd dog, to try it out. Blondie said, “Ugh!” and dropped to The other was smell. In the woods, bodies were the floor. Then Hitler gave it to Eva and for decaying. The smell of this is unlike any other good measure followed up with a shot from smell. It came out of the woods for weeks, as his Walther 6.35. spring brought on more warm weather. At the end of a Shakespearean drama the stage My friends and I soon overcame our fright and is littered with corpses. So was this ghastly un- curiosity got the best of us. We went down to derground bunker. Almost everyone was put- the village to see what was going on. From afar ting an end to his life. A day after Hitler, Josef we could hear the sound of engines and the Goebbels, the chief villain in charge of propa- rumble of vehicles and tanks. We stood by the ganda, killed himself and his wife Magda, after roadside to watch in disbelief the endless con- they had poisoned all of their six children, ages voys of an incredible military machine moving 5 to 12. Magda Goebbels was one of the most past, with combat ready soldiers mounted. It ardent admirers of the Fuhrer. In a farewell let- was scary and fascinating at the same time. We ter to her grown son from a first marriage, who had never seen so much equipment, so many was serving in the Luftwaffe, she concluded, war vehicles, so many soldiers. It went on for A 23-year-old Wolfgang Nitsch in “Life after the fall of the Reich will not be worth hours. All people watching shook their heads 1954, now wearing the uniform of living.” The hopeless resistance and fighting and mumbled: “How could we have stood up the United States Army ended. The last defenders of the Fuhrer’s bun- against this might for so long? This is over- ker were members of the SS foreign division whelming.” Then we strolled to where the action was, to the “Charlemagne” and “Nordland.” The SS had many volunteers motor pool. Noisy trucks and jeeps moving back and forth. I from the occupied countries, devoted to fighting the commu- distinctly remember the intoxicating smell of gasoline. Aside from nists and to keep them out of Europe. These fanatical young the fighting forces, the Germans had not used gasoline anymore. soldiers from France and Scandinavia fought to the last bullet, The few vehicles for non-military use were powered by gas, pro- then killed themselves. They had nothing to look forward to. duced in wood-burning cookers, barrel shaped contraptions welded to the fuselage. We were amazed by what we saw, heard On May 7th, the unconditional surrender was signed at General and smelled. We would take a closer look at the strange soldiers, Eisenhower’s HQ in Reims, by General Jodl of the German hear them shout and laugh, and for the first time we saw black high command. At the insistence of the Soviets, this procedure people. had to be repeated before them, at Karlshorst, Berlin. On May 8th, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel appeared and, with disdain, The Americans had occupied the only hotel in town, at the mar- dropped his hat on the table before Marshal Zhukov, squeezed ketplace, and hoisted a US flag on top of it. This was their head- on his monocle and added his signature to a document he would quarters and mess hall. A couple of boys from the village were not have ever believed to be possible. He left, standing tall, salut- already in their service as kitchen helpers. They walked around ing with his Field Marshal’s baton. Both Jodl and Keitel were put with the air of the super-privileged, puffing on cigarettes, wear- to the gallows a year later at Nuremberg. ing American caps already. Real cool, man. We were impressed. The war in Europe was over. While V-E Day was celebrated After a few days we hit upon a real bonanza off into the woods: around the world, Germany lay in a ruin of smoldering ashes, their garbage dump. We were not supposed to roam around destroyed militarily, politically and morally. The Russians in Berlin there, but we could not be kept away. This was exciting and we had a simple slogan: “Hitler kaput!” found real treasures: loaves of bread, half empty cartons with milk and butter, bags with flour and cans still filled with coffee No one who was a witness to the end of the Third Reich thought and juice. Plenty of cigarettes. Our daily excursions yielded many of this as “liberation.” This was utter defeat. As one of my loads of highly desirable goods which we lugged back to our American veteran friends later put it so aptly: “We didn’t come homes. to liberate you, we came to win the war!” WWII

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 30 The World War II Book Club Featuring Newly Published Books About World War II

BIGGEST BROTHER GIVEN UP FOR DEAD THE LIFE OF MAJOR DICK WINTERS, THE MAN WHO AMERICAN GI’S IN THE NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMP LED THE BAND OF BROTHERS AT BERGA by Larry Alexander by Flint Whitlock NAL Hardcover; 320 pages $24.95 (Hardcover) Westview Press; 304 pages $26.00 (Hardcover) They were Easy Company, 101st Army Airborne— During World War II, prisoners of war were required a fighting unit whose members became legendary by the Geneva Conventions to be treated according in the annals of World War II combat for their to established rules of warfare. For the most part, the bravery, their ability to get the job done against nearly Nazis followed the rules. But in late 1944, when a insurmountable odds, and their unswerving loy- large number of Americans were taken prisoner dur- alty to one another in the face of death. They were ing the Battle of the Bulge and elsewhere, their cap- more than brothers in arms. They were a family. tors had different plans for those Americans who And there was one man to whom every soldier in were Jewish or from some other “undesirable” eth- Easy Company looked for leadership, guidance, the nic or religious group. Instead of being incarcerated embodiment of courage, and devotion to duty: in regular prisoner-of-war camps, several hundred were separated from Major Dick Winters. their fellow captives and sent to the brutal slave-labor camp at Berga-an- der-Elster in Germany. Until now, the story of what these men endured Here, for the first time, is the compelling story of an ordinary man who has been largely untold. Given Up for Dead chronicles the experience of became an extraordinary hero. Winters’s childhood in the rolling farm- Americans at Berga. Here is an incredible tale of survival against over- lands of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, taught him the core values of hard work whelming odds, inhuman living and working conditions, and the immi- and personal integrity that guided him, leading him to enlist at the out- nent prospect of annihilation during a 300-kilometer death march de- break of the war and volunteer for the arduous training that forged the signed to keep them out of the hands of the approaching Allies. That army’s new Airborne division. His natural skill as a leader in combat el- these men willed themselves to stay alive is an amazing testimony to the evated him into the higher ranks, where he felt an increasing responsibility resiliency of the human spirit. Using the first-person accounts and defini- for the lives of his men. After the war, he gradually adjusted to civilian life, tive factual narrative, Flint Whitlock pays tribute to these brave men in but was reactivated to duty during the Korean conflict. Yet it was only telling their story, at last. decades later that worldwide fame and recognition—which he had never sought—were thrust upon him with the publication of Stephen E. 1942 Ambrose’s Band of Brothers. THE YEAR THAT TRIED MEN’S SOULS Including interviews with family, friends, and fellow veterans of Easy by Winston Groom Company, and the insight and knowledge only Winters himself could Grove/Atlantic, Inc.; 459 pages $27.50 (Hardcover) provide, Biggest Brother is the fascinating, thought-provoking, and ulti- It was a time when an unexpected attack on American mately inspiring life story of a man who became a soldier, a leader and a territory pulled an unprepared country into a terrify- living testament to the valor of the human spirit—and of America. ing new brand of warfare with a ruthless enemy. Soon after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, German U-boats were sinking hundreds of U.S. merchant ships, some WAR STORIES III right off the American coasts. The beginning of 1942 was a relentless cataract of defeats. By May, it appeared THE MEN WHO DEFEATED HITLER to many that the entire Western Pacific, including by Oliver L. North Australia, would be in Japanese hands. Then, in June, Regnery Publishing, Inc; 480 pages $29.95 (Hardcover) the tide began to turn. Off Midway Island, aided by From the award-winning and number-one new technologies in code cracking, Admiral Chester Nimitz commanded rated FOX News Channel series hosted by his outnumbered fleet to victory in one of the most decisive sea battles in Oliver North comes the third in the hit series naval history. In the West, the British defeated Rommel’s panzer divisions of books highlighting the most riveting sto- at El Alamein and the U.S. Army landed in Algeria and Morocco to begin ries of monumental battles in American his- the push to force the Germans out of North Africa. Though it would take tory. North uses only firsthand accounts from another three years to run the Axis beast to the ground, a year that began soldiers who saw action in these battles. The in a pall of uncertainty would end with the hope and vision of victory. detail is haunting and the valor evidenced by Allowing us into the admirals’ strategy rooms, onto the battle fronts, and these accounts is inspiring. into the heart of a nation at war, 1942 tells the story of America’s most critical hour - a year of perseverance, courage, and ingenuity in the face of (Note: Release date is scheduled for November 11, great odds, during which America rose against adversity and displayed the 2005) qualities that have made her what she is to this day. All books can be found at local bookstores or www.amazon.com World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2005 - 31 A Farewell to Two Friends Remembering General Andrew J. Goodpaster and Captain Lillian K. Keil

The World War II Veterans Committee sadly notes the passing of Point. The academy, which had been suffering through a massive General Andrew J. Goodpaster and Captain Lillian K. Keil. Two of cheating scandal among cadets, needed a leader who would com- the Committee’s best friends and stron- mand respect. It was said that just the mere gest supporters, General Goodpaster and presence of General Goodpaster, with his Captain Keil were among the greatest of measured manner and quiet dignity, helped the Greatest Generation. to immediately restore the reputation of West Point. Dwight D. Eisenhower once said that the qualities of a great man are “vision, integ- General Goodpaster remained active in a rity, courage, understanding, the power of variety of military and research pursuits articulation, and profundity of character.” throughout his retirement, and gave the With this description, he might have had in mind his friend and close keynote address at every World War II Veterans Committee Annual confidant, Andrew J. Goodpaster. Throughout his life, General Conference since its inception. He strongly believed that because it is Goodpaster displayed a humble brilliance that made him respected in young people whom we must put our trust for the future, it is among his peers, and beloved among the young men who served imperative that we give them a sense of the past. under him. During World War II, Goodpaster commanded the 48th Lillian K. Keil was, by many accounts, the most decorated woman in Engineer Combat Battalion serving in the North African and Italian American military history. A member of the Army Air Corps and campaigns. Blessed with quick intelligence and a quiet confidence, he later the U.S. Air Force, Keil flew as a flight nurse on more than 425 caught the eyes of his superiors after leading his battalion over a missions during World War II and the Korean War. From the beaches minefield under hostile fire before engaging the enemy, for which he of Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to the Inchon invasion, Keil was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He would also receive offered medical care, and a reassuring touch, to the wounded sol- the Silver Star, two awards of the Legion of Merit, and two Purple diers being evacuated on transport planes to hospitals in safety zones. Hearts. She received scores of awards, including four Air Medals and two In 1944 Goodpaster was brought to Washington, where he served as Presidential Unit Citations. Keil’s service proved so extraordinary that a war planner for General Marshall. Following the war, he turned his a 1954 movie, Flight Nurse, starring Joan Leslie and Forrest Tucker, attention to academic pursuits, earning Masters Degrees in Engi- was based on her experiences. neering and Political Science, and a PhD in International Relations. The World War II Veterans Committee’s annual award recognizing In 1950 he joined the staff of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers the outstanding service of a woman in World War II is named in Europe (SHAPE), where he became a favorite of Dwight D. Lillian Keil’s honor. Also, the Committee is starting a scholarship fund Eisenhower, NATO commander at the time. A few years later he in her memory, its aim to help further the education of young women was asked by President Eisenhower to serve as staff secretary in the interested in pursuing a career in nursing. For information on donat- White House, where he became indispensable as the president’s most ing to the Lillian K. Keil Scholarship Fund, contact the Committee at trusted advisor. He remained at the center of military affairs through- 202-777-7272. out the 1950s and 60s, and after a short retirement, was called back WWII to active duty in 1977 to serve as the 51st Superintendent of West

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