Nigel Cawthorne by Japanese Reaping the Whirlwind: Personal Accounts of the German, Italian Experiences of WW II
Authors: Japanese Reaping the Whirlwind: Personal Accounts of the German, Italian Experiences of WW II
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Vire. Approximately 10 per cent of our combat strength was left. Of my company 11 men were left. Once more the Army was sacrificed in order to save the SS units from being taken prisoner. Again we had to leave behind our 178 wounded. We spent the night in a brushwood that borders Vire.
On the morning of 28 July marching along the hedges, we tried to find a gap in the encirclement. Our suggestion to surrender because of lack of ammunition and our hopeless situation was refused by our officers. We avoided villages. In the evening, we were fired on from a farm by some terrorists who escaped when our men were approaching. For five days we had nothing to eat but unripe fruit and the iron rations we took from our dead comrades. We spent the night and the day of 29 July in an oak wood.
That night a French farmer had told us of a gap in the encirclement near Vire. He showed us the exact location of the point on a map. On the morning of 30 July, when we passed through a wood, approximately 150 men joined us. They were dispersed from different units. When we arrived at 0600 hours at the point that the French farmer had described, we received terrific fire from a brushwood which was occupied by Americans. I made field dressings for the wounded, while nobody fired at me. I want to reiterate the fact that the American infantry, tanks and aviators fought in a fair way. Already during the fighting for St-Lô, we had the experience that all men who were wearing the Red Cross could help their wounded without being fired on. The losses in our medical personnel were caused by artillery or bomb attacks.
I was taken prisoner at 0700 hours. The American captain, who was commander of the position, allowed us to recover our wounded, assisted by a surgeon and three medical officers of the American Army. I also helped to bring in the American wounded. Eighteen hours later this work was finished and I was transferred to a collecting station for PWs.
Out on the Dniester, Herbert Winckelmann heard news of both the D-Day landings and von Stauffenberg’s assassination attempt on Hitler.
Although neither of these events had a direct effect on our situation on the Romanian front, we were inclined to discuss them. That, however, was impossible since any opinion that deviated from the official explanation could have far-reaching consequences, even life-threatening ones. Goebbels’ official but absurd explanation of D-Day was: ‘The invasion is nothing more than an ingenious, strategic coup by Hitler. The Allies have been lured into France so they are no longer out of reach as they were when they were in England. Now that we have them within reach, our troops will destroy them with our V-2 bombs and other secret weapons to follow.’ That explanation was accepted by men who wanted to believe it, but I and many others were shocked to hear that the Atlantic Wall, which had been so highly praised by Nazi propaganda, had failed to withstand the assault by the Allies.
No less absurd was the announcement after Hitler’s assassination attempt: ‘The unsuccessful attempt on Hitler’s life was only an act by a handful of infamous men. His life was saved because Providence has chosen him to lead Germany to victory.’
The inevitable attack came in Romania on the morning of 20 August 1944, when 8,000 Red Army artillery pieces opened up. The Romanian units crumbled and fled, forcing the Germans to retreat in confusion. On 23 August, Romania switched sides, opening the skies to Allied bombers. Winckelmann had a narrow escape:
I jumped on my Cossack and he, perceiving the imminent danger, ran as fast as he could, straight for a row of hedges. We had never jumped together before. So I let him have his head, hoping he would know better than I what to do. We survived both our first jump together and the nearby exploding bomb.
Comrades who had witnessed the explosion concluded that Winckelmann had perished, and he was posted ‘killed in action’. But 12 days
On the morning of 28 July marching along the hedges, we tried to find a gap in the encirclement. Our suggestion to surrender because of lack of ammunition and our hopeless situation was refused by our officers. We avoided villages. In the evening, we were fired on from a farm by some terrorists who escaped when our men were approaching. For five days we had nothing to eat but unripe fruit and the iron rations we took from our dead comrades. We spent the night and the day of 29 July in an oak wood.
That night a French farmer had told us of a gap in the encirclement near Vire. He showed us the exact location of the point on a map. On the morning of 30 July, when we passed through a wood, approximately 150 men joined us. They were dispersed from different units. When we arrived at 0600 hours at the point that the French farmer had described, we received terrific fire from a brushwood which was occupied by Americans. I made field dressings for the wounded, while nobody fired at me. I want to reiterate the fact that the American infantry, tanks and aviators fought in a fair way. Already during the fighting for St-Lô, we had the experience that all men who were wearing the Red Cross could help their wounded without being fired on. The losses in our medical personnel were caused by artillery or bomb attacks.
I was taken prisoner at 0700 hours. The American captain, who was commander of the position, allowed us to recover our wounded, assisted by a surgeon and three medical officers of the American Army. I also helped to bring in the American wounded. Eighteen hours later this work was finished and I was transferred to a collecting station for PWs.
Out on the Dniester, Herbert Winckelmann heard news of both the D-Day landings and von Stauffenberg’s assassination attempt on Hitler.
Although neither of these events had a direct effect on our situation on the Romanian front, we were inclined to discuss them. That, however, was impossible since any opinion that deviated from the official explanation could have far-reaching consequences, even life-threatening ones. Goebbels’ official but absurd explanation of D-Day was: ‘The invasion is nothing more than an ingenious, strategic coup by Hitler. The Allies have been lured into France so they are no longer out of reach as they were when they were in England. Now that we have them within reach, our troops will destroy them with our V-2 bombs and other secret weapons to follow.’ That explanation was accepted by men who wanted to believe it, but I and many others were shocked to hear that the Atlantic Wall, which had been so highly praised by Nazi propaganda, had failed to withstand the assault by the Allies.
No less absurd was the announcement after Hitler’s assassination attempt: ‘The unsuccessful attempt on Hitler’s life was only an act by a handful of infamous men. His life was saved because Providence has chosen him to lead Germany to victory.’
The inevitable attack came in Romania on the morning of 20 August 1944, when 8,000 Red Army artillery pieces opened up. The Romanian units crumbled and fled, forcing the Germans to retreat in confusion. On 23 August, Romania switched sides, opening the skies to Allied bombers. Winckelmann had a narrow escape:
I jumped on my Cossack and he, perceiving the imminent danger, ran as fast as he could, straight for a row of hedges. We had never jumped together before. So I let him have his head, hoping he would know better than I what to do. We survived both our first jump together and the nearby exploding bomb.
Comrades who had witnessed the explosion concluded that Winckelmann had perished, and he was posted ‘killed in action’. But 12 days
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