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Op zaterdag 24 december 2016 19:37 schreef AchJa het volgende:THE FRONT IS WHERE THE TANKS ARE – KNIGHT’S CROSS HOLDER LUDWIG BAUER REMEMBERS THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE
PANZER COMMANDER IN THE ARDENNES – AN INTERVIEW WITH GERMAN PANZERTRUPPE VETERAN LUDWIG BAUER
Part onePart two
Ah, dit zijn pas kerstcadeautjes.
Inhoudelijk, ik lees steeds vaker erg matige rapporten over de effectiviteit van het Amerikaanse leger en de soldaat in Wo2. Ik maak hierin een heel strak onderscheid in hun leger en Marine, ik denk niet dat er veel volkjes zouden zijn geweest die hetzelfde konden doen als de Amerikaanse mariniers destijds, maargoed of dat nu dom geluk of slim werk was is nooit duidelijk.
De Duiters waren altijd al negatief over de Amerikaanse soldaat in Afrika, daar leerde ze vechten volgens de Duiters, maar over hun werk in Europa.
Tsjah, volgens mij was 80% van het Duitse leger in de Soviet-Unie. En nog werd het met het ardennen offensief eind 44 spannend. Nuff said. En als je dit soort dingen leest ben je bijna jaloers dat je het niet meemaken mag.
"I think it was in January, again in the area of Foy. With our assault gun we had to guard a crossroads shortly after a short engagement had been fought nearby. We were sitting in the assault gun, my hatch was opened and we were just in the process of smoking our last cigarettes and we heard the sound of someone knocking against the armour on the outside with the help of a rock or something similar. Expecting German soldiers outside I stood up and looked out only to see an American soldier, minus his helmet and weapons standing outside and addressing me in English. I did not understand a thing so i asked my radio operator, who had been working in a London hotel before the war and was fluent in English, to talk to him. He was very surprised to find out that he could hardly understand the American either! We were still communicating using hands and feet when suddenly we became of the target of an American mortar barrage. In a Hollywood version of events I would probably have shot the American at this point. Yet we pulled him into the cramped fighting compartment and buttoned up. There we slowly began to understand each other while the American kindly shared a package of his cigarettes with us. I remember he was a farmhand, I have forgotten where he was from. When the barrage ceased we told him into which direction to walk and for how long. He was to raise his hands when he encountered the first German infantry which would then take him prisoner. When he had disappeared in a wood behind us I tried to catch a bit of sleep inside the vehicle. After about one hour someone knocked on the outside of the tank. It was my American friend. He had walked into the direction we had shown him, but failed to meet any German infantry. We could not handle a prisoner ourselves, so without thinking further about it I told my radio operator to tell the American to walk into the opposite direction. There would be no need to raise his hands when he met American infantry and that he was free to return home. I have never seen such a smile again...
Again he trotted off,"
[ Bericht 38% gewijzigd door Pumatje op 25-12-2016 22:15:26 ]