Lesser Known Stories from World War II

World War II General WWII Discussion
#41

Continuing the issue of relashioships during the war.
Here is an account of a British POW in German captivity:
http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/frames.htm
“It was always wonderful to get a letter from home but one sad part of this was for those with wives and fiances was the prospect that they might write them a ‘Dear John’ letter. This was obviously depressing for some as they were powerless to do anything about it. Even so there was a dark humour of sorts in this situation, the funniest letter I heard of went something like this - Dear John, We hope you are well and getting along O K I’m now staying with your father, we married a couple of weeks ago. Love mum.”

:slight_smile:

#42

I remember a wartime story my old parish priest told me once:

As far as I know, he was around 19, without any battle experience when he walked through an occupied town in France, 1944, and saw something suspicious in a tree just at the outskirts. When he moved in closer, he saw that there was a scout sitting in the tree, observing the road leading towards the town center.
When my Priest moved up to get a closer look at the guy sitting in the tree, the American scout heard him and, when he realized that there was a German soldier watching him, turned around and moved to grab his sidearm. My Priest, in a reflex move, fired his rifle at the American without really aiming. Hit in the leg, the man slipped of the branch he was sitting on and fell off the tree.
Lying on the floor, the soldier begged for mercy, but my Priest was only horrified at what he did to the soldiers leg, which, I assume, was bleeding pretty badly. He walked up to the soldier, kneed down next to him, and took care of the American’s wound with his First-Aid kit.
He then surrendered to the wounded American, because, as Father Blesi explained to me, he knew that the Americans were soon going to crush their little outpost and he didn’t believe in the War. Following this, he practically carried him back to the American HQ, where the GIs were stunned to see an armed, healthy German soldier carrying a wounded and unarmed GI to whom he had surrendered.
Thinking about it, it was pretty stupid from him to keep his rifle, he could have easily been shot by some trigger-happy Idiot who only saw a German with a rifle.

Of course I have no idea how accurate that story is, of course it’s possible that he just made up the entire story, but I simply don’t see a reason why old Father Blesi should have ever lied to me about that…

#43

There is the story of the SS Ardmore a ship with cattle that sailed from Cork,Ireland in November,1940.It tragically sunk with the loss of all hands after hitting a mine.The Ardmore was enroute to Fishguard.I would invite anyone to research this story,it is fascinating.Only three bodies were ever recovered.One man who was due to sail on the Ardmore was asked by a friend could he take his place as he needed extra money,the man agreed,and his friend went down with the ship.There are many more personal stories attached to the sinking.

#44

Friend of mine was 517th Airborne during the war and was assigned to some laison folks at the end.

They flew to Denmark and oversaw some Luftwaffe surrender.
“there was a field full of brand new jets.”
They re-armed the Germans to keep order among a bunch of released Russian POWs who were causing problems.

They had lots of trouble with Russians in Berlin and a number of firefights.
They fished 37 dead Russians out of the river one morning. .
When contacted, their CO responded he did not want to be bothered with such things.

I grew up surrounded by vets and old timers, family and neighbors
Listening to them encouraged me to get out and have adventures of my own.
A practice I highly recommend.

#45

In the 1950s, a classmate stood up and told the rest of the class that his father was a fighter pilot during WW2, and that he would fire his guns at the church bells in villages to warn the villagers that he was about to start a strafing run. Even back then as a young student I recognized this as a huge load of horse puckey palmed off by a father on his child. In my experience, many people who actually experienced war first hand really don’t like to talk about it much.

#46

There is a Photo of a Sgt. Manuel Alcantara, who is credited with jumping into N. Africa and Sicily with the 82d Airborne then being discharged from the US Army to serve in the Mexican Air Force in the Philippines during WWII. I have tried to get more info on him (must have a hell of a story) but have had no luck.

“If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there’d be a shortage of fishing poles.” Doug Larson

#47

Ah, our Russian allies! In early 1945 Russian Yak 9’s attacked a flight of US P-38’s (I think over Rumania)-score P-38’s 7, Yak’s 2. Read about OSS agents jumping into Manchuria at the end of the war and their dealings with the Japanese and Russians.

“The only crime worse than burning books is not reading them” -and Less than 60% of Americans will read a book this year (1999).

#48

This was a story that was posted as a link on the picture site. The link doesn’t seem to work, anymore.

The person being interviewed below is a recently promoted young Captain of the 1st SS Liebstandarte Panzer Division.

November 1944 - Michael D Wonsower

Part 1:

We received three fresh panzer from the train depot.
I still have my original crew from Normandy, but I have all fresh crews with the other two panzer.
They are kids.
The oldest is 17. I don’t have time to get acquainted.
I stand them to attention and holler at them,
“Follow Orders! drivers, if you start taking hits and your commander chickens out drive behind me!
My front is always to the enemy! Understand?” They all snapped in unison, “Jawohl mine Hauptsturmfuhrer!”
I was terribly impressed. I would have to keep a close eye on my chicks and keep them safe.
I traded my experienced gunner and loader for the two young commanders who were obviously disappointed.
They would prove themselves first.
We drove out of the depot to the command post.
It was a large palatial mansion, Louis 14th or something. GeneralOberst “Sep” awaited with my orders.
From the road as we approached I could see him standing at the top of the steps to the entrance-way with map in hand.
There was a loop driveway obviously no one had driven a tank on before. Our tracks demolished the asphalt driveway and churned it up.
My driver skidded the 45 ton vehicle to park at the base of the steps.
“So much for the driveway.” said generaloberst Sepp with his usual
“I don’t give a ####” attitude.
My men started laughing and I just smiled. It was good they were laughing.
Sepp stepped up onto the track as my radio operator leaned out of his hatch to give him a hand up. He pulled himself on deck and came around the turret to the commanders cupola.
“How-ya doing kid?” said Sep with his gruff grandpa voice.
“Still here.” I answered.
GeneralOberst Sepp looked at me and shook his head, “There ain’t many left are there kid?” I just looked at him and shrugged my shoulders, “I was never very good at math, but this equation is simple; more and more of them and fewer and fewer of us.”
Sepp gave me a tired glance, “You got that right kid.” We heard an aircraft near by and everyone was heads up looking for it. Sepp continued, “…It wont be long now.”
The general showed me the defencive position we had to hold. It was a bend in the road which came off a forested hill turning from North-South to East-west.
“You only have to hold them as long as you can, if they choose to come down this way. We think they are going to push straight east on the other side of the hill, but if they come this way it leads them back to the train depot, and what’s left of 1st Panzer division is waiting to load.
They are in no shape for a fight, and we need to hold the depot until we can all get the hell out of here.”
As we went down the road to our position a half-track overloaded with about 18 panzer-grenadiers, our infantry support pulled beside us.
Their commander was a captain I had served with in the east. He was a good man and a courageous officer.
I was glad he was along with us, and not surprised he was still alive.
We came to the turn in the road and right away my second tank, a brand new “Panther” breaks down with a failed transmission.
It’s always the transmission! I order the crew to stay with the vehicle to cover our rear.
The half-track pulled off the road beside it for protection.
The panzer-grenadiers dismounted and their captain climbed up to me were I briefed him on our mission.
We turned into the forest as the grenadiers took cover on either side of the road.
They set up three machine-gun nests and laid out their “panzerfausts” which are hand held anti tank weapons.
These men were seasoned veterans.
They were gaunt and tired, but acted in a manner which showed me they still had fight in them.
I pulled the tanks behind a huge fallen tree which gave us a hull down firing position, facing the hill.
It was after seven A.M. From my experience if the Americans were going to attack, it would be exactly at the top of the hour, so it would be 8, or 9 o’clock.
I watched as the captain of the panzer-grenadiers distributed Benzedrine to his men. We had this in place of food.
About 7:30 it started to snow.
There was about an inch on the ground already, and we welcomed this as it was adding to our camouflage. This covered the evidence of our panzer-grenadiers having dug in.
I wanted it to snow harder. I wanted it to snow forever.
Snow had a way of stopping the world.
If they were planning to come this way, maybe they would call it off.
The captain of our infantry support waved to me and cupped his ear.
I listened intently and could hear the sound of vehicles coming from the top of the hill.
We all had a feeling of apprehension. It was a bad defensive position.
If the Americans took up position on the top of the hill and spotted us,
they could pick us off from there and we would be mince-meat.
I radioed the infantry captain to fire on my order,
and told the other panzer get ready for action.
I told the disabled vehicle on the road to stand by, any American vehicles that got passed us would be their target.
At 7:55 the Americans opened up with artillery.
105mm rounds began impacting and exploding before us at the base of the hill.
This was reassuring. They had not ranged us which meant they did not know we were here, yet!
At 8:00 the barrage ceased. Now it would begin.
I tipped my binoculars to view the top of the hill.
Marching down the hill in two columns were four platoons, about 80 men. Behind them, single file were four Sherman tanks.
The Americans supported their infantry with their tanks,
while we supported our tanks with our infantry.
I radioed the commander of my companion tank to target the lead Sherman, as we would target the one bringing up the rear,
thereby trapping the other two in the middle.
The first of the American infantry was almost upon my hidden panzer-grenadiers.
I gave the order to open fire.
The first platoon of Americans was completely cut down, while all the rest dove for cover on either side of the road.
The first Sherman tank had reached the base of the hill.
I ordered my loader armor piercing.
My companion panzer fired upon the lead Sherman with a high explosive round, blowing the sand bag protection off of it’s hull.
A moment later it sent it an armor piercing sabot.
The Sherman tank blew completely to pieces, all it’s ammo ignited at once. My gunner zeroed in on the Sherman bringing up the rear.
It was still on the hillside on an angle to us, displaying the thin armor of it’s turret top and deck.
My gunner let loose the sabot which penetrated between the hull and turret.
The turret blew high into the air and fell on-top of the third Sherman.
The two remaining Sherman tried to escape by turning off the road, one to the left, one to the right.
The one on the right fell over on its side and rolled several times before coming to a stop upside down, it’s tracks still rolling in the air like a helpless tortoise.
The one on the left tried to take up a firing position but was becoming bogged down as it’s tracks churned up the soft earth of the hillside beneath it. It fired a wild round before my companion left it a burning wreck.
Our infantry was now engaged in a fierce fire fight with the remaining American infantry.
I can never forget what happened next.
The Americans opened up with artillery again.
The howitzer rounds fell short of our position, onto the Americans who were pinned down by our machine-guns.
Trying to run from their own artillery they were cut down.
I gave the order to cease fire.
It was horrendous to watch, but I had to.
When the barrage ended, it was silent, then the cries of the wounded drifted toward us.
I stood up in the copula and looked to my infantry captain.
He stood from his position and looked at me, just nodding his head in disbelief.
My head set crackled as my former gunner, and now commander alerted me to movement at the crest of the hill before us.
I looked up there with my binoculars and saw four more platoons on there way down, and four more Sherman tanks behind them.
I looked to my infantry captain who signaled he was ready once more, but running low on ammo.
I radioed my starboard panzer we would handle it the same way as before.
As the American infantry passed the burning wrecked Sherman tanks they began to slow down.
When they got to the base of the hill to find their fallen comrades they took cover at once,
taking up positions on either side of the road in the shell holes among the dead and wounded of the first wave.
The Sherman rolled forward, and when the first one got to the base of the hill my companion scored a hit on it and it just stopped in it’s tracks without an explosion.
As its crew bailed out it was struck from behind by the second Sherman, which was crashed into by the third which was then struck from behind by the fourth.
I gave the order to fire at will and all four Sherman brewed up in a pyroclastic inferno.

#49

Part 2:

Once again a firefight ensued.
The Americans this time began advancing on our position, stealthily moving forward crawling from shell hole to shell hole and using the uneven terrain as cover.
This time my infantry captain radioed me. They were out numbered four to one and were running out of ammunition.
I was about to order him to withdraw when to our astonishment the Americans opened up with artillery again.
They had ranged it closer to us this time, right on top of their own advancing infantry, all over again!
“My God!” I gasped over the radio for all to hear.
When the barrage lifted once more we were stunned by the horror of it.
We just could not sit there and do nothing, in silent agreement my tank crews dismounted and panzer-grenadiers rose from their positions and we went to the aid of the Americans.
By now the American artillery spotters on top of the hill saw what had happened.
They also saw that we were lending aid to their fallen comrades.
A jeep came down the hill flying a white flag of truce with several officers and medics, followed by two trucks with more medics and supplies.
It was sublime. German and American soldiers side by side aiding the wounded.
We shared cigarettes and my men were treated to c-rations, which was the first food we had in several days.
In the end we helped the Americans load their wounded.
They went up the hill and did not come back that day. Out of ammo, and exhausted, we abandoned the position.

When we tried to leave this position, first the brand new Panther tank on my left lost it’s transmission going into reverse.
We managed to get our panzer onto the road.
As we pulled up to the panzer we had left on the road, the transmission on our own panzer failed.
It is a little known fact that more German tanks were lost during the Second World War due to mechanical failure, and not enemy fire.
We had to scuttle three brand new Panther Tanks.

#50

When I was a freshman in college, I had a summer job with Western Electric working in a small neighborhood Bell Telephone switch office. This was around 1962 or 63. There were only a few employees manning the office. I got to know the older employees during breaks. They would tell stories while we played dominoes. One of the older men said that he had served in the merchant marine during WWIi. He said the last time he served in the merchant marine was on a run to Murmansk. His ship was torpedoed. He jumped into the freezing water and was fished out minutes later by another ship in the convoy. That ship was torpedoed too and he went into the drink again. He was pulled out of the water by a destroyer or a corvette. He said that after that he was through with the merchant marine!

#51

Registered to post this. Some things my grandpa told me on his experiences during japanese occupation of the Philippines on WWII.

He said that he used to have a vegetable garden, and sometimes passing japanese soldiers would ask for some. I asked grandpa if the soldiers just took the vegetables. He said, “the japanese paid for them”.

And there’s another one. Sorry, I was only a grade schooler when he told me so I can only remember a tiny bit of it. Grandpa also told me when there’s a time some american soldiers are passing a bridge, but they didn’t know some japanese are waiting there to ambush them. The american soldiers passing that bridge were killed.

#52

That a British company invested in an German bullet company. British company paid for those bullets to be made by Germans and used by German soldiers, whilst at the same time, the British government sent millions of British soldiers to face the Germans which was firing British paid bullets at the British. This is the biggest reason why my grandfather (after WWII) packed up my grandmother, my father, his sister and migrated to Australia from the UK. And he was very anti Royal too!

#53

Fascinating.
Do you have any links to this story ?

#54

Don’t be silly, vonss (in her many incarnations) never has sources :stuck_out_tongue:

#55

Its true. My father told me that story. He has the details, I have to wait until he gets home.

Here some other stories (Not sure if my story is in there)

http://libcom.org/library/allied-multinationals-supply-nazi-germany-world-war-2