30th Infantry Division, Old Hickory

Sorry, Jeff. I guess I should have picked up on that. I guess I got too focused on Cas' mystery.

 

Thanks Slipdigit!

 

SO ok, new topic where can pay tribute to the Old Hickories !

Concerning my mystery I contacted Warren who has a outstanding website on mostly 117th Inf Reg. Keith you should defentily contact him for exchanging data and stories. www.oldhickory30th.com No luck so far....

 

I've emailed with Warren on various points. His site is the best thing out there for 30th info data.

I came across some photos in Heerlen that you may not have. These tanks are of the 743rd, the integral tank battalion of the 30th Division. Note the bags on the front glacis - they look like sandbags, but are actually cement to give them an extra layer of protection.

View attachment 18264

 

Old Hickory chronicles

http://www.campcroft.org/OHA/newsletters/OHA%20Newsletter%202010%20Nov-Dec.pdf

 

Great Keith Thanks !

I also need to thank you from the aquaitance of mine, for whom you did the research work !

 

You and he are quite welcome! And don't hesitate to ask any time you need info from my unit histories.

If you have any personal accounts from civilians or resistance members in the area, I'd love to see them and if possible use them in the book - properly attributed of course!

There is a story in the Marion Sanders book that I call "The Great Chicken Raid" that made me laugh out loud. I need to ask if I can use that anecdote in my book. I want to balance the book as much as possible with stories from the German side, as well as stories from civilians.

 

For our Dutch rogues. Tech 4 Wilson Rice worked in the 30th Division Medical Hq., presumably as a clerk. He was charged with keeping up a unit diary and couldn't help but put in all kinds of things that he observed.

He records below his friendship with a Dutch family in Heerlen. The warmth and volume of detail speaks to how much he cared about these people, and how much time he spent with them.

 

Kodiak, about Heerlen some pics :
Heerlen

 

Wow! That's a very interesting collection.

 

Very excellent photo collection, Ruud. Thanks for posting the link.

 

Thanks Ruud, I had this site already listed in my favourites. Complete site contains liberation and occupation photo's of the south of the province where Ruud and I live in.

 

I'm always curious about the fate of the collaborators shown being rounded up in such pictures. What actually happened to them?

 

They were mostly arrested, females got their hair shaved off their heads, they were driven through the streets on trucks, their homes were burned or plundered. Much of them ended up in prisoncamps first. After that the real collaborators were put in prison after their trial, because also innocent people were captured. Even their children suffered for the rest of their life because they had bad parents.

 

That's correct. The "worst" traitors f.i. Anton Mussert, leader of the Dutch National Soicalist Party (NSB) was excecuted after the war, Max Blokzijl, voice of the Dutch National Socialst Party, was shot for crimes against humanity (causing hatred against the Jews). Hans Ablin Rauter, head of the Police, was shot.

There is only one account (in Limburg) of a person being shot for being a member of the NSB. This execution was so poorly done, that an American officer present had to give this person a mercy shot in the head.

In most cases prison sentences


Originally Posted by KodiakBeer
I'm always curious about the fate of the collaborators shown being rounded up in such pictures. What actually happened to them?





In the most cases collaboraters were abused by the guards while imprissoned, torture like guessing how old the guard was and gitting beating for every year that failed the correct awnser, forced to eat manure, forced to eat rainworms, forcing to beat the crap out of another prisioner, being witheld of hygene, crowed prisons and so on.

 

Interesting. I'm sure the people of occupied nations needed to do this as a sort of closure.