1LT John S. Hamilton, of either the 247th Combat Engineers or the 1104th Eng Grp was stationed in Maastricht before and during the Battle of the Bulge. He and a Sergeant were wiring a bridge for detonation in case the Germans broke through to cross the Maas River. Somehow, they fell into the river. He was rescued after hanging onto a cable for 45 minutes, but the Sergeant was never recovered. Later, in the late 1980s or early 1990s, he returned with his wife and gave his .45 pistol to the local museum. His son inadvertently threw away his photos and reports of his time there. He was billeted with a family whom he corresponded with for many years after the war. He said that in one of the letters, the daughter wrote, "The Germans were always LOUD, LOUD, LOUD. The Americans were always soft, soft, soft." He always like to tell that story. If anyone remembers him or can lead me to other resources, I would sure appreciate it. I was WW II re-enactor in another life and have an extensive library of my own - so, if I can help research a topic for anyone, please let me know. Thank you.
I keep coming across similar statements from European civilians speaking of the liberation. Many times they mention the boots - German boots were hard soled with steel hobnails, while American boots were rubber soled and quiet. When the Germans came through a town the boots were thunderous on the cobbles and NCO's were yelling at both the soldiers and civilians. "Get off the street! Raus! Raus!" When they entered a house they smashed on the door with their fists and if it wasn't opened quickly enough they kicked it down. The Americans (and I assume the Brits and Commonwealth troops as well) came though quietly with smiles and nods. Nobody ordered the civilians to do anything, certainly not to get off the streets of their own town. Orders were passed up and down a column from man to man, not shouted in harsh tones. It is one of those little details that I find very interesting. Of course, only the civilians noted this so it is not a detail you read about in the usual accounts of the war.
Welcome to the Forum, PzCdr61. I look forward to reading your contributions. Aside from an obvious interest in the relative noisiness vis-à-vis the WWII belligerents , what are your other areas of interest or speciality regarding WWII?
[SIZE=11.8181819915771px]Those are clichés .There were often severe bombings before infantry was set in , so long for being quiet.[/SIZE] [SIZE=11.8181819915771px]Also the Germans knew how to be quiet when needed. If they were always screaming they would not have needed their famous cammo. [/SIZE]
They are memories. We're not talking about combat here, just troops entering or leaving cities and towns. So many civilians remark on that contrast that I refuse to believe it is a myth.
Citatio: other American vehicles and materials pass through. Followed by a rather small group of infantry and red cross soldiers. They laugh and shake hands while walking by. One can barely hear them while they walk in their rubber boots on their way to Maastricht. Out: Liberation of the municipality of Heer (Maastricht) september 1944. See topic in Western Europ/Old Hickory
qoute Dagboek Hette de Jong: Maandag 25 september 1944 In Maastricht reerds drie compagniën oorlogsvrijwillegers opgericht. Binnenkort ga ik mij ook melden. Ik kan niet langer toezien. Ik wil een geweer in mijn handen en die zwijnen te lijf. Dat ben ik gewoon verplicht al allen die door de SS, NSB, landwacht en andere bandieten zijn vermoord! Vanmrogen vele auto’s met materiaal voor nieuwe bruggen aangekomen! Vele Yanks herstellen de St.Servaasbrug. Een fantastich schouwspel als er een reusachtige ijzeren kolos van een staalconstructie eenvoudig over het gapende gat in de brug wordt geschoven. de hele Wijkerstraat afgezet, ligt vol met materiaal! En gebrul zoals bij die Mofefn is er niet bij. Eeen “hoge fluit”en alle komt in beweging. hakkengeklap en laarzengestamp horen we niet. De soldaten groeten hun meerderen alsof ze “goede morgen”tegen een buurman zeggen! This is about the repair of the St. Servaasbridge over river Maas in centre of Maastricht. translated: American soldiers repair bridge. A fantastic show when they push a gigantic steel bridge over the demolished bridge to close the gap. And no shouting as Jerries did, one whistle and everything started moving. We do not hear loud sounds of boots and no clicking of heels. The soldiers saluted there officers like they would say ' goodmorning' to their neighbour"
I hope you found some useful info PzCdr61, do you have any updates. Might this simply be the role of an occupying army vs that of a liberating one? I wonder how German civilians would classify the sound of their own troops vs those of the invading Allies.
I want to thank everyone who has replied to my quest. To answer "Ruud" - the .45 is located in Museum ann het Vrijthof of Maastricht. To "TD-Tommy776", my interests of WW II are many. I have concentrated on unit histories; US and German (Waffen-SS, Fallschrimjager, Panzertruppen, Gebirgsjager). I have many shelves of books, papers, pictures, maps, etc. But one cannot have too many books, right (ask my wife; she may differ with me)? To "67AR", unfortunately I do not know which bridge they were trying to set explosives on. I can only figure it was bridge that would hold the weight of panzers and other heavy vehicles. LT Hamilton later went onto the Remagen Bridge and was able to cross that before it fell. I'm not sure if he and his folks were involved in the putting of the pontoon bridge across or not. I wish i could find the article that he showed me in the late-80's / early 90's when he went back to Maastricht and presented the pistol. I was stationed in Germany 1981-85 (3 ID and 6/52 ADA) but never got to Maastricht. Again, thank you to all the replies. The Engineer sites I queried have not replied. I wish I knew how to reply to each of you individually. My quest continues.
