reporting for duty Sir!

Hello!
very glad to be here! i started reading about WWII last year when my father started telling me about his experiences in Holland as a young boy. in fact i will be taking a trip to Europe in 2009 to see my dads boyhood home, and visit some WWII sites, so if you have any suggestions...they are all welcome!!

 

As you were soldier. Welcome to the forum. It would be great if you could share some of your father's experiences. That would be great. As or recommendations, they are limitless, but you will get recommendations from your friends here.

 

i would love to share some of his stories with you all! the one that comes to mind now is of the german soldier (regular army) who stole an egg from my grandpa's chickens, my dad grew up on a farm in northern Holland. This soldier was caught stealing the egg, and as punishment he was made to stand in front of the barn as watch, and every hour a bucket of cold water was poured over him from the hayloft above every couple of hours! pretty serious for a young man who was just hungry!

 

Wow. That is an interesting bit. We never hear of such disciplinary actions taken against German soldiers by the Germans. It seems that we have a view that the Germans could do anything and get away with it. I am sure though that the Dutch were treated better. How old was your father about this time? Also, whose the of photo of in your avatar?

 

Welcome to the forum! We love stories, so if you have them out with it!

 

yes i thought that was strange too, but as my father told me not all the germans were the typical people we hear about, my father remembers this story so well, because it was his chore in the mornings to collect the eggs, the nazi soldiers came around to collect them later in the morning, and my father knew that they would ask why there were not as many eggs as they day before, so he told his father who stole the eggs or egg. he was i think seven at this point but i'm not real sure, i'll have to ask, the picture is just one i found online of a Dutch WWII soldier, he was part of a machine gun crew.

 

thanks for the welcome! glad to be here!
another story off the top of my head is when the Canadian soldiers came thru Groningen to liberate the Dutch there. the soldiers came down the road, someone was shooting at them, they stopped at my Grandpa's farm, and he told them there are two germans in the field and they were the ones shooting at the Canadians. the soldiers promplty sent over some mortar rounds and then sent out a few soldiers who dispatched the remainder of the germans. later my father and his brothers went out to look at the carnage, this was the first dead man my father had seen, and he said he did not want to see that ever again.

 

Excellent article about Battle of Groningen here.
Groningen - www.canadiansoldiers.com

I drove through Groningen,in 1992, got slightly lost.
Had just been over the Afsluitdijk, that's worth doing.

De Afsluitdijk 28-05-1932

Oh yes welcome to the forum.

 

We waiting for your amazing histories!

 

Give the poor chap time I'm sure he will spill the beans to all, by the way welcome on board.

 

thanks Wessex, that's a great website!!! by the way, what is with the medals under all your names?

 

Something to do with the amount of posts we have made.
see this thread>>> http://www.ww2f.com/counter-battery-fire/19284-them-fancy-medals-adorning-our-posts.html

 

Thanks Wessex Wyvern! I take a look too!

 

oh cool!
thanks again!!!!

 

Hello Bigfun, Welcome on the forum. There are similar stories here regarding German discipline. German regular soldiers knew damn wel they'd better not mess with discipline and there has a distinction to be made with a soldier who was begging for an egg at the farm (and who usually didn't get any because they were hidden) and the arrogant SS officer who did wat he wanted because he thought he could always get away with it. I have some pages from a journal where Germans at the pocket of Lorient were shooting a crow and were actually happy to eat it... another page said the night patrol was to steal patatoes in a field that was under French control and trying not to be shot while doing so... I have instances of German soldiers being punished for being drunk in public.

 

Welcome aboard bigfun! You must visit the Vimoutiers Tiger and take a photo for us. It has become a bit of mascot for our members here.

 

Hey Bigfun. I see the picture from your father is taken from a group photo. Would it be possible for you to post the whole picture? Also do you know where your dad served in Holland? By the way/ spreek je Nederlands?

 

hey!!
thanks for all the kind words!!
sorry skipper, that's not my dad, just a photo i found onlime of a dutch machine gun group, i dont have the original, and i don't speak dutch, my father does of course, i'm thinking about buying the Rosetta Stone so when i go there i will be able to converse in dutch! how do you know Dutch???

 

My father was born in Holland too and since it's not too far away I drive there once in a while and visit relatives.

 

oh cool! my dad was born in Ten Post, in the northern province of Groningen, i will be heading there in 2009, spring i think, not sure yet, also i have to ask what your avatar says!!