Mysterious Trip: Delk Oden, April '45

Hello all -- this is my first post in the forum. Please let this newbie know if I need to post in another thread.

I'm researching my great uncle's attachment as a journalist to the US Third Army, Fourth Armored Division. In mid-April 1945, he did something strange--made stranger by the fact that Lt. Col. (at the time) Delk Oden ordered him to do this.

My great uncle was using a civilian car commandeered by the 4th to ride along in the rear echelon. He traveled with the Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) of Combat Command B, and was tight with the men who served in the CIC there. He had driven with them from Polch, Germany, to the end of the line in Landshut, following the unit wherever they were ordered to move.

The one variation of this occurred in mid-April (sometime between April 17 and 27) 1945, when a relatively big fish, Lt. Col. Delk Oden, Executive Officer of CCB, whom he'd not interacted with at all until this point, sought my great uncle out when the Fourth had reached Bayreuth. Oden asked/told my g.u. to drive him, in the civilian car, all the way to Luxembourg and back, calling it an "Inspection tour" of Germany. My g.u. was to check in with his contacts at Radio Lux, said Oden, then return the Lt Col back to the front lines in the same car. They conducted this "tour" within, I'd say, 7 to 10 days, and rejoined the Fourth "in the outskirts of Munich" around April 27 or 28th.

Does this strike anyone as a strange thing to do--for a Lt Col to leave the front lines at such an integral part of the war--to take "an inspection tour" in a civilian car? Stranger still, my g.u. never filed a story about this tour, so it wasn't related to his job at all. Even if Radio Lux wanted my g.u. to report back, why was Oden involved? It's in Delk Oden's orders that I'm betting I'll find the answer.

Possible explanations:
-- Did the Fourth stumble upon a high value arrest, one that required some creative transportation back to Lux or that area in relative secrecy?
-- Was there something in the Lux area that Oden would have had to pick up or "see to" personally, something that couldn't wait and required a low profile transport? What on earth could that have been to require that level of personal attention?

I'm taking all guesses, links to further reading, etc. from the most outlandish (alien invasion prevention) to the most mundane (the Lt Col felt like he needed to do a chocolate run to Lux before the potential redoubt).

Thank you for reading my rambling post. Please let me know if I left anything out that would be helpful to know.

 

While it could be something sinister, most likely it is not. If it was critical for Oden would have taken a light aircraft for a important meeting. My best guess Oden may have had leave and used your Great Uncle and his confiscated vehicle to get him there.

You might consider looking into any 4th Armored Division Historical society's, they might be able to give you more info.

 

Good thinking about the aircraft. I missed that.

And thanks for the tip on the 4th Armored Society!

 

Than again, why bother with the whole "Inspection Tour" charade if Oden was just taking some leave? And, wouldn't it be an odd time to take leave?

Perhaps he really did want some Luxembourg chocolate and made it a "business trip."

 

At the risk of tarnishing his good name, let's just say that's never off the table when considering all options up to and including alien invasion cover-up. ;-)

 

Possibly the fiction of a 'inspection tour' was to avoid problems crossing unit boundaries and for using the vehicle, conversely, perhaps the fiction was for your Great Uncle's benefit to ex[lain why he was not at his regular posting?

 

Both sound plausible.