Sword Beach to Bremen., A Veterans tale. Sapper

Brian, Thank you for the explanation. Take care.

 

I hope he is still with us.........I just discovered this site and these stories.

Brian/Sapper,

I can't begin to tell you just how enthralled, impressed and grateful I am to you for sharing such memories of the most important time of the last century. My father was in the U.S. 7th Army (the "Seven Steps to Hell" he said it was called), and although he only was in combat a short time the last few months of the war, apparently it was enough to have seen things he did not want to dredge up. He was going to join up in '42 when he was 19, but was in a bad car wreck and broke his back, was paralyzed for several months on one side. He finally recovered enough to join more than a year later, so he wasn't sent overseas until late in '44. I'll have to ask him exactly when it was.

I have been reading through your account. I'm very humbled by your experiences and extremely impressed with your writing ability, poetry and recall. I never could get my father to tell me very much, but a couple things do come to mind. The first one, is that in the last weeks of the war his unit was near Munich and came through Dachau very soon after it first was discovered/liberated. I read earlier how you said it was a mental necessity to somehow "turn off" your mind from seeing the carnage or horrific sites around you. I guess that's what he did. When I joined the Army after High School, I was stationed in Stuttgart, and my parents came to see me. Dad was amazed by the modern, clean city, for of course when he'd seen it last it wasn't much more than rubble. But what my Mom told me a couple of years later was quite telling. She, being Jewish, felt somehow compelled to visit Dachau in conjunction with their visit to me. I'm not sure if she knew Dad had come through there during the war; she told me after they entered that terrible gate with the words, "Arbeit Macht Frei" he was ok...at first. But within a few minutes, something in him snapped, and the suppressed memories came flooding back. She told me he couldn't stop crying, sobbing for three hours. They had to leave.

Regarding your stories about treatment of the captured SS. One of the only stories he told me was when they were searching the countryside for SS who'd fled the death camps prior to the advancing allies' arrival. They had a small detachment of Polish Free Fighters with them. Upon capturing an SS officer, the Poles were livid when they found out his unit intended to take this cretin back to HQ for interrogation. One of them snatched the M1 out of a soldier's hands and killed the SS on the spot. Nobody grieved for him, and nobody said anything to higher HQ.

My Father, who will be 88 in November, is still with us. After reading your story, which has been totally captivating, I may go ahead and ask him if he would be willing to put some of his experiences on tape. I think he has a similar, humble attitude as many a simple infantryman had...they feel as though they're "nothing special."

Well, to me, anyone who went through even a day of the hell that war was, IS someone special, and deserving of our eternal gratitude.

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your story. Again, I'm humbled and grateful for your stories and your service to the allied cause.

 

Hi Quicklimegirl
I am always pleased to get in touch with those that read these pages. Thank you so much for your very kind words. Please send me best wishes to your Father. tell him I will drink a glass of Calvados to his health !
As to recording what he experienced... Oh Yes !... do that if he can. Why ? Well, an old Gentleman said this to me many years ago:
"You have a duty to tell the story of the greatest upheaval the world has known, and the times of glory, For when you are all gone, it all goes with you"

I am 86 and find getting about very difficult. But I shall continue with my shocking one fingered typing as long as I can
Bless You
Brian

 

QLG,

There are many members of this forum who will wish your father "eternal gratitude" (good descriptor) and multitudes of thanks for his service in this epic struggle. As many of us here have expressed to Brian (Sapper).

You have truly found the right place to share his history. I have rarely been privileged to be a part of such an esteemed and intelligent group.

Richard

 

Shooting POWs? I never ever witnessed, or heard of an instance

I have no doubt that there were men shot as POWs...But in my opinion: for what is worth... that it was not the general practice to shoot prisoners. And as I posted; military discipline would deal with cases severely.

For killing POWs is murder...... Or it was in the eyes of the British army.

But there are times when the heat of battle can overcome natural instincts... That I have most certainly witnessed....

Let me describe the tricks of the 12 SS. A small group approached waving a white flag. When the infantry got up to take their surrender, another German popped up and mowed our men down. After that, there was a definite reluctance to take a chance with surrendering SS men.

Understandable ?

When I captured an enemy, providing he was not from the SS. I made him put his hands on his head. lit a cigarette and gave it to him .....then pointed the way back ! BUT Not the SS !

None of us wanted to escort prisoners back.... There were some very very happy prisoners that walked back, hands on head puffing away merrily on his cigarette.

My trouble is that while I loathed everything that regime stood for. when you captured an enemy you found a young man just like yourself...!
Sapper

 

Is there anyone out there that can tell me where I can buy the Oleander Mrs Roeding ? It is a double with high scent, a peachy sallmon colour, a beautiful creature. I Lost mine and the only one I can find is ina Nursery in the Southern USA.
Cheers
Sapper

 

We have a film unit coming to my home soon to talk about the Blitz, Normandy campaign. Demob, and what it was like trying tio get back to work post war. Should be interesting?
Sapper

 

Is this the kind?

 

That is the beauty Texon66. Last winters very low temperatures took it. Beautiful to look at with a scent that knocks you sideways.

I lost mine while I was not well enough to get to my greenhouses, to protect the beauty. Although poisonous, it is still the very best garden plant that I know. I also grow Bougainvilleas here in England, and other exotics. I have searched all over Google trying to buy one without any success at all. I think that my longevity is due to being able to potter about amongst my plants in the greenhouses.
Cheers Mate.
Sapper

 

My Grandmother lived to be 99. She worked in her garden everyday. Good therapy for the mind and soul. By all means keep it up, Brian. Any luck with the Oleander? There are many great nurseries in the W. U.S., all over really.
I will check with a fine one in California, named Armstrongs. I guess since you found one in the South, you are looking for something closer to G.B. If not though:

Armstrong's Garden Center
28992 Golden Lantern
Laguna Niguel, CA. 92677 US Telephone: 949-495-7205 Armstrong Garden Centers

Good Luck, Sir.

 

Sapper, I want to thank you for your service and love hearing and reading your post. You are a hero too many; thanks again.

 

Seriously, how awesome is this thread!!! This was like walking into the kitchen and finding a gigantic gold nugget. Absolutely brilliant stuff.

Sapper, mate you rock! Thanks so much, I'm speechless with these tremendously valuable and beautifully written experiences and observations. I'm only a few pages into what you've written here, but am thoroughly compelled by every passage to read the next. I'm taking my time however, so that the full value of each is not lost with impatience. Still, this reads better than a Robert Ludlum novel and I guess it should, this is a window into the very background of the world we live in, first hand and eloquently presented. The sheer amount of information and implication is overwhelming. Even trying to describe it second hand is like trying to encapsulate an artist's painting in sentences of words, it simply cannot relate the imagery you've translated.

Thank you again, most sincerely sir.

 

Hello Folks.
RKline. NO I did not manage to get the plant. When I E mailed them, they told me that minimum sale was $250, So that knocked that nail on the head.

Jumpmaster.
Thanks for your kind words.

Vanir.
Glad you find it interesting. I am also pleased that you think the writings are understandable...Why? Well I went to a little village school, where sadly I played truant far more than I should! When the sun beams came through the old fashioned dusty diamond shaped school windows ...I was away up the Jurassic coast cliffs, where I kept my fishing tackle. At a place called "Dancing Ledge" You can find it on Google Earth. South of Langton Matravers. Near Swanage, Dorset

Let me say one thing that has been said many times before..This frail old man writes this, so that the memory of those that never returned will be kept alive. I have no need for anything else. As a matter of interest, Today, I am being interviewed with a camera man for a documentary....

 

Yesterday the Film people came to talk about wounding. Hospitals ans Demob, This is Epiphany documentaries that produce films and documentaries for the "Yesterday" TV channel .I will let you know when it is to be screened.
Sapper

 

Brian,

I hope you had a good time during the filming. I'm sure they made you feel very welcome and accorded you the respect you deserve.

How long did your interview last?
Did you get to see any of their other footage (earlier film)? How would you rate the quality of their questions? Depth of their background knowledge?
Have the interviewers read your history from these pages and/or others? I would assume they have? I will look forward to seeing it.

Thanks again, Sir.

 

Hi. It went fine, they were here all afternoon. I never saw any of their previous films. The quality of their question was what you would expect. They had prepared their questions well. They were mainly about being wounded, What happened after the wounding..The time in hospital and what it was like..... Then Demob. What was life like for returning war disabled young men.

A sore spot for me, this twenty year old young fellow had taken part in every operation through France Belgium and Holland. I had seen things, and done things. Been through the killing grounds, saw death and destruction on a scale that others had not the slightest ideas about.

I was back in civilian life, and treated like a twenty year old callow youth.. I developed a very quick and violent temper. No one crossed me, or got in my way. I was also very determined to get my way.... and I did just that.

On our return there was nothing for us, no help of any kind.....ROUGH !
Cheers
Sapper

 

What stands out starkly in my memories of the war in NW Europe, was the very distinct atmosphere that accompanied the different stages ..And areas. Each battle had a totally different feeling about it, compared with the previous actions. That also applied to every phase of the conflict, be it the invasion, the taking of Caen. Goodwood, Falaise...the lot, all were as different as chalk and cheese. I just wonder? If it worth the bloody hard work, in posting descriptions of these battles of so long ago?
Sapper

 

Hey Brian,

I am sure many of the forum members will agree that your descriptions are very important to a great many people around the globe. Thank you very kindly for sharing your heart wrenching, harrowing experiences with us. May all of your mates Rest in Eternal Peace. Thank you (all of you) again for "endeavoring to persevere" throughout that horrible war. Words cannot truly express the thanks that all Allied Fighting Personnel deserve from the grateful and free Nations of the World. I think the most important part of the Victory is that the Allies were good winners (that can never be questioned) and saw to it that the previously rampant atrocities stopped forthwith.

R. Kline

 

I had posted earlier of the very different atmosphere, and feelings of the battles and operations that took place between the shores of Normandy, and the final victory in Bremen.
In this case, I must ask you very long suffering souls that read these postings, to bear with this tired old gentleman…. My typing is of the one fingered variety, where I sometimes have to hazard a guess what key I am looking for….(Its badly worn).

So let me give my impressions of Normandy in the early days. I would ask that you try to look at what took place through the eyes of a 19 year old Dorset lad.
My first impression was of great violence. The sight of dead bodies (my first !) Of dead cattle everywhere, and always the sickly overpowering stench of rotting flesh and death.

In the area north of the City of Caen, it was a persistent presence that never left you, day or night.. Oddly enough; and I don’t know why…many bodies did not get buried. Odd? Why? I do not know….
It was a place where a great deal of quite vicious and determined fighting took place. The Enemy had prepared their defences well. Typical of German efficiency. I have written at length about the actions earlier, so this is merely “Impressions” It was a place of heat.. of dust and death…plenty of that. For a young man, it was also a voyage of discovery.

We quickly learned that below ground was the only way to survive, and we soon became expert fox hole diggers. We learned fast about mines and bridging in real active service under fire conditions . Experiences that bore little resemblance to the training we had received back in England.

I was always surprised at the appearance of captured Germans. Their uniforms were thin and shoddy. Many of them looked as they had been put through a mangle…(They probably had!) It was a time where many young men had to face up to their worst fears…And did. We usually harboured just short of the front line, and from there, could sally forth into that days operations.. Amazing the speed that we learned to become Veterans. It was a time of deep emotions. Into battle to the sound of the pipes. Of losing your mates. Of great danger. And the realisation that when captured the enemy was just another young man, like yourself.

Some battles were little short of blood baths., (Château de La londe) being a prime example; named as the “Bloodiest square mile in Normandy” The continuous fighting as we waited for the yanks to get going in the Cherbourg peninsula. The steady, loss of our men. The sounds of tank engines. Of dust and heat. The bridging at Pegasus …The query why we found commando knives in the bottom of fox holes. Discarded before being taken prisoner…..

Looking back towards the channel, where ships seemed to go all the way back to England…. Of the five man 24 hour compo packs. Of continuous soup and crumpled biscuits…..The fanaticism of the SS. The comfort of your own fox hole when the shells rained down. Your loathing of the Bedford’s gear box that could be heard for miles Specially at night. That always attracted shell fire. The satisfaction of being able to lay a minefield out in front of everyone Without being detected… The dust and more dust…The sound of engines. Trucks and tanks and Carriers, half tracks and the flat cracking sound of mortars. Always accompanied by the hollow sound as the mortar left the barrel….. A voyage of self discovery…. Oddly! one that I am quite pleased with…
More later