|
WWII Veteran Interview: The following veteran interview was conducted by Karl P., of the NWHA's 2. SS Division 'Das Reich', with a veteran of the Wehrmacht's field artillery who served from 1938 to the end of the war. |
A Soldier's Story - Ted A.
170th Field Artillery
Can you please tell me about how you joined the Wehrmacht?
My name is Ted A., I was drafted in the army in 1938 along with my friends. I lived in Mainz, Germany and got my notice in the mail to report. I was eager and wanted to see what it was like to be a soldier. Remember, I was a teenager then and was naive about war. Those examining doctors were really mean to us. They had you stand there with no clothes on yelling at you and roughing you up. I remember being treated like a cow in the recruiting center. Training was hard, the sergeants often swore we were labored long into the night.What unit were you in?
I started out in the 170th Field Artillery for the invasion of Poland. We were fully motorized unlike some of the horse drawn ones. We had the tracked autos and some tractors. The war was supposed to be over after Poland. Our commanders said we would be sent home and be discharged. Nobody wanted another war. Especially after your first time in battle.
Did you know we didn't have any winter clothing? The snow made it so we couldn't move any of our guns anywhere.Did you get any furloughs then?
Yes, I was wounded and sent home for awhile. You do feel guilty being home when no one else is. You couldn't tell I was wounded so I would get glares from all the mothers whose sons were still out there. After all, I was the only young man walking around talking to their daughters. I should have worn a placard around my neck to stop all the questioning from the women and old men. I would go to the movies and go drink beer at the restaurants.What were the polizei like?
They were terrible, most of them were former policemen and they made good soldiers. They weren't gestapo at all but very cruel to us. I would avoid them at all costs. When I was home on leave they would leave me alone since I wore my battle ribbons. They were relentless on the poor souls who were lower ranking. If they wanted to see your papers, you better start sh**ing your pants. They liked to stay around the train stations to see who was leaving and who was arriving. It was better to be from a smaller town then but I was from Mainz so there was no way around them.What music did you like?
All of us listened to dance music when we could get it. They played a lot of music on the radio about home and girlfriends. At home we listened to American music but that stopped when you came in the Army. We didn't like the march music as much as it reminded us that we were still in the army. They played marches often to inspire the troops.How was the supply system and what did you wear?
We carried everything on our belts. It was early in the war so must everything was still in supply. All of us kept our bayonets and grenades in our jackboots. We looked like clowns running with all that stuff shoved in our boots. Talking about that, we wore our boots out quickly. I was lucky that my dad was in the food business and mailed me food. The supply sergeant would issue me new boots for food. Most of the soldiers didn't have it as lucky.
We ate lots of black bread with our soup, which was our main meal usually. We liked it when we captured canned foods and cigarettes. I trained on the K98 in training but they took it away after that. You didn't get one back until you were close to the front. All of us kept getting our uniforms torn up. The ones they would give us as replacements you could tell were from dead men. They had bullet holes and sometimes blood. I didn't want to use them but what else was there to do? I didn't like the helmets either, it would rain and water would pour down both sides of your face. We had to keep our gasmasks in our cans, but everyone threw them out eventually.Did you see the Russians then?
No, I saw them later on. I'm fortunate that I ended up on in France or I would be dead like so many others. They wore mostly what they came in the army with. Mostly farmer's clothes and old rifles. I saw a few soldiers with uniforms on.When did you go to France and what unit were you in?
Later in the war but I forget when. I was put in a panzergrenadier division. They needed more infantry by then. I sure missed riding in a auto. My company always marched on foot everywhere. My feet were in really bad shape. Those jackboots would keep sliding up my heel. I remember walking in the woods often night and getting little sleep.Did you see the Americans or British?
Only the Americans, we were so badly outnumbered. They had all the artillery and airplanes. We couldn't act until they were really close because of this. They had so many men and tanks too. I was a fast runner and that helped save my skin when we pulled back. Lots of crawling on the ground and staying in the woods.Where did you end the war?
In France, surrendering to some Americans. I had lice then and still have scars from them. By this time I was down to 90 lbs and I'm six feet tall. There were only two privates and myself left alive out of the whole company. The Americans came over the hill walking in line on the road in front of their trucks that were full of their gear and packs. They only had their rifles in their hands. We must have been a sorry looking bunch as they stood back twenty feet back and threw us cigarettes and some biscuits to eat since we were so filthy. I'm sure they thought we had a disease. I was worried about what they were going to do with us. You hear so many bad stories and see it too. They took us to a fenced in area where some other regular army boys were also being held. They gave us all penicillin shots and put us in.|
WWII Veteran Interview: The following interview is reprinted in full from the Sunday, July 14th, 2002 Richland Tri-City Herald. It appears here courtesy of the Tri-City Herald and author Staff Writer Jeff St.-John. This interview was submitted by Mitch H. of the 11. Panzer Division. |
Alfred P. Wehner
Luftwaffe Officer Cadet
Twenty years after coming to the United States, Richland resident Dr. Alfred P. Wehner wrote a book about his life's journey, From Hitler Youth to U.S. Citizenship - an Immigrant's Story.
Growing up under Hitler's rule, Wehner thought Germany was a peace-loving country, even after war began.
"Nazi propaganda told us that Germany had been invaded by Poland" in 1939, he said. Radio and newspapers were controlled by the Nazis, and Hitler's lies were the only truth the 12-year-old boy knew.
"We thought almost to the end that we were the guys with the white hats," Wehner said. To speak against the war was a crime punishable by death.
Like all boys, he had been forced into the Hitler Youth in 1936, but he never liked it until he got to join the Youth's air wing and learned to fly gliders.
But by the time he was old enough to take to the skies as a fighter pilot, the war was nearing an end.
In March 1945, while on leave from his Luftwaffe training academy in eastern Germany, Wehner considered going AWOL. But his father could not hide him - their apartment had been blown out by Allied bombing - and deserters were being executed.
Dr. Alfred P. Wehner, shown here
at age 18 in his Luftwaffe cadet uniform.
So the 18-year-old cadet returned, only to be forced into the infantry to fight the advancing Russian army.
His company barely survived multiple attacks and fled up the Elbe River, listening to their radio each night for news of peace.
When it finally came, at midnight May 8, 1945, the celebratory artillery fire lit the sky "like Fourth of July fireworks," he said.
It was only after the war that Wehner learned what Hitler had done.
"We lost the war, then we saw those horrible films from the concentration camps and learned of the atrocities that had been committed under our flag," he said. "We learned that we had also lost our honor."
Meeting the American soldiers occupying his country, men who spoke up for their beliefs, convinced him to immigrate to this country in 1953.
His experiences gave him what he calls an internal compass to guide him through life.
"I follow my conscience," he said, "You don't take at face value what you hear and see. That was the downfall of the German people."
|
