The Liberator
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85 “Our commander had proved”: Felix Sparks DSC Recommendation file.
86 Why didn’t they shoot: Rocky Mountain News, March 10, 2007.
CHAPTER NINETEEN—DEFEAT
1 Two companies from the: Certificate, 45th Cav Rcn TRP Mec Z 45th Inf Div, AFO 45, US ARMY, February 1, 1945, pp. 1–2, Carl O Winters, National Archives.
2 “We had no medical”: After Action Report, National Archives.
3 The SS noose closed: Merriam, Waffen SS, p. 29.
4 It was announced in: Ibid.
5 “Impossible to get there”: National Archives, radio reports 18 January, 45th Div. 157th CP, p. 12.
6 “We are being attacked”: Unit Journal, 158th Artillery Battalion, January 19, 1945, After Action Report, National Archives.
7 German tanks were moving: Richard Baron, Major Abe Baum, and Richard Goldhurst, Raid! (New York: Dell, 1981), p. 67.
8 The SS promised Curtis: Louis Cody Wims, oral history, 45th Infantry Division, www.45thdivision.org/Veterans/Wims.
9 They were shivering, drenched: 158th Artillery Battalion, After Action Report, National Archives.
10 Two senior German officers: According to Voss: “Degen was a paragon of the young Waffen-SS officer. By ‘young’ I mean that they differed to a great extent from the older officers who came from the Allgemeine-SS and took their civilian ranks with them, without having passed through the tough training in the officer candidate school of the Waffen-SS. He had a strong leadership style and demonstrated great personal bravery in several serious combat situations. There was unanimous agreement about his authority among the troops. One can say that we admired him and were proud to have such a leader among us, especially after he rescued the 11th Regiment from Russian encirclement at Tuchkalla, near Kuusamo, when we were on our march toward the Finnish border. He was killed in the last battle of the Regiment at Pfaffenheck, where he was laid to rest in the military cemetery, together with ninety of his comrades.” Source: Johann Voss, letter to author, December 4, 2011.
11 The snow provided cover: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 135.
12 At 1:30 P.M., Colonel O’Brien: After Action Report, National Archives.
13 “We are following thru”: 158th Unit Journal, January 20, 1945, AAR 158th Field Artilley Battalion, National Archives.
14 Now poor visibility and: Baron et al., Raid!, p. 67.
15 Forward artillery observers were: Merriam, Waffen SS, p. 29.
16 I Company’s Private Benjamin Melton: After Action Report, National Archives.
17 “I fortunately got back”: Joe Early, interview with Jeffrey Hilton, 157th Regiment’s reunion, Colorado Springs, 2007.
18 Finally, as dusk fell: Fighting Forty-Fifth, p. 146
19 Some attached white handkerchiefs: After Action Report, National Archives.
20 “You can imagine how”: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 136.
21 Everyone else, as far: Ibid., p. 135.
22 Twenty-five officers were taken: “All I heard at that time was that the officers were honorably received by Raithel personally,” recalled Voss, “and that their soldiers received the precious Scho-Ka-Kola, a piece of chocolate in a round tin box—the ration we used to be issued in the North before departure on some important mission. There was some grumbling among us that WE didn’t receive them, too.” Source: Johann Voss, letter to author, December 4, 2011.
23 “Rumor had it that”: Voss, Black Edelweiss, p. 190.
24 The SS were duly: Johann Voss, letter to author, December 4, 2011.
25 Franz stood in his: Baron et al., Raid!, pp. 67–68. And Louis Cody Wims, oral history, 45th Infantry Division, www.45thdivision.org/Veterans/Wims.
26 There was a bucket: Joe Early, Colorado National Guard interview.
27 All that mattered was: Buechner, Sparks, p. 109.
28 According to SS records: Whiting, The Other Battle of the Bulge, p. 127.
29 Even though he held: Johann Voss, letter to author, December 4, 2011.
30 First at Anzio: Buechner, Sparks, p. 115.
31 “It is still difficult”: Ibid.
32 It was as if: Johann Voss, letter to author, December 4, 2011. Voss also recalled: “Bodies still lying about in the devastated woodland, most of them separately, some already laid in rows by their comrades; they made peculiar bundles, easily recognized even under the snow.” Source: Voss, Black Edelweiss, p. 190.
33 Roads were soon strips: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 137.
34 They were moving back: Ibid.
35 Over three days, more: National Archives, Box 1392, folder 1, 157th Inf. Regiment Narrative History, After Action Report.
36 They were full of questions: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 137.
37 He was “hurt badly”: Shoah Foundation, interview with Felix Sparks.
38 It was quickly evident: Buechner, Sparks, p. 115.
39 “If I had it”: Cundiff, 45th Infantry CP, p. 239.
40 Harsh words were exchanged: Kirk Sparks, interview with author.
41 After a few minutes: Felix Sparks’s Distinguished Service Cross recommendation file.
42 Generals didn’t appreciate being: Rocky Mountain News, March 10, 2007.
43 As far as Sparks: Felix Sparks, interview with author.
44 Sparks also had a: Buechner, Sparks, p. 116.
45 In late January he: Felix Sparks’s Distinguished Service Cross recommendation file.
46 Having finally passed the: Kirk Sparks, interview with author.
47 There was no excuse: Ibid.
48 “Frederick didn’t see the”: Anse Speairs, interview with author. “I deserted my men,” added Speairs in 2010 when asked how he felt about returning to the States on leave.
49 Frederick must have deeply: Cundiff, 45th Infantry CP, p. 232.
50 “The actions for which”: National Archives, HQ records 45th Infantry Division, January 29, 1945, letter from Robert T. Frederick.
CHAPTER TWENTY—THE RIVER
1 “I do not suppose”: Gilbert, Churchill, p. 1182.
2 Now they went on: Earl Sparks, interview with author.
3 In the American Officers’: Wilson, If You Survive, p. 229.
4 “Any American city has”: Felix Sparks, letter to parents, February 12, 1945. Quoted courtesy of Blair Lee Sparks.
5 He had not been: Hugh Foster, e-mail to author, November 23, 2011. The commendation was never made.
6 Green officers came in: Felix Sparks, Regis University, “Stories from Wartime.”
7 Because men with at: Dan Dougherty, Colorado National Guard interview.
8 Private Dan Dougherty was: Dan Dougherty, interview with author.
9 There was a jeep: Dan Dougherty, Colorado National Guard interview.
10 In Berlin, Hitler was: Musmanno, Ten Days to Die, p. 94. The Gauleiters were regional leaders. “They occupied party appointed positions and were responsible for government of one of 43 Party Regions with theoretical direct access to Hitler.” Source: Major Quentin W. Schillare, The Battle of Aschaffenburg: An Example of Late World War II Urban Combat in Europe, (Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1989), p. 170.
11 “That would be the”: Musmanno, Ten Days to Die, p. 94.
12 “In any case only”: Speer, Inside The Third Reich, p. 440.
13 “Get going, you guys”: Hechler, The Bridge at Remagen, pp. 115–21.
14 “Hold on to it, Brad”: Hastings, Armageddon, p. 366.
15 The Allied demand for: Winston Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 4: The Hinge of Fate (London, 1951), pp. 616–18.
16 “There are enough of”: Fritz, Endkampf, p. 203.
17 Some ten thousand Germans would: Ibid., p. 686.
18 “That’s why the Germans”: Rex Raney, interview with author.
19 “Not the ordinary soldier”: Bundesarchiv, diary of Lieutenant Julius Dufner, April 7, 1945.
20 Fear of the truly: Tony Judt, Postwar, p. 20.
21 But
not even terror: Ibid.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE—THE SIEGFRIED LINE
1 They illuminated the dragon’s: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 141.
2 Heading back into combat: Based on analysis of Hugh Foster’s Combat Days of the 157th Infantry Regiment in World War II.
3 Now he would have: MacDonald, Battle of the Huertgen Forest, p. 16.
4 In briefings, he had: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 144.
5 Flushed from their concrete: Charles Whiting, West Wall (Staplehurst, UK: Spellmount, 1999), p. 130.
6 Two platoon leaders out: After Action Report, National Archives.
7 It was the only: Witness affidavit, Cranston R. Rogers, April 25, 2006.
8 Three hundred surrendered to: After Action Report, National Archives. 227 It had taken the: Ibid.
9 Unlike in France, where: Ibid.
10 “Every time you killed”: Anse Speairs, interview with author.
11 “Straggling Germans, still wearing”: After Action Report, National Archives.
12 In some homes that: Ryan, The Last Battle, p. 17.
13 “For an extra bar of chocolate”: Whiting, America’s Forgotten Army, p. 177.
14 “This is the scorched”: Ibid.
15 He turned toward his: Toland, The Last 100 Days, p. 285.
16 “Thus, William the Conqueror!”: D’Este, Patton, p. 712.
17 Men were greeted by: MacDonald, The Last Offensive, p. 287.
18 But there was now: Whiting, America’s Forgotten Army, p. 183.
19 Sparks’s Third Battalion crossed: Rawson, In Pursuit of Hitler, p. 26.
20 “Nonetheless it”: Vincent Presutti, Colorado National Guard interview.
21 “Call that thing a river?”: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 147.
22 The worst was surely: Ibid.
23 Nazi flags were popular: Cundiff, 45th Infantry CP, p. 242.
24 One day, he found: Blair Lee Sparks, interview with author.
25 On March 27, as: AAR Narrative Form, March 1945, p. 8, L -1029, After Action Report, National Archives.
26 He was to take: Felix Sparks, 157th Infantry Association newsletter, July 22, 1982.
27 It would be a simple: Buechner, Sparks, p. 124.
28 They had become indifferent: History—Narrative Form, 157th Infantry Regiment, March 1945, p. 9, National Archives, L-1029.
29 Soldiers, Men of the Wehrmacht: Felix Sparks, “The Aschaffenburg Battle,” 157th Infantry Association newsletter, July 22, 1982.
30 It instructed him and: Quentin W. Schillare, The Battle of Aschaffenburg, master’s thesis, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1989, p. 99.
31 He had fought in: Cranston Rogers, interview with author.
32 Concrete bunkers and pillboxes: Michael Gonzales, Brief History of the 45th.
33 But it had been: Quentin W. Schillare, The Battle of Aschaffenburg, master’s thesis, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1989, p. 99.
34 To ensure loyalty and: Jack Hallowell, 157th Infantry Association newsletter, 2008.
35 He was quickly tried: Ibid.
36 DEATH TO ALL TRAITORS: Quentin W. Schillare, The Battle of Aschaffenburg, master’s thesis, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1989, p. 105.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO—CASSINO ON THE MAIN
1 Icy-eyed GI’s darted through: Oleck, ed., Eye Witness, p. 137.
2 Through his field glasses: Quentin W. Schillare, The Battle of Aschaffenburg, master’s thesis, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1989, p. 17.
3 If the Third Army: Felix Sparks, Regis University interview.
4 Again the area was: Ibid.
5 Then Sparks heard the: Harry Eisner, letter to Michael E. Gonzales, containing memoir “Poor Child,” May 10, 1989. 45th Division Museum archives.
6 His men scattered, looking: Buechner, Sparks, p. 125.
7 What the goddamn hell?: Felix Sparks, Regis University interview.
8 They were dug in: Ibid.
9 “Colonel,” said the captain: Felix Sparks, interview with Chris Miskimon.
10 Indeed, they had assumed: Felix Sparks, Regis University interview.
11 “There’s no way I”: Ibid.
12 Yet again, they had: Quentin W. Schillare, The Battle of Aschaffenburg, master’s thesis, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1989, p. 92.
13 It would certainly have: Abe Baum, interview with author.
14 There was, however, some: Jack Hallowell, interview with author.
15 Captain Anse Speairs: Felix Sparks, interview with author.
16 “Let’s get rid of”: Anse Speairs, interview with author.
17 One battalion issued twenty-six: After Action Report, National Archives.
18 It would be several: Ibid.
19 If it was Dutch: Ainse Speairs, interview with author.
20 The uneasy silence was: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 151.
21 Some Thunderbirds got blind: Ibid.
22 According to his company: Cranston Rogers, Colorado National Guard interview.
23 After a sleepless night: Ibid.
24 Having come so far: Cranston Rogers, interview with author.
25 That morning, under a: After Action Report, National Archives.
26 By lunchtime, the advance: Felix Sparks, interview with author.
27 Not since Anzio had: Quentin W. Schillare, The Battle of Aschaffenburg, master’s thesis, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1989, p. 103.
28 He ordered his men: Felix Sparks, “The Aschaffenburg Battle,” 157th Infantry Association newsletter, July 22, 1982.
29 That evening, unsettling rumors: After Action Report, National Archives
30 According to one report: 45th Infantry Division News, April 1945.
31 “Whoever remains in the”: Quentin W. Schillare, The Battle of Aschaffenburg, master’s thesis, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1989, p. 97.
32 “Now the people stand”: Ibid., p. 66.
33 In some rooms, they: After Action Report, National Archives.
34 They did so, but: Felix Sparks, “The Aschaffenburg Battle,” 157th Infantry Association newsletter, July 22, 1982.
35 joining fifty-nine other men: After Action Report, National Archives.
36 Later that afternoon, Sparks: He would be cut down by men of Chan Rogers’s platoon of G company. “A US newspaper photographer arrived after Heymann had been cut down, and expressed extreme anger that the GIs had ruined a great photograph!” Source: Chris Miskimon.
37 In their absence: Karl Mann, interview with author.
38 Mann wondered what might: Ibid.
39 “There was a good”: A. H. “Ed” Speairs, “Two Ultimatums at Aschaffenburg,” Second Platoon Newsletter, C Company, 157th Regiment, no. 10 (April 1999), courtesy of Dan Dougherty.
40 Mortars opened up and: Christopher Miskimon, “A City Destroyed,” pp. 16–17.
41 By daylight, the entire: Felix Sparks, “The Aschaffenburg Battle,” 157th Infantry Association newsletter, July 22, 1982.
42 Yet casualties continued to: After Action Report, National Archives. 240 Every mobile piece available: Felix Sparks, “The Aschaffenburg Battle,” 157th Infantry Association newsletter, July 22, 1982.
43 Then Thunderbirds stormed the: Quentin W. Schillare, The Battle of Aschaffenburg, master’s thesis, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1989, p. 104.
44 The Germans answered round: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 152.
45 Speairs finally managed to: Ed Speairs, interview with author.
46 Speairs opened a window: A. H. “Ed” Speairs, “Two Ultimatums at Aschaffenburg,” Second Platoon Newsletter, C Company, 157th Regiment, no. 10 (April 1999), courtesy of Dan Dougherty.
47 “Should you refuse to”: Hallowell et al., Eager for Duty, p. 154.
48 Lamberth ignored the offer: Felix Sparks, “The Aschaffenburg Battle,” 157th Infantry Association newsletter, July 22, 1982.
49 Snipers would crawl through: After Action Report, National Archives.
50 If nobody answered: Whiting, America’s
Forgotten Army, p. 191.
51 In some streets: Cranston Rogers, interview with author.
52 he had to fight: Felix Sparks, “The Aschaffenburg Battle,” 157th Infantry Association newsletter, July 22, 1982.
53 It was the utter: Cranston Rogers, interview with author.
54 Ordered by his company: Ibid.
55 They were both cut: Cranston Rogers, Colorado National Guard interview.
56 In the Bois-Brule Barracks: Miskimon, “A City Destroyed,” p. 18.
57 Unprecedented quantities of white: After Action Report, National Archives.
58 Nothing was sacred: Oleck, ed., Eye Witness, p. 137.
59 But the strafing runs: After Action Report, National Archives.
60 The napalm, essentially jellied: Ibid.
61 The air strikes seemed: Ibid.
62 So stubborn in fact: Whiting, America’s Forgotten Army, p. 191.
63 Aschaffenburg was indeed what: Felix Sparks, “The Aschaffenburg Battle,” 157th Infantry Association newsletter, July 22, 1982.
64 “Revenge is our battle”: Lucas, Experiences of War, pp. 168–69.
65 Lamberth and his men: Speer, Spandau, p. 39.
66 Finally, that evening, facing: After Action Report, National Archives.
67 That March of 1945: Evans, The Third Reich at War, p. 682.
68 Two German soldiers, executed: Felix Sparks, Regis University interview.
69 As the Thunderbirds closed: Quentin W. Schillare, The Battle of Aschaffenburg, master’s thesis, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1989, p. 105.
70 She kept looking at: Harry Eisner, letter to Michael E. Gonzales, containing memoir “Poor Child,” May 10, 1989. 45th Division Museum archives. Eisner would later write that he saw the same child on a ferry in New York Harbor. He did not say anything to the girl.
71 Colonel O’Brien was: After Action Report, National Archives.
72 There would be unconditional: Whiting, America’s Forgotten Army, pp. 192–93.
73 Sparks was the most: Felix Sparks, “The Aschaffenburg Battle,” 157th Infantry Association newsletter, July 22, 1982.
74 Sparks, his interpreter Karl: Karl Mann, interview with author.