The following account
is from the fall 2001 Trailblazer, pp. 22-24. It was written by
Eldon McDermeit.
For several weeks our outfit had been in
Alsace, later moving northeasterly along the west side of the Saar
River into Lorraine. For two or three days we looked across a
treeless area at the rather large city of Saarbrucken, Germany.
We could see the infamous Siegfried Line and several large German
pillboxes with rifle and machine gun slits galore. We dreaded having
to enter the heavily defended city. On one occasion we saw two US
fighter planes dive at the pillboxes. firing their machine guns and
then just before pulling up release bombs which struck the
pillboxes. The pilots made several such passes.
Before we walked through the Siegfried Line, I told my squad to
stay single file, if possible. We heard later that one of our guys
had lost a foot by stepping on a SHU mine.
It was March 1945 when we entered Saarbrucken. We couldn't
understand the lack of German fire.
We learned that most of the German troops in the city had
withdrawn and had moved across the Saar River and on in a generally
easterly direction to the east side of the Rhine River. When we
learned this we all breathed a sigh of relief.
As we moved into the center of Saarbrucken, we saw dozens of
white cloths extended out of windows and doorways. When the
occupants were told to come out, more than 100 German soldiers came
out with their hands on the tops of their heads (in contrast to the
"hands up" custom used in the United States).
Our newly made POWs were told to place their weapons and anything
with a Swastika emblem on it into a pile. Included in the pile were
bayonets, German medals, flags displaying large Swastikas, helmets,
belt buckles, etc. The prisoners were obviously glad that the war,
for them, was over. The pile grew to about table height (about 30
inches). I took the opportunity (which was permitted) to take some
of the confiscated items for myself.
The best news of the day besides learning that Saarbrucken had
been abandoned by the enemy, was that our company kitchen was in the
city which meant that we would have a hot dinner. For many weeks
past we had eaten only K-Rations. The dinner that night was
outstanding and much appreciated. I ate dinner with a good friend of
mine named Will Booker, and we agreed to go exploring the following
day as we had been told our troops would remain in Saarbrucken for
two or three days. Will and I were in the same platoon but in
different squads.
The next morning Will and I decided to explore the large
pillboxes that were discussed earlier. Following this. we checked
out the adjacent living quarters of the German soldiers who had
manned the pillbox which was located in a tunnel in a hill. When we
entered the tunnel there was an aisle down the middle of the room
with about a dozen cots on each side of that aisle. At the far end
of the room was a door.
We made a torch out of newspapers as it was quite dark (the
electricity was not available). Mindful that the room may be
booby-trapped or still occupied, we went in and found that it
probably had been occupied by two officers. This was evidenced by
the two better quality cots, some chairs. a desk and a hardwood
closet. Also in the room was a hand-cranked table model phonograph
much like the one my family had before the war .The record on the
phonograph was "Lili Marlene," a German song but it was also popular
in the United States. We played it before we left and liked it.
Having also found a full case of Sardines
in mustard sauce we took them with us and distributed them to our
buddies. We also enjoyed them.
We went exploring again that afternoon.
Although we were not
under fire in Saarbrucken we were never without our rifles and
remained alert for any sign of malcontents. This time we went to the
top of the highest hill overlooking downtown Saarbrucken. We went
into one of the largest houses on the hill. The front door was open
and we found that it was unoccupied. We were certain that one or
more high ranking German officers had been living there.
On the walls were about six or eight large framed photographs of
several German officers, all of whom had medals that covered a large
portions of their chests. We also found an officer's dress sword,
belt buckles, etc. In keeping with the Army's instructions of the
preceding day (when the many German soldiers had surrendered their
weapons etc, we took only the dress sword and a few items displaying
the Swastika. The following day I was able to combine the dress
sword with the items set aside after the big surrender of the first
day (Over the years I distributed that memorabilia to my five
grandsons when they had attained what I deemed was an age of
responsibility).
When Will and I were out exploring, we saw hundreds of civilians.
Most of them were women and kids and came out of the dozens of
tunnels dug into the hills.
During the preceding few weeks, most of the population in the
towns that we took and passed through was missing. We heard then
that the people had moved into Saarbrucken for shelter from
artillery and bombing. Probably most of the civilians coming from
the tunnels were Saarbrucken natives in the process of returning to
their homes. Many of their homes had been destroyed by the war's
action but they gave no indication that they hated or resented our
presence. Also, they showed no fear of us.
We enjoyed our stay in Saarbrucken with the hot meals, lack of
incoming mortar and 88 fire, and with the explorations - but the war
had not ended. Three or four days later we were east of the Rhine
River, again chasing the bad guys.
