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PADERBORN, GERMANY

April 2-6, 1945

 

Went into Paderborn which was a mass of ruins. The town is still not completely taken, as there are still artillery shells coming in to break down the last bit of German resistance. There is still a lot of small arms fire. There are dead Germans lying all around, and a few Americans too. Our own General Maurice Rose also was killed on this drive.

NOTE: There have been many stories written about how General Rose was killed. One source says he was in the process of taking some German prisoners, when one trigger happy Kraut shot him in the head. Another source says General Rose and his driver were ambushed and he was shot as he was taking off his gun holster.

"Boy we are really in deep now. It sure gives a guy a funny feeling, to be way up here knowing there are Germans all around us; the many soldiers we passed by, knowing they still have their guns."

After it was all said and done, and a few months later, as I had time to write more I made these comments: This operation of going from Marburg to Paderborn was a planned pincher movement of enclosing an army of 376,000 German soldiers. It was initially called the closing of the Ruhr pocket but later was changed by the First U.S. Army so that this mass encirclement would now be known as the "Rose Pocket" in honor of our fallen General.

April 6, 1945: We left Paderborn and drove twenty miles southeast and entered a small farming community, Herbrain. We stayed here for two days and while here enjoyed the atmosphere of the barnyard. Helped a farmer pull a colt as it was being born.

I nearly forgot to mention another harrowing experience. On our drive to Paderborn we pulled into a bivouac area. It was nearing dusk. As I got out of the half-track and began to reconnoiter the area (We always did this. It was always good practice to check and make sure you had no enemy near you.) I entered a wooded area. I was surprised by three German soldiers who walked toward me. They had a white sheet and threw down their guns. I was alone; three against one. After I fleeced them and led them to our command post and turned them over I began to think: What if they didn't want to surrender. They had their guns. What if one was trigger happy. I often think of this and am grateful that they had the mind to give up.

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