Patton, the most dramatic of the American generals. He has had glory, but he has also had humiliation.
In early August 1943, just as his rise to prominence in Sicily, he was abruptly deposed as a commoner. Only because he impulsively insulted two cowardly soldiers, Eisenhower had to order him to leave the battlefield. The strong Patton shed tears of remorse for this, but it still did not help.
However, the relationship between Eisenhower and Barton is not a general friendship after all. When Patton returned home from his post, he privately promised General That once he was in command of the Western European landings, he would be entrusted with a heavy responsibility again. Patton left the Mediterranean in disbelief.
At the end of 1943, Eisenhower was appointed commander of Operation Overlord. He kept his promise and quickly summoned Patton to England. As a result, Patton became the commander of the US 3rd Army. Although he had to commit himself to the command of his former junior Bradley, Barton did not care.
In August 1944, as the Allied forces landing in Normandy were gradually locked in a stalemate with the Germans, Eisenhower prompted Patton out of the mountains. As soon as Patton's 3rd Army landed on the European continent, it was like a fierce tiger directly attacking the recalcitrant German army. Suddenly, the German defense line was torn apart. Then the whole line collapsed.
In early 1945, Patton's 3rd Army was even more prominent. He ignored Eisenhower's advice to slow him down and chased after the Germans' butts. The Rhine was left behind, and the Elbe was not far away.
Patton triumphantly marched eastward on a spring day...
The dark green telephone in the command trailer kept coming with news of victory.
On the morning of March 22, his confidante, Commander of the 12th Army, Eddie, was surprised. Here's great news: the discovery of a Nazi treasure. Not only gold, silver, but also a large number of valuable cultural relics...
Patton was overjoyed and decided to inspect the treasure himself. He never imagined that there was something unexpected waiting for him...
Witty and loyal aide-de-camp
After touring the Nazi treasure accompanied by Eddie and Owen, Patton was in a particularly happy mood and ordered his subordinates to a banquet to celebrate.
Just then, Eisenhower called and said, "George, last night, Major General Dean, head of the U.S. military mission in Moscow, called me to say that your cousin John Waters and 900 American prisoners of war had been transferred by the Germans from central Poland to the XIIIB prisoner-of-war camp in Hammelburg. It was about 100 km from the front of the 3rd Army. The Germans have reached the point of poverty at dusk, and anything can be done. If you think about it, there is no way to rescue them. ”
Barton heard this. The heart "clucked" a little, and the happiness of a few days disappeared in the blink of an eye. What to do? Save people, there is no certainty, the main force will go north with Montgomery's troops to encircle the enemy of Ruhr, can only send a limited number of troops, and for their cousin to send troops, they will be criticized in the future; if you don't save, how can you bear to watch your cousin suffer. For a time, Patton, who was usually decisive in his work, actually became six gods and no master.
Major Alexander Stiller was Patton's personal aide-de-camp. One look at the general's mood reveals that Ike was telling the general something serious on the phone. So, slowly, he walked over and asked in a low voice, "Your Excellency, General, what do you need me to do?" ”
Patton turned and looked at Stiller, one of the young officers he admired most. Although his rank was not high, Patton confided in him almost everything. He hesitated, but simply told Stiller what Ike had been talking about on the phone.
Barton's relationship with this cousin John Waters is somewhat known to Stiller. Although they were in their teens, Waters' parents died early and came to live in the Barton family at an early age. It can be said that the path of life he took was to step on the footprints of Patton, the big cousin. After high school, Waters did not hesitate to come to West Point. In the North African campaign, he was already a distinguished regimental commander under Patton. Patton is very strict with him, and at the same time cares about this cousin at all times. Stiller knew that if Waters had been surprised by Patton's failure to rescue him in time, the general would suffer for the rest of his life.
After the idea was decided, Stiller approached Eddie, the commander of the 12th Army, and talked about it. Eddie agreed with the Major that action must be taken. But who will be the sharp knife? He remembered the 5th Panzer Division, the vanguard of the Army Group, whose commander, Ou, was not far away, and Eddie informed him of his thoughts.
Owen heard this and felt that he was not sure of completing such a task, but he could not shirk it, or agreed in hesitation.
"How powerful is the faction?" Owen mused.
"At least one independent regiment can be sent to have a chance of success." Owen thought, "However, it is obviously unrealistic to draw a whole regiment of troops at once at the moment. ”
Owen had no choice but to call Lieutenant Colonel Abrams, the leader of the B Independent Regiment, and Abrams listened and sent someone to find Abraham.
Captain Abraham Baum, the reconnaissance staff officer of the 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, was 1.88 meters tall, well-proportioned, liked to keep a small flat head, and more importantly, he was very aggressive.
So Abrams thought of him at once.
When Baum arrived at the regimental headquarters, Akrams said, "There is a special task that I think is most appropriate for you to carry out." ’
"What task?" Baum asked confusedly.
"Yes, this evening you will be ordered to lead a reinforced company straight into Fort Hammer, 100 kilometers behind enemy lines, and rescue 900 American prisoners of war there."
"Yes!" Baum didn't ask any questions and turned away.
Abrams nodded with satisfaction.
XIIIB prisoner of war camp
The XIIIB POW camp is located on a steep hill in a highland basin, about 5 km north of Fort Hammer. The camps held some 3,000 Royal Yugoslav officers captured in the 1941 German blitzkriegs in the Balkans. In January 1945, as the Soviets approached the Polish hinterland, the Germans transferred American officers who had been held in a prisoner-of-war camp in Sagan, Poland. To the surprise of the American prisoners of war, these arrogant-looking Yugoslavs were kind and generous to them, and on the day of the Arrival of the Americans, they gave 150 packets of food to the new allies.
Most of these transferred American prisoners of war were forced to surrender at the beginning of the Ardennes Campaign and remained imprisoned in the Sagaon POW camp in central Poland. When they entered the XIIIB prisoner-of-war camp, they found that there was little organized activity here except for religious activities on Sundays. While in Sagan, they have athletics competitions and various musical performances.
Worse in terms of eating. Due to the severe shortage of food in Germany during the week, XIIIB prisoners of war were given food only once a month. For this reason, almost all people are upset, and many people are infected with pneumonia.
This harsh environmental condition improved markedly from 8 March, when 430 American prisoners of war, led by Waters, arrived from Szoping, Poland.
Overnight, Waters and his chief of staff, Goode, restored order and discipline in the camp. This lifted the spirits of the young officers, who hated life in the battalion. They began to wash their dirt-stained military uniforms, polish their dirt-covered leather shoes, and the humble room suddenly became clean and bright.
There was also more talk and exchange between prisoners of war, and the topics were mostly military. After enlivening the atmosphere in the camp, Waters and Goode began to turn their energies to the German commander Gecker in the camp.
It seems that the seemingly vicious Gecker is also bullying and afraid of hardness, and under the threat of Waters and Goode, the conditions in the prisoner-of-war camp are rapidly improving: the food has been improved, the roll call on stormy days has been canceled, and a medical staff has been added, and the phenomenon of prisoners dying of illness has been basically eliminated.
Waters became a hero in everyone's mind for a while.
In the darkness of the night, the Einsatzgruppen entered behind enemy lines...
At 9 p.m. on March 31, Baum's Einsatzgruppen quickly slipped in a gap that the B Independent Regiment struggled to open. The team consisted of 307 men, 10 Sherman medium tanks and 6 light tanks, 3 105 mm automatic howitzers, plus 27 prisoner-of-war transporters, 7 Jeeps and 1 medical amphibious military vehicle.
In addition, Major Stiller volunteered to accompany the team as a soldier, completely at the behest of Baum, with the aim of completing Patton's mission to save his brother.
At night, it was pitch black, and the clouds were dense, obscuring the moonlight that should have been bright.
Baum's Einsatzgruppen passed the iron bridge with the rumble of the chariots and plunged at full speed toward the rear of the Germans. Soon, the German 7th Army knew that an armored force had broken through the defensive line, but to the surprise of the Germans, the Baum Einsatzgruppen moved so quickly, so fiercely, that the Germans rushed to the front as soon as they received the order. Although sporadically blocked by some light weapons and anti-tank bazookas, the Einsatzgruppen suffered few casualties.
At 6:30 a.m., the Einsatzgruppen marched into the city of Gmingdon, which crosses the River Main and is located at the confluence of the Sing and Saale rivers. In contrast to other cities, Gümingdon seemed to have no idea that an American combat force had swung into the streets.
However, there was a fierce battle here, and Baum was wounded and cut off from the main road through Hammelburg. Baum immediately chose another route of march, advancing along the right bank of the Sim River, hoping to find the ideal spot to cross the river.
At this moment, a German helped them a lot. A paratrooper on sick leave who was tired of the war, Baum told Baum that Burgsin, 13 kilometres north of the city of Gmingdon, was an ideal place to cross the river.
The Einsatzgruppen crossed the Xin River and marched along a bumpy mountain road. The road is undulating and full of thorns. Thankfully, the ground is quite solid and suitable for tanks and vehicles. Soon, they encountered about 700 Soviet prisoners of war. When the prisoners of war saw the American tanks coming from opposite, they rushed to the SS escorting them, and with baum's help, all 200 German SS were captured. The Einsatzgruppen handed over the captives to the care of the Russians, and in the blink of an eye, the identities of the Germans and the Russians changed completely.
Immediately afterwards, the Einsatzgruppen crossed the Francon River and reached a distance of only 8 kilometers from the prisoner-of-war camp. Just then, a German liaison plane buzzed in, and Baum immediately ordered the advance to stop. In a moment of relative silence, Baum heard the sound of armored vehicles not far away, and at this moment concealment was no longer necessary, so he ordered the team to march towards Fort Hammer.
Suddenly, a German tank appeared at the bend, followed by another, and Baum ordered six Sherman medium tanks to be ready to attack, setting up three automatic towing guns.
Fighting in the XIIIB officers' prisoner-of-war camp began.
Rescue of prisoners of war
The PRISONERS of the XIIIB camp suddenly heard a brief exchange of tanks not far away, so they rushed to the barbed wire fence on the periphery, and Waters ran along.
He saw several American tanks speeding across the fields, bombarding the Serbs' small boardhouses with heavy artillery. Just then, General Gecker, the camp's superintendent, came running in a gust of wind and telling Waters that he was already a prisoner of the Americans and that the war was completely over for him. He begged Waters to send an American out to contact the U.S. troops on the other side to stop shelling.
"Okay, I'll go out and try it." Waters said as he walked outside, and without taking a few steps, he turned back and said, "Go get an American flag and a white flag." He was followed by the German translator Captain Fuchs and two Americans.
Smoke billowed from the battlefield and shrapnel flew everywhere. The Waters 4 men walked towards baum's Rangers in the smoke. 800 meters outside the camp gate was a livestock barn, and they had just come out when a soldier in camouflage came running toward them. Waters didn't know if he was German or American, because he was wearing a paratrooper uniform, so he shouted, "American! ”
It was a German soldier who rushed through the fence and opened fire without Waiting for Fuchs to explain. Waters felt as if he had been punched in the right chest. He fell to the ground in a white mane and scolded in his heart: "This is the end!" ”
The Germans jumped over the fence and forced Fuchs to the edge of the shed step by step, shouting that they would all be killed. It took Fuchs several minutes to explain to him that the guy knew they were military negotiators. So Patton's cousin was wrapped in a blanket and carried back to the camp.
At this time, baum Einsatzgruppen rushed straight to the high ground where the German guards were hiding on the top of the mountain. He lost 5 semi-belted vehicles and 3 jeeps in the fierce battle just now, as well as 3 German tanks and 4 ammunition vehicles.
Inside the POW camp's plank houses, Americans gathered behind windows in droves, clapping and cheering as if they were watching a baseball final. Suddenly, a stray bullet exploded in the vicinity, and the flying shrapnel hit the glass window, and everyone immediately fell down, but soon rushed to the window again. They saw an American tank stop in the yard while making a screeching sound.
That night the XIIIB prisoner-of-war camp held the most sumptuous meal ever. As the prisoners were eating, Baum ordered everyone to pack immediately. As soon as night fell, the Americans packed their backpacks and marched in a five-way column on Goering Square. Then fish emerge from the gap in the barbed wire that the tank has broken. After a while they came to a wilderness about two kilometers from the POW camp and met with the main force of Baum's Einsatzgruppen. The prisoners of war found that the shadows of the tanks on the hill were faintly visible, and in the vast night, they resembled a huge wild duck that invited them to swim in the heavenly court.
It's just an exhausted squad
After the American prisoners of war in Fort Hammer met the Einsatzgruppen, they sat down as free men on the hard, damp ground, and everyone kept joking. Suddenly, several gunshots rang out. The atmosphere suddenly became tense. To Baum's surprise, the group was far more than 900 people, reaching 1300 people. Too much to bring them all back.
Goode reluctantly went to the group of prisoners of war and told them that they were divided into three parts according to their physical condition: those who were willing to flee in their own capacity; second, those who could march back to fight in tanks and half-track vehicles; and those who had to return to the camp because of their poor health.
The prisoners of war then learned that this force was not the vanguard of Patton's Army, but an exhausted detachment that had quickly slipped into the enemy line and was now trying to fight back. However, this provides everyone with a chance to escape.
No sooner had the personnel been assigned than a force of German soldiers burst out of the darkness and fired several shots at the armored vehicles. A tank caught fire. Baum took firm control of the patchwork troops, reorganized the ranks, and led them on a trek on the road.
Stiller sat in the back seat of a jeep, holding Waters, whose chest was injured, and he had not forgotten the main task of the trip.
More than a third were unable to walk or fight and had to slowly return to the camps. At 1:30 a.m., the 500 Americans, unable to move toward freedom, were driven by 48 German SS officers to line up on Hermann Goering Square and then, like a flock of sheep, set out on the winding road to Hammelburg.
There has never been any news of this group of prisoners of war.
The Einsatzgruppen was completely annihilated
Exhausted, Baum's Rangers moved forward along a path. For 4 hours in a row, they had been marching and fighting, and now they were going to return to the American front, the difficulties on the road could be imagined, the path was getting narrower and narrower, and finally, the three medium tanks that opened the road in front of them could not travel, so they had to turn around, and the Einsatzgruppen turned around in the dark, and finally found the original road.
On the outskirts of Hollik, a tank in front of it slammed into the brakes, and an obstacle blocked the way. Suddenly, searchlights came on on both sides, and the anti-tank guns that were lying around spewed out tongues of fire, and an American soldier was killed by a thrown grenade as soon as he grabbed the turret of the tank, and others hiding on the tank were seriously injured. The prisoners of war jumped into trenches to hide, and the Einsatzgruppen tanks returned fire with machine guns on obstacles and roadsides.
After a terrible scuffle, only the sound of the motor's weak rotation and the pained groans of the wounded came from time to time. Baum ordered the team to retreat to a hill for repairs.
Baum took a look at the troops, and when he set out, there were 307 people in the whole team, and now only 100 people remained, and he himself hung two places. There are now 6 light tanks, 3 medium tanks, 3 cannons and 22 half-track vehicles. He ordered the gasoline from 8 half-track vehicles to be pumped out and loaded into the tanks of tanks, and at the same time, a final telegram was sent to headquarters saying that he was about to return.
They carried the most seriously injured into a stone-filled house and drew a red cross. Then they rushed down the hill, and at this time, the Germans opened fire with various automatic weapons, and the intensity of the fire was terrible and terrible, which Baum had never heard of. Soon, all the vehicles of baum's Einsatzgruppen were on fire, and the German infantry began to approach. Baum himself retreats into the jungle, where he encounters Major Stiller in his arms, only to see him lying on the ground clutching a submachine gun.
A few minutes later, the German army dogs drove them out of the woods, and Baum was captured as soon as he threw away his Jewish identity card. They were driven to a barn like sheep by a German soldier. Baum was about to take the opportunity to kill the German soldier when Styce squeezed his arm and hurried to stop him.
The Germans separated Baum's men from the prisoners of war in Hammelburg and interrogated them immediately. Several prisoners of war said baum was from the Hamelburg concentration camp, and he was classified as a prisoner of war. Still, Stiller was holding Waters with an American soldier.
The sky began to shine, and in the morning light, a hill clearly appeared. Lying vertically on the hill lay the wreckage of destroyed, burning tanks and half-track vehicles that were being reduced to ashes. The surrounding trees were either broken by shells or covered with bullet marks. The barn marked with the Red Cross had become a pile of rubble. A bunch of Einsatzgruppen were wiped out here.
aftermath
Patton soon learned of the total annihilation of the Einsatzgruppen, and he stayed alone in the life trailer to prevent anyone from disturbing him. Although this operation was not organized by him on his own initiative, he agreed from the heart, who expected that not only was his cousin not rescued, but also a beloved general Stiller was lost. In addition, nasty journalists began to rumor that his motives for the operation were impure. Sicily's bitter lesson reminded him that he must give the necessary explanations to journalists so as not to be scolded by all the soldiers and the people at home.
On the morning of April 4, the weather was exceptionally clear, and the warm spring sun made people kind and friendly. About 10 reporters from major American and British news units were invited by General Patton to the headquarters of the 3rd Army and inquired hopefully about the ins and outs of Baum's Einsatzgruppen. They believed that this press conference in Barton would give them a detailed account.
After a short break, Barton invited the distinguished guests to the conference room of the office trailer. In response to the Associated Press reporter's blunt questioning, Patton calmly replied: "I learned that my cousin was also among these prisoners of war 9 days after Baum arrived at HammelBurg, and if anyone thinks that I am acting entirely for cousin Waters, this is obviously an irresponsible conjecture." He took out his battle log and his personal diary, "Look at the record above. Reporters were circulating these two convincing evidences from Patton, and a look of trust gradually appeared on their faces.
Patton continued: "We tried to liberate this prisoner-of-war camp because the defeated Germans would shoot these prisoners of war. Because similar tragedies have already happened in other POW camps. Of course, I made mistakes. Had the strength of the Einsatzgruppen been stronger, and at the same time, reinforcements had been sent in time in times of crisis, the operation would not have ended today. Regrettably, we underestimated the determination of the Germans to resist..."
Although Patton had a lot of words to say, he was clearly lying. If Eisenhower hadn't told him that Waters was in it, the story wouldn't have happened. The only people in the know are Eddie, Owen, and Stiller, and they are all iron men who will not betray their superiors and friends, so Barton can deal with reporters with false pretenses without any scruples.
It was 20 years before Eddie and Owen opened their silent mouths, and Stiller didn't utter a word until his death.