Germany

Advancing into Germany, the 3rd Division was marching to Munich and Nuremberg. There was stubborn fighting in Nuremberg, but it was captured and then the same in Munich. Our next stop was Salzburg, Austria and the end of the war.

During our last months in combat, Jack Cole was busy taking many aerial photos and he took numerous photos of the dead at Dachau. I was able to visit the gates into Dachau where the living were waiting for help. Jack said "You don't want to go in there." I developed and printed what Jack had taken within the camp, so I saw it. Man is his worst enemy, and he can be worse than any animal and most diseases present or past in eliminating his fellow man.

The Sports Plaza at Nuremburg Stadium or Zepplinfeld was used to hold American military ceremonies. There was a large Swastika about 25 feet high above this structure which was draped by an American flag. Lt. Colonel Petherick, battalion commander of the Tenth Enginners, asked if they could blast the swastika off the structure and permission was granted. The swastika was blasted after the ceremony, but a piece of it went across the stadium and seriously wounded Catholic Chaplain Smith who was well liked by all. This photo was taken after the emblem had been removed.

Nuremburg in ruins.

These curious GIs are wondering why this German fighter plane doesn't have propellers like the ones they dodged all during the war. I saw these ME 262s in flight several times. They were very fast but I understood they had a very short flying time which kept them close to the autobahn that served as a runway for all planes the Germans had left.

Howard B. Nickelson |  Introduction |  Drafted |  Operation Torch.
Conversation Part 1 |  Sicily |  Conversation Part 2 |  Anzio
Breakout |  France |  Germany |  Austria