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August 28 - September 3, 2018
Each time, the German forces were overwhelmed by vast superiority of numbers and weaponry, especially in artillery and attack from the air. I had a feeling of great despair, doubting that we could ever resist this enemy that had such machines and such resources. I was in a bad condition, physically and psychologically. The morphine and amphetamine were declining, I think, in my system, leaving me weakened and confused. The pain in my back, my chest and my leg was very severe. I struggled with myself to decide what to do.
Everything was mechanised, all supplies were carried by truck or train, with seemingly no concern over the amount of fuel used. If a jeep or a truck broke down, it was neglected rather than repaired, and a fresh one was used, still shiny from the factory. Instead of using local food, they ate from tins and cans of food that were made in America. We found this fascinating, and we formed an impression of an unstoppable power that would simply roll over any obstacle. And this is what eventually happened, as we now know, both in France and in Germany.
The concept of the Allies actually invading Germany seemed unimaginable at the time, it must be said.
After the initial burst of energy and determination that I felt when the attack started, I began to feel pity for these troops, because they kept arriving in landing craft. The craft would deposit them in the shallows, and they would walk towards us through the water in the same way as the first set of troops. We fired at them in the same way, causing the same deaths and injuries. My loader was moved by this, and he shook his head, saying that the Americans should not sacrifice their men in this way.
When I read today about the French Resistance, I am impressed at their tenacity, but if the readers of such books could see the trading that went on between us and the local French, they might form a different view of life in France at that time. Well, but this is perhaps a case of history being written by victors.
Regarding the Americans, I think that most of us soldiers made a distinction in our minds between the American government, which we believed was a pawn of international finance,
Antisemetic
One thing in particular struck many of us as amazing: all along the beach, there were no horses!
Sure all oil
It may sound bizarre today, but this impressed us greatly, showing that the Allies had no need of horses anymore, as they had such huge oil resources and production capacity. Because, of course, the German armies used horses for transport on quite a large scale right up until the end of the war, due to limited fuel and constraints on mechanised vehicle production. Every German unit had its stables and veterinarian officer, and here were these English without that need at all. For us, this symbolised the Allied capabilities.
Huge oil resources
time we trusted the state message that an attack on France was an attack on a united Europe and on the Reich itself.
The Americans we were more afraid of, possibly, because of their industrial power. It was said they waged war the way a rich man wages war, with lots of machines and no worry about the gasoline or the amount of ammunition. But almost all of us had lost someone in the Allied bombing attacks on German cities, and this made us bitter.
Rich man’s war
could
Their faces were set rigid, in an expression of absolute hatred. Sheer hatred. This worried me. Why would men, who were the same race as us, who were physically similar to us, why would they hate us in this way? Why would they want to burn us alive, when we were protecting Europe? What was the origin of this hatred? I had no answer to such questions.
