D DAY Through German Eyes 2 Quotes

“We heard engines, and suddenly there were Jeeps in the courtyard, and these huge American fellows, like giants, with their Thompson guns over their shoulders, were already making friends with our nurses. I don’t know whether the Americans put their tallest men in the front line, or if this was by coincidence, but these fellows were close to two metres tall, all of them.”
― Holger Eckhertz, D DAY Through German Eyes 2

“I was astonished at this sight. I wondered if I was hallucinating, or if this was a delirium of some kind. I had never seen such an assembly of ships, and I’m sure nobody will ever see such a thing again, perhaps not in human history. The sea was absolutely solid with metal, that is no exaggeration.”
― Holger Eckhertz, D DAY Through German Eyes 2

“We have to remember that the use of stimulating drugs was more common in the 1930’s and 40’s, and much less frowned upon, than it is today in the 1950’s. Let’s remember that Bayer, which I think is probably still the largest German pharmaceutical company, they invented their two wonder drugs in the 1930s, Aspirin and Heroin. They were intended to go hand in hand, if you remember back then (Aspirin = Hope, Heroin = Heroism.) You could get Heroin very easily from a pharmacist, just like Aspirin. Today”
― Holger Eckhertz, D DAY Through German Eyes 2

“In an instant, the PAK gunner fired off the projectile, and we saw this large, bulbous warhead fly off to the tank. It hit the tank straight on the front plate, low down, and it exploded. It was just as we had been trained to do. The Sherman gave a great jolt and lurched from side to side. I was astonished that it was so simple to knock out the famous Sherman tank. I began to have wild thoughts that we could knock out many more, perhaps dozens of them . .”
― Holger Eckhertz, D DAY Through German Eyes 2

“writing at its most intense and unflinching. It is a phenomenal memoir of panzer warfare, the collapse of the Third Reich and the suffering of civilians and troops on all sides, as World War 2 drew to an apocalyptic conclusion in the fields of Germany. ***”
― Holger Eckhertz, D DAY Through German Eyes 2

“that. When I say ‘officer,’ I don’t mean”
― Holger Eckhertz, D DAY Through German Eyes 2

“I am not complaining, because many men in that war suffered far worse than me. But still, I was astonished at how violent they were. If they had asked us to surrender, we might have done so. I was shocked that the American troops were primed to kill in that way. Why do you say that? Why were you shocked? They came there to kill us, to do violence to us. But this was the war, Herr Hoffmann. How can this have been a surprise, a shock to you? It is hard to explain. I think that in my mind, I always had some idea that the Americans were civilised, but they were misguided, or they were misled. Now that you ask me the question, I try to understand my own feelings and it’s difficult for me. I think that I had the belief, the subconscious belief, that the civilised Americans would not wish to disturb the peace of France. We in the German forces thought that we had gone to such lengths to protect France, to guard its people against harm. I think that deep down I could not believe that the Americans would shatter this peace we had achieved. Of course, I was utterly wrong. You were wrong about the Americans? I was wrong about everything. I know today, ten years later, that everything I believed during the war was a mistake. I understand today that we Germans were not in France to protect the people, we were there only to exploit and persecute them. We should never have been in France, or Russia, Italy, any of those places. The things that we did were appalling . . . everything was wrong. Why would those Americans hate us so much? Why would they cut our throats and break our necks like animals, in the road, without a word? Well, because they knew the truth of what we were doing, that is why.”
― Holger Eckhertz, D DAY Through German Eyes 2

“And, of course, there was the Muslim SS, who I think were from Yugoslavia; it was known that they were very devout believers of their faith. Very devout indeed. I heard that they were very conscientious in their prayer times and fasting and so on. By the way, those Muslim SS men were considered very ruthless and effective troops indeed. We were glad to have them.”
― Holger Eckhertz, D DAY Through German Eyes 2