8th Fallschirmjaeger Division (German)
P. W. Interview

INTERVIEW

UNTERARTZ (Dr.) WILHEIM SCHURMANN, Feldpost #66353-R
Fallschirm Ersatz Battalion, 8th Fallschirmjaeger Division
TO: 1st Lt. Howard L. Oleck, (Historical Officer)
AT: KLINKUM, Germany, 2 March 1945, 1800 hours

The 8th Fallschirmjaeger Division was in and around the village of Raum Bruggen on 28 February 1945. The Fallschirm Ersatz Battalion was commanded by Oberfeldartz (Dr.) Lilienthal. This was a provisional medical battalion.

The division had no tanks with it. There were some Volksturm detachments attached. The division's heaviest equipment was its organic division artillery.

On the morning of 28 February 1945 American tanks approached Raum Bruggen and fired on it, then withdrew and disappeared from Unterartz Schurmann's sight. It was the impression of almost all of the Germans there present that the American tanks had moved around on both their flanks and were encircling the entire area. The medical battalion (German) was extremely busy with many German wounded and as a result Unterartz Schurmann was too busy with medical work to get more than a hazy idea of what was going on. The division began to withdraw to the northeast.

Many small groups of 8 or 10 German soldiers were scattered over the countryside without control. Unterartz Schurmann decided that he had had enough of war and joined one of these groups. He took light personal equipment and joined a group of 12 medical enlisted men who marched toward the American lines to surrender themselves.

NOTES

The prisoners, including the one interviewed, were generally clean, and carried their toilet equipment and personal trinkets, etc. They were brought into Klinkuz about 1730 hours on 28 February 1945 by military police of the 8th Armored Division. None of them carried any arms.

The historical officer had only a few minutes opportunity to question any of the prisoners as they were being moved to PWE immediately. Unterartz Schurmann, apparently about 28 years of age, was in particularly spotless uniform and carried a small clothing handbag. He appeared eager to cooperate and evinced strong desire to give whatever information was desired. He repeatedly interjected into the questioning that he had often treated American wounded just as though they were German wounded.

The interview was mostly in German. Unterartz Schurmann also knew some little English.

Military Police in Klinkum stated that they had some difficulty handling prisoners, as the nearest PWE at this time was eighteen miles away.