6.   FINAL VICTORY IS NOW AT HAND

The harsh winter is now passed, and we are getting into the nicer weather conditions that April brings. The Ruhr Pocket has just about been cleaned up, and we now have the entire German Army encircled. Remnants are soon brought to submission by the strafing of our fighter planes, and it becomes a matter of simply rounding up the tattered remains of the 'Super Race'. What a bunch of "Sad Sacks" they turned out to be.

Word reached us that we were to move to the Hartz Mountains in Eastern Germany, and here, we would screen the hillsides for the 'Die Hards! It was even rumored that we might even find Adolph here oh what a joy that would be if Company A could get a hold of Hitler. I know he would have never reached the Nuremberg Trial. En-route to the Hartz, we stopped over at a town named Seehausen, and it proved to be a most interesting place for Co. A. Located in the center of town was this rather large building, and we were curious to know why a single G.I. from the 14^th Armored Div. Was standing guard by the one door leading into this building. It turned out that he was the only G.I. in town aside from our Co. A, and at that, he looked like he just came over from the states right from basic training. He was kind of cute standing there in his clean uniform, being too timid to challenge us.

Well, this structure was one very large warehouse, and when we reached the basement, we couldn't believe our eyes. Here, we saw literally thousands of cases of Europe's finest wines, liquors, cognac, champagne, etc. etc. you name it and it was there. Word spread like wild fire, because we were the drinkinest company in the Division and boy were we ever thirsty at this point. A steady stream was going down the steps to the basement while an equally steady stream was exiting. Our company had about 25 vehicles, and we had by now acquired a trailer for each one, so, the word was load up! When our loading was complete, we figured we took enough spirits that would calculate to 17 cases per man. When our Co. A convoy left the next morning for the Hartz, nobody was sober, and we really did look like the "Iron Snake" slithering over the highway towards St. Andreasberg, Hartz. I remember celebrating my birthday with my squad in the Hartz (May 16), and I served nothing but Pomeroy Champagne of which I had eight cases originally.

St. Andreasberg was a beautiful mountain resort in peacetime, a place recommended for those suffering with T.B. Hostilities had now ceased, thankfully, and we took on a garrison type of military life. We had the local tailor cut down our long Class A coat into the Eisenhower Style Jacket. The local hotel (Kurhotel) became our Mess Hall, and the finest home in the neighborhood became our Co. A C.P. Our Company Commander was now Capt. Bob Mizner, I believe of Detroit. As the Bugler, I was a messenger, organizer of activities, helper to the attached Company Clerk and was also involved with writing citations.

There was a good movie theatre in town, so our Special Services began to send us some American films. Passes to Paris, the French Rivieria, Liege and Brussels were now becoming available to us. Our 7^th A.I.Bn even held a lottery with which they chose one man from each company who would get an immediate furlough back home; a George Booth of Indianapolis won that one. I chose a four day pass that permitted me to go back to Wijlre, Holland to visit my friends. Walt Basilio of MD and I took a 'two-by' truck to Holland. When we parked the truck anytime during our travels, we'd remove the distributor cap so no one would steal the truck. Also at St. Andreasberg, we had an American Flag made by a Russian Slave Labor woman. We had to scout around town for the material, then we had to try and make her understand how we wanted her to make it. Amazingly, she did a pretty good job, and it really looked great flying on the large pole next to the hotel.

When we first entered St. Andreasberg, the people hid themselves, because they were told that we Americans would rape all of the women; however, they got to know us rather well after a few days, and as time passed, they got to like us very much. The first day we displayed our flag, as is our American custom, the flag is lowered at dusk. The German flag, on the other hand, is flown continuously throughout the day and night; so when we lowered the flag that first day, they thought we were going to be leaving them the next day. This upset them greatly, mainly because it was said that when we would leave St. Andreasberg, we would be replaced with British units. So, when they saw the flag raised again the next day, calm prevailed.

It was really a very sad day when we received orders to leave St. Andreasberg, the birthplace of Marlene Dietrich, Hollywood actress. Our new assignment was to go to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia where we would take up occupational duties, and we were to be there on June 1^st/45. Our last night in the Hartz was full of farewell parties, and I for one was ready for about 10 hours of sleep as we pulled out. We would soon have our first experience of riding on the famous German Autobahn eastwardly. Among the good things Hitler did, was to build a good highway system; we used them to good advantage during active combat.