9TH ARMY LASHES OUT ON THE COLOGNE PLAIN; 13 ENEMY SHIPS, 4,000 ABOARD, SUNK OFF LEYTE (11/30/44)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 11/30/44 | Drew Middleton, Gene Currivan, Frederick Graham, Milton Bracker, Harold Callender, Raymond Daniell

[Ecliptic]

I was in the scouts for 5 years. It rained/stormed every time we went camping. It stormed every time we slept in the woods when I was in the Army training. I have stood guard at night in the Delta south of Saigon during the Monsoon. Mud is no fun.

[PapaNew]

Try playing soccer in winter in Seattle and Vancouver. It was definitely playing in the mud. But I have to admit - it was fun.

[EternalVigilance]

I get what you’re saying about listening to the voices of those who were on the other side of the front.

Last night I stumbled across a most interesting video about Wehrmacht soldiers on the eastern front who filmed what they went through all the way across Poland and Russia ... and back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_R1UY7nl6A

It’s an hour and a half, but I’m glad I watched it. I have a little better perspective and what happened than I had before.

[PapaNew]

I have experienced the joy of tent leaks and of sleeping directly on the ground inside a tent situated on level ground that a rainstorm revealed to be in a depression of sorts.

Not to mention waking up in a sinkhole...

[alfa6]

Not to disparage Charles MacDonald's work - he did yeoman work as a historian in addition to having been a combat veteran - but IMO, some of the more interesting books that give a picture of what was endured in the Battle(s) of Aachen/Huertgen/Roer River are either German or based on German sources, particularly ones that depart from "the larger picture" works. Hold the Westwall and Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp are both Wehrmacht-centric, but give a good idea of what the GI was facing.

Along the same lines is Shattered Sword by Parshall and Tully. Midway from an in depth Japanese view.

Regards

alfa6 ;>}