Posted on 06/06/2012 10:53:12 AM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — Like tens of thousands of American soldiers, Allen Waller did not land on either Utah or Omaha beaches on June 6, 1944.
But like tens of thousands of GIs he would enter France as the slugfest to defeat the Germans, first in the country across from Great Britain and later other parts of western Europe became the battlefields of freedom, ending with Nazi Germany’s surrender nearly 11 months after the D-day invasion.
Sitting in his Sierra Vista kitchen, the 87-year-old Waller talked about his entry into France, his wounding in that nation, his recuperation in England, his return to combat, his capture during the Battle of the Bulge and his eventual freedom as a Nazi captive after walking for miles in what he described as a death march in the last three months of the European part of World War II.
Coming ashore in Normandy, about three weeks after D-day, Waller said his unit came into France on Omaha Beach.
Much of the debris of the initial invasion on that beach was still visible, he said.
While the June 6, 1944, invasion is a major historical aspect of that war, for Waller and others it was just one of many battles in the fight against Germany until final victory in 1945.
“We were there to chase the Germans,” Waller said of the battles which followed the Normandy invasion.
Drafted when he turned 18, he was given a break and did not have to report for military duty until he graduated from high school in 1943.
Basic training was followed by specialty training — in Waller’s case as a paratrooper.
While many believe most airborne training was done in North Carolina, his was at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.
“We got on a train and headed west to California then the train went south and we ended up in El Paso,” Waller said, adding “We were excited about going to California.”
His unit was being trained to go to North Africa, meaning the deserts in western Texas and eastern New Mexico were good to prepare the paratroopers, Waller said.
But the war in Africa ended and even as he described his fellow paratroopers as “airborne cocky little guys,” there was a decision to be made by he and the other soldiers.
They had a decide if they wanted to be infantrymen or glider soldiers.
Almost unanimously it was to go into the infantry because “there were already a lot of stories about how dangerous gliders were,” he said.
So, it was another train ride, this time to someplace “in the hot and sticky south,” Waller said.
Eventually he and others were shipped to England, arriving before D-day.
Of course there were rumors of the pending invasion but when it would happen was highly secret.
What also was known was that it would not just be the invasion forces — American, British, Canadians, French and elements from other nations — who would do all the fighting, as others would have to arrive to defeat the large German armies in France and push them back into Germany until they surrendered, he said.
A member of the 80th Infantry, Waller was part of a machine gun team, working his way from ammo carrier, to belt feeder to gunner.
Arriving in France, he and others of his unit were directed to head east.
That meant going through centuries-old hedgerows, which were nearly impervious to tanks and which the Germans used as traps, destroying tanks as if they were mere sitting targets and shooting down the infantry as if they were, too.
Eventually an enlisted tanker came up with the idea of attaching bulldozer-like blades on the front of tanks which could rip through the hedgerows instead of having armored vehicles go over the top of the mass of trees and other vegetation displaying their vulnerable undersides to the enemy.
Waller said there was no doubt the fight was going to be difficult.
The duffle bags he and others carried around since basic training were left on the beaches.
There was no way to transport them and besides, most of the items in them would not be needed.
“We tore the insides of our gas masks out and put our toiletries in the mask, that’s all we could take,” he said.
One thing he found out about the enemy was “they were good with mortars,” Waller said, adding they could put one down a chimney of a home.
As he and his buddies fought through the hedgerows and beyond, he was to find himself on he receiving end of a mortar.
Hearing the sound, knowing it was heading his way, Waller turned and ran hoping to make it around the corner to put a building between him and the incoming round.
Before he could make the turn the shell hit and his back was showered with shrapnel.
First taken to a hospital in Paris, he was transferred to one in England where he spent more than two months recuperating.
In early December he was released and was sent back to the 80th and found himself in a small hilltop village in Luxembourg.
Then came the surprise attack by the Germans, which has become known as the Battle of the Bulge.
Again he and his compatriots were to find themselves under siege by the enemy, and again mortar fire was accurate, as was the use of tanks and artillery by the Germans.
Two young soldiers, new replacements for the unit, were by him when again he heard a mortar shell heading their way.
“I yelled ‘hit the dirt’,” Waller said.
All three did, with Waller in the middle and the two young replacements on either side of him.
The round burst nearby and the two replacement soldiers were killed and Waller said this time he didn’t even get a scratch.
The battle for the village continued, seriously wounding his lieutenant.
Helping the officer to medical treatment meant going through German-controlled lines but the enemy allowed Waller and the lieutenant to go through.
“I had to sneak back, though,” he said.
The small American contingent in the village was continuously hit and eventually all that was left were six soldiers, who were taken prisoners.
“That happened on Christmas Eve,” Waller said.
Then came marches and train rides in crowded box cars.
Eventually many of the Americans taken prisoners during the Battle of the Bulge were sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in Prussia, he said.
In February 1945, the prisoners in Stalag IIA were forced to march for three months, until they were liberated in April.
“We started out with about 800 of us, when it ended there were less than 300,” Waller said.
Although his actual combat experience was about six months long, and his captivity four months, Waller, who has been awarded a Purple Heart Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge and Expert Rifleman Badge, who left the Army as a corporal, has never said he saw no reason to serve.
Perhaps the most unhappy time for him was after being liberated from the Germans.
At 6 foot tall, he lost so much weight, the military wanted to put weight on him before he was allowed to go home to visit family in Wisconsin.
“They said I would scare my mother,” Waller remarked
Guess that explains why "Pips" Priller was so upset at his commanders in "The Longest Day."
Patton was a hard driver but he was also imaginative. I doubt that Anzio would have gone the way it did with him in command. I doubt also that He would have made Rome rather than cutting off the retreating German army his objective.
Hitler’s refusal to yield ground was one reason why the conspiracy in the Army gained such strength. The conspirators wanted to save Germany: he was a gambler who cared only about winning. If the Allies had been willing to co-operate...
Hitler hated the Junkers and the old Prussian military aristocracy, he made no bones about it. He probably wished he had done like Stalin and had them all shot before the war began.
I think the Wehrmacht were great soldiers; when well-supplied there was little they couldn’t do.
By mid-1944 they were feeling the effects of losing oilfields and such; they couldn’t perform as they had in the past.
I’m in complete agreement with you; I don’t think the invasion of Normandy was successful by some miracle.
They definitely gave their junior officers more flexibility, and it showed results (especially early in the war). When you look at the size of the German military in France, Poland, and Africa, their accomplishments can really be understood; they really weren’t a monolithic steamroller.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.