GERMANS REPORT A BIG PUSH BY MONTGOMERY; PLANES BLAST PATH; SAAR REARGUARD HACKED (3/23/45)

http://phoenixpatriotmagazine.com/online-extra/paul-banks-letter-march-23-1945/

Paul Banks’ letter: March 23, 1945

My dear Mom & Dad:

I’m in fine spirits this evening (8 o’clock) as a result of receiving two checks from you folks, one from you Pop, dated the 6th and the other from my old faithful you, Mother, dated the 8th of this month. Yes Dad, I was in on that news, more or less indirectly, though. That whole business was beautifully executed, and what a bonanza this bridgehead has been…really the biggest break our side has received since I’ve been mixed up in this thing. “Old Blood & Guts” has really gone to town lately, hasn’t he? Give the old boy a little armor to work with and he can’t be stopped.

The weather has been positively pleasing this past week or so … warm and sunny … it won’t be long before we’ll be living next to hedgerows and in orchards instead of indoors and in cellars. This business of finding adequate living facilities indoors is distasteful at times. On our last two moves, we’ve had to order German civilians out of their homes so that we would have room. When the civilians include aged women and children, you can see why it’s not an easy job for me to evacuate them. But we have orders, and after a few moves, you don’t mind it so much. They usually go elsewhere to live with a neighbor.

Our present quarters are rather poor … the people living here are poor peasants, owning some rabbits, chickens and a goat.

The family consisted of an old man and his wife, their son and his wife and 3 kids; the old couple also had 5 or 6 more sons, most of whom had been killed as soldiers but one of whom was still very much alive, and hanging around the house in civilian clothes even though he was a member of the Wehrmacht. I investigated this guy because he looked young and healthy enough to be a soldier, and found that his uniform and army papers were hidden in the cellar. His excuse for being around there in civilian clothes was that he had been wounded March 13 on the Russian front and was home recuperating. I ordered him to show me his wound and he did have a fresh bullet wound in his calf. I then placed him under guard and had him evacuated as a prisoner of war. His Mother carried on something awful when I did this, but I guess my heart has turned to stone because it didn’t seem to affect me, not after what I had seen in France & Belgium.

Any German, no matter how young or old, is my enemy and I’m going to kill him (or her) before they kill me or one of my men. Why? Even kids age 10 or 11 over here have been trained and actually have committed acts of sabotage against us. We’ve caught several youngsters setting fires under the gas tanks of our vehicles or driving nails into the tires. Young girls have acted as artillery observers for the Germans-artillery which has killed or maimed American soldiers. I’ve seen so many times what artillery can do to a man’s limbs without killing him, that I would have absolutely no qualms about shooting any girl doing that.

But enough of the war. How do you folks like the stationery I’m using now? We only have 3 sheets but may get some more if we can find the paper. Don’t you think our battalion insignia is quite distinctive? We have the same thin on the left side of our helmets. It’s a bit larger … that’s the only difference.

Don’t worry about me getting married before this war ends. It’s too likely that I’ll be heading for the Pacific after this show. So it’ll probably be several years before I can settle down for good. Where the girl will come from, frankly, I don’t know. Naturally, I prefer one of those beautiful American gals, but I’ve spent so little time in the States recently that my loneliness has forced me to turn to a few of these European models … and they’re not too bad, either! The Frauleins? I want nothing to do with them. Some of them are pretty, but most of them are hard and bitter-looking…forced motherhood, I guess?

I am enclosing seven recent photos, some good, some not so good … but that’s what makes this world worth living.

Well, it’s 9 now, so I’ll close with love to all at 1756, especially Grandpap. Thank you Dad for the financial statement, which I will expect within the next few weeks. Thank you also for your letter, which was as welcome as it was unexpected. I’ll expect more of the same from now on, Pop. How about it? And to you dear Mother, all my love and may God bless and keep you for me.

Your devoted son,
Paul

http://marshallfoundation.org/library/digital-archive/to-general-of-the-army-dwight-d-eisenhower-18/

5-068 To General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, March 23, 1945
1945

Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Date: March 23, 1945
Subject: World War II
Collection: Papers of George Catlett Marshall, Volume 5: The Finest Soldier

To General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower

March 23, 1945 Radio No. WARX-57751. Washington, D.C.

Secret

For Eisenhower’s EYES ONLY from Marshall.

Please pass the following from me to General Bradley: “I am filled with admiration over your handling of the operations involved in the development of the Remagen Bridgehead and the clearing of the Saar Basin. I want General Hodges and General Patton and their Corps and Division Commanders to know that their great military successes of the past few weeks have registered a high point in American military achievement. Incidentally I am profoundly impressed with the remarkable logistical support of the Remagen Bridgehead and the supply of Patton’s Forces which made possible the rapidity of their bold advances.”1

If you think it wise, that is, without offense to Devers’ group or to Simpson’s Army, and as a possible antidote for an overdose of Montgomery which is now coming into this country, you have my permission to release this in Paris.2

Document Copy Text Source: George C. Marshall Papers, Pentagon Office Collection, Selected Materials, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia.

Document Format: Typed radio message.

1. On March 7 the U.S. Ninth Armored Division captured the strategic Ludendorff railway bridge at Remagen, allowing U.S. troops to cross the Rhine River and establish the first Allied bridgehead on the east bank of the Rhine. General Omar N. Bradley gives his account of Lieutenant General Courtney H. Hodges (First Army commander) notifying him of American troops crossing the Rhine in A Soldier’s Story (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1951), pp. 510-11. While elated that American troops had captured the bridge, Bradley was aware that plans had called for Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s troops to first cross the Rhine in the north. “The Plan had been predicated upon a major crossing by Monty north of the Ruhr. If, after satisfying Monty’s priority requirements, SHAEF could then support a diversionary offensive, a secondary crossing might be made by Third Army between Mainz and Karlsruhe. Indeed this secondary crossing was essential to the Ruhr pincer for which I had fought since the previous September,” wrote Bradley. “Although Eisenhower had not yet made a decision to restrict the Rhine crossing to Monty, his British-dominated staff at SHAEF so favored the Montgomery proposal that this single thrust had already become established in their minds as The Plan, SHAEF’s irrevocable plan for the assault of the Rhine.” Lieutenant General George S. Patton’s Third Army crossed the Rhine River on March 22 south of Mainz. Elements of Montgomery’s Twenty-first Army Group crossed the Rhine on March 23/24 near Wesel. (Ibid., pp. 511-24.) For a detailed account of the Allies capturing the Ludendorff Bridge amid German confused command and failed attempts to demolish the bridge, see MacDonald, Last Offensive, pp. 208-35.

Patton recalled: “The First Army seemed to be doing very well at the Remagen bridgehead. We were quite happy over it, but just a little envious.” He was determined to secure a crossing over the Rhine before Montgomery or probably lose divisions to Montgomery’s command and “have to go on the defensive. If, however, we could get across before the British attack, we could carry the ball.” (George S. Patton, Jr., War As I Knew It [Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1947], pp. 254, 264.) On March 23 Patton congratulated the Third Army: “In the period from January 29 to March 22, 1945, you have wrested 6484 square miles of territory from the enemy. You have taken 3072 cities, towns, and villages, including among the former: Trier, Coblenz, Bingen, Worms, Mainz, Kaiserslautern, and Ludwigshafen. You have captured 140,112 enemy soldiers, and have killed or wounded an additional 99,000, thereby eliminating practically all of the German 7th and 1st Armies. . . . And remember that your assault crossing over the Rhine at 2200 hours last night assures you of even greater glory to come.” (Ibid., p. 269.)

2. General Jacob L. Devers’s Sixth Army Group was clearing the Saar-Palatinate area, along with Patton’s Third Army. (For more information on this campaign, see MacDonald, Last Offensive, pp. 236-65; Pogue, Supreme Command, pp. 424-27.) Lieutenant General William H. Simpson commanded the Ninth Army, which was part of Montgomery’s Twenty-first Army Group Rhine crossing. (MacDonald, Last Offensive, pp. 294-320.)

Eisenhower replied on March 24 that he was releasing Marshall’s message and that Bradley held a press conference outlining Twelfth Army Group operations carried out the “last few weeks in accordance with my fixed plan for eliminating the enemy forces west of the Rhine,” at which time Bradley complimented individual commanders and praised American equipment. “I cannot quite understand why Montgomery should be getting a big play at this time in the States,” replied Eisenhower. “It seems that even when operations carried out under his direction are of considerably less magnitude than those in other parts of the front, and even though large American forces cooperate, there is some influence at work that insists on giving Montgomery credit that belongs to other field commanders.” (Papers of DDE, 4: 2540-41.)

Recommended Citation: ThePapers of George Catlett Marshall, ed.Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens(Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981- ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 5, “The Finest Soldier,” January 1, 1945-January 7, 1947 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), pp. 97-99.

http://mercedesblog.com/march-23-1945-70-years-since-the-liberation-of-the-mannheim-plant/

March 23, 70 years ago, the Mannheim was the first plant of Daimler-Benz AG to be liberated, in fact occupied, by the Allies at the end of the Second World War.

The facility on the slopes of the Luzenberg in the suburb of Mannheim-Waldhof was officially opened on October 12, 1908 and had witnessed production start-up more than 100 years ago. Benz & Cie. had bought the 311,000-square-meter site back in 1906, and construction work based on plans drawn up by the architect Albert Speer began in 1907. By the time of the opening ceremony, an area of around 35,000 square meters had been built on with factory buildings.

The plant played an important role in terms of Mercedes-Benz production during WW2: “In view of its outstanding technical facilities, the Mannheim plant has been assigned a particularly important responsibility within the production process of Daimler-Benz AG. In continuance of the old Benz tradition, Mannheim will be responsible for the production of diesel engines for industrial use, as well as for mid-range passenger cars and trucks. However, one of the Mannheim plant’s most important operational areas is to supply cast iron to all plants of Daimler-Benz AG from its exemplary and efficient cast iron foundry, a facility that operates with state-of-the-art equipment.”

The army forced operations to be switched to authorized production of the Opel three-ton truck. Demand for such vehicles during the war years was extremely high. As a result, the number of employees grew from 3,231 (1939) to 4,601 (1944). The workforce included 448 prisoners-of-war and forced laborers from the concentration camps, as well as 1,249 civilian foreign workers. The number of forced laborers and foreign workers reached a high in 1944. These people came from the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Croatia, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Serbia, Spain and Hungary.

For the Mannheim plant, the Second World War ended on March 23, 1945, when it was occupied by American troops. By this point, air raids had destroyed about 20 percent of all production facilities, and bombs had fallen on almost a quarter of the area. Following the occupation of the plant, a large area at the southern end of the premises was confiscated for use by the American occupying forces.

The US Army commandeered a part of the southern end of the plant for their own needs, and only gave up their occupation of the area in 1955.

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.