The FReeper Foxhole Revisits Task Force Baum - The Hammelburg Raid - April 17th, 2004

http://www.milmag.com/newsite/features/articles/hammelburg/ ^ | Herndon Inge, Jr.

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Grant them a safe and swift return...

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The FReeper Foxhole Revisits

The Hammelburg Raid

World War II in Europe was nearly over when, on 26 March 1945, Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., Commander of the famous United States Third Army, ordered a Task Force from the Fourth Armored Division comprising 294 men and 53 vehicles and composed of Sherman tanks, light tanks, 105 millimeter assault guns, halftracks and jeeps to break through the German front lines at Ashaffenburg on a strange mission. Capt. Abraham Baum was in command of the Task Force whose mission was to head for Hammelburg, 60 miles away, and liberate the American officers who were imprisoned in Oflag XIIIB and bring back as many as they could.

Articles and books have been written about Gen. Patton's abortive raid to Oflag XIIIB, (Offizierslager), an American officers' prison camp at Hammelburg, in which, it just so happened, his son-in-law Lt. Col. John Knight Waters was a prisoner. The end of the war was in sight and the American Army was fighting for every foot of ground against a defeated, but still potent, German Army composed of the troops that had escaped though the Falaise Gap after the Normandy invasion and made their way back to Germany and regrouped east of the Rhine River. In addition to the seasoned German troops who had escaped from Normandy, all able-bodied male Germans of all ages were mobilized to make the Americans pay dearly for every foot of ground taken.

Lt. Col. John Knight Waters, a West Point graduate and the husband of Beatrice Patton, Gen. Patton's daughter, had been captured in the fighting in Tunisia, North Africa, in 1943. He was a prisoner in Oflag 64 at Szubin, Poland, with several hundred American Army officers. When the Russian Army troops began to threaten northern Germany, the prisoners in Oflag 64 were marched on the road south in mid-winter. They arrived at Oflag XIIIB at Hammelburg in central Germany early in March. The group of officers from the Battle of the Bulge and other officer prisoners captured in North Africa and after the Normandy invasion were at Hammelburg, making a total of about 1,500 American officer prisoners of war in the Oflag.

I was a lieutenant in Company D, 301st Regiment of the 94th Infantry Division and was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. After forced marches in blizzard weather and two freezing boxcar rides I arrived at Hammelburg about 6 March, the same day Lt. Col. Waters and the officers from Oflag 64 arrived after their forced march.

Col. Paul R. Goode, one of the Oflag 64 men who had been captured by the Germans in Normandy, became the senior American officer at Hammelburg after their arrival.

The American front lines were east of the Rhine River in mid-March and the German Army was putting up a fierce defense. Gen. Patton claimed he did not know that his son-in-law was at Hammelburg but military intelligence had indicated that the officers from Oflag 64 had arrived there.

On 26 March the Fourth Armored Division Task Force, after a fierce artillery barrage and tank battle, crossed the Main River and blasted its way through the German lines at Ashaffenburg. It headed toward Hammelburg, 60 miles inside the German lines.



We, as Kriegsgefangen, or Kriegies (war prisoners), at the Oflag were gaunt and skinny and lacked energy as we milled around the compound. On 27 March we heard the sound of tanks and artillery to the west and black clouds of smoke rose over the horizon. We knew the Americans were on their way and we were excited over the prospect of being liberated.

Task Force Baum

We saw several American tanks of Task Force Baum appear over the crest of the hill to the west of the camp firing their guns in our direction. Some German army vehicles sped ahead of them down the hill and past the prison camp. When the American Sherman tanks at the head of the column approached the compound, the prisoners went inside the buildings as the shells shrieked toward us.

Several of the lumbering American tanks appeared at the Oflag and fired their guns overhead and to each side where they expected opposition. The shells screamed through the air and the deafening explosions echoed among the buildings. Black smoke billowed up over the camp as a building was hit and soon consumed in flames.

About 1430 hours two of the big Sherman tanks broke through the double barbed wire fence, trailing the wire and uprooted fenceposts. The pavement in the street cracked under the tanks' weight.

The American tanks on the hill were still firing their cannons and shells continued to explode around the perimeter of the camp. A joyous feeling of liberation prevailed among all of the American POWs in the prison camp.



It was almost dark when I walked through the gaping hole in the fence and up the hill. The POWs were gathered around the tanks in small groups as darkness descended. We felt we were free men once again and would soon be back in the safety of the rear areas behind the American front lines. We were a group of jubilant prisoners, but there was not much chance of fighting alongside our liberators since we were weak from our starvation diet during the past few months. Many of the freed prisoners returned to the Oflag.

As it got dark the tanks started to crank up their engines to prepare for the return to the American lines. While we were standing around, some German soldiers crept up and fired several panzerfaust rockets at the idling tanks. One tank was hit and burst into flames.

I decided to go back to the American lines with the tanks and climbed up on one of the Shermans along with five or six other former prisoners. The deck of the tank was crowded with extra tank tracks, jerricans of gasoline and water and clusters of 76mm shells. The tank drivers gunned their motors and began to move out. I felt exposed high up above the ground. As we moved out the cold wind blew in my face and I had an exhilarating and wonderful feeling of freedom.

Germans close in

None of us knew that hostile German troops were closing in on the Task Force returning to the American lines. When the German military units in the area learned that the American tank convoy was loose inside their lines they began to close in. The Germans knew the size of Task Force Baum. We had seen a small German reconnaissance plane circling overhead before the Task Force arrived at Hammelburg.

I clung to the top of the Sherman tank as it roared and pulled out of the group and became the lead tank of the column in hostile enemy territory. The column of tanks and other vehicles moved slowly through the dark woods along a narrow road until a log pile road block was spotted about 200 yards ahead.

The column stopped and the tanks ground around with much noise and confusion and headed back in the opposite direction. The Germans at the road block fired several bazooka or panzerfaust rockets at the column as we were turning around. One of the rockets swooshed by my head like a deadly Roman candle as it went past and exploded in the woods. I felt the heat and crouched down and hung on for dear life. If the round had been a few inches closer and had hit the tank all of us hanging on would have been killed.



When the column slowed down, I climbed down from my place on the lead tank and ran back about 10 or 12 tanks and other vehicles in the column and climbed up on the back of a halftrack. Two other lieutenants and I hung on and we stood on the narrow metal flange on the back. I felt relieved that I was no longer at the head of the column behind the German lines.

The column of American tanks, half-tracks and other vehicles was hit again with German rockets and panzerfausts as they turned around and headed toward the town of Hessdorf. The column with the liberated prisoners hanging on headed back to Hill 427 and a large clearing. When the convoy disbursed around a big field, a group of liberated officers milled around the tanks and halftracks that had pulled into the clearing. In the center of the clearing was a stone building and the tanks, halftracks and other vehicles formed a defensive perimeter. It was extremely cold and we could hear the sound of German tanks in the woods beyond.

Colonel Goode

After reaching the Oflag and breaking through the barbed wire and heading back to the American lines with the liberated prisoners who could climb aboard, the tanks blasted their way through the quiet countryside. Those of us who were hanging on were exhilarated and happy at being free and headed for the American lines. I hung on the back of the halftrack for several hours and was totally exhausted.



As it began to get light, Col. Paul Goode climbed up on a tank and announced that those of us who had been liberated and who wanted to stay with the task force and fight could do so, but that he was going back to the Oflag at Hammelburg.

He jumped down from the tank and produced a white sheet and started walking back toward the Oflag at Hammelburg with most of the POWs, including me, following. We walked at a rapid pace down a narrow dirt road in the open German countryside to the Oflag, now retaken by German soldiers.

Although we were weak and had not eaten or had a drink of water or slept for over 24 hours, we followed Col. Goode back toward the Hammelburg Oflag. After we had gone about a mile we heard the noise of a terrific battle taking place. The Germans surrounding the beleaguered Task Force were firing point blank at the tanks and other vehicles with everything they had. We could see columns of black smoke rising up over the trees. We trudged the 11 or 12 miles back to the Oflag and were exhausted when we got there. The German guards who had taken off when the tanks arrived had returned and reoccupied the Oflag.

At 0810 hours on 28 March the Task Force prepared to return to the American lines. On the command of Capt. Baum the tanks roared to life and began to slowly move out. The halftracks and other vehicles started up and moved in with the tanks.

Germans attack

The German tanks, tank destroyers and heavy guns cut loose with everything they had. The American tanks, halftracks and other vehicles were hit and many exploded in flames.



The German attack was well coordinated. Tank destroyers with 90mm cannons followed by German infantry converged on the surrounded vehicles. The 76mm guns on the American tanks and tank destroyers were no match for the German 90mm guns. Capt. Baum ordered all drivers not to stop at road blocks but to fight their way back to the American lines destroying anything in the way. After Capt. Baum's order to move out, the onslaught by the Germans damaged or destroyed nearly all of the vehicles. Many went up in flames as their gas tanks exploded.

Before leaving, Capt. Baum found a halftrack with a radio and he tapped out his last message to the Fourth Armored Division Headquarters in Morse Code: "Task Force Baum surrounded, under heavy fire. Request air support."

When it appeared that the situation was hopeless, the men in the Task Force and the remaining liberated officers took off into the woods and some eventually made it back to the American lines. Most were recaptured as they went through the hostile German woods and countryside.

POWs again

Those of us who followed Col. Goode returned exhausted to the deserted Oflag where we stayed for several hours before we were ordered to prepare to leave under the watchful eyes of fully-armed and equipped German soldiers.

Lt. Col. Waters, while attempting a truce with the Germans when the tanks arrived, was shot by a German guard. He was taken to the Oflag hospital and a week later after the American lines had moved up, he was evacuated to a field hospital.

The German soldiers who had returned to the Oflag were now armed and equipped for combat. They marched us the couple of miles down the steep road to the rail yards at Hammelburg where we were ordered to get in box cars and were locked in. We were targets of our own P-47 and P-51 air attacks and were given no food, water or heat. The next afternoon we arrived at Nurnburg at the heavily bomb-damaged rail yards and marched to a prison camp there.



Lt. Col. John Knight Waters remained in the Army and later became a 4-star general. He served the United States with distinction until he retired. He wrote me several years prior to his death that Gen. Patton, his father-in-law, did not know that he was a prisoner at Hammelburg when he sent the Task Force through the front lines to liberate the American prisoners.

Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., "Old Blood and Guts," was soundly reprimanded by both Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Gen. Omar N. Bradley for the abortive attack on Hammelburg and the loss of the Task Force. He told correspondents that he did not know until nine days after the Task Force reached Hammelburg that his son-in-law was among the prisoners. He produced his private diaries and said he attempted to liberate the prison camp because they were afraid that the American prisoners might be murdered by the retreating Germans. Gen. Patton later admitted: "I can say this, that throughout the campaign in Europe I know of no error I made except that of failing to send a combat command to take Hammelburg. Otherwise, my operations were to me, strictly satisfactory."

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(This is the report of Captain Abraham J. Baum he made at HQ 4th Armored Division when he returned 10 April 1945)

We broke through at SCHWEINHEIM and started to clean out that town at 20:00 hours that night. It took us until 00:30 hours before we could pass anything through. From there we went to HAIBACH, GRUENMORSBACH where we received our first bazooka fire. I lost a few infantrymen but no vehicles. We continued on to STRASSBESSENBACH and turned north to KEILBERG. This was somewhere between 01:30 hours and 02:30 hours in the morning. At KEILBERG we got on the main road and went through FRONHOFEN, LAUFACH and HAIN and then went through a stretch of woods. All during this operation we lost infantrymen in these various towns from small arms and bazooka fire. We kept on going through that stretch of woods and got to RECHTENBACH.

Just outside of the town of LOHR we lost our first tank. Of course, during our trip we shot up various vehicles and Krauts in all towns but the momentum of our column was too fast and too great and so we went straight through. In the town of LOHR itself we got a Kraut column of twelve vehicles coming toward us. The town was so situated that we just happened to get on the right road and pass on through and out of it. We then got on the road junction and all along the railway from LOHR to NEUENDORF to LANGENPROZELTEN to GEMUENDEN were trains. I estimate there must have been about twelve trains each consisting of about twenty cars. It was just getting light and it was there that I realized that I was going to run into something. We shot up these trains and a big thirty-car ack-ack train which was loaded with antiaircraft weapons and concrete pillboxes. The infantry cleaned that out. We got some 20 mm fire from the vicinity of GEMUENDEN and from the other side of the train but they stopped firing as soon as the column really started rolling. We got into GEMUENDEN and lost three tanks and a bunch of infantry including a platoon leader and to this day I don't know whether he's dead or alive. They blew a bridge right in our face. This bridge was the only one that would take us to the place we were going to. After further investigation, a PW informed us that the region around LOHR and GEMUENDEN was a marshalling area for two divisions, one division having just unloaded in GEMUENDEN. I believed it as the Krauts were filtering all over the place. After losing three tanks and finding the town was loaded, I decided it was best not to go in and seek another route. We backed out of town and went north.

It was about 08:30 hours when we got into RIENECK. SHAIPPACH was the town before that. The momentum of the column was quite great and we picked up a couple of Germans in that town and used them to guide us to BURGSINN as there was no bridge in RIENECK. In BURGSINN we captured a Kraut General and his staff. I also picked up a Kraut civilian to guide us to the town of GRAEFENDORF. We took off cross-country and went up a mountain trail. In and around GRAEFENDORF the task force freed 700 Russians. These Russians took a magazine and some of them armed themselves and took to the woods in the direction from which we came. We crossed the bridge at GRAEFENDORF and followed the river and railroad until we came to WEICKERSGRUEBEN. At this time - 14:00 hours in the afternoon - I noticed a Kraut liaison plane in the air. I also heard vehicular movement other than my own column when we stopped. I then stopped to orient myself and decide which way to attack this town where the PW camp was located and also find out exactly where the American prisoners were. We left WEICKERSGRUEBEN heading northeast and were engaged in a tank fight at OBERESCHENBACH. We didn't lose anything nor did the Krauts.

The column started moving again but I knew damn well that we were going to have a tank fight real soon. From OBERESCHENBACH to the camp site we went over two bridges - bypassing the town of HAMMELBURG. We had a tank fight and my platoon of lights, one assault gun, the majority of half-tracks and a platoon of infantry went on and started making a move to free the camp. Meanwhile, my medium tanks of which I had about six left engaged these tanks and knocked out three of them, also knocking out three or four ammunition trucks that were in the Kraut column. I kept pushing the task force over the ridge onto this high ground where about two companies of Kraut infantry were dug in. It took us two and one-half hours to clean it up so that the infantry and tanks could move in. In the meantime, the Kraut tanks had knocked out five of my half tracks and three peeps, one being a medical peep - one of the half-tracks contained gas and one other 105 mm-ammunition. It was about 16:30 hours when the first shots were fired on the guards of this military camp. It was about 18:30 hours or 19:30 hours in the evening when the American PW's came out of the camp. I gave them instructions and as many of them as possible rode on my vehicles, reorganized and got ready to go back.

A great number of the PW's were in no shape to go anywhere and they immediately took off in a group carrying a white flag back to the camp. Starting back, we hadn't gone fifty yards when we lost another tank by bazooka fire. I had to change my direction so took a compass reading and went cross-country. Everything was fine until I crossed the bridge and got into HESSDORF and ran into two road blocks. At HOELLRICH three more tanks were bazooked. I lost a tank company commander there and a large group of infantrymen. Knowing that I couldn't mess around there, I backed out of the area into assembly for reorganization on Hill 427 - coordinates 495652. It was about 03:30 hours in the morning when I got back on this hill. I immediately got the people together and found out how much gas we had. We siphoned gas out of eight of the half-tracks and destroyed eight to give us some zone of radius for the vehicles. At this particular time I had three mediums and three lights, plus one command tank. It was then that I sent my last message to the battalion that the mission was accomplished and we were on our way back for the second time. I oriented the people and informed them to use half-tracks for bridging equipment if necessary to cross streams so as to avoid towns. The real seriously wounded were left in a building marked with a big red cross just before daylight.

I got the men together here on top of this hill and gave them a pep talk and upon finishing got into my peep when the Krauts attacked. They had an unknown number of SP's to my South, six tanks and the equivalent of two infantry companies advancing on the position from the southeast, backed by SP's which were stationery. To the northeast were six Tiger tanks that were in position firing. A column of tanks came in from the direction of WEICKERSBRUEBEN when the attack commenced and stayed in the northwest. At the time they opened up, everybody was just ready to move out, in fact, I had pulled my peep out to form the column when they hit us with the fastest automatic tank fire I had ever seen. My tanks returned the fire best they could and jockeyed for position. All the vehicles were knocked out and burning and the infantry advanced under this assault. They practically destroyed the building in which the wounded were in that was marked with the Red Cross. We moved out into the woods and assembled. We then tried to get back to see what we could salvage out of the mess, but each time we showed our faces, the infantry opened up with small arms and the advancing tanks started firing again. We went back into the woods and the two platoon leaders who had taken over told the men to split up in groups of four and take off in the general direction from which we had come. The entire fight lasted twenty-five minutes, but that was the fight. At this time the Krauts had the situation well in hand and they continued blowing more bridges in preparation for a larger force. The infantry started mopping up the area with the aid of bloodhounds from the Hammelburg PW camp and captured quite a number of the men. In overrunning the positions, they also evacuated our wounded to the hospital in the prison camp that we had just set free.

Major Stiller, myself and a lieutenant (anonymous) took off in the woods. They ran us down - it got too close for comfort. I could barely walk and had been shot in the knee and in the leg with a P 38 pistol which convinced me I had enough for a while. After being captured, we were evacuated to the town of HUNDSFELD. The confusion was so great at that town nobody even bothered to search us and from there we were marched back to the prison camp. I was being partially carried - one man assisting me. Being wounded, I managed to get in the building that night while the other prisoners were being taken away. Some of these ex-prisoners who knew the ropes told the Krauts I was one of the group who had escaped and should be sent to a hospital as I couldn't walk. Before I knew it, a Kraut woke me up and sent me by truck to a Serbian hospital at the PW camp - and I still had on my equipment with the exception of the pistol, map, compass and everything else. When I got to the hospital, I found some thirty-five of the men who were wounded in my operation and recaptured. A German surgeon gave an American and Serbian complete control over all these wounded and left us alone.

The American doctor, Captain Brubacker, put me in a room off in a corner and I was just a patient. The Germans didn't know who I was or anything about me. The following day the General of the camp came back with more guards after marching some 500 or 600 prisoners to NUERNBERG. They started to evacuate American wounded to BAD KISSINGEN which was declared an open city due to the fact that it had some thirty to forty Kraut hospitals. They had no Americans in the town and wanted to put an American flag up because they were afraid of trouble when the Americans came. In this town was either Goebbel's or Goering's family - I couldn't swear to which. Within the next four days, German ambulances came and evacuated some sixteen or eighteen Americans to this town. All during these days spent in the hospital, the Serbs had hid American PW's that came back in their barracks. The enlisted men's camp had no guards whatsoever, but we gave them instructions they were to stay in camp and not wander out. Only the French and Russians took off for the villages to get food. A batch had taken to the woods in the vicinity of the camp and they were in such a position to Krauts couldn't handle them to evacuate them - that's the way we wanted to keep them.

On 6 April 1945 the 14th Armored Division rolled in with a combat command reinforced and freed the place. Immediate evacuation of our medical patients was made. The enlisted men and sixty-five or seventy officers that remained at that camp were taken care of through proper channels. These officers I refer to are exprisoners who had sneaked into the Serbian hospital - they knew the ropes. When we saw the difficulty we were going to have these sixty-five remained and the balance went back to stockade. Quite a few of those sixty-five were killed or wounded, but they were fighters. Regarding operations, that's what transpired going from the beginning to the end.

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

The report of Captain Abraham J. Baum made at HQ 4th Armored Division when he returned 10 April 1945 in the thread comments and the additional remarks and corrctions in post one were provided courtesy of

Copy from the US National Archives, Washington DC,
Corrections of German place-names and
geographical names by Peter Domes

The photos of the 14th Armored Division (The bridge at Gemuenden and the occupation of OFLAG XIII-B) are from:

US National Archives, Washington DC

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Additional remarks and corrections:

Three messages were sent by the task force. The first message was sent the morning of 27 March 1945 from Rieneck requesting air support against an enemy division marshalling area at Gemuenden. On the afternoon of 27 March 1945, Captain Baum called Lt Dahmen, who was in a plane, on the FM and gave his location which was on high ground between Rieneck and Graefendorf. A message was sent the morning of 28 March 1945 stating the mission was completed and that two attempts had been made to break out but losses had been heavy. It was also stated one more attempt would be made and if it was unsuccessful, the force would "hole up". The first and third messages were acknowledged by a "Roger" on the G-4 net.

Approximately 700 Russian prisoners were freed near the town of Graefendorf. There were approximately 1.400 American officers and 200 NCO's in the stockade south of Hammelburg. A LTC was the highest ranking officer in the group.

The force had four light tanks left when they were fighting on Hill 427. Three of these were from a platoon of the 37th Tank Bn and the other was from his command section. There was no tank fight at Obereschenbach. One medium tank of the force was knocked out by bazooka fire between Gemuenden and Obereschenbach. A light tank was lost near Gemuenden due to a thrown track. The order of march at the beginning of the mission was as follows: medium tanks with infantry riding, infantry in half-tracks, light tank, and assault guns. When no resistance was expected, the light tanks were sent to the head of the column.

Subordinate commanders in the task force were as follows:

Cpt Lange            Infantry 

Lt Nutto             Medium Tanks 

Lt Weaver            Light Tank Platoon 

T/Sgt Graham         Assault Gun Platoon 

Lt Hoffner           Reconnaissance Section 

There was a total of eleven officers in the force. The only briefing prior to the mission was the actual telling of the men the purpose of the mission. Fifteen maps with the route marked were issued. The men who comprised the force had slept only one night in the four days prior to the mission.

The column reached Gemuenden the morning of 27 March 1945 and found that 12 troop trains had just unloaded and crews were servicing the engines. All of the engines were destroyed by the force. Three medium tanks were knocked out by bazooka fire in going through the town. An enemy division was billeted in the town and the fighting soon became heavy. A platoon of infantry was dismounted and sent to secure a bridge over the river but the bridge was blown while two of the infantrymen were standing on it.

Because of increasing opposition, Captain Baum decided to withdraw from the town and follow another route. Captain Baum, Lt Nutto, and an infantry platoon leader were wounded in Gemuenden. The force then proceeded north and went 15 miles out of the way to find a crossing over the river. The enemy destroyed six bridges after the force had already crossed them and set up road block behind them.

The air mission arrived at Gemuenden there was no opportunity to use it as the force quickly from the town. The assault guns were all knocked out near Hammelburg. One was knocked out on the edge of town and the other two were destroyed on Hill 427 southwest of Hammelburg. The force did not enter Hammelburg.

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'I can say this - that throughout the campaign in Europe I know of no error I made except of failing to send a Combat Command to Hammelburg.'

-- Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr.
WAR AS I KNEW IT

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Click on the logo to visit www.taskforcebaum.de, the Task Force Baum site, covering the Hammelburg Raid and Task Force Baum

LTC Peter Domes has spent three years doing extensive research on the Raid, verifying and correcting documents, interviewing participants and survivors and retracing the route of Task Force Baum from Aschaffenburg to Hammelburg.

This site includes photos, maps, details of the participating forces as well as the story of the Raid itself. Anyone with an interest in the Hammelburg Raid, the end of the war in Europe or small unit tactics will find this to be an excellent site.

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A NEW FEATURE ~ The Foxhole Revisits...

The Foxhole will be updating some of our earlier threads with new graphics and some new content for our Saturday threads in this, our second year of the Foxhole. We lost many of our graphic links and this is our way of restoring them along with revising the thread content where needed with new and additional information not available in the original threads.

A Link to the Original Thread;

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Task Force Baum - The Hammelburg Raid - Jan. 16th, 2003

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Local veteran recounts time as a WWII POW
By Michael Jacobson


"Sheesh, you're crazy."

That's what Milt Koshiol remembers telling his superior officer in March 1945 after being informed that his company of armored infantry, under the command of General George Patton, had "volunteered" for a daring dash behind enemy lines to liberate a prisoner of war camp 60 miles away near Hammelburg.

The purpose for the mission, which Koshiol viewed as suicidal, was to free Gen. Patton's son-in-law, who had been capture by the Germans a year earlier. Though Gen. Patton never said that he knew his son-in-law was held in that prison camp, to this day Koshiol doesn't believe his denials. "But I knew it," protests Koshiol. "The general should have known it."

(Nor does Koshiol believe the argument that Patton ordered the mission as a diversionary tactic, which, tragically, it turned out to be.)

The mission - with nearly 300 soldiers and over 50 halftracks, tanks, and jeeps - was meant to be a lightning strike, just the sort of thing at which the armored infantry excelled. But they met terrific bazooka fire in the first village they tried to go through, and eventually made a giant loop to get to the camp, which held 1,500 prisoners, including Patton's son-in-law.

Milt Koshiol was captured in WWII during a suicide mission to free a prisoner of war camp

"The camp surrendered," wrote Koshiol in his journal of war experiences, "and I saw prisoners all marching out of the camp in a group. I wondered what they would do or where they would go. Some liberated prisoners came with us, but we could not take many."

"We liberated the camp, but the guy we really came after got shot," said Koshiol. Patton's son-in-law was in the camp infirmary and unable to move, so the column left without their prize.

After leaving the "liberated" prison camp after dark, the column tried to get back to the American lines. "Every road, the front tank or truck got knocked out by a bazooka. Then we tried another way," recalled Koshiol. "It went on like that all night."

"If we could have gotten back to our lines, we would have been heroes," added Koshiol.

Instead, the remnants of the column ended up surrounded on a hill. Koshiol still remembers seeing eight to ten German tanks cross a field - in a textbook maneuver that he thinks is the best he ever saw - and approach their isolated position. Koshiol is sure that one book about this raid quotes him when it describes an enlisted man saying, "We're whipped. We just don't know how to give up."

In the end, about 150 men, roughly half the column surrendered on that hill and were taken to the very prisoner of war camp that they had "liberated" just hours earlier.

"The German tanks never let up firing until they were right on top of us," wrote Koshiol. "We did not have much of a chance. We were taken to the prison we had just liberated."

His first moments of captivity were the scariest Koshiol would face. "When I was captured and searched, I had on a German infantry badge that I took off of a dead German soldier while passing Bastogne. The badge was pinned inside of my field jacket, and I forgot about it and didn't throw it away," wrote Koshiol in the journal of wartime experiences that he wrote for his children. "When the German trooper searched me and saw that badge pinned on the inside of my field jacket, he looked me right in the eye for what seemed like a long time. Right then, I thought I was dead. But he just closed my jacket and pushed me on to one of our captured halftracks. I'll never forget that German soldier, and I was very thankful that I was still alive."

They stayed in the prison camp in Hammelburg overnight and then taken by train, in a boxcar, to Nürnberg.

As prisoners walking through Nürnberg, they were taken past the huge stadium where Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party had held rallies. Koshiol remembers seeing the giant swastika on the arch over the entrance to the stadium.

They then walked two weeks from Nürnberg to Stalag 7A in Moosburg, some 80 miles away. They walked from sun up to sundown, eating potatoes from farmers along the way and sleeping in barns or holes.

Except for when he was captured, Koshiol really wasn't scared during his captivity. "I knew the war was headed towards the end. They did, too," he said.

"Because I was held for such a short time - and spent most of that time traveling - my prisoner life wasn't that bad," recalled Koshiol. "I was not treated badly, but we never got much in the line of food. I had soup in Nürnberg that had black beetles in it, and I couldn't eat it. The sauerkraut at Moosburg was so dark and strong I couldn't eat it."

Since the war was going badly, the Germans didn't have much to eat themselves, Koshiol noted

During his captivity, a Serbian prisoner gave him a wooden shoe that someone had carved. Some of the prisoners who had been held longer actually wore these shoes. Koshiol spent much of his time as a prisoner drawing patterns onto this shoe and carving them with a pocket knife, including the name "Rosie" beside two hearts. (Since returning in one piece, Milt and Rosemary Koshiol have been married for over 55 years.)

Koshiol was liberated from Stalag 7A by Patton and the advancing American army. "The first soldier that I saw was when Gen. Patton himself came to the camp in a jeep," wrote Koshiol. "He had on his Sunday best with pearl-handled revolvers, riding pants, and riding boots."

Though he was a prisoner of war for barely a month and had served in active duty for less than six months, Koshiol was shipped home soon after being liberated. They were taken from Moosburg to France and then put on a ship for the United States the next day.

Koshiol thinks they were sent home fast so they wouldn't talk about the ill-fated Hammelburg raid, which would have been embarrassing to Gen. Patton. In fact, before being discharged, the army had Koshiol sign an oath not to talk about the raid.

Koshiol, who grew up in St. Cloud and graduated from St. Cloud Cathedral High School, was drafted on Jan. 7, 1944, and trained to fire anti-aircraft (AA) guns in California, which was the last he ever saw of AA guns. Once he got to England, he became an infantry replacement. For a while he was going to be a replacement in the airborne divisions, which had been hit hard in the D-Day landings. For two months, he trained in the glider infantry. The idea here was to take a glider and land behind enemy lines instead of a parachute, and Koshiol made several practice landings in a glider.

Finally, during the Battle of the Bulge, in December 1944, Koshiol was moved to the front, as a infantry replacement in the 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, which was part of the Fourth Armored Division, commanded by General George Patton. He barely got off a truck in a Belgian farmyard when the reality of combat hit...in the from of German artillery. The Germans were shelling the yard with a barrage of screaming meemies. "We hardly got out of the truck and we were getting shelled," he said.

"Can you imagine getting out of a truck? Instant war," he added.

After escaping the farmyard, Koshiol and the other replacements had to walk to find their new squads, seeing American and German casualties for the first time. "They are shooting at you, and the bullets are whizzing by," he said.

Koshiol, like many of the troops, had no winter clothes, no boots, no overcoat. Most nights they would sleep in a foxhole with only a bedroll for warmth. "It ended up being the coldest winter in the history of Belgium," he said.

"I remember digging a foxhole on top of a frozen hill and (going) to our halftrack for a blanket roll when a barrage of artillery came in," wrote Koshiol, in a written record of his wartime experiences. "When I got back to my foxhole, I saw that a shell had exploded right in it. Then another barrage came in, and I ran looking for another hole when I got blown through the air and landed on another G.I. in a foxhole. He said to me to look and see where I had just been. I saw a hole in the ground still smoking and my helmet lying next to it. Lucky again, and I still never got hurt."

While a prisoner of war in Germany, a Serbian prisoner gave him a wooden shoe, which some prisoners actually wore. Milt spent his 33 days in captivity carving decorations on the shoe, including the name Rosie. Rosemary and Milt Koshiol have been marries for over 55 years.

Koshiol figures he survived a half dozen close calls like this, including standing behind his squad leader during the Hammelburg raid when a bazooka shell hit a nearby halftrack. Koshiol luckily escaped with a gash across his knuckles and a hole in his field jacket.

Koshiol helped relieve the 101st Airborne Division, which was famously surrounded in Bastogne. He remembers seeing the planes dropping supplies by parachute into the sieged city.

After the Battle of the Bulge ended in victory for the Allies and defeat for the Germans, Koshiol moved with his unit into Germany.

In the armored infantry, Koshiol and his squad mates rode in halftracks. Along with tanks, they would spearhead the advance, covering up to 50 miles in a day, racing ahead to secure strategic bridges or road junctions and waiting for the rest of the advancing army to catch up. "I'm surprised that we never got cut off," said Koshiol.

Crossing rivers - such as the Rhine and the Main - was usually difficult, with stout defenses and possibly no bridges left, causing a delay until the engineers could build a floating bridge for the vehicles to cross.

While in the army, Koshiol learned by letter that his sister had died from illness back home.

For years, Koshiol kept his pledge of silence, though he stumbled across accounts of the Hammelburg raid, finding the book, Battle, with a chapter entitled, "General Patton's Mistake," in a local law office one day. Now he owns half a dozen books about Patton and World War II with accounts of the raid. One of his favorites, the one he is quoted in, is Raid, co-authored by his commanding officer in that ill-fated raid.

"He didn't talk about it for years," said Rosemary. "It's the kids that got him started talking," she added. "They wanted to know about his war stories."

Attending a World War II roundtable at Fort Snelling in 1987 helped Koshiol discuss his wartime experiences. He has since participated in the roundtable - held the second Thursday of every month from May to September - a couple times.

"That's nice," said Koshiol, who still helps with color guards, of his lifetime paid membership to the American Legion. Koshiol was raised to be patriotic. His dad served in World War I and was quartermaster for the American Legion post in St. Cloud. "The flag means a lot to Milt," said Rosemary.

This summer, Koshiol was featured on WCCO-TV on the show Out 'n' About with Ralph Jon Fritz. The segment was produced by Donnie Koshiol, one of Milt and Rosemary's six children.

Rosemary has traveled to Germany and retraced Milt's path, both in the armored infantry and then as a prisoner. Milt had no interest in going back. "I almost didn't get out of there once," he said.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Snippy.

[radu]

Good morning to all at the Foxhole!

To all our military men and women, past and present, and to our allies who stand with us,
THANK YOU!

[snippy_about_it]

You're up late! I'm just ready to turn in. Good night radu.

[snippy_about_it]

Good night Sam.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Radu. Timem for me to hit the sack. Been practicing "Call of Duty" with Snippy. Except for not knowing how to read a compass and running all over the map, she's a damn good shot!!

[SAMWolf]

Good Night Snippy.

[radu]

LOL! Up waaaaay later than I'd thought I could make it. Not far from hugging my pillow, that's for sure.

Good night, snippy. Sweet dreams.

[radu]

Oooooo, snippy's gonna getcha for that. LOL!!

Good night, SAM. Sleep well.

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

Seversky SEV-3XAR (1933)

[snopercod]

Great story. Man, those guys had guts.

But what's a "peep"? Is that like a jeep?

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Bush (DD-529)

Fletcher class destroyer
Displacement. 2050
Lenght. 376'5"
Beam. 39'7"
Draft. 17'9"
Speed. 35.2 k.
Complement. 329
Armament. 5 5", 10 21" TT.

The USS Bush (DD-529) was launched 27 October 1942 by Bethlehem Steel Co., San Francisco, Calif. sponsored by Miss Marion Jackson, great-great-grandniece of Lieutenant Bush; and commissioned 10 May 1943, Commander W. F. Peterson in command.

Between 29 July and 27 November 1943 Bush acted as a patrol and escort vessel in Alaskan waters. Arriving at Pearl Harbor 4 December 1943, she commenced operations as a patrol, escort, and fire support ship throughout the Pacific, from the Ellice Islands to New Guinea, the Philippines, and Okinawa. She participated in the Bismarck Archipelago operations, including the Cape Gloucester, New Britain landings and the Admiralty Islands landings (26 December 1943-31 March 1944); Saidor, New Guinea, operations (18-21 January); Morotai landings (15 September); Leyte landings (20-24 October), Luzon operation, including the Mindoro and Lingayen Gulf landings (12-18 December 1944 and 4-18 January 1945); Iwo Jima operation (19 February-9 March); and the Okinawa operation (1-6 April).

On 1 November 1944, while operating in Leyte Gulf, Bush splashed two of ten Japanese planes during a severe air attack. She was showered by flying shrapnel and suffered two men wounded.

Bush was operating as radar picket ship off Okinawa 6 April 1945 and had splashed at least one plane when she was hit and subsequently sunk by three Japanese suicide planes with the loss of one third of her crew. At 1515 the first plane hit at the deck level on the starboard side between number one and two stacks causing its bomb or torpedo to explode in the forward engine room. Although much damage was sustained the ship was not believed to be in severe danger and tugs were requested. Colhoun (DD-801) was closing in to assist when she was hit by a suicide plane and was so severely damaged that she had to be sunk by United States forces.

At 1725 a second suicide plane crashed into the port side of Bush's main deck between the stacks, starting a large fire and nearly severing the ship. At 1745 a third plane crashed onto the port side just above the main deck. Some of the ship's a mmunition caught fire and began to explode. Although it was believed that she would break amidships, it was thought that both halves would be salvageable. However, an unusually heavy swell rocked the ship and Bush began to cave in amidships. Other swells followed and the ship was abandoned by her 227 survivors just before she folded and sank.

Bush received seven battle stars for her World War II service.