Page 12: Captives Work to Smoke
“The German Government has stopped sending special monthly allowances to her war prisoners in Britain, it was learned today. With the end of this novel Nazi ‘bonus’ plan thousands who maintained their defiant arrogance long after their capture have now agreed to work on the land for cigarette money.”
Has anyone written a book or monograph on the diverse ways in which the Second World War was driven by tobacco use?
My father, John W. Edwards, was one of the replacements in the 28th infantry, first battalion, mentioned above as the primary unit facing the German onslaught. He was rotated into combat in August 1944, and fought as the leader of a squad that specialized in taking out pillboxes during the battle for Huertgen forest.
On December 16, 1944, his unit’s position was overrun, but he led a group of men that fought the Germans while trying to fall back to the allied lines. He was captured on the third night of the offensive. He spent the rest of the war in a German prison camp, where he lost about half his body weight.
He did not dislike the Germans, despite his experiences with them. He thought the average German soldier was just there doing a job, like he was. He did develop a strong distaste for the French, though. He said the French would tell the American troops where the Germans were, but would run when asked to accompany the troops to point out their exact locations when the troops attacked.
You would have to get him pretty drunk to extract the more gruesome stories he had to tell of his experiences in the war.
My father passed away in August 2004, at the ripe old age of 84.