TheConservator:
God bless your father! He had the good fortune not to fall into the hands of the SS, but likely into the hands of the regular Wehrmacht and “normal” Germans who despite more that a decade of Nazi education were raised by German Christian Lutheran and Catholic families.
All:
In 1991 in Germany I met a German soldier who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, likely an officer by his bearing. He was a first cousin, Georg, of my wife’s mother. My wife’s mother’s brother, Karl, had fought opposite Georg on the US side in the Battle of the Bulge!
Cousin Georg greeted me with an icy stare when I met him, unlike the other elderly German cousins who were apologetic even in the 1990’s over the German roll in WWII, leading me to believe that Georg may have been a Nazi party member.
Georg may not have been a registered Party member, but probably served in an SS unit. Those guys tended to be “unreconstructed” throughout their lives.
Today, he is a Civil Affairs officer in Manderfeld, Belgium, where the HQ of the 14 Cavalry Group is located. They hold the northern flank of the 106th Inv. Div. and in particular guard the Losheim Gap, a pass through the Schnee Eifel. Like the 106th, the 14th's front is too wide for a contiguous line, so they hold a series of strongpoints, for which lightly armored cavalry is ill suited.
Today, the CO and XO are in Luxembourg and Grandpa is in charge of the detachment.
Today, Grandpa is awakened by gunfire and hurries to 14th Group HQ. Yesterday, he was ordered to tidy up the town's woodpiles. Today, all that is forgotten and there are looks of worry and concern. Communications are being cut and Grandpa is ordered to go up to Krewinkel and deliver an order to hold at all costs. He finds a hotly engaged gun crew and delivers the order. They are low on ammo. He returns to Manderfeld and loads ammo. On the return trip he finds the crew fleeing, having destroyed their gun. Grandpa goes further and finds another gun crew. Going back to Manderfeld he detours down to Andler to find troops from the 106th streaming to the rear, toward St. Vith, Division HQ. They return to Manderfeld to find the 14th is preparing to fall back on a new defense line. Grandpa's troops have packed up and his officers have returned. They fall back to St. Vith to look for orders.
Grandpa is worried. Manderfeld is in a small, German speaking part of Belgium, given to them in the treaty of Versailles. Since 1940 it has been reattached to Germany. Grandpa is worried that people who cooperated with the Americans may be subject to retaliation. He tells the local man who has been acting as his assistant in town administration to go home, stay indoors and law low for a few days.
The 14th Group will retreat, occupying a series of defensive positions. At the end of the day it ceases to exist as an effective combat unit and its remnants are attached to another outfit. Col. Devine, who took command on December 11, will be evacuated as a noncombat casualty.