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An
american soldier told about his war day by day, from hell
of Omaha to Hurtgen, in the ranks of the Big Red One |
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John
F. Mickey was American, he was 35 in 1944 and lived
in Michigan. He did enlisted in september 1943, he thought
he could do some "job" in this war. When he
enlisted he was not expected for that kind of life :
the long separation from loved one, the horror of war,
and even hunger and thirst. All along the fightings
he took notes, and many years later he decided to write
about sixty pages. John F. Mickey passed away in 1989.
With his son's permission, his memories are told there.
It is the experience of a "common" man who
believed in some human valours, and who fight for them
from the beaches of Normandy to the Hurtgen forest,
in Germany, where he had been wounded.
(John
F. Mickey's memories - 1944/1945) |
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Episode
24 : Germany
"suddenly
all hell broke loose : machine gun fire, mortar, snipers and
rifles fire opened up..."
By
John F. Mickey |
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Hell
in Hurtgen forest
As the time of Omaha beach, no day stands out more vividly
than the battle in the woods of the Hurtgen forest. I can’t
count the nights I awoke from a sound sleep, dreaming of and
reliving that cold dreary late afternoon in the Hurtgen forest.
And now forty years later I relive that battle. This morning
of November 21st we jumped around to warm up, every man lips
were blue. We had no rations. We moved out that rainy morning
and the rain turned to wet snow, it was a miserable day. As
the twelve of us neared the woods, we spread out moving to
the woods. It is easy to loose sense of direction surrounded
by a forest of pine trees. One enemy shot rang out, hitting
Cartwright in the leg. Then silen- |
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ce, no other shot were heard. We moved again into the
woods well in, when suddenly all hell broke loose :
machine gun fire, mortar, snipers and rifles fire opened
up. In a matter of minutes most of our squad met death
by enemy fire. There was silence again, except for the
moaning and cries for medics. I heard a young fellow
to my left crying out : “mom, I don’t want
to die here”. I believe he was one of the new
replacements we had, just 18 years old. We walked into
a trap, it was dark in the woods and we did not see
the Germans firing at us. Only |
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camouflaged American truck was towing an anti aircraft gun drove
into Hurtgen forest. NARA |
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the
luminated bullets of the machine gun gave us the direction
of the firing. I was moving toward this young man’s
direction and I heard a voice call out “ comrade,
comrade ”, I turned to my right and I saw two
Germans standing in the distance above me, as if they
were on a log or mole. I looked straight at them. The
thought flashed by, what if I am captured? Will I stand
up the interrogation? Will I be tortured? I laid down
and rolled backward down a hill until I hit a tree.
I got on my knees and kept firing toward the two Germans,
hoping to keep alive avoiding being captured. I could
only think I would rather be dead than captured. Just
then lieutenant Maumus was at my side, I was relieved
knowing that the rest of our company now moved in. He
asked what happened, I told him that we were wiped out
by the machine gun in the dark. He told me that our
artillery will fire in. I saw the trees splintering,
the artillery was well zeroed in and probably scattered
the enemy. When I saw Dennis, I told him about the young
fellow crying for help and he went to find him. Now,
occasional mortar shells were coming in. The last thing
I remember was the mortar shells bursting near me. Then
I found myself a mile away, in that medics bunker we
saw built that afternoon. I began to think of the two
Germans calling “ comrade ”, I keep asking
myself why did they not shot to kill me, they saw me
first. I also remember that neither had a weapon and
I wondered : “ were they calling me to surrender
or were they wanting to surrender? Did my bullet kill
them?” Over and over I think about it with a sense
of guilt that I had never felt before. It was an unusual
situation difficult to comprehend, and I find myself
praying that those two Germans survived. I know for
a certain that had they been armed I would not be writing
this, but for the grace of God…I took three an |
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follow in June
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rights of the author of text and photographs
reserved. Excepted with authorization, reproduction and any
other use of works else than private or individual consultation
are prohibited.
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