Claude C. Woodring - Us infantry troop, first division, 18th regiment
Fully clothed with all the gear on we had and no rifle and a that point I didn't need a rifle. The day and evening before the invasion, the air corp. had dropped thousands of little bombs on the beach to make ready-made foxholes, which were a Godsend. So I approached the barbed wire, which is strung out in coils several layers thick. You couldn't cut one strand of barbed wire. If you did, it would fly and grab you and tear you all apart and it was impossible to cut through it. It would take too much time. We had the bangalore torpedoes which screwed together with a hand grenade detonator in it and slid them under the barbed wire, pulled the pin, ducked in a foxhole and blew a hole in the barbed wire that was probably, oh, 50, 60 yards wide and all the time there's people pushing right behind you. There are thousands coming on. Probably the only reason I survived the assault on the beach was the Germans could fire into a massive crowd behind me and they wren't worried about the first person up ahead." |
GEORGE JACOBUS- Royal British aIR FORCE, 82ND DIVISION, PARATROOPER
As the ground began to come into focus, so did a German machine-gun nest on my right. There appeared to be a small building to my left. With all my strength, I pulled on the risers to go left away from the machine-gun nest. I did, and slammed into the building like a ton of bricks, on the ground, on my back. Something had hit my left eye. I knew in an instant I had broken my left leg. It was eerie, as I lay amidst the tangled shroud lines and wriggled out of my chute. |
holger eckhertz - German DEFENSE Soldier
I am not complaining, because many men in that war suffered far worse than me. But still, I was astonished at how violent they were. If they had asked us to surrender, we might have done so. I was shocked that the American troops were primed to kill in that way. Why do you say that? Why were you shocked? They came there to kill us, to do violence to us. But this was the war, Herr Hoffmann. How can this have been a surprise, a shock to you? It is hard to explain. I think that in my mind, I always had some idea that the Americans were civilized, but they were misguided, or they were misled. Now that you ask me the question, I try to understand my own feelings and it’s difficult for me. I think that I had the belief, the subconscious belief, that the civilized Americans would not wish to disturb the peace of France. We in the German forces thought that we had gone to such lengths to protect France, to guard its people against harm. I think that deep down I could not believe that the Americans would shatter this peace we had achieved...Why would those Americans hate us so much? Why would they cut our throats and break our necks like animals, in the road, without a word? Well, because they knew the truth of what we were doing, that is why. |