Winsor War Notes-Luther Snow Winsor's WW II experiences

March 31 Whole party out on control (Show at night. Sat by general) https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=134 As the troops of the French First Army crossed the Rhine River near Speyer, Germany, they became the first French troops to attack across the river since Napoleon Bonaparte. Meanwhile, US Third Army reached Siegen, Germany.

Lu Collected examples of Propaganda from both sides. German Soldiers, here is what will happen if you surrender If a German soldier wanted to surrender this would be his safe conduct through american lines Lu's caption: These boys had a dose of propaganda too!

Germany March 29 Mom Dearest,  I was going to write again sooner than this but this afternoon was the first time I've had a chance to wash and shower in three days, so you can see I haven't had much time.  Your Feb 13 typed V mail came last night. Leona's letters with the new address on have been coming pretty good. Tonight I got one dated March 20. Got one from Polly-Feb 20-also.  Don't worry about my health mom. I'm doing great. I've had two colds this past winter and each one of them hung on about two weeks, but other than that things have been OK. I have a canvas cot now so I no  longer sleep on drafty floors and so far this spring I haven't had to sleep out in the wet.  Speaking of the spring, it's been beautiful over here a good share of the time. Right now we're having a siege of rain and wind, but it isn't too cold. We've had enough warm, sunny afternoons in the past few weeks to give any one spring f

March 29 Stayed in made wristwatch band. March 30 Put in other flash O.P. Hot shelling in town. Slant taped to window-got radio

March 27 Crashed B-24 March 28 Put in mike base-taped-Jeep broke tape at road intersection. Put in flash OPs. Picked up Helmet, leather. Battalion History: On 28 March, headquarters of the Barnstorming 16th crossed the Rhine, followed the next day by the Letter Batteries. With advancing armor taking the fight out of the Germans, the 16th found itself scouring the woods around Henmethal --- for prisoners, souvenirs and eggs. Souvenirs and eggs were more plentiful than prisoners. From Ray Hight's book:  By the time the 285th crossed the Rhine toward the end of March, much of the area was in American hands and things were moving so quickly we hardly had time to set up. The German forces were pulling back, and there was very little opposition as we crossed the southern part of Germany almost up to the boundary of Czechoslovakia.

March 26th Pretty concentrated shelling around us about midnight. No one hurt. https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=134 In Germany, US Third Army captured Darmstadt and reached Main, allowing the linking up with US Seventh Army near Worms. On the banks of the Rhine River the British Royal Corps of Engineers completed the construction of a Class 9 bridge "Waterloo Bridge" at 0100 hours and a Class 15 bridge "Lambeth Bridge" at 0830 hours. Meanwhile the construction of an even larger Class 40 bridge "London Bridge" continued and was completed by midnight.

25th Got chicken for supper. Talked German family out of some baking powder. "Backen Pulver) Marilu: Do we smell biscuits baking?  https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=134 US First Army finally broke out of Remagen bridgehead in Germany. 140 kilometers to the north, British Second Army captured Wesel, Germany.

Germany, March 24th Dearest Mom and all, This is just going to be a note tonight 'cause I hear I have a couple of letters back at the Battery and also some stamped air mail envelopes that I ordered some time ago which will come up here tomorrow. I'm sorry I've been so lax in getting letters off lately and I'll try to improve.  I don't know why but in the past few weeks I just haven't had the patience or ambition to try to write a decent letter no matter how much or how little time I've had. I guess It's partly because no mail has come in at all regularly for me and the last letters were of Feb 14th & 15th. I'm feeling swell these days but spring fever hits me hard when the sun pours down like it did today and the warm breezes blow in over the open fields. I've been running around in shirtsleeves it's been so nice. You all know how much I miss each one of you and oh how I dream of being back with you one of these bright days. I&

24th Castle leaving for El Paso Texas. 30 day furlough after 2 years over here. Italy, Southern France, Germany. 18 years in army. Kennedy came out to replace him. Battalion History: On 24 March the 87th Division established a bridgehead across the Rhine at Doppard despite heavy enemy artillery fire. The single bridgehead was increased to 5. https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=134 Operation Plunder landed over 16,000 British and American troops across the Rhine River region, allowing link ups with advancing British 21st Army Group's 4 bridgeheads. Meanwhile, US Third Army captured Ludwigshafen and Speyer, Germany.

23rd Fairly quiet. Summers came out. Marilu : Who or what is summers? https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=134 As US Third Army made another Rhine River crossing near Worms, Germany, British Second Army and Canadian First Army launched their assaults across the Rhine River north of the Ruhr River. In Berlin, Adolf Hitler wanted to counterattack at the Allied bridgehead at Oppenheim, but he was told that no reserve forces were available to embark on such an operation.

22nd Boys up river playing with 50's & 30's M. G.'s to try to get Germans to shoot back. Marilu: I suppose it's hard for sound and flash to locate guns that aren't shooting. MG= Machine gun https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=134 The US 3rd Army crossed the Rhine River west of Mainz and near Oppenheim just before midnight; the Americans had beaten the British in crossing the river. Opposition was negligible and within 24 hours the entire US 5th Division had crossed the river.

21st Got a 4 (H?) peder (Peter?) at 30 degrees. 3.000 yards. Bn (Battalion?) fired. Marilu: I get from this that their survey resulted in taking out some major German artillery, but not sure.

20th 0100 Five tanks across river firing. M. G. bullets hit window below ledge. Crossing the Rhine Timeline 19 Mar 1945   George Patton received permission from his superiors to take the US 3rd Army across the Rhine River. https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=134

March 18th - Went to USO show. Fiesta Time - Accordion, M. organs, ventriloquist Marilu: Is that 'mouth organs'? If so, see photo above, commonly called a harmonica.

Germany, March 16th Dearest Mom, Just a note to send with this letter from dad. Wish I had a lot of time to write as I should but it always ends up way past bed time before I ever get done half the stuff I should. I'm feeling pretty good tonight. My cold seems to be about gone and the cough that went with it.  I should have told you more about that touch of trench foot I had. It all cleared up with a little rest and hasn't bothered me since. That was just a case of exposure to cold and lack of circulation. Yes, mom, I can wear the garments you spoke of in your last letter. The army doesn't enforce any regulation on the type of under-clothing to be worn except in cases such as landing or invasion where they might expect gas, etc. I'll write more as soon as I can. My love to all at home Lu

March 15, 16, 17 Control survey notes & computed

 March 12- Put in Flash O.P.

March 13 Moved to Bergdorf.  Found Nazi Hats, swastikas, etc.

March 12 Back to Battery tonight.

March 11   Surveyed and op work to boot.

Mar 10 Sent to Sound Operations in rail yards NW side Cologne in twr (Tower?) Got radio, lamps, etc. Marilu: In the Pacific, the allies fire-bombed Tokyo, a devastating event. Wikipedia On the night of 9/10 March 1945 the  United States Army Air Forces  (USAAF) conducted a devastating  firebombing  raid on  Tokyo , the Japanese capital city. This attack was code-named  Operation Meetinghouse  by the USAAF and is known as the  Great Tokyo Air Raid  in Japan. [1]  Bombs dropped from 279  Boeing B-29 Superfortress  heavy bombers burned out much of eastern Tokyo. More than 90,000 and possibly over 100,000 Japanese, mostly civilians, were killed and one million left homeless, making it the most destructive single air attack of  World War II . The Japanese air and  civil defenses  proved inadequate, and only 14 American aircraft and 96 airmen were lost. The attack on Tokyo was an intensification of the  air raids on Japan  which had commenced in June 1944. Prior to this operat

March 9th Move to Belgium border. Butenbach. Clean vehicles. Went to dentist's (interviewed on Education program-Sales P.X. yesterday) Moved to Cologne in underground fortress. Marilu: I question these dates. Both the 9th, but looks like different days. 

Mar 8 Move to Remscheid Marilu: 10-13 miles North and slightly east of Cologne. I corrected the spelling, as Remscheid is near Lu's last location and no other town of Lu's spelling exists. Things seem to be moving really fast in March.

March 6  Slept good but have a terrific cold. (Snow & cold must have done it yesterday) Half inch snow in forest. Worked most of day on stove.

March 5 Monday Back to combat via Yerviers, route marker, Eupen, Aacen, Mouschu, Krinkelt, up into German in Krinkelt Forest. Pyramidal tent, pine bows (Boughs?) Marilu: If you look at a map you can trace Lu's route to his new location, about 8 miles straight east of Malmedy.  From Sara's blog:    https://www.sarahsundin.com/today-in-world-war-ii-history-march-6-1945/   Mar. 6, 1945: US First Army takes Cologne (Köln), Germany; in retreat Germans destroy the Hohenzollern Bridge. Germans launch offensive to retake Hungarian oil fields—will have partial, temporary success. Dutch resistance ambushes a truck, injuring Hanns Rauter, head of the Dutch SS; 262 Dutch prisoners & civilians will be killed in reprisal.

Lu in June wearing field Jacket 1945 issue Combat Boots 1945 issue Field Jacket March 4 Got Laundry. Got ready to move. Red cross girls serve chow. Surveyed in rain. Oh yes, got new field jacket & combat boots.

March 3 Motor inspection. Showers in Verviers. Airplane & tank ident. classes. Saw movie (English) Marilu: This gives us an idea of why Lu was washing a truck by flashlight the night before, and an idea of what type of classes they were taking. 

March 1,2 Field problem computed both days. Rained both days, came in late. Washed truck by flashlight.