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

29th? Cleaned Trucks

26th Dawn to 2330 survey Marilu: We know Lu's sound party got in at midnight the night before. Now they were on task at dawn and got in at 11:30 pm. Long 48 hours. 

April 25th Computed. Laid sound base. Surveyed to flash op 62. In at 2400. Marilu: 2400 hours is midnight, so this was a long day for the survey sound group. 

April 24th to May 7th (written May 12th.) No surveying except as noted above. Base very quiet. Went to OP on 26th and came in same day. Battery pulled out because area was Russian territory. Stayed in H.W. Building in Ordsdorf then moved to Mulach near Penig, 12 km from Chemitz (In German Hands). Lived in Attic room by myself with a soft bed. Lights and radio in Kennedy's room. Spent most of time resting, reading, baseball. Made glass handles for .38. Fixed mess hall. Went to movies at Company B 417th infantry 76th Division place down the road. Listened to first news of Russian meeting-Hitler's death Marilu: The recorded date of Hitler's death is April 30th 1945 https://www.history.com/news/hitler-death-cause-teeth-analysis

22nd Moved up to Merrine (Close to Chimitz) on Reich Autobahn. 200 mile trip in rain. Rigged tarp. Route marked. Marilu: Chemnitz/Meerane was a big relocation for Lu.  Meerane is a town in the Zwickau district of Saxony, Germany. It lies midway between the towns of Altenburg and Zwickau, west of Chemnitz. As of 31 December 2015, there were 14,851 inhabitants. The population has declined from a peak of over 26,000 in the 1940s.   Wikipedia Find Cologne on the west side near Belgium, then look for Dresden on the east above the Czech Republic. Chemnitz is a little to the west and slightly south of Dresden. Merrane is on the west side of Chemnitz.  The  Reichsautobahn  system was the beginning of the  German autobahns  under the  Third Reich . There had been previous plans for  controlled-access highways  in  Germany  under the  Weimar Republic , and two had been constructed, but work had yet to start on long-distance highways. After previously opposing plans for

April 21st Germany Dearest Mom and All, Yours and Pat's letters, April 8th, came night before last and Polly's "V mail" also the 8th -came last night. Conference sounded wonderful. I hope I can be home for the next one. Bill Richards wrote me on March 24th that an L.D.S. conference was to be held in Paris April 8th and that he'd already attended several L.D.S. services conducted by our Mormon chaplain on the continent. Certainly wish I could get in on some of them. I had quite an experience a few days ago. A Dutch boy (Displaced by the Germans to work in a factory) asked me in perfect English for some information on when the military government would arrive and then asked where I was from and on finding I was from Salt Lake and a Mormon his face was all smiles-said he had been to many of our services in Amsterdam and hummed one of our hymns to show that he still remembered. He is an electrical engineer trained in the University of the Haag. Didn't h

21st - Shower-in Q.M. (Quarter Master camp?) Laundry Show (Object Burma E. Flynn) Leading a team of 36 commandos, Captain Charles Nelson (Errol Flynn) parachutes into Japanese-occupied Burma in hopes of destroying a critical radar base. The mission is a success, but when the group reaches the air strip where they expect to find planes ready to fly them to safety, they instead fin d a waiting Japanese army. With no choice but to attempt an escape on foot, Nelson splits his team in two and reluctantly heads into an impenetrable jungle. Initial release :  January 26, 1945

April 19 Moved back near Cologne. April 20th Nuttin'

April 12th Tried Ceadar's Lugar. Met woman born in Cleveland, Ohio. Married to German Factory owner in Achen. Ardent German. Party-Wine-Kennedy sick. Lu Winsor and Jack Ceadar Back of photo I believe I have the large flag draped over the top of the display

April 17th Clean equipment and trucks. April 18th Ditto

April 16 ; Jerry hunting again-Got Belgian .38 automatic pistol, Zeiss Icon camera, Field glasses. 50 more prisoners. Marilu: This seems to confirm that 'Jerry Hunting' involved collecting roving German soldiers and taking them prisoner.  Example of a Belgian Pistol. Not sure if Lu ended up keeping his.  Example of the camera mentioned Marilu: I think I recognize a camera something like this from Mom and Dad's house, (image following) not sure who ended up with it? Now we might have a date and place where it was acquired. I don't have a photo of the field glasses. Not sure who in the family has them, but it would be nice to add that image to this post. 

April 15 Moved to Raevormwald. Met Dutch Mormon (Not baptized) in-By Rovers, Kierspe No 365 Westfalen Germany while route marking. Bern Joh Willeks Ryswyk (Z.H.) Leeunwendaallaan 54 Holland. Went Jerry hunting. got 10 for myself. Battery got 122-took town (1st G.I.s in) with Sgt Ornt. Most of the boys got pistols. Marilu: Raevormwald is just north of Cologne. Once again, we are assuming that Jerry hunting was searching for stray German Soldiers and taking them prisoner. 

April 14 Got Nazi flag. Flash chicken party.

April 13 Convoy to Kirespe Bahnhof (train station) Stayed in Panzer officer's house. Got a few souvenirs. Cliff Hope:

In our haste to leave Ohrdruf, some of us didn't see the infamous concnetration camp there, but others in the battalion did and they took pictures of the dead inmates. At one town several stops back, 2,000 workers were murdered just before our forces took it, yet all the townspeople denied knowledge of the atrocity; the burgomeister committed suicide when he was shown the bodies. Everywhere people deny ever having been Nazis, but practically every house looks like a branch of Goebbels' propaganda bureau. The concentration camp was a satellite camp for Buchenwald. It was the first to be iberated by the american and British armies. On 12 April Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton visited the camp. Eisenhower turned pale and silent, Bradley was overwhelmed by the smell of death, and tough old George Patton vomited. Then Ike ordered every unit nearby that was not in the front lines to tour the camp. He also cabled London and Washington, urging that delegation of officials

11th Rested. Visited ISO Jerry Battery on hill. Hit with incendiaries. Burned bodies.

Germany April 10 Mom Dearest, I know how slim my mail going home has been but there isn't much I can do about it. Maybe I can tell you all about the goings on over here later, but I couldn't tell you the whole story of what I'm doing, where I go, etc now for security reasons. There are a lot of incidents that are interesting though. Some exciting some pathetic and some downright funny. (If you can overlook a few things). I'll tell you all about them as I'm allowed and can think of them. (can't relate any experiences for two weeks and things that old get stale) One thing I can say now is that I'm in the First Army. That doesn't pin point me on any map but as a general rule I'm safely behind the front lines and don't have to depend on 'me carbine' for protection, so don't worry about Jerry bullets coming near me. No, I'm not 'Rear Echelon' by any means, but I'll be home to you never fear. Got your two V mails

Went out to put base NW of OLPE. Town taken 1 hour before. Went out three highways and hit road blocks on each. (Infantry hadn't taken yet.) Infantry Lieutenant wanted us to form supporting platoon. Ha! Ha! Billeted in village. Captain puts out order that all civies turn in pistols, cameras, and flags to Burgomaster and then to him. (Panzer interprets).

April 9th Back to Battery. Haircut. Went out with party. Put in one mike. Got two Prisoners . (Came down the trail to give up). Marilu: From Lu's memorabilia, Safe Conduct for German soldiers to encourage them to surrender. 

8th Went to sound outpost in Siegen. Quiet. Front moving out fast. Moved O.P. north to big mansion on Sieg river. First G.I.s billeted near there. Jerry Batterys 3,000 meters off, but moved out of range before morning.