Chapter 1
From England to Normandy
1-1 A First Casualty
Several families of Volga German immigrants homesteaded the towns of Liebentahl, Pfeifer, and Loretto in the late 19th century. Those families included Herman, Stegman, Hartman, Urban, Suppes, Dreiling, Pfeifer, Engel, and Bascal. They shared a common dialect of German language that was typically preferred to English for the first couple decades. They were wheat farmers who hunted and trapped.
Their ancestors had lived for a century in Volga Russia before migrating to the USA. And between the isolation of those Kansas communities and long-severed ties with Germany; there was not a common sentiment to the German cause in WWII. In the 1940’s, these farm boys often knew how to drive tractors, trucks, and cars; and they were good with rifles. Most were positioned as drivers or in tanks for the German campaign.
By the time the soldiers were shipped to England, the enigma code had been broken; which meant the US could selectively pass through the oceans its most valuable cargo as long as most of the shipments fell to their statistical demise by German subs. The most valuable cargo were the troop carriers; and few were lost.
Tony was in the 5th armored division under General Oliver (who was under General Patton). They were positioned in the middle of England near Swindon. For the first half of 1944; they were held in reserve with Patton having command of the fictional/diversionary First Army. Brady directly commanded the 4th Army. Celly Hartman was a driver for one of Brady’s generals; he was positioned near the coast.
The base camps of Hartman and dad were about 20 miles distant. On occasion, they would together for drinks. They were having a good time on the afternoon of June 3rd. In fact too good, Hartman had missed his right back to camp and was in jeopardy of being awall. This was a problem.
Tony had a good relationship with Lt. Walson (he was Walson’s right-hand man in the lead M8 Greyhound tank Platoon). Tony rushed to Walson and explained the situation. While jeeps were not for the leisure of the soldiers, Walson gave Tony permission to use a jeep and get Hartman back to his company.
The next morning, Hartman was on his way to Normandy as part of the D-day invasion.
Hartman took a bullet to the head in June, while driving for the general in Normandy.
1-2 Last to See Hartman
One of the few war stories of dad in the war as shared by mom with me was that dad was the last person from home (Loretto) to see Hartman alive. Dad did not talk about this.
Over 4,400 allied soldiers died on D-day. Casualties continued to mount through June and July. While progress was being made, allied forces were stuck in a zone several miles deep along the Normandy coast. To their benefit, allied forces had air power dominance, but that would not win the war if the ground forces could not advance.
By July, it was evident that Patton’s first army was a phantom army, it did not exist. The disinformation of the army was used to trick Germany into diverting much of its forces to repel the Normandy invasion. In July Patton was put in charge of the 5th Army.
Patton was a great general, but that was not always good news for the men under him. In war, high reward often comes at high risk. Patton pursued the high reward while the high risk was paid with soldier’s lives. When Patton was placed in charge of the 5th Army, many correctly interpreted that it meant the 5th Army was going into action, likely pushing hard to rapidly break the enemy in a high-stakes game.
At the spearhead of Patton’s action would be the M8 tanks. They were expected to be at or behind the enemy lines until they were no more. Tony was the older of six brothers. At age 27, he was one of the oldest men in the company. As was often the case for the oldest of several brothers, Tony assumed an implicit position of leadership below Lt. Walson. He had no time to contemplate their fate in Normandy; he would simply do everything he could to keep them all alive. As the scout (eye/ears), interpreter, and gunner of the lead tank, he was positioned better than anyone to do just that.
1-3 Remove the Bodies from the Beach
Oyler was an excellent driver. But he did contemplate his fate; especially in view of Segman’s fate. Positioned at the point of Patton’s army in Normandy, the expectation was that the platoon would not survive.
On the night of July 30th; Oyler drank as if there was no tomorrow. Very early the next morning as the company moved out to the Brighten shipyards, Oyler was in no condition to drive.
Dad was a good driver. He had been driving tractors, trucks, and cars since age twelve, that was 15 years of driving by July of 1944. But that did not prepare Tony for what was ahead.
Dad did not know how that tank would fit on that tiny ramp going on and up into the ship, but it did.
When the ship stopped off the shore of Normandy, there was a delay before unloading men and crew. Tony found Lt. Walson and asked why there was a delay. Walson told Tony that they were waiting for the bodies to be removed from the beach; the command did not want the first site of the platoon to be dead soldiers lined up on the beach from the Normandy hedgerow action that was still causing casualties.
Several families of Volga German immigrants homesteaded the towns of Liebentahl, Pfeifer, and Loretto in the late 19th century. Those families included Herman, Stegman, Hartman, Urban, Suppes, Dreiling, Pfeifer, Engel, and Bascal. They shared a common dialect of German language that was typically preferred to English for the first couple decades. They were wheat farmers who hunted and trapped.
Their ancestors had lived for a century in Volga Russia before migrating to the USA. And between the isolation of those Kansas communities and long-severed ties with Germany; there was not a common sentiment to the German cause in WWII. In the 1940’s, these farm boys often knew how to drive tractors, trucks, and cars; and they were good with rifles. Most were positioned as drivers or in tanks for the German campaign.
By the time the soldiers were shipped to England, the enigma code had been broken; which meant the US could selectively pass through the oceans its most valuable cargo as long as most of the shipments fell to their statistical demise by German subs. The most valuable cargo were the troop carriers; and few were lost.
Tony was in the 5th armored division under General Oliver (who was under General Patton). They were positioned in the middle of England near Swindon. For the first half of 1944; they were held in reserve with Patton having command of the fictional/diversionary First Army. Brady directly commanded the 4th Army. Celly Hartman was a driver for one of Brady’s generals; he was positioned near the coast.
The base camps of Hartman and dad were about 20 miles distant. On occasion, they would together for drinks. They were having a good time on the afternoon of June 3rd. In fact too good, Hartman had missed his right back to camp and was in jeopardy of being awall. This was a problem.
Tony had a good relationship with Lt. Walson (he was Walson’s right-hand man in the lead M8 Greyhound tank Platoon). Tony rushed to Walson and explained the situation. While jeeps were not for the leisure of the soldiers, Walson gave Tony permission to use a jeep and get Hartman back to his company.
The next morning, Hartman was on his way to Normandy as part of the D-day invasion.
Hartman took a bullet to the head in June, while driving for the general in Normandy.
1-2 Last to See Hartman
One of the few war stories of dad in the war as shared by mom with me was that dad was the last person from home (Loretto) to see Hartman alive. Dad did not talk about this.
Over 4,400 allied soldiers died on D-day. Casualties continued to mount through June and July. While progress was being made, allied forces were stuck in a zone several miles deep along the Normandy coast. To their benefit, allied forces had air power dominance, but that would not win the war if the ground forces could not advance.
By July, it was evident that Patton’s first army was a phantom army, it did not exist. The disinformation of the army was used to trick Germany into diverting much of its forces to repel the Normandy invasion. In July Patton was put in charge of the 5th Army.
Patton was a great general, but that was not always good news for the men under him. In war, high reward often comes at high risk. Patton pursued the high reward while the high risk was paid with soldier’s lives. When Patton was placed in charge of the 5th Army, many correctly interpreted that it meant the 5th Army was going into action, likely pushing hard to rapidly break the enemy in a high-stakes game.
At the spearhead of Patton’s action would be the M8 tanks. They were expected to be at or behind the enemy lines until they were no more. Tony was the older of six brothers. At age 27, he was one of the oldest men in the company. As was often the case for the oldest of several brothers, Tony assumed an implicit position of leadership below Lt. Walson. He had no time to contemplate their fate in Normandy; he would simply do everything he could to keep them all alive. As the scout (eye/ears), interpreter, and gunner of the lead tank, he was positioned better than anyone to do just that.
1-3 Remove the Bodies from the Beach
Oyler was an excellent driver. But he did contemplate his fate; especially in view of Segman’s fate. Positioned at the point of Patton’s army in Normandy, the expectation was that the platoon would not survive.
On the night of July 30th; Oyler drank as if there was no tomorrow. Very early the next morning as the company moved out to the Brighten shipyards, Oyler was in no condition to drive.
Dad was a good driver. He had been driving tractors, trucks, and cars since age twelve, that was 15 years of driving by July of 1944. But that did not prepare Tony for what was ahead.
Dad did not know how that tank would fit on that tiny ramp going on and up into the ship, but it did.
When the ship stopped off the shore of Normandy, there was a delay before unloading men and crew. Tony found Lt. Walson and asked why there was a delay. Walson told Tony that they were waiting for the bodies to be removed from the beach; the command did not want the first site of the platoon to be dead soldiers lined up on the beach from the Normandy hedgerow action that was still causing casualties.