European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                People inside Germany know the War is going our but there is no movement Strong enough to Buck this prisoner by Joe Mccarthy yank staff correspondent with the 26th division in German prisoner said he was an anti he was a Young gentle and and you could Tell from his Pale scholarly face with its tortoiseshell and from the Way his uniform Hung sloppily from his High stooped shoulders with one Button miss ing from the that the regular army officers in his outfit must have treated him with amuse ment and he was a medic who evidently did not know one end of a Rifle from the but he was Well educated so they had Given him a Grade which would correspond to warrant officer in our the gis who brought him to the up said he had come across to our line alone to ask us to keep our mortar and artillery fire away from his Over crowded battalion id he spoke English perfectly without an pausing once in a while in the Middle of a sen tence to ask the translation of a German he had trouble now and then Over simple words which he didst like he would say pronouncing it the he Are sure that the americans will become fatty ewed with the War Here in Europe so far away from their that is Why they Are they Hope to pro Long the War until the americans become fatty sewed and open negotiations for a separate peace apart from England and he also spoke Spanish and now it is going badly with our in this sector at he for the past seven Days my battalion has been fighting with Only one meal a Day and that one has not been a hot we have been using our transportation to transport ammunition rather than and what Little Good things we have wine and sweets and been kept by the com the High ranking for their own the men in the ranks know this and it has Page 6 caused bad feeling and the gis pointed out to the German that his army was still doing Well for an army that was supposed to be hopeless and you must the German that our average Man is Loyal to his fatherland and to his Only the intelligent people realize that Hitler and the nazis Are bad and the Intelli gent people must be care the average Man in the German army fights on despite his hopelessness because he sees nothing else to he sees even less Hope for him self in an Allied he feels there is nothing for him to do but to continue the Amer ican and British propaganda has been very bad on this i asked him if there were any Antinazi underground movements in Germany with real he said he Only knew one person who be longed to such a move a close Friend of his who was half but his Friend had told him that the movement was not it is practically impossible to organize a powerful revolutionary movement of any kind in Side Germany he the Young the men under that you need in such an organization Are All at the fronts and they Are unable to do the older people at those be tween 30 and they Are not i mean by not there that they have not the will and the courage to do anything against the and so there has been no one Man big enough and Strong enough to Lead such a if the americans and the russians and the Brit share waiting for a revolution inside Ger Many to destroy the nazi government for they will have to wait for Many i myself doubt that the nazi government will Ever be destroyed by the German the Only Way you can win the War is to have your armies Advance into and even it will be difficult for the capture of Berlin will not mean the surrender of the they will continue to fight on in Small isolated groups in other parts of the the Black in the until they Are or one by somebody changed the conversation and asked the German How his people Felt during the in Vasion of Normandy and the drive across France and whether the death of Rommel had made them lose he said that the invasion brought two kinds of reaction in the rank ing nazis and the brass in the around saying with now you will see us crush the americans and British and throw them Back into the the soldiers and the on the other said to each now we will see whether or not we Are Able to crush the americans and the British and throw them Back into the they were not As cocky As the leaders but they were not just when you began to Rush across France toward our the German a great Many people were Happy and said they would be glad to see the americans and British when your Advance stopped at the Siegfried line and when we these same people changed Back to the attitude they had before the they Are careful in Germany in order to live they must be Rommel his death was not considered a great Rommel lost his popularity in Ger Many when he lost after that he was looked upon shall we Call it a theatrical i asked the prisoner if the rumours of Hitler being dead were As plentiful inside Germany As they were in other parts of and he said they most of the German people think Hitler is still alive but confined to his room in a state of nervous the intelligent people in the prisoner said he always referred to Antinazi germans As the intelligent people in believe that Himmler has taken Over most of the most of the rumours about hitlers death began Early in october when he allowed German soil to be occupied by an enemy for the first time in the War without going on the radio to make some kind of an Appeal for the Confidence and support of his i told the German that if his army had set foot on american the people of the would not expect president Roosevelt to let it happen without addressing the that was exactly How we he i re member the occasion our battalion was then stationed in had come there from the russian there was a cafe or tearoom in the Village with a i remember How our men gathered there when they heard of the americans entering they waited for the fuehrer to speak to when there was no they were very much disappoint it was a bad mistake for him not to say some thing at that when he mentioned that he had been on the russian an officer in the up asked if he had witnessed any German atrocities he there was a Village in the Ukraine where we had some i forget exactly what happened but i believe that some of the townspeople and ukrainian partisans helped some of our prisoners to escape while we were retreating from that later we advanced in an offensive and recaptured the the people were shot and hand grenades were thrown into their i will never forget one thing i saw there is soldiers holding Small Chil Dren up by the feet and firing pistols at their like killing i would not have believed it if i had not seen it How about the Ordinary German Soldier the officer How does he feel when he sees men in his own army doing such things the German Shook his it was a hard one for him to the Ordinary German sol Dier sees nothing wrong with you Call it ghetto he sees nothing wrong with the he thinks it is not bad for the jews to be kept in the ghetto and not to be treated Well i do not mean mistreated i mean not treated he sees nothing bad in but he does not believe that the jews should be at that the truck came to take him and the other prisoners of that morning to before he went we asked him what the German army thought of the fighting ability of the american this is the first time my battalion has fought against the he when we came to this there was a meeting of the officers and we were told this the american Soldier when he is advancing against the enemy in an attack is As stubborn As the russian but when the american Soldier is caught by a sur prise attack on his he often becomes con fused and this weeks cover this Soldier of the 96th division has a pet travel ing companion with him in the he is t4 Tim Othy a and the Monkey goes along with him when he fixes up the Chow for his men in the front it is telling Leeds about some High Points in the being a native of the r0eoit8 3 4 4 8e Acme 12u Sthill George inf try Bennum Elle kit by near Porfert