No Victory in Valhalla

by Ian Gardner

  The men soon began using the ski lift to Kohlmaiskopf to go sightseeing up in the Bayerischer Saalforst mountain region northeast of Saalbach. Vecchi found a pair of skis and tried them out on the lower slopes but could not get the hang of them, although it might have helped if he’d had a proper pair of ski boots!

  “Any deer we came across was killed and butchered and the meat distributed evenly with the locals, as food still seemed scarce for all of us,” recalls Lou. “It was funny; we weren’t allowed to fraternize with the Austrians but we could with DPs.” At that time there were around 5,000 DPs living in the area, mainly in the camps set up at Fischhorn or Kaprun (where 2/506 were based). During the latter part of May, a number of DPs, mostly women, had taken up residence in the surrounding towns and villages. “To get over any fraternization issues,” continues Lou, “some of our guys would get a handful of armbands from the supply sergeant and have the Austrian girls wear them so that they could date! Before Bob Martin went home we used to visit two girls who lived by themselves and grew their own fruit and vegetables. We would buy blueberries and share them in their kitchen with lashings of fresh cream but that really was as far as it went.”

  Located on the edge of the “French zone,” Saalbach boasts an unusual Catholic church, Heilige Nikolaus und Bartholomäus, situated close to the main square and instantly recognizable by its clock tower topped by an unusual onion-shaped dome. “The officers lived at the northern end of town, beyond our Company Headquarters and we only ever saw them at formations and evening meals,” recalls Vecchi. “One day Ralph Bennett was duty NCO and invited me into the CP to have the pick of a bunch of German Luger pistols that had just been handed in. Normally the officers would get first choice on anything like this.” Alex Andros, who was now H Co XO recalls: “Guys like Ralph Bennett were so lucky to get through without as much as a scratch. I worked it out that each man who’d served in 3 Ptn from the start and survived had been wounded at least twice.”

  Mopping up

  Most evenings H Co paraded on the grassy area at the top of town before falling out for dinner, which was served in an adjacent building. “For the most part it was my job to collect the hot meals every night before curfew from Bruck, which was about 10 miles away by road,” recalls Lou Vecchi. “I had a German driver who always became frustrated if ever we got stuck behind a farm cart because the road wasn’t wide enough in most places to overtake. All the SS men picked up in our area were taken to Bruck before being discharged. Most of the battalion rotated through this place at one time or another to guard the road system. The only people who were allowed in or out were either residents or American occupying forces. There was a big five-storey hotel [Gasthof Lukashansl] where the SS officers were kept while waiting to be transported by train to Munich.” The hotel, which has over 80 rooms, was built in 1908 and stands at the foot of the Grossglockner, one of the highest mountains in Austria. Vecchi continues his account:

  Sometimes when my guys were on perimeter guard we would watch the two German Wehrmacht lieutenants who were in charge of the paperwork. I remember one particular day they got very agitated with this SS officer who wasn’t doing what he was told.

  Most of these SS guys had a woman in tow and behaved like they were on some sort of summer vacation, but in this instance it was way after curfew. A lot of them were sitting out on the hotel balconies with their girlfriends, enjoying the evening sun, but some like the guy in question just wouldn’t adhere to curfew. I started getting pissed off with the overall attitude of the people on the balcony, who were jeering, and shouted back at them to move inside. When they wouldn’t listen, I instructed one of my guys to fire a shot into the doorway leading from the nearest balcony, which really put the fear of Christ up them. I mean, we’d not long been fighting these damn people, and to see them sitting around on their loungers really made my blood boil.

  Despite being ordered to surrender by Generaloberst der Waffen-SS Paul Hausser, many SS men absconded, only to be hunted down over the coming weeks under the automatic arrest policy. Patrols were sent northwest from Saalbach up the valley into the mountains to look for any suspicious people or activities. There are over a dozen peaks above Saalbach, the highest being Speilberghorn at around 6,000ft above sea level.

  “The renegade SS troopers were hiding in the mountains by day and coming down into the valleys at night to plunder their own people for food,” recalls Hank DiCarlo. He continues:

  We received a tip concerning the location of one of these bands and Bob Stroud took my squad for the operation. Climbing up through the low cloud base we could see a large two-storey building with a herd of goats grazing outside. No one was anxious to cross the open area leading to the house. We really didn’t know if there were enemy soldiers in there or not, so we reconnoitered around and discovered a spring about 35 yards down-slope, out of sight from the farm. Lt Stroud was not in favor of an assault and neither were we, but he figured whoever was in there would need fresh water sooner or later. Around 1700hrs we heard someone approaching from the house. Sure enough, it was an SS man carrying two buckets. As the guy bent over to fill one of the pails, Pvt Frank Parker stepped out and slapped him across the back of the head with the butt of his rifle. Still somewhat dazed, the soldier was defiant and uncooperative when we suggested he return and inform his comrades that they were surrounded – but soon changed his mind when I placed the point of my bayonet at his throat. About 10 minutes later, he came out of the house, hands in the air, accompanied by 22 others. The farmer who owned the property was overjoyed to be rid of his unwelcome guests and tried to give us several enormous wheels of cheese. We thanked him profusely but ever so politely declined!

  ____________

  Initially it would seem that elements of 2 and 3 platoons from G Co along with 2 Ptn H Co were sent to Uttendorf in the Pinzgau valley (6 miles west of Zell am See) to guard a newly constructed enclosure. Overlooking the “facility,” high above Uttendorf, was a large hydroelectric power plant in the Stubach valley. The water drained from a natural Alpine reservoir through a 3-mile-long pipe (5ft in diameter) to supply power to a nearby underground factory.

  “The factory had previously been producing tracks for tanks,” recalls Jim Martin. “Here literally thousands of German troops marched down from the mountains to surrender. Capt Cann requested that any people we dealt with were to be treated respectfully. The Germans who came marching in behind their officers and senior NCOs were ordered to stack their weapons according to type before we searched them. After the men had been moved to their specific holding areas, I decided to take a closer look at a huge pile of pistols. Guarding the weapons was one of our GIs and a German sergeant who, for a packet of cigarettes each, were quite happy to trade me a Luger and P38. I had no idea that every gun had already been accounted for, and the next day Capt Cann searched our accommodation for the missing pistols but they were too well hidden for him to ever find.”

  A few weeks later another camp was established at Kaprun in order to continue maintenance and development work of a nearby hydroelectric project. The prisoners consisted mainly of troops whose hometowns were now in the Russian occupied zone. Many German soldiers were used to restore communication and power lines. Engineer and other units rebuilt roads and bridges while prisoner labor was utilized to repair German Army vehicles that were then used by the military government. To facilitate better cohesion, the Germans were organized into two separate commands. Generalleutnant Hermann Ochsner was responsible for the south and General der Kavallerie Siegfried Westphal, the north.

  Each Airborne rifle company was given complete control of its own specific Landkreis, or area. Shortly after settling in, all vehicles that had been liberated over the last few weeks were recalled due to a fuel shortage experienced by Third Army. Most companies were allowed to keep one vehicle, but many individuals just destroyed what they had rather than letting them go to a higher authority.

  Ed Shames, who was now based at a doctor’s house in Saalfe
lden, recalls: “Roy Gates and I weren’t going to let anyone else have the pleasure of our ‘company car,’ so with Roy’s help, which I always jokingly said was his only contribution to the war effort, we pushed our ‘Berghof Merc’ over the edge of the Grossglockner Alpine road south of Bruck and told Sink that it had all been a terrible accident.”

  “As a gesture of goodwill, the Russians who were occupying another nearby sector sent us four crates, each containing 100 bottles of vodka,” recalls Harley Dingman. He continues:

  One crate was offered to each company, but as H Co were now miles away they simply forgot to collect, not that they really cared. Therefore, Capt Walker’s allocation was quite literally absorbed by HQ Co. The vodka was very strong and almost instantly we began to have problems with drunkenness. It got so bad that Andy Anderson had to alternate the duty roster between “dry” and “wet” days – at least this way only 50 percent of the company was under the influence at any one time! Even then we still had issues. Chester Molawa came into my office and shakily proclaimed he was having difficulty making Maj Anderson’s bed! “You idiot, what are you talking about?” Slurring his words, Molawa responded, “I’m sorry, sir, but I just can’t seem to get his sheets flattened out.” When we got to Andy’s room, I had to laugh because he was still comatose in bed after a heavy drinking session the night before!

  The division began to construct rifle ranges and introduce a regular training program, which consisted of preliminary marksmanship and practice firing of all squad weapons, PT, marches, orientation, reviews, and close order drill. In the afternoons athletics were stressed with regular inter-company competitions, including basketball and baseball, while most anxiously waited to hear if they had accrued sufficient points in order to go home.

  “My platoon was sent to Zell am See for two weeks’ R ’n R,” recalls Manny Barrios. “We were billeted at an inn next to the Grand Hotel, where the dining area was open 24/7.” Here, in the Grand’s main restaurant, the regimental orchestra would perform at company parties. A local string quartet played classical music on a regular basis at meal times for officers and senior NCOs. “As I was a non-drinker,” continues Barrios:

  I spent a lot of my free time in the local coffee shops with Pfc Lawrence Lane, who was from southern California. Because he was much older and had a long, thin face and nose, we called him “Granny,” but he hated the nickname. One time, while walking to the Grand, we started to get peckish and joined what we thought was a chow line but when we got to the door a fat madam was collecting money. At that point we made our excuses and hastily walked away! One evening Granny and I took a rowing boat out on the lake for a midnight cruise. Afterwards, walking through the lobby of the hotel, we found Andy Anderson on a couch in a stupor and carried him back to his room and put him to bed.

  Shortly afterwards Manny and the guys rotated back to their “day jobs” at the foot of the mountains near Stuhlfelden, as Manny recounts:

  I was in charge of a large warehouse building. My squad was given the job of processing the German soldiers who’d recently surrendered. The main reception room had a number of large tables labeled “pistols,” “rifles,” “automatic weapons,” “knives and bayonets,” etc. We had local Austrian women at each table noting the guns that by then had all been made safe and cleared. There were also two Wehrmacht officers working with me who briefed the German troops on what to expect before they handed their weapons over. The ladies meticulously recorded each item, which would then be stored in a specific section out back for collection. All personal effects were also listed before being returned along with a carbon copy of the original. Any live ammunition was picked up by truck and taken away for disposal. Before leaving Austria, I managed to send six German rifles home by regular mail … can you believe that! On my last rotation, the two German officers presented me with a beautiful Luger and a Walther P38 (which was later stolen during my voyage home).

  On June 5, the survivors of Normandy, 135 men, held a special party in honor of Col Wolverton in Berchtesgaden at the Eagle’s Nest. Around this time many senior NCOs like Oscar Saxvik from G Co were encouraged to apply for Officer Candidate School (OCS). Oscar, who had been hospitalized for three months after Bastogne, was accepted and graduated from OCS before being posted to Germany, where he remained on occupation duty until May 1946.

  After spending one month in transit from the United Kingdom, S/Sgt Bob Webb returned to HQ Co on June 21, whereupon he was allocated a 15-man room at a hotel in Saalfelden. At the time, Battalion HQ and HQ Co had temporarily relocated back to Saalfelden from Zell am See to take over the local Discharge Center.

  Capt Harrell assigned Webb to the Discharge Center in Saalfelden. There was also another center located a few miles further north closer to Zell at Maishofen. Both centers were situated close to main railway stations from where most of the German troops were transported out of Austria eastwards through the Pillersee valley. “I was working with a blonde Lithuanian girl who spoke the most perfect English I’ve ever heard. My job was, from 8am to 7pm, typing up the personal statements and information supplied by the German prisoners coming through our doors.”

  In total, over a three-month period, nearly 50,000 German troops were discharged through the centers at Saalfelden and Maishofen. “The rhetoric from most of these people made me sick,” continues Webb:

  They all seemed to have despised Hitler, didn’t want to fight, and had never shot at anyone, anytime or anywhere. To be honest, I actually preferred the Waffen-SS guys, who before giving the Nazi salute often told us to our face that they hated our guts. At least they stuck to their principles and you had to admire them for that! I had Sundays off and after my first week back at work, Leroy Vickers, myself, and two other Texan guys who also happened to be from Leroy’s hometown, Silsbee, took a jeep to Obersalzberg. By then everything had gone and the only thing I could find worth keeping was a sheet of Hitler’s personal notepaper and a light switch hanging off a wall in the Berghof!

  Three weeks later Webb was summoned to Regimental HQ.

  I was asked to chaperone German Colonel Friedrich Laibach, who was to be working for the American military government. I was given permission to book a double room at a downtown hotel, which was to be our billet for the next month.

  During the day we were both based in the same building and after work we’d walk back to the hotel. I got to know 55-year-old Laibach well over the next few weeks and learned that he’d been an internationally respected professor of science before and also during the war. We played chess and engaged in deep discussions about politics, the war, and National Socialism, which, in part, he believed did many positive things for Germany! Captain Harrell suggested I should just shoot the son of a bitch if he persisted with this sort of rhetoric but I still kinda liked him all the same.

  By the end of July the center at Maishofen was shut down and Saalfelden placed under control of the divisional artillery.

  On June 22, the boxers from the 506th were pitched against the more than capable artillery team. The tournament took place in the personnel building at Zell and each bout was over three 2-minute rounds. Andy Anderson was one of the judges. Despite hard-hitting light heavyweight Pvt Macrae Barnson being beaten senseless, Sgt Harold Stedman, Sgt Andy Sfrisi, Pvt Ken Moore, and Pvt Richie Shinn hammered the opposition in their various weight categories to win five to three.

  Earlier Gen Taylor had addressed the regiment and said, “We have reached another critical point in our lives and in the life of the division. It is time to face the prospect of future action in the Pacific. This commitment is only probable – not possible.” Taylor then went on to say that the 101st would be going home on January 1, 1946, and that everyone would be entitled to a one-month furlough before being re-formed in North Carolina as “general reserve.”

  So the future for most of you low point men at this stage is unknown. I cannot see why a top-notch division like this should be allowed to remain in the States but that is entirely up to G
eneral MacArthur. Back home this division tops the hearts of the nation and the eagle patch is recognized everywhere. The American civilians haven’t relaxed their efforts because of VE Day and everyone is anxious to see Japan crushed. Those of you with 85 points or more will be leaving soon for America and I will see you later to say goodbye. I am sure that the men from the 506th would earn the same fine reputation on the shores of Japan that you made on the shores of Normandy and the battlefields of Belgium.

  ____________

  Postponed due to bad weather, the regiment held a special Fourth of July event on July 5. The celebration commenced with a battalion-strength parade through Zell am See followed by a talk from Col Sink and the military governor. The highlight was a free-fall display and a static line parachute drop into the Zeller See by members of Regimental HQ. Aquatic sports were also held, with swimming competitions and boat races, while beer and ice cream was served at the regimental beach. The amazing day came to a close at 2100hrs with a display of confiscated German fireworks over the lake.

  During the party at Zell, Hank DiCarlo saw medic Andy Sosnak, who had provided immediate first aid to him in Normandy. “Over a few beers we discussed that first day at the road bridge in great detail and it was clear to me even then that Andy was suffering with some form of PTSD. About 20 years later, I was heartbroken to learn that Andy committed suicide after being diagnosed with cancer.”

  Sometime around the middle of July, Hank and Sgt Allen Westphal (D Co) were sent to Munich to write and edit a history of the regiment from July 20, 1942 to July 4, 1945. The team, led by Lt Van Horn from Service Co, also included cartoonists Pvt Mike Marquez and Pvt Irving Fitzig. “Throughout May, June, and July the regiment was encouraged to submit anecdotal reports for possible inclusion in the book,” recalls Hank. “Allen and I sifted through hundreds of pieces of paper and selected those we thought were most memorable. Apart from our own personal experiences, much of the content had to be based on what we were told had occurred. That being said, the book has my DNA stamped all over it, with little references here and there to ‘Airborne Hank’ and H Co.” The finished product was beautifully printed with fully illustrated maps and photographs and was entitled The Currahee Scrapbook. When the job was complete Hank and Allen returned to their respective units and, bizarrely, never saw or spoke to each other again.