Onward, through Germany

Note to the reader: Thank you for joining me on my journey to share my father's journey! New posts to the blog here appear at the top of the main page, pushing the previous posts down below. Please be sure to check out the earlier posts and work your way up to the top.

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A German Messerschmitt 262, the world's first operational jet aircraft.

 On Germany's Tail

 

 

Planig is a suburb of Bad Kreuznach, an ancient Roman town renown for its salt spas. Bad Kreuznach was the target of heavy allied bombing in 1944 which resulted in the town being all but flattened, with most of its historical features destroyed. 

 Dad often told me this story about the sighting of the Me 262, how, on one cold morning he had stepped away from the trucks and trailers to relieve himself — they had lined all the trucks up in a file the night before...something they were not supposed to do — and, as he was trained to do in all moments, idle and otherwise, he scanned the skies in front of him. He saw an unfamiliar silhouette approaching; it looked like a plane, but it made no noise, at least not a noise he recognized — no engine rumble or propeller buzz — and then something fell from its underside and began tumbling toward the ground ...and him! He realized it was a bomb, and he turned and ran toward his fighting position next to his truck, shouting to the others about the incoming ordinance, and he dived head first into the foxhole just as the bomb hit the ground about 300 yards away and exploded, rattling him around the hole for a few seconds. He never mentioned an ensuing battle with many planes destroyed or comrades killed, just that he was among just a few young men to first set eyes on the Luftwaffe's secret aircraft. 

Fortunately for the Allies, Hitler kept changing his mind about the use of his new weapon, whether to use it as a fighter or a bomber that could outmaneuver and outrun the fastest Allied fighter planes and, when he finally did decide (bomber), it was too late in the war, too far into Germany's destruction by the Allies, to be effective.

(After Germany’s surrender, Bad Kreuznach was the location of one of the “Rhine Meadow Camps,” where German prisoners were held in horrendous conditions with no shelter and barely any food, some until as late as 1948, resulting in the deaths of thousands from starvation and disease. Certainly a blemish on the United States Army's World War II record and a dark spot in our nation's history.
Rhine Meadow Camps)

Above and below: views of Planig, Bad Kreuznach, Germany.

 

Above and below: Geinsheim, Germany

 

Combat Studies Institute - study of Rhine River crossings during WWII — CSI Battlebook 19-A — Page 40, Anti-Aircraft Artillery units mentioned, generally, as instrumental in repelling intensified attacks by German aircraft sent up by surprised, disorganized remnants of disparate German Army units.

WWII Chronology - A decent summary of ALL major actions of the US Army, including the movement of VIII corps and XII corps, one of which was over the 129th AAA Gun Battalion. There is mention of several towns in the area of Germany where I was stationed, including Lautzenhausen, the town that sits beside the Frankfurt-Hahn Regional Airport, formerly Hahn Airbase.

Mainz-Kostheim
German cities that lie across a river from each other often go by two names. Hence, Kostheim is usually named with its sister city across the Rhine River, and they are together referred to as Mainz-Kostheim. However, Kostheim is administered as a district of the larger city of Wiesbaden, on the same side of the river. Mainz-Kostheim was bombed heavily throughout 1944 as the Allies prepared to cross the English Channel and as they approached the city. Approximately 80% of the city was destroyed by the time the United States Third army arrived, and the German army units there fled to the east, abandoning the city without a fight on 22 March 1945.

Kostheim is a very busy little section of the city, and we passed the sign entering the town thinking we could catch the one on the other end of town for the photo, but we apparently didn't go straight through Kostheim, and we never saw another sign for it. No real photos, just this lame attempt...

Binsfeld
Driving from Mainz-Kostheim to Binsfeld, I couldn't help but wonder if the 129th was sent there, or if they just followed the lead armored and infantry units and just wound up there, because, in unfriendly territory, how the heck do you find a little town like Binsfeld?!

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