Post by connie on Jul 23, 2022 12:47:40 GMT -5
OVERVIEW of CAMPS that Held Members of the 106th 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/752/thread
LIST OF POW CAMPS and 106th members there can be found on the Indiana Military Site:
www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/SoThinkMenu/GermanPW-START.htm
MAP of GERMAN POW CAMPS: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4961/thread
FINDING a POW's WORK CAMP: jrwentz attached two helpful posts near the bottom of the following thread: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4942/thread
LINK TO IX-B 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5012/thread
Berga
From Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berga_concentration_camp
Berga an der Elster was a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp. The Berga forced labour camp was located on the outskirts of the village of Schliben. Workers were supplied by Buchenwald concentration camp and from a POW camp, Stalag IX-B; the latter contravened the provisions of the Third Geneva Convention and the Hague Treaties. Many prisoners died as a result of malnutrition, sickness (including pulmonary disease due to dust inhalation from tunnelling with explosives), and beatings, including 73 American POWs.
The labor camp formed part of Germany's secret plan to use hydrogenation to transform brown coal into usable fuel for tanks, planes, and other military machinery. However, the camp's additional purpose was Vernichtung durch Arbeit ("annihilation through labor"), and prisoners were intentionally worked to death under inhumane working and living conditions, suffering from starvation as a result. This secondary purpose of extermination was carried out until the war's end, when the prisoners were subjected to a forced death march in order to keep ahead of the advancing allied forces.
POWs were put to work, together with concentration camp inmates, digging 17 tunnels for an underground ammunition factory, some of them 150 feet below ground. As a result of the appalling conditions, malnutrition and cold, as well as beatings, 47 prisoners died. The U.S. military authorities never acknowledged the incident.[citation needed]
On 4 April, the 300 surviving American prisoners were marched out of the camp ahead of approaching American troops. After a 2½-week forced march they were finally liberated. During this march another 36 Americans died.
During an air raid, while the camp lights were extinguished, Hans Kasten, Joe Littel and Ernst Sinner, escaped. They were later arrested and taken to Gestapo headquarters. After their identities as POWs were confirmed they were taken to Buchenwald and placed in detention cells. They were freed when KZ Buchenwald was liberated.
Berga was run by a reserve army sergeant named Erwin Metz, who was ultimately responsible for the inhumane conditions, and gave the order to take the prisoners on the death march. When the allied forces closed in on the retreating Germans, Metz deserted his post and attempted to escape by bicycle, fearing the consequences of being captured in possession of the remaining Berga prisoners and having to answer for his war crimes. Still, he was captured days after the prisoners were liberated by American forces, and he was sentenced to death, because he had killed a US POW, Pvt Morton Goldstein (Battery C/590th Field Artillery/106 US Division) on March 14, 1945 (find a grave says Mar. 15). However, because of the American political climate and the shifting priorities of the American War Department towards defending Western Europe against the Soviets in the lead-up to the Cold War, many German war criminals' sentences were commuted in exchange for intelligence that the Western allies believed could be used against the Soviets. Thus Metz was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment, though in the end he only served nine years before being released back into Germany as a free man.
BOOKS AND DOCUMENTARIES
Berga, Soldiers of Another War Link to Charles Guggenheim's documentary: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/1451/thread
Not only is this film relevant to those who were held as POW's, but the filmmaker, Charles E. Guggenheim was a stateside member of 424th Infantry Regiment E Company, 106th infantry Division who was haunted by the fact that he did not make the overseas trip with his unit... Here is a link to a 2 minute 50 second clip of the beginning of this film: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjctF6NUoSQ
Soldiers and Slaves Roger Cohen's Book: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/3623/thread
In February of 1945, 350 American POWs, selected because they were Jews, thought to resemble Jews or simply by malicious caprice, were transported by cattle car to Berga, a concentration camp in eastern Germany. Here, the soldiers were worked to death, starved and brutalized; more than twenty percent died from this horrific treatment.
Forgotten Victims by Michael G. Bard 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5149/thread
Given up For Dead by Flint Whitlock In 2010 our own Floyd Ragsdale provided a link to a review on this on this book: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/1547/thread
Link to more info on this discussion board: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5150/thread
Operation Swallow by Mark Felton 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5156/thread
106th CONNECTIONS:
LIST OF POW CAMPS and 106th members there can be found on the Indiana Military Site:
www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/SoThinkMenu/GermanPW-START.htm
Sidebar List of POW Camps & some names of POW's there www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/SoThinkMenu/GermanPW-START.htm
Sidebar List of Diaries, Obits, & Articles, etc. alphabetically on the Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/SoThinkMenu/106thSTART.htm
Carter, Charles Mentioned several times by John W. Reinfenrath (423 B) as a buddy who went through this experience with him
Gillette, Lawrence A. Jr, Pvt. 423-L, POW IX-B, Berga- escaped with John Kemper during death march from Berga; see notes below under Kemper & Kemper's bio on the Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Diaries/Berga/Kemper-John/JohnKemper.pdf
Goldstein, Morton, Pvt. 590 C, POW, Berga See last paragraph of notes from Wikipedia (above); killed as a POW on March 14, 1945 (find a grave site says Mar. 15); find a grave site: Notes: Killed by a bullet to the head by Volkstrum Sgt Erwin Metz at KZ camp Berga Am Elster; Buried Jewish Cemetery Atlantic Beach/City NJ www.findagrave.com/memorial/123338841/morton-goldstein
Guggenheim, Charles E, 424 E (stateside) creator of the documentary: Berga: Soldiers of Another War was a stateside member of 424th Infantry Regiment E Company, 106th infantry Division who was haunted by the fact that he did not make the overseas trip with his unit... 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4746/thread
Horton, Robert Lee, Pvt, 422, Pow IX C/ Berga bio on Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Diaries/Berga/Horton-Robert-422-Berga/Horton-Robert-422-Berga.pdf
Private Robert Lee Horton died on April 2, 1945, in Stalag 9C at Bad Sulza Sax We Mer, succumbing to the diseases, bed bug bites, cold temperatures and malnutrition which typified the daily life at Berga. He was only a twenty-year-old kid.
Iosso, Peter, 422, POW IX-B, Berga bio on indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Diaries/Berga/Isso-Peter%20422-9B/Isso-Peter.pdf
December. We were marched to a railroad station. We were packed in railroad cars. We were about 60 to a railroad car, no facilities, we used helmets for toilets. We arrived at Stalag 9B outside of Frankfurt. We were the first American soldiers in that stalag,...Mr. Iosso suspects he may have caused trouble for himself when he spoke out against a fellow soldier who was serving as a middle man to provide black market cigarettes for POW's in return for watches, wedding rings and other valuables. Some POW's were trading their meager bread allowance "in other words, their lives for a cigarette," Mr. Iosso said.
Mr. Iosso accused the man of taking advantage of his buddies. He suspects the man turned him in as a trouble maker because on February 8 Mr. Iosso was assigned to a slave labor camp building an underground factory, along with about 80 Jewish-American soldiers, some troublemakers and maybe prisoners chosen at random."The 350 of us were supposed to relieve political prisoners, European Jews mainly," Mr. Iosso said. "Well, when we arrived there we saw these political prisoners and they were like zombies. They were very thin, in their pajama-like outfits."
Kemper, John A, Pfc, 423-L, POW IX-B, Berga bio on Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Diaries/Berga/Kemper-John/JohnKemper.pdf
Kemper, as a member of the 106th Infantry Division, was among those captured at the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and forced into slave labor in the Berga prison camp in central Germany. The POW experiences of those soldiers were the focus of Berga: Soldiers of Another War, the documentary by Charles Guggenheim... It featured interviews with U.S. soldiers captured during the German offensive and sent to the camp, a satellite of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Guggenheim, interviewed more than 100 survivors for the documentary, said officials at Guggenheim Productions Inc. in Washington. Kemper was not interviewed, but has seen the film. Kemper was a tall, 19-year-old private first class when he was captured. He documented his experiences in a journal and sent postcards from Bad Orb, the first prison camp he was sent to, to his parents in Cincinnati....
He spoke of his capture, travel to IX-B and time there before being transferred to Berga. He told of conditions, lack of food, and harsh treatment there. When asked about his thoughts he noted, "Just to try to survive and get out of there . . .." On April 10, the Germans started marching their captives away from Berga because the Americans were coming, Kemper said. During the march, known as the Death March, Kemper and fellow soldier Lawrence Gillette (also of 423-L) ducked into the woods and hid in a barn for two days. Then... "We sort of went cross country to this farm." The older couple who lived there had a Polish man working for them. "He took us to the barn and covered us up with hay. He was a good friend to us," Kemper said. The day they were rescued, Kemper and Gillette saw an American tank and ran toward it. The tank turned its gun toward them as a precaution."We were just so happy to see them," Kemper said. "I guess we looked so bad and decrepit. We started yelling, 'We're Americans! We're Americans!' ''
Reinfenrath, John W, 423-B POW IX-B, Berga bio on Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Diaries/Berga/Reinfenrath-John/JohnReinfenrath.htm
John was captured during the Battle of the Bulge, walked and rode in a boxcar to Stalag 9B. Then sent to the Buchanwald complex at Berga am Elster. Here he and 348 other American Soldiers captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge were forced to dig tunnels with other slave labors.
His detailed 29-page account gives clear images of his experiences beginning with the days leading up to his capture. Post capture he tells of his travels to reach Stalag IX B at Bad Orb. "...At last we reached the town of Bad Orb which was our destination. It was night and we had to spend one more night locked in the box cars. We had arrived on December 27." Much detail of his time about time spent at IX-B follows... then...
"On February 8, 1945 350 American prisoners were sent from Bad Orb to a slave labor camp at Berga Am Elster. They included the American Jewish soldiers as well as those of us from my barracks and others that the Germans thought they might have trouble with. We were marched down to the rail yards in the town of Bad Orb where we were loaded into the "40 & 8" box cars. This time we were more comfortable that our first box car ride. Our trip was four days long but a good part of the time was spent in waiting for the railroads tracks to be repaired from the damage caused by Allied bombs. For the trip we received one red cross food package to be shared by two men. Charles Carter and I shared one box." The detailed account of his time at Berga begins on page 18 of his written summary.
On April 5, 1945 we left Berga on the evacuation march. (see page 24 for the beginning of the account of this march...
Also quoted on page 216 of Voices of the Bulge: books.google.com/books?id=HbAcABMAxK4C&pg=PA216&lpg=PA216&dq=John+%22Reinfenrath,
And Chapter 13 of Operation Swallow: books.google.com/books?id=14-LDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT158&lpg=PT158&dq=John+%22Reinfenrath,
Rosenberg, Theodore, POW, IX-B, Berga bio on Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Berga/TheodoreRosenberg/TheeodoreRosenberg.htm
There are gaps at the beginning and end of this man's story. While Indiana Military Site has his wartime account beginning with his separation from his unit and his capture, it states only that he was a member of the 106th Infantry Division. No unit names appear in this account or on the Roster constructed by Jim West. His account ends with his having been freed. Then there is a note at the bottom that he died in October of 1945. No details. Nor have I found anything else in initial were searches. If anyone has information to fill these gaps, it would be helpful. Here are a few notes from his known story:
"I found myself alone on the Siegfried Line, separated from my unit. I had hoped that our troop's would return to their positions and then I would join them. I dared not move for I didn't know what direction they had gone and I did know that I was surrounded by mine fields I hid for over two days in a bunker and ate a can of C rations....
I decided to make a break for it. I didn't get far before I was spotted and then and there, I thought I was one more American "missing in action" but luck was with me. Usually, a lone soldier met death rather than the trouble of taking them to a prison camp miles away. I was marched to the C.P. and two days later, marched on to join 975 other prisoners who were camped in a churchyard west of Waxweiler. It was noon on Wednesday, Dec. 20th, when I joined the others in the churchyard..." His account goes on to tell of days of marching, time in box cars, the Christmas Eve strafing, and the Christmas Day arrival at IX- B in Bad Orb.
Also mentioned in the Veteran's Accounts in the book Operation Swallow books.google.com/books?id=14-LDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT298&lpg=PT298&dq=Theodore+Rosenberg,
Rosenberg, Winfield PFC 422D POW IXB IX G, Berga 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/3621/thread
It's a tough story. With a name that sounded Jewish, the above post records that on February 8 Rosenberg and others were taken from their POW camp on Feb. 8 and moved to a slave labor camp near Berga (close to the Czech border.) Here they worked in extremely harsh conditions in a mine. On March 23, with allied forces moving closer the survivors in this camp were moved again on a death march eastward. At the end of this ordeal Rosenberg weighed 80 pounds.
Urban, Anthony (Tony), 423-I POW IX-B, Berga : 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=looking&action=display&thread=602
son's discussion board post: My father, Anthony J. "Tony" Urban was a member of the 106th, 423rd Infantry Regiment, Company I, and was captured during the Battle of the Bulge. He was first interned at Stalag IX-B (Bad Orb), then sorted out for transfer along with 349 other US GI's for further transfer to Berga. My father was one of the fortunate soldiers who managed to survive the war, but because of his service connected injuries, died at the age of 40 years in 1956. My father was a police officer in the city of Pittsburgh, PA and returned to his job as patrolman after the war. I'm trying to locate any former GI's who may have served with my father, either stateside during training, or while serving in the European Theater or either POW camps. I have only found out about my fathers service through a small diary that was uncovered a few years ago that he kept during his service. There is also a small address book of names and addresses of his military friends that I discovered as well as photos of my dad and some of his friends in uniform. I would really like to connect with service members or members of their families who were friends of my father.
Also see a photo of Urban and notes from his son on the Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Stalag%20IX-B%20Bad%20Orb/Urbans-Edward/Urbans-Edward.htm
Widdicombe. Robert, PFC, 423-I, POW IX-B, Begra brief bio on Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Berga/Robert%20Widdicombe/RobertWiddicombe.htm
In 1943 at age 17 he graduated high school in Auburn Indiana & "made arrangements for entering the Army’s Specialized Training Program and then worked for a couple of months at the Fort Wayne Works fo the International Harvester Company before he was called to duty. He started out with the ASTP with plans to attend Officers Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Ga." (For more on the ASTP program see: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/2237/thread )
When that program was discontinued, he found himself in the 106th Infantry Division, "assigned to Company I of the Third Battalion of the 423rd Infantry Regiment, he became the Browning Automatic Rifleman in the third squad of the first platoon stationed at Camp Atterbury." Then he begins his account of 4 days of battle, capture, train trip to IX-B, transfer to Berga... death march, escape...
LIST OF POW CAMPS and 106th members there can be found on the Indiana Military Site:
www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/SoThinkMenu/GermanPW-START.htm
MAP of GERMAN POW CAMPS: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4961/thread
FINDING a POW's WORK CAMP: jrwentz attached two helpful posts near the bottom of the following thread: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4942/thread
LINK TO IX-B 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5012/thread
Berga
From Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berga_concentration_camp
Berga an der Elster was a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp. The Berga forced labour camp was located on the outskirts of the village of Schliben. Workers were supplied by Buchenwald concentration camp and from a POW camp, Stalag IX-B; the latter contravened the provisions of the Third Geneva Convention and the Hague Treaties. Many prisoners died as a result of malnutrition, sickness (including pulmonary disease due to dust inhalation from tunnelling with explosives), and beatings, including 73 American POWs.
The labor camp formed part of Germany's secret plan to use hydrogenation to transform brown coal into usable fuel for tanks, planes, and other military machinery. However, the camp's additional purpose was Vernichtung durch Arbeit ("annihilation through labor"), and prisoners were intentionally worked to death under inhumane working and living conditions, suffering from starvation as a result. This secondary purpose of extermination was carried out until the war's end, when the prisoners were subjected to a forced death march in order to keep ahead of the advancing allied forces.
POWs were put to work, together with concentration camp inmates, digging 17 tunnels for an underground ammunition factory, some of them 150 feet below ground. As a result of the appalling conditions, malnutrition and cold, as well as beatings, 47 prisoners died. The U.S. military authorities never acknowledged the incident.[citation needed]
On 4 April, the 300 surviving American prisoners were marched out of the camp ahead of approaching American troops. After a 2½-week forced march they were finally liberated. During this march another 36 Americans died.
During an air raid, while the camp lights were extinguished, Hans Kasten, Joe Littel and Ernst Sinner, escaped. They were later arrested and taken to Gestapo headquarters. After their identities as POWs were confirmed they were taken to Buchenwald and placed in detention cells. They were freed when KZ Buchenwald was liberated.
Berga was run by a reserve army sergeant named Erwin Metz, who was ultimately responsible for the inhumane conditions, and gave the order to take the prisoners on the death march. When the allied forces closed in on the retreating Germans, Metz deserted his post and attempted to escape by bicycle, fearing the consequences of being captured in possession of the remaining Berga prisoners and having to answer for his war crimes. Still, he was captured days after the prisoners were liberated by American forces, and he was sentenced to death, because he had killed a US POW, Pvt Morton Goldstein (Battery C/590th Field Artillery/106 US Division) on March 14, 1945 (find a grave says Mar. 15). However, because of the American political climate and the shifting priorities of the American War Department towards defending Western Europe against the Soviets in the lead-up to the Cold War, many German war criminals' sentences were commuted in exchange for intelligence that the Western allies believed could be used against the Soviets. Thus Metz was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment, though in the end he only served nine years before being released back into Germany as a free man.
BOOKS AND DOCUMENTARIES
Berga, Soldiers of Another War Link to Charles Guggenheim's documentary: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/1451/thread
Not only is this film relevant to those who were held as POW's, but the filmmaker, Charles E. Guggenheim was a stateside member of 424th Infantry Regiment E Company, 106th infantry Division who was haunted by the fact that he did not make the overseas trip with his unit... Here is a link to a 2 minute 50 second clip of the beginning of this film: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjctF6NUoSQ
Soldiers and Slaves Roger Cohen's Book: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/3623/thread
In February of 1945, 350 American POWs, selected because they were Jews, thought to resemble Jews or simply by malicious caprice, were transported by cattle car to Berga, a concentration camp in eastern Germany. Here, the soldiers were worked to death, starved and brutalized; more than twenty percent died from this horrific treatment.
Forgotten Victims by Michael G. Bard 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5149/thread
Given up For Dead by Flint Whitlock In 2010 our own Floyd Ragsdale provided a link to a review on this on this book: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/1547/thread
Link to more info on this discussion board: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5150/thread
Operation Swallow by Mark Felton 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/5156/thread
106th CONNECTIONS:
LIST OF POW CAMPS and 106th members there can be found on the Indiana Military Site:
www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/SoThinkMenu/GermanPW-START.htm
Sidebar List of POW Camps & some names of POW's there www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/SoThinkMenu/GermanPW-START.htm
Sidebar List of Diaries, Obits, & Articles, etc. alphabetically on the Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/SoThinkMenu/106thSTART.htm
Carter, Charles Mentioned several times by John W. Reinfenrath (423 B) as a buddy who went through this experience with him
Gillette, Lawrence A. Jr, Pvt. 423-L, POW IX-B, Berga- escaped with John Kemper during death march from Berga; see notes below under Kemper & Kemper's bio on the Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Diaries/Berga/Kemper-John/JohnKemper.pdf
Goldstein, Morton, Pvt. 590 C, POW, Berga See last paragraph of notes from Wikipedia (above); killed as a POW on March 14, 1945 (find a grave site says Mar. 15); find a grave site: Notes: Killed by a bullet to the head by Volkstrum Sgt Erwin Metz at KZ camp Berga Am Elster; Buried Jewish Cemetery Atlantic Beach/City NJ www.findagrave.com/memorial/123338841/morton-goldstein
Guggenheim, Charles E, 424 E (stateside) creator of the documentary: Berga: Soldiers of Another War was a stateside member of 424th Infantry Regiment E Company, 106th infantry Division who was haunted by the fact that he did not make the overseas trip with his unit... 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/4746/thread
Horton, Robert Lee, Pvt, 422, Pow IX C/ Berga bio on Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Diaries/Berga/Horton-Robert-422-Berga/Horton-Robert-422-Berga.pdf
Private Robert Lee Horton died on April 2, 1945, in Stalag 9C at Bad Sulza Sax We Mer, succumbing to the diseases, bed bug bites, cold temperatures and malnutrition which typified the daily life at Berga. He was only a twenty-year-old kid.
Iosso, Peter, 422, POW IX-B, Berga bio on indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Diaries/Berga/Isso-Peter%20422-9B/Isso-Peter.pdf
December. We were marched to a railroad station. We were packed in railroad cars. We were about 60 to a railroad car, no facilities, we used helmets for toilets. We arrived at Stalag 9B outside of Frankfurt. We were the first American soldiers in that stalag,...Mr. Iosso suspects he may have caused trouble for himself when he spoke out against a fellow soldier who was serving as a middle man to provide black market cigarettes for POW's in return for watches, wedding rings and other valuables. Some POW's were trading their meager bread allowance "in other words, their lives for a cigarette," Mr. Iosso said.
Mr. Iosso accused the man of taking advantage of his buddies. He suspects the man turned him in as a trouble maker because on February 8 Mr. Iosso was assigned to a slave labor camp building an underground factory, along with about 80 Jewish-American soldiers, some troublemakers and maybe prisoners chosen at random."The 350 of us were supposed to relieve political prisoners, European Jews mainly," Mr. Iosso said. "Well, when we arrived there we saw these political prisoners and they were like zombies. They were very thin, in their pajama-like outfits."
Kemper, John A, Pfc, 423-L, POW IX-B, Berga bio on Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Diaries/Berga/Kemper-John/JohnKemper.pdf
Kemper, as a member of the 106th Infantry Division, was among those captured at the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and forced into slave labor in the Berga prison camp in central Germany. The POW experiences of those soldiers were the focus of Berga: Soldiers of Another War, the documentary by Charles Guggenheim... It featured interviews with U.S. soldiers captured during the German offensive and sent to the camp, a satellite of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Guggenheim, interviewed more than 100 survivors for the documentary, said officials at Guggenheim Productions Inc. in Washington. Kemper was not interviewed, but has seen the film. Kemper was a tall, 19-year-old private first class when he was captured. He documented his experiences in a journal and sent postcards from Bad Orb, the first prison camp he was sent to, to his parents in Cincinnati....
He spoke of his capture, travel to IX-B and time there before being transferred to Berga. He told of conditions, lack of food, and harsh treatment there. When asked about his thoughts he noted, "Just to try to survive and get out of there . . .." On April 10, the Germans started marching their captives away from Berga because the Americans were coming, Kemper said. During the march, known as the Death March, Kemper and fellow soldier Lawrence Gillette (also of 423-L) ducked into the woods and hid in a barn for two days. Then... "We sort of went cross country to this farm." The older couple who lived there had a Polish man working for them. "He took us to the barn and covered us up with hay. He was a good friend to us," Kemper said. The day they were rescued, Kemper and Gillette saw an American tank and ran toward it. The tank turned its gun toward them as a precaution."We were just so happy to see them," Kemper said. "I guess we looked so bad and decrepit. We started yelling, 'We're Americans! We're Americans!' ''
Reinfenrath, John W, 423-B POW IX-B, Berga bio on Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/106ID/Diaries/Berga/Reinfenrath-John/JohnReinfenrath.htm
John was captured during the Battle of the Bulge, walked and rode in a boxcar to Stalag 9B. Then sent to the Buchanwald complex at Berga am Elster. Here he and 348 other American Soldiers captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge were forced to dig tunnels with other slave labors.
His detailed 29-page account gives clear images of his experiences beginning with the days leading up to his capture. Post capture he tells of his travels to reach Stalag IX B at Bad Orb. "...At last we reached the town of Bad Orb which was our destination. It was night and we had to spend one more night locked in the box cars. We had arrived on December 27." Much detail of his time about time spent at IX-B follows... then...
"On February 8, 1945 350 American prisoners were sent from Bad Orb to a slave labor camp at Berga Am Elster. They included the American Jewish soldiers as well as those of us from my barracks and others that the Germans thought they might have trouble with. We were marched down to the rail yards in the town of Bad Orb where we were loaded into the "40 & 8" box cars. This time we were more comfortable that our first box car ride. Our trip was four days long but a good part of the time was spent in waiting for the railroads tracks to be repaired from the damage caused by Allied bombs. For the trip we received one red cross food package to be shared by two men. Charles Carter and I shared one box." The detailed account of his time at Berga begins on page 18 of his written summary.
On April 5, 1945 we left Berga on the evacuation march. (see page 24 for the beginning of the account of this march...
Also quoted on page 216 of Voices of the Bulge: books.google.com/books?id=HbAcABMAxK4C&pg=PA216&lpg=PA216&dq=John+%22Reinfenrath,
And Chapter 13 of Operation Swallow: books.google.com/books?id=14-LDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT158&lpg=PT158&dq=John+%22Reinfenrath,
Rosenberg, Theodore, POW, IX-B, Berga bio on Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Berga/TheodoreRosenberg/TheeodoreRosenberg.htm
There are gaps at the beginning and end of this man's story. While Indiana Military Site has his wartime account beginning with his separation from his unit and his capture, it states only that he was a member of the 106th Infantry Division. No unit names appear in this account or on the Roster constructed by Jim West. His account ends with his having been freed. Then there is a note at the bottom that he died in October of 1945. No details. Nor have I found anything else in initial were searches. If anyone has information to fill these gaps, it would be helpful. Here are a few notes from his known story:
"I found myself alone on the Siegfried Line, separated from my unit. I had hoped that our troop's would return to their positions and then I would join them. I dared not move for I didn't know what direction they had gone and I did know that I was surrounded by mine fields I hid for over two days in a bunker and ate a can of C rations....
I decided to make a break for it. I didn't get far before I was spotted and then and there, I thought I was one more American "missing in action" but luck was with me. Usually, a lone soldier met death rather than the trouble of taking them to a prison camp miles away. I was marched to the C.P. and two days later, marched on to join 975 other prisoners who were camped in a churchyard west of Waxweiler. It was noon on Wednesday, Dec. 20th, when I joined the others in the churchyard..." His account goes on to tell of days of marching, time in box cars, the Christmas Eve strafing, and the Christmas Day arrival at IX- B in Bad Orb.
Also mentioned in the Veteran's Accounts in the book Operation Swallow books.google.com/books?id=14-LDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT298&lpg=PT298&dq=Theodore+Rosenberg,
Rosenberg, Winfield PFC 422D POW IXB IX G, Berga 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/3621/thread
It's a tough story. With a name that sounded Jewish, the above post records that on February 8 Rosenberg and others were taken from their POW camp on Feb. 8 and moved to a slave labor camp near Berga (close to the Czech border.) Here they worked in extremely harsh conditions in a mine. On March 23, with allied forces moving closer the survivors in this camp were moved again on a death march eastward. At the end of this ordeal Rosenberg weighed 80 pounds.
Urban, Anthony (Tony), 423-I POW IX-B, Berga : 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=looking&action=display&thread=602
son's discussion board post: My father, Anthony J. "Tony" Urban was a member of the 106th, 423rd Infantry Regiment, Company I, and was captured during the Battle of the Bulge. He was first interned at Stalag IX-B (Bad Orb), then sorted out for transfer along with 349 other US GI's for further transfer to Berga. My father was one of the fortunate soldiers who managed to survive the war, but because of his service connected injuries, died at the age of 40 years in 1956. My father was a police officer in the city of Pittsburgh, PA and returned to his job as patrolman after the war. I'm trying to locate any former GI's who may have served with my father, either stateside during training, or while serving in the European Theater or either POW camps. I have only found out about my fathers service through a small diary that was uncovered a few years ago that he kept during his service. There is also a small address book of names and addresses of his military friends that I discovered as well as photos of my dad and some of his friends in uniform. I would really like to connect with service members or members of their families who were friends of my father.
Also see a photo of Urban and notes from his son on the Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Stalag%20IX-B%20Bad%20Orb/Urbans-Edward/Urbans-Edward.htm
Widdicombe. Robert, PFC, 423-I, POW IX-B, Begra brief bio on Indiana Military Site: www.indianamilitary.org/German%20PW%20Camps/Prisoner%20of%20War/PW%20Camps/Berga/Robert%20Widdicombe/RobertWiddicombe.htm
In 1943 at age 17 he graduated high school in Auburn Indiana & "made arrangements for entering the Army’s Specialized Training Program and then worked for a couple of months at the Fort Wayne Works fo the International Harvester Company before he was called to duty. He started out with the ASTP with plans to attend Officers Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Ga." (For more on the ASTP program see: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/2237/thread )
When that program was discontinued, he found himself in the 106th Infantry Division, "assigned to Company I of the Third Battalion of the 423rd Infantry Regiment, he became the Browning Automatic Rifleman in the third squad of the first platoon stationed at Camp Atterbury." Then he begins his account of 4 days of battle, capture, train trip to IX-B, transfer to Berga... death march, escape...