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Dave Wagner, 39th Engineer sent this to me for use in my book. Another great story.
IS THIS THE ROAD TO ROME?
After we pushed off from the beachhead there were 2 terrible
weeks of battle in the Velletri Gap. However on the night of
June 3rd, 1944 we were told that the Germans were pulling out
and that we would be able to roll into Rome, which was only
about 25 or 30 miles away.
The heavy weapons squad of the Second Platoon were all in
our half track and we started rolling out some time just before
midnight along with the rest of "F" Company. About an hour or
two later we found that we had separated from the rest of the
company and had to find our own way to catch up with the
company and join them in Rome.
We were not travelling on a regular highway, just little dirt roads
and travelling crosscountry when to our amazement we came
to what appeared to be a very magnificent highway running in
the same direction that we were headed in. We estimated this
concrete slab to be a highway. But we had never seen a road
as wide as this one. We figured it was 70 or 80 feet wide. Very
unusual but since it had a solid white line painted down the
middle we thought for sure that this was one of Mussolini's new
improvements. What else could it be?
We started up this highway running very slowly when after
going about 1/4 of a mile or so we heard the unmistakeable
chatter of a machine gun and the white traces came terribly
close to us. Discretion being the better part of valor we made a
quick right turn and got off and started crosscountry. We
weren't sure what kind of rear guard action this was. It might
even have been a tank. But as we departed we happened to
notice some large buildings with arched roofs and it finally
dawned on us that these buildings looked like airplane hangars.
Sooo....putting two and two together we figured we must have
been on a runway of the Rome Airport.
We kept running without further incident until some time after
dawn we saw the Tiber River and started running alongside of
it. This gave me a great idea. I told Ronnie, our weapons
Sergeant, that I would like to pull down to the river and stop
there so I could take a bath. When he asked me why, I said,
"None of us have taken a real shower or bath since we landed
on the beachhead. " He laughed and said, "O.K. If that's what
you want, let's do it." So our driver, Arie, took the halftrack
down along the edge of the river where three of us got out and I
got undressed and jumped into the river to bathe myself. I
thought it would be a pleasant experience but when I hit the
water, it felt like I had jumped into the middle of Antartica where
the water was about 150 degrees below zero. I got out just as
fast as I jumped in and didn't care whether I had a bath or not.
Just as I finished dressing we saw a slight movement in a
clump of bushes very close by. We grabbed our rifles to find
out what it was and out came a German officer in full uniform.
He was a Major and spoke English. I asked him what he was
doing there and where was his sidearm. He said that after four
months on the beachhead and two weeks in the Veletrie Gap it
was time for him to surrender to the Americans so that he
would live to get back to Germany and see his wife and
children. He said he had thrown away his revolver.
I said to him that it was a smart thing that he did that because
Germany was kaput. He said, "Not a big thing. We'll wait 25
years and then do it again." He also said that they could have
conquered the whole world this time if they only had two things
that we had. When Ronnie asked him what were the two
things, he said, "The shoulder machine gun." Here he was
referring to our M1 rifles. The Germans really hated that
because it could be fired so quickly. The other thing was the
American soldier. He said, "The German soldier will do
anything we tell him to, but he must be told to do it. With the
Americans it's different. When you shoot the leader, they still
keep on doing. They don't have to be told."
Now he infuriated me to such a degree that I was boiling inside.
He said, "You Americans are good sports. Just give me three
minutes to go and then come after me with your vehicle."
As angry as I was I didn't let it show but I said to Ronnie, "Why
not, let's let him go." Ronnie looked at Arie, Arie looked at me
and we both looked at Ronnie who looked at me and then
broke out in a big grin all over his face. He said, "No Dave. I
won't let him go." I asked him, "why not?" and he answered
me, "I can read your mind and I won't let you do it."
We put the prisoner in the half track and proceeded further
where we finally found the main highway and shortly found a
jeep with 2 MP's to whom we turned over the prisoner and as
unlikely as it was we found the rest of "F" Company on our way
and we all pulled into Rome together just in time to see the
population jumping for joy and women and girls bringing us
flowers and containers of nuts. We had finally made it to
Rome.
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