On April 22, 1945, about 5PM, the six Hungarian SS wiring up the Naab River Bridge with dynamite failed in their mission. They blamed it on the rain.
The bridge was wired. They heard the rumble of tanks approaching. They groped for matches. To their dismay, the entire box was thoroughly soaked by the storm that had blown through that day.
In his memoirs, WWII veteran J. Ted Hartman recalls what happened as the 11th Armored Division rolled up Schwarzenfeld’s main road, the Hauptstrasse:
“It was here in Schwarzenfeld that a Kraut truck pulled in behind our tank from a side road, thinking he was joining a column of German army vehicles. He was really shocked when he looked up and realized that he was behind an American tank. He and his comrades quickly jumped out of the truck with their hands over their heads…
One of our German-speaking soldiers ordered the two Krauts to go down to the bridge that lay ahead. Then we advanced toward the river and found six German soldiers in a guard house at the bridge, which, as it turned out, was wired with enough dynamite to blow us sky high. We interrogated the prisoners and learned that the mission of the truck that had pulled in behind us was to come to the bridge, pick up those men who had wired it with explosives, cross the bridge, and blow it up from the other side. However, they never got the chance. Had we not discovered the information about the bridge from the German soldiers, we could very well have been on that bridge when it blew up.”
—J. Ted Hartman, Tank Driver: With the 11th Armored from the Battle of the Bulge to VE Day, page 96.
Next, it was the American Army’s turn to make a startling discovery. The commander of the tank division quickly headed for the hilltop monastery overlooking the town. To their shock, a priest emerged and spoke English. Fr. Viktor relayed the tension of this moment to his nephew Joe Koch, who recorded it for posterity in his letter home:
“[Fr. Viktor] told us about when the Americans came through there… They came in one Sunday evening about five, he said plenty of tanks which parked in fields all around there, one can still see the tracks. Finally two officers came up to his place, so naturally then he talked to them in English. Were they surprised and said, ‘Where did you learn to speak English?’ so of course he told them that he had been in the States longer than both of them together. It so happened that he was wrong by three years as theirs totaled 52 years.”
—Joe Koch to mother Fannie Koch, Koenigstein (June 23, 1945)
The Germans describe Fr. Viktor as a man with a “full personality.” It was on display that day. In that brief anecdote it’s clear that the Americans were suspicious—with good reason. They frequently encountered German spies posing as Americans, only to find them committing devastating acts of sabotage. And what does Fr. Viktor do? He marches up to these men half his age and wags a finger. At last, he convinces them that he is a fellow countryman and begins to defuse tensions between the Germans and the Americans.
The 11th Armored engages in a skirmish with desperate SS men who make a last stand in a local barn. It ends swiftly with an incendiary shell.
Taking it on faith that the Nazis can no longer execute citizens for displaying white flags, the Schwarzenfelders drape towels, bed sheets, and dish cloths from their windows. Surrender and liberation is a highly chaotic process—especially when the roads and houses are swollen with refugees. Read more on that in The Sower of Black Field.
Night falls thick over a town under martial law. It is silent, yet peace is elusive. In the morning, the 11th Armored will depart and proceed to the next town. The peacekeeping force that succeeds them—the 328th regiment of the 26th infantry division—is hours away from stumbling upon a gruesome find.
The most harrowing 48 hours of Schwarzenfeld’s history is about to begin.
Useful reminders
This post is part of a month-long series reflecting upon historical events that contributed to my debut historical fiction novel, The Sower of Black Field. Visit the “Latest News” area on my website for a recap »
The Sower of Black Field is available in paperback, eBook / Kindle, and audiobook on Amazon. Get your copy »
This post includes a brief excerpt from J. Ted Hartman’s book, Tank Driver: With the 11th Armored from the Battle of the Bulge to VE Day. This book is readily available on Amazon in paperback, hardcover, audiobook, and eBook/Kindle. If you’re interested in WWII military history, I encourage you to give it a read. Get your copy »
