[World War II Memories: August W. Benner] Page: 3
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2-- A POW'S STORY
with the other members of the platoon came in from our positions
to the C.P.
The German soldiers were a mixture of very young and some non-corns
who were seasoned. Some looked to be Slovac or Russian origin. The
younger men were thought to be officer candidates. I am not sure
about the make up but I do know that they made a plan and followed
it. They knew we were weak on our right with good distance between
us and the adjoining unit. They came up the valley which was between
our position and Lemberg and knew where all our positions were. They
knew that their movements would mot be observed and they could move
in on us from the right rear. By taking the positions one by one as
they moved in on the C.P. they kept our men in front as a screen. Our
bunker and the machine gun cruw wuy'e the last group to come in. One
man in our platoon hid i his bui ri' . nd di .not surrender. Ile was
Pvt. Elmar A Pertyke. li ew:s :askh'ter toe war why he chose not to
surrender and he said ii ti. ;ht, r o wu.lid be killed by the Germans.
I would say he was very lucky s:irnce mo t of the bunkers were being
fired into and set afire.
Very quickly the platoon was pushed and proded down through the barbed
wire into the valley to the Gerimarn lines. I saw some wounded Germans
and was told that at-least were0killed. At the bottom of the hill
was the German C.P. Here we were halted and searched for weapons.
Some personal belongings were taken as watches, wallets, rings,
knives, etc. We were lined up in front of the log bunker when a
shelling started by the 1. S. forces. We were made to stand in place
while this was going on. The Germans got in slit trenches or the log
bunker but held us in line. I am sure at this time we all realized
that we had no rights as POW'2. Next to dying, losing rights to the
enemy is next. Never will I agree that "Better iled than dead" has
any place in my life.
As the shelling slacked off we were moved off to the rear. After
about a mile of following a trail we came to a railroad track which
ran to the east. a number of J]eriman soldiers posted along a deep
cut which had been shelled at about the same time as we were. There
were a number wounded and these soldiers were ready to shoot us, but
we were kept moving to the rear. Some of the German wounded were on
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Benner, August W. [World War II Memories: August W. Benner], text, 1983; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth379791/m1/5/: accessed June 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Arlington Historical Society’s Fielder House Museum.