December 16, 1944
It was freezing, we had already lost one of our tanks to an 88. It eases my mind knowing that we are in a new m4 with heavier armor leading a tank column east towards east Bastogne towards Germany. Our commander Bill Thomas was 6'4" which is frankly too tall to be a tank commander, but he was damn good at it, he came from Milwaukee as a school teacher. Frank Goodman was our gunner, not much is known about him, all we know is that he can't wait to get home to his girl in Brooklynn. Steve was deemed the "best poker player' in all the division, and sometimes having lady luck on his side got him into some trouble with GIs.
I was the newest member of the crew, my job was to be the assistant driver/gunner of the 30 cal. If I am, to be honest, id rather be in the field radio tent deciphering German code, but here I am. "don't you worry boys! We've got 3inches of steel to protect us, Kraut shells won't be able to get through!" proclaimed Bill. But 3 inches wasn't going to protect us from what was coming straight at us. Radio chatter was going off about an armor division was 20 miles west of the line. That's when a roaring sound came through the tree line, "what is that?" shouted through the radio. You could hear the constant cadence of boots thumping, the occasional squeaking that is usually heard from kraut tanks, but it was hard to distinguish from the Tiger 1s or the 2s. Bill commanded the column to fall back and find cover in the nearby forest and form a plan of what to do next.
The ground shook, but we knew that it couldn't be from the infantry, we knew that there was something bigger out there. Rolling into the clear was merely the largest tank we've ever seen! We knew that the Germans were trying to build their wonder weapons such as the King Tiger and the Jagdtiger tank destroyer as a last-ditch attempt to win the war. But this was bigger, badder, stronger. The colossal and the infantry suddenly halted and took defensive positions, but why? Were we spotted? Bill commanded the column fire for effect, but even with our more considerable 105MM armament, we might as well be shooting spitballs. That's when we heard the deafening roar of cannon fire off in the distance, it was like Haikili came down from the heavens and presented himself. Then this horrifying object came out from the depth of the woods from which it was hiding, we knew that Hitler was no stranger to outrageous ideas, but this one took the cake. "That thing must weigh over 100 tons!" Said Bill at the top of his lungs.
Slowly the behemoth trembled its way out into an open field with what looked like half of the kraut army following in its footsteps. There are no words that I can convey to describe this monstrosity, Before I knew it, a piece of shrapnel came through the pistol port and got me on the left side of the head. The shrapnel was a jagged piece about a quarter inch or so long. ( I retrieved it later from the floor of the tank, but later lost it). It cut my scalp and knocked me out briefly. Since our tank was disabled having a track knocked off by a HE round, I had to get out through the bottom escape hatch. After I was out of the tank I looked for some shelter, which happened to be in the cellar of one of the houses there, I crawled ever so slowly as the tank battle ensued, one by one everyone was merely gone, nothing, more than a burning pile of steel and diesel.
What was I to do? What could I do? Everyone was gone. As my mind spiraled with thoughts and worries, I slowly faded into darkness. When I awoke, a 35th Medic applied a bandage from my pistol belt packet. And told me to go out and look for the medic halftrack which would take me to the Aid Station. So then I was a 1st Lt. on the ride to the Aid Station, where they bandaged my head properly and gave me a good slug of American whiskey and sent me stateside for the remainder of the war. I later learned that we had encountered what was known as The Panzerkampwagen (PzKpfw.) VIII Maus a 188-ton behemoth developed by Porsche at the behest of Hitler himself and was taken down by an allied bombing raid later that year.
July 4, 1946
It has been a few months since the war has ended, I honestly am filled with joy that everything is over. No more conflict, no more Nazis, just the tranquility of peace coming with the dawn of the new day. I can't tell you enough how much I missed good coffee, even the muddy water that the ranch cook made was better than K-ration coffee. Upon returning home, I found the most beautiful woman that I had ever laid eyes upon. Her name is Betty Spence, She has the most stunning blue eyes with thick curly blonde hair, and she works just down the road from the ranch at the grocery store. I think that once I get off of working the cattle, I'll go ask her to a movie.
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