Letters from the Greatest Generation by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2016-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

VIII

V-E DAY AND AFTER

AFTER the collapse and surrender of Germany, May 4–7, 1945 (Italy had given up on April 29), the Allies arranged their zones of occupation and military government. Germany was divided into four areas, and the United States took control of the southern part. Berlin, which lay within the Russian zone, was administered by the Four Powers jointly. Reparations in kind were so divided as to give the largest share to Russia. American troops were withdrawn from Czechoslovakia, and Hungary and the eastern half of Austria went under Russian control. Special tribunals were created to try the Nazi leaders as war criminals. The victors organized the United Nations after the adoption of a charter at a conference in San Francisco in June.

Ernest R. Lee, a reserve officer of Indianapolis, was called to active duty in Aug. 1940 as a 1st lieutenant of infantry. Promoted a captain in Feb. 1942, he was assigned as aide to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and followed him to England in June. He served also at the headquarters of Allied forces in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany. He achieved the rank of colonel in June 1945. Col. Lee received the Legion of Merit from Gen. Eisenhower and decorations from Great Britain, France, French Morocco, Russia, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Discharged in Dec. 1945, he remains a reserve officer commanding the 329th Infantry Regiment, 83d Division, and is a business executive in Indianapolis.

[May 1945]

Germany

DEAR MOTHER:

We left our CP (Rheims)—flew to a field near Berlin where we were met by Field Marshal Keitel of the German Army, and an escort of Russian fighter planes escorted us into Templehof airdrome in Berlin.

As we approached the Reich capital it was covered by a thick haze, mostly smoke from the fires that were still smoldering. The first glance made one believe that there was little damage, but as our plane dropped lower we could see that the buildings that we thought were undamaged were merely hollow shells and the interiors had been completely gutted by fire and bomb blast. Those that had not burned were leveled either by bomb or artillery fire, and few people were moving about. Templehof was a huge field and while the landing strips were O.K., the huge buildings and repair shops were completely gutted. A guard of honor was drawn up to meet us, complete with flags of Russia, Great Britain, and the U. S. After inspecting the guard and having it pass in review, we entered cars and drove through the city to a former German Army engineering school located at Karlshorst, a suburb of Berlin.

On our trip through the city we were guided by Russian WACs, who are armed and form a part of the Russian forces. The route was lined with troops and civilians were barred. The roads had been fairly well cleared of rubble, and the suburb, except for blast damage, was relatively undamaged. However, the rest of the city was a sight—I did not see a house that was still standing that did not have some type of damage either by fire, bomb or shell.

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