I like your thinking; having your cake and eating it too. Superb. How comforting to have Bigler by your side during all the campaigns. When you think of all the time that both of you endured and were still together. Now that is truly something.

You do have to admit that the Thompson looks so cool, but as you said too, the danged thing got so heavy and YOU did have to carry it everywhere. Sounds like you made a good trade.

I like the photo. Just a hint of cockiness on the face. I think it helped you through the war. Gotta have that spirit my man.

Hey Bigler, if you're still out there, we'd love to hear from you. Give us a ring.

Bienvenue au Sud de France!

Another jeep Recon patrol in Southern France on a beautiful Indian summer day in 1944, this time to find a suitable location for the forward displacement of the Regimental CP. I took all four of my jeeps and fifteen men, since we carefully marked the route for others to follow, eliminating the need to go back. There were no front lines, as such. The Krauts were slowly withdrawing to the north, stopping only to defend favorable terrain. The situation was "fluid" which means in this case that neither side knew for sure where the enemy was.

We drove through a small French town to the continuous ringing of church bells. French civilians of every age and description lined the road, cheering, throwing flowers, offering wine and fruit, many crying with joy after four years of brutal occupation. A very pretty young woman danced up to our jeep on the driver's side. Steele braked to a stop, and she gave him a big hug and a kiss. I was riding in the front passenger seat. She leaned forward between Steele and the steering wheel and was about to give me a kiss too, when she suddenly recoiled and backed away into the crowd. I couldn't imagine what I had done to cause this reaction. I turned to Steele and said, "What do you suppose that was all about?" He gave me a salacious grin and said, "I squeezed her titty!" I said, "Steele, you may be the best jeep driver in the company, but you're no gentleman." To which he replied, "You got that right, Lootenant."

(This was intended to describe the pic of one of my recon jeeps being welcomed in Southern France.) Posting the pic and the text in the same place is a little more than I can handle, so I am posting it in separate parts.

Russ Cloer

1st Lt. Russ Cloer, (not handsome, just cold and tired!) Taken in Hachimette, France in December 1944 (Ardennes-Alsace Campaign).

Picture in last post is 1st Lt. Cloer, (me) (subtitle "allus kaput!) a few months later in Nurnburg, Germany.

(Sometimes spelled Nuremburg).

The USAF sure did a job on that place!

Russ Cloer - 3_7_I_Recon

P.S. (Edit) I seem to have lost the picture. Maybe its on a new page. Frustration!!!!

Wow, that town looks a little war-torn wouldn't you say? At that point you had seen a lot of WAR. How long were you in Nuremburg?

I was only in Nurnburg for a day or two, arriving April 20, 1945, after a 3 day fight. We continued south. Intelligence reports said that the Germsns had hidden more than a thousand warplanes south of Nurnburg for one last counterattack. We continued south on the autobahn and found the 1,000 airplanes, all in good condition. The Krauts had hidden them in a wooded area several miles long on either side of the autobahn. Where trees had been taken down, the aircraft were covered with camoflage nets. The center dividing island of the autobahn had been leveled, paved and painted green. It looked normal from the air, but it was a mile long runway for the planes in the woods. They had one probelm. They didn't have a drop of fuel!

We continued south and overran the Dachau concentration camp. On a railroad siding outside the barbed wire stood a freight train with no place left to go. The gondola and freight cars were filled with layer upon layer (thousands) of naked dead bodies, starved until their bones protruded through their skin They had been gassed at other camps and brought to Dachau which had a crematorium to burn the evidence. A few live zombies wandered about in a daze in black and white striped suits. I remember one live inmate wandering about whose face was distorted and scarred. It looked like he had been struck in the face by the rifle butt of a guard, went untreated, but was allowed to live as an example to keep other inmates in line!

German civilians from surrounding villages were forced to come in and view this mayhem. They all denied they had ever heard of a concentration camp, even though they lived a mile or less away. They lied with a straight face and pretended rightous indignation at being asked the question! Others just cried at being caught.

From there the 7th Inf. moved south and were the first to enter Berchtesgaden and the Berghof on May 4, 1945, history which you already know. and

a story which has already been told.

Russ Cloer, 3_7_I_Recon

Yea Russ: Remember them well now that you brought them up. Nurnburg was at leastl as bad as the Rhine River Crossing. Was a 3 day battle for us with very high casualties. I still wonder if it was worth it, or should have been bypassed and left it for

"mop up" so as not to slow us down on our last push to the end, which was in sight. Will

leave that to the historians. Nurnburg was a walled city, with a "city" inside it, and one

hard nut to crack, taking 3 days of heavy fighting with high losses. It sure "pared down"

our rifle companies. Then soon after if I remember right, we had the Danbe to cross.

After that we sure had a shortage of personel in each company and platoons and few replacements join us as we were moving quickly for them to catch up to us. A lot of miles in a short period. Cant help but wonder just what our actual strength was in terms of being understrength. I know my company was quite understrengthed.