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Hazard: In WWII, ‘nation could keep a secret’ |
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Tuesday, 17 November 2009 |
By PAUL SIMS
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During World War II, “this nation could keep a secret,” Dr. Mark Hazard said.
The country didn’t have computers, he said, and officials didn’t publicize troop movements or get detailed questions posed to them, such as queries about assault troops and casualties, among others.
“All that would have to be answered today, I think,” he said. “It wasn’t answered back then.”
Hazard returned to the Starkville Rotary Club Monday to complete his recollections of his service as a lieutenant in the United States Army’s 79th Infantry Division. He started sharing his story at last week’s meeting.
He is a retired veterinarian from West Point.
Ahead of D-Day, Gen. George S. Patton Jr. had pulled out of North Africa and was in Dover, England, Hazard said.
“That information got out on purpose,” he said.
German leaders believed the impending invasion would come at Calais, France. The Allied force instead landed on the beaches of Normandy.
Erwin Rommel, a German field marshal, was in Berlin celebrating his wife’s birthday, Hazard said. Aldolf Hitler, Germany’s chancellor, was reportedly asleep during the invasion’s early hours.
“Nobody had twittered,” Hazard said.
Hazard talked about both his best day of combat and his worst.
The worst came on the Siegfried Line, a fortified complex of bunkers which stretched 390 miles along the German border.
The bunkers stood about every 100 yards, were placed in stages and were connected by underground passageways. The protections included concertina wire and anti-tank trenches.
Troops attempting to break through the line had to use bangalore torpedoes to blow holes in the wire.
“We whipped the Germans for that day for half a day; they whipped us for half a day,” Hazard said.
His battalion went into the fight with 700 soldiers. They had 127 left at the end in one day of fighting.
His best day of combat took place in Reipertswiller, in the Alsace region of France. His unit encountered elements of a German Panzer tank division.
He said the Germans were big on talking and yelling when they were coming.
There were 40 in his unit, and 396 Germans “dead in front of us.” One of the men with him was wounded.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 21 November 2009 )
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