“I was young but I was not stupid. I knew the war would be lost and I sensed this battle would be of no use to the Reich or to Germany. The Red Army was unstoppable from our east, so how would pushing Americans back to the sea do any good? I was young, but not stupid.

The night before, we barely slept. It was cold, very cold, and the companie supply soldiers were walking from soldier to soldier and handing out ammunition. Our machine gunners in particular got heavy loads. Some rifleman were even handed belts of ammunition. The officers told us we were to bombard the Americans with artillery, then drive our tanks and infantry right through them.

The morning of the beginning, I heard what sounded like thousands of guns (artillery) firing from our side. This was to be my first battle, and my last one. On the 28th of December I was captured by American soldiers after I had wandered too far away from our lines of soldiers. I suppose I was glad to be done. 12 days of battle was more than enough for me.”

– “Marcus”. German Wehrmacht. 6th Panzer Army. December 16th, 1944.

This story was documented by Battles and Beers. Every soldier has a story, and every story deserves to be told.

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