Fallen and wounded covered the beach.
The tide brought more and more bodies and wounded.
The bodies did not lie alone but stacked on top of each other.
It was a horrible sight.
D-DAY: THE SOLDIERS 'STORY 3/4
We saw that they could not move forward. It raised our hopes.
One of my comrades fired anti-tank gun.
I saw him destroy several tanks beside us.
The tanks were trying to get off the sand because they could not advance there.
My hope awoke, when I saw Siegfried succeed.
Then our mortars started firing on the sandy beach.
Gravel caused a devastating fragmentary effect.
I mainly thought about how I could survive.
I did not think about the Führer, people and fatherland at all.
I shot to stay alive.
It was difficult for me to fight for my life.
I followed the lessons I learned at home, -
that when you are in great danger you should pray.
I prayed more earnestly than ever.
I don't know if it had any effect, but it calmed me down.
When I saw, ―
that my bunker had been shot to pieces but I was intact myself, -
my hope was awakened and I thought I could survive.
Hitler alone commanded all the Western armor divisions.
It is told that when the first information was received in the morning of June 6th, -
The Führer was not dared to woken up. He was asleep.
Important hours were lost.
It is also reported that when Hitler finally heard of the landing, -
he said in an Austrian accent, "At last!"
The landing had begun, and Hitler rejoiced, -
that the tension had finally subsided, -
and the war could be finished as they believed.
In the morning of June 6th, -
I still lived with my parents.
Their house was near Saint Sauveur Square.
I saw the first allied prisoners brought by the Germans.
Then we were assured that the landing had begun.
In case that invasion begins in Normandy,
it was asked who of the lycée pupils -
could go to serve the Red Cross.
The mission of the organization is to help those in need.
The purpose was to take care of the food,
if the city was destroyed, -
and there would be no more shops.
I agreed like many others.
When the landing was confirmed to have begun on June 6th, -
I went to school where I attended lycée.
I applied for service.
In the morning of the landing, -
The Royal Air Force sent planes over the city.
They dropped leaflets intended for the townspeople.
They said Caen would be bombed, -
as the bridges across the river were to be destroyed.
The river flows right in the middle of the city.
So the residents had to leave.
It was a good initiative, -
because right from the morning of June 6th, -
many Caen residents decided to leave the city and go to the countryside.
Or they went to the north side of the city, -
which was less threatened to be bombed.
You only thought that I hope it wouldn't hit me.
I was lucky.
Our post was fired, and many comrades were lying on the ground.
There were both wounded and dead.
I saw some shot to stomach.
On one, I opened the trouser buttons.
I don't know if I could tell you this. The intestines burst out.
You were ordered to request reinforcements. I did that many times.
In an hour, or one and a half they said, -
that reinforcements should already be there. I was told to look.
I went outside and looked left towards Saint―Laurent and Vierville.
I saw movement in the bushes.
I stood up and whistled.
I waved my hands invitingly.
They came and fired. So I knew the enemy was close.
They shot to the casemate and we had to protect ourselves.
I was in the ammo bunker looking for grenades, -
when suddenly everything was blue and I couldn't see anything.
I had put my rifle next to the cannon.
When the light came on again, I was standing alone in the casemate.
My comrades had gone away.
I didn't want to leave without a rifle.
I looked at the cannon.
One wheel was here and another was there, and the cannon was on the ground.
Maybe they were...
It had been hit up, down, sides and finally straight into the barrel.
It was totally destroyed.
He found a wounded American.
The dugouts had already been abandoned.
After a short battle, prisoners are brought from the bushes.
The wounded are taken to first aid.
US Prisoners from the melting pot of races.
Crushed, they drag themselves into the camps.
They have seen the strong German resistance.
It is not eased up but strengthens day by day.
Some German units were ordered, ―
that when an enemy does not take prisoners, neither do we.
Attempts were made to agitate men by questionable ways:
"Prisoners are not taken. Fight to the last bullet."
However, it was not a general order on either side.
These commands were given in some units, but not in general.
On the Allied side, especially during the first hours, -
it was difficult to take prisoners for tactical reasons.
So, it was predetermined that no prisoners would be taken.
In the first few days, ―
it was not known on either side were the prisoners well treated.
Violence happened especially, ―
when the SS―troops faced allied elite forces.