Former Enemies of WWII Meet 78 Years Later | History Traveler Episode 339

right now I am in Germany and if you've been watching the past several episodes of History traveler well you know that we have been traveling with Andrew bigio author of the rifle uh along with four Veterans of the second world war and the experience has been incredible to not only go to these Battlegrounds but to go to them with the men who actually fought there and to hear the stories from from their own mouths it's been the experience of a lifetime and over the next few days we've got something else that I think is going to be pretty unique uh we have the opportunity while we are here in Germany to meet with some of the former enemies of these men including a German nurse and a man who was a member of of the second [Music] SS all right now before we go in there are a few things that that I want to make abundantly clear about what we are doing today so we were meeting with a man named Gart fimple who was in the second SS do strike and and I want to be clear in saying that nothing that we are doing today is to minimize or dismiss the awful things that happened in the 1930s and 1940s under the reign of Hitler uh Gard fimple is a man who by his own admission uh does not hold the views that he did as a younger man uh has of course disavowed anything with national socialism and wants to make peace with his former enemies uh all four of the veterans who are traveling with us have been made aware of the opportunity uh if any one of them said that they did not want to meet uh with this man then we were going to call the whole thing off all four of them to a man said that they would like to have the opportunity to sit down and and talk with him so anyway those are just a few things uh that that I wanted to to make clear also one other thing the the second SS had a really terrible reputation during World War II that was well-earned uh there were some things that they did on the Eastern front and in France that that were legitimate war crimes uh Gard fimple joined up with the second SS after those things happened and jumped in right about the time of the Battle of the Bulge so so there's a difference between war and and war crimes but anyway uh people may watch this and not agree with what we're doing uh they may watch and not agree with some of the things that are going to be said by either side I I don't know what's going to happen uh but whether you agree or disagree it's it's an opportunity to learn I'm not even saying that I'm going to agree with everything but uh anyway we're going to uh go inside and just let the camera roll and watch these men meet upen that means the wild AB wild wild document whatever you can I guess so Jack Bud Jake Ed this is our friend Gearhart who wants to join us for lunch today and these are our American veterans and nice to meet you hello sir hello how are you hello hello nice to be and we are a little old yeah I'm soad I I have a little problem two things you should SP a little louder yes yes yes absolutely I saying I'm glad I'm glad we both survive the or that you live through I didn't expect English is so good because I wasl all a lot of a lot in America the SS had a reputation whether whether it was true or not what might have been hyped up by PR but the SS were supposed to be very mean and very efficient and we're Killers we just F felt that about them uh and of course that proved to be true in the SAR Valley we lost in six days we had 90 some men killed and about 215 wounded in just in six days down there fighting the 11 paner Division uh so so I think there's some truth to that that they were a mean they were a mean group and would not hesitate to Mur to shoot you if if you were unarmed how do you feel about what just happened inside withing this guy from the second SS well yeah he might he might have been a very efficient very tough member of that group uh but but he probably didn't want it to in the war any more than I did we were we we all hated it but we did survive it he's I'm sure the German ranks were filled with 17 and 18 year old kids we we even fought some 15y old kids before the world was over Germany was scraping the bottom of the barrel to get PE people to go fight the older people as well as they're very very young and it's a shame to kill people like that but you had to do it that I I was wonder if you could tell me just kind of what your thoughts are on on meeting one of these guys who was a former enemy he uh it was in it was interesting because um I asked him if if it was if uh German soldiers talk to Americans like he's meeting me with us and he said very few of them would would do that he said uh he said uh I realized that war is war but he said now we're we we should be friends and that's I agree with him 100% my name is uh Bud HEI uh I flew 23 combat missions and we are here in Frankfurt Germany which I happened to bomb in March of 1945 it's been 78 years since I've been here and I just had the pleasure of meeting a German soldier and believe me folks it brought tears to my eyes we're both human beings we both have hearts and uh what a blessing from God that I was able to come back here and meet him the SS of course were the bad guys I am very thankful that I was never uh exposed or captured by them uh we came very close when we crashed in St Troy in Belgium German signs were all over the field and we we were told that they had left there about 30 days prior so the good Lord uh again spared me and my crew but unfortunately now they're all gone how has time changed things well first of all 78 years is a long time but it gave us a chance to uh or me of course to think about this and meet people and the number of people I met which were our enemies then are just wonderful people they did what they had to do at a certain time some yes some did it intentionally and they'll have to pay that price but most of them were like us we did what we had to do we were told to do it and we're thankful that we got home as I said in the documentary I'm in uh we just did what we were told to do and never thought about who we were killing or anything like that as you get older believe me you do think about it and meeting this man today oh BR if your heart can be softened mine was softened what what was the opinion that that you guys had of the SS versus like a regular yes us was brutal they didn't care about anything they were strictly business they were uh vicious and uh Hitler Youth came up and they were trained more or less on the same structure can can you tell me uh how it felt to to meet one of these guys that you know just now well as years go by you uh all these years 78 years ago you mellow and you get a lot different opinion of people's uh way they are today but uh they have changed and we have Chang and growing older and you forget a lot of those animosities you had um Can can you tell me uh just what your name was and uh what what role you you played during the war yeah [Applause] [Music] he said he was um he was rafas as member two two and a half years of the war he was a soldier and took part of the war and uh his first combat he um served in uh in the Aden offensive on the Christmas Day 1944 uh his company leader died and he took the role of the company leader for his Squad can can you tell me uh a little bit of what the combat looked like on on the German side during the the battle of the ardens there was a lot of snow and the we was a big problem to drive in the area was very difficult for the units they used more fuel than they expected they expected to need fuel for 400 kilom but they need much more than they expected trunk trunk L they hoped to get to the American fuel Supply stations to get R fuel so this this there was a big problem with the Elliot ples we have had and the the Hitler weather the so that's kind americ English f f until Christmas they had a cloudy sky that was good for them because um the Elliot planes couldn't attack them because they don't fly uh during the Cloudy time at the day and they called it Hitler wer themselves because it was a success for them but after this um the vfa was better and uh the American planes uh started to attack their units so um Can can you tell me about like after the um after the the battle of the ardens what where did you guys go next uh they go with the train East they tried to defend the city of Budapest this uh this plan failed when he was part of the battle around and inside the city of Vienna he was part of this battle until the last hour the up in the close combat fightings in the city center of of Vienna uh he destroyed a big Russian tank with a paner f with a distance from under 15 M so can can you recall what what might have been your hardest day in the war it was the day when he destroyed the Russian tank in the city center and they were fighting in the buildings of the of VNA City Center that was the hardest day for him okay how how did the war end for you they had uh in his unit they had strong discipline until the last day of the war and They Carried their weapons until the 9th of May of uh 1945 and were acting like a goodwork um combat unit and there were no signs of uh of giving up on they have they the war was over and they started to go home they threw away their stuff and started to walk towards where they were living and they tried not to get uh in to get a prisoner of war can can you tell me how 80 years of time has has changed your view of the war it was not not necessary the US in the the two World Wars world wars um with the with the USA taking part destroyed the European um countries and there were a big damage to the to European as a continent and it was a big fail to let the Russians inside Europe to to let the Russian troops comes on the European territory that was a a big fail and then uh one last question um can can you tell me uh how it felt to to meet with former enemies today and I meet I meet um people and soldiers and not enemies today well if nothing else that was interesting to watch uh there was one moment that I I didn't have the camera rolling on when uh geard fimple and butd hii who was a Bombadier in World War II on a B7 were talking and uh Gart apologized to him for for his role in the war and and butd apologized to him for for dropping bombs on the cities in Germany really really interesting and and I know I said at the beginning that there's going to be people who watch this and and disagree with some of the things that are said honestly I'm still processing it all myself but that that's a good thing it's good to be exposed to things that challenge us and things that we may disagree with because that helps us to to learn and to grow uh we're going to head back to the house now and tomorrow morning we are going to be meeting up with a German nurse really looking forward to [Music] that so right now we're uh at a typical German nursing home and we're visiting a woman who's at the age of 102 years old um the significance of this meeting is not only did she live through the war but she was a nurse during the war and her field hospital was liberated by the 87th Infantry Division not far from here and um Jack Moran's regiment is the one that liberated the camp so we're going to reunite her and one of her liberators and inside her field hospital where she not only taken care of Germans but she also had three American veterans who were wounded during the Ry River Crossing that she cared for so she's looking forward to meeting her liberators today Jack it's been few years since you've been here isn't it 7 78 years ago this week or this [Music] month I welcome you it's friends USA I was here 78 years ago I so good I'm so glad to see you your name is what isaa ola yeah I'm Jack call me Jack so nice to see you it's a happy day yeah happy day happy day how did how did you survive he ask how did you survive very only 92 person the rest she's she's speaking of the sinking of the ship she which she survived she survived a ship sinking of the Stan which was the last hospital ship which came out of the zeg of kbur yeah yeah so good to see yes I am glad to see you which one do you want to go I don't know i' to see her Susan I am a retired Air Force pilot World War II almost as old as you I and and six months in six months you're older than I and smarter yes and she's better looking after and better looking I am very old but here you're smart very smart can I have a hug can I have a than you thank you thank you good luck all days great okay very nice Jacob rer R right I'm a medic come back medic infantry and I working in hospital yeah right yeah yeah yeah it's very nice to meet you how do I say this myama is Paul Hadi Paul and I flew up in the air oh how do you say that airplane he scared you he's the one that would make you scare and he he M girl father I said that right y came from kingburg yeah in 1890 there she went to school yeah that's what you said and my uh how do I say this my uh Mother's mother came from lipi Lei and my my dad's mother came from Dresden Dron and my I got to get this right and my mother's father came from Hanover Hanover but they all came over in about well I don't know 1890s 195 1910 you are half German I'm all German all yeah yeah it yeah oh okay oh that's wonderful how about ex old men and help in [Music] shine I didn't the way you better help me yes the way I learned German is when my mom and dad didn't want me to understand what they were saying so this is my grandma OA nner born OA Matan and she's from East Prussia which is like very far in the East today it's Russia um and yeah since the Middle Ages it was part of Germany and um yeah when the war was going on uh in the winter of 4445 the um yeah Red Army um yeah went around East Prussia in the town of kingburg and there was like a big big battle was going on there and she was trapped and she was a a German nurse um and she ended up on the last hospital ship and Refugee ship which went out over the Baltic Sea back to Germany um yeah it was the last chance to escapee the siege of Kingsburg and on February 10th 1944 uh 45 uh the ship was sank by a Soviet submarine with two Torpedoes and about 4,000 500 people drowned and uh yeah she was one of 300 survivors of the sinking and um then um she ended up in Berlin as a nurse and they assigned her few field Hospital in Castle this was in March 1945 and then when the third Army was pushing into Germany the um field hospital had to be evacuated from Castle further to the East and they ended up in B planken Borg which is a town about 30 mil south from bimr where we are today and um on April 12th 1945 her field hospital was overrun by the 87th Infantry Division and uh the pan were coming and I stood what will happen and the soldier ask me hello baby what is the matter what are you doing here no I answered I am working tonight in the hospital and I must go to work he asked where is it I told him 300 M behind you and so we were going to my hospital that was the first meeting with American shoulder shoulder and then the Americans overtook the hospital and uh she became a prisoner of war and for the rest of the War she worked for the 312th medical Battalion which was the medical Battalion attached to the 87th Infantry Division and um yeah she was working and treating American soldiers and also before the Americans arrived in B blankenburg they had seven wounded American soldiers in the field hospital and uh yeah she was treating these guys and when the Americans arrived they found out the Americans that four of the Wounded Americans were wounded soldiers of the same regiment which arrived in B planken Borg and they were wounded during the Rin River Crossing captured by the Germans treated by the Germans and then evacuated with the field Hospital from the Rin River to Castle and to B blankenberg what a story yeah wow well hey thank you thank you for the work that you did uh during during the war to patch people up and and uh yes bring them to [Music] health [Music]

Channel: The History Underground

Views: 187,254

Keywords: wwii, wwii history, wwii documentary, history traveler, history underground

Id: TczT8__597E

Length: 33min 20sec (2000 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 25 2024