BuffaloJack
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 1637
Location: Buffalo, New York
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 Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:27 pm Post subject: 'Beast of Omaha' weeps as he recalls slaughter of thousands |
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| Quote: | 'Beast of Omaha' weeps as he recalls slaughter of thousands on beach
by MURDO MACLEOD
FOR Hein Severloh the ‘Longest Day’ meant nine hours constantly machine-gunning American soldiers as they attempted to land on Omaha Beach.
... snip...
Severloh was safe in an almost impregnable concrete bunker overlooking the beach. He had an unimpeded view of the oncoming Allied forces. He was the last German soldier firing, and may have accounted for about 3,000 American casualties, almost three-quarters of all the US losses at Omaha. The Americans came to know him as the Beast of Omaha.
...snip...
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1166&id=643752004 |
Here's "the rest of the story" from Severloh (not in the article above):
| Quote: | "I was aware that some of my comrades had made off, but I had this terrible vision of being confronted in the eye by my officer and so I stayed at my post."
"In the early afternoon, I realised I was the last person still firing. I could see tanks manouvering on the beach and knew that I couldn't hold them alone."
"I heard an order to shouted by Lieutenant Ferking-a fine fellow and, at 32, a veteran-that we should retreat."
"I ran from bomb crater to bomb crater behind our bunker complex. I waited but he never came."
"I visited his grave in Normandy ten years after the war. He took a head shot from one of the Americans as he tried to follow me. I was taken prisoner that night. I don't think I would have survived had I been captured at my post."
"They knew what I had done to their friends. I don't think those first-wave troops would have shown me any mercy."
Some 2,300 Americans died on 'Bloody Omaha' before overwhelming the German defenders.
Mr Severloh was sent as a PoW to America and put to work picking cotton and potatoes before returning to Germany in 1947 to resume his pre-war life in farming. |
It's absolutely incredible that a single 21 year old soldier accounted for most of the casualties on Omaha Beach on D-Day 1944.
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Swift Boats - Qui Nhon (12/69-4/70), Cat Lo (4/70-5/70), Vung Tau (5/70-12/71) |
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