June 7th, 1944
Dear Mama, Grethe, Henny, and Anneliese,
I know that I have not written much except a small note to go along with my monthly pay. I have just been so busy it is a miracle that I even have time to write this. At training camps, the atmosphere around had great morale with it. What bugs me is that they treat us like children. They give us many sweets. But overall the training has been good. Our commanders are veterans from the 1st SS Panzer Division! At the beginning of June the commanders decided that we were ready to fight this war! We had over 150 tanks (66 of them Panther and over 90 Panzer IV.) We also had many different types of mm guns. I would list all of the different possible kinds but there are too many!
On June 6th, as the allies came to the beaches, our division and the 21st Panzer Division were the closet units to the beaches! Finally, at 2:30 PM, we were ordered to the front. But not all of us were there because not too long before we were ordered to the front, Gerd von Rundstedt (one of the Field Marshal's) had ordered around half of us to investigate a suspicious parachute landing near Lisieux's coast. I got to stay behind and soon, we were on our way to Normandy. On our way there we had to take cover as the Allied-bombers were firing in our area consistently! We did not have many losses and at 10 PM, we had arrived at Evrecy. This had been my first exposure to combat and I can say that it has scarred me. Right now it is 6:00 AM and I must be ready soon. I will post my letter to you for mailing with my new monthly pay. Today, our mission is to crush Canada's infantry, the North Nova Scotia HIghlanders, and the 27th Tank Regiment by Franqueville. Wish me luck! We will fight to the end! Fight for Deutschland!
Sincerely,
Heinz Bambach
Dear Mama, Grethe, Henny, and Anneliese,
I know that I have not written much except a small note to go along with my monthly pay. I have just been so busy it is a miracle that I even have time to write this. At training camps, the atmosphere around had great morale with it. What bugs me is that they treat us like children. They give us many sweets. But overall the training has been good. Our commanders are veterans from the 1st SS Panzer Division! At the beginning of June the commanders decided that we were ready to fight this war! We had over 150 tanks (66 of them Panther and over 90 Panzer IV.) We also had many different types of mm guns. I would list all of the different possible kinds but there are too many!
On June 6th, as the allies came to the beaches, our division and the 21st Panzer Division were the closet units to the beaches! Finally, at 2:30 PM, we were ordered to the front. But not all of us were there because not too long before we were ordered to the front, Gerd von Rundstedt (one of the Field Marshal's) had ordered around half of us to investigate a suspicious parachute landing near Lisieux's coast. I got to stay behind and soon, we were on our way to Normandy. On our way there we had to take cover as the Allied-bombers were firing in our area consistently! We did not have many losses and at 10 PM, we had arrived at Evrecy. This had been my first exposure to combat and I can say that it has scarred me. Right now it is 6:00 AM and I must be ready soon. I will post my letter to you for mailing with my new monthly pay. Today, our mission is to crush Canada's infantry, the North Nova Scotia HIghlanders, and the 27th Tank Regiment by Franqueville. Wish me luck! We will fight to the end! Fight for Deutschland!
Sincerely,
Heinz Bambach