Lt. Wolfgang Wiedemann, II Battalion, 267 Grenadier
Regiment.
24 Jan 44
The relationship between
Lieutenant Arno Born, Battalion Adjutant, and Major
Frank was a close one, because everybody avoided the
unpredictable and completely impersonal Commander. Poor Born had a hard time, even though he
swallowed his anger. In the few weeks
in which he was now Adjutant, he had got to know Major Frank quite well. I inquired how to apply for honours (Iron
Crosses) for brave men who had distinguished themselves. There were no requests from the
Battalion. Born beckoned away.
"The Commander makes no further requests.
This behaviour is incomprehensible” said Born.
“He has a sore throat,” Born said
softly. That was the ironic country
expression when a superior wanted to earn the coveted “Knights Cross”. Born continued: ”Frank had expected his
Battalion to take back Tufo and Minturno.
Maybe we would have made it. If
Frank had led his Battalion correctly,
there was certainly a chance. By
"remote control" such an attack could not be successful”. We had to accept the facts. Major Frank was
with us for a long time,
All men had to endure these hard
days. Hardly anyone talked about the
little daily torments. Hunger and
thirst, bruises and abrasions caused by flying lumps of earth or stones were
accepted without much grumbling. Especially
unpleasant were the disgusting spikes of prickly pears, which caused small
burning injuries.
The Battalion Doctor, Dr.
Hoffmann of course had other worries than to treat
scratches. He survived the baptism of fire well. The First Aid Post was in a collapsed sheep
pen. He had to constantly treat the
wounded. Our "Doctor" had
brilliantly passed his test. It was
especially sad that the company had only two Platoons left, which were
extremely understaffed at the time. All
the other Companies had the same fate.”
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