As far as I know, they also gunned down some wounded SS from a nearby hospital.Now that's is something I can't agree with.
The wounded SS were combat soldiers, not KZ guards.
Sometimes Wehrmacht tank crewmembers were mistaken for SS due to their black uniforms and were shot on sight.
As I can understand that not every GI knew the difference, I do have a problem with that.
A lot of the American Veterans I spoke with over the years told me that those Wehrmacht boys were just "in the same sh.t as us, but on the wrong side". When SS was mentioned, they mostly were not so polite in their comments.
They certainly did not think it was "elite".
Erwin
What you said is 100% accurate and the shooting down of the wounded SS WAS WRONG!!
I have no qualms at all about the Greif Commandos that came across the lines in GI Uniforms to raise havoc but when they were caught they were shot by us many times right on the spot. Would do it again if I had to.
Did you read my stories above about the SS?? - if you did you'll know why!!!
The every day, run of the mill Wehrmacht or Hess soldier was just as afraid of and just as happy as we were when the SS(any Regiment) got what they had coming. Many of you know that I was with Intel as an interpreter/interrogator and the Wehrmacht/Hess guys wanted exactly what we wanted - end the war and let me go home!! Some times we sent them back to the rear to be put in POW camps without a guard as they were that happy to be off the line for good.
Sgtleo 