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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ★ c h a p t e r t w e l v e ★ ........................................................... back on the line — the final fight Returned to Germany, the 82nd Airborne Division was deployed along the western bank of the Rhine River near Cologne. Gavin’s orders were to aggressively patrol the city and its perimeter, while sending patrols across the river to engage and identify enemy formations. ★ ★ ★ April 3, 1945 Dear Babe, It is nice to be back in Germany again although our mode of travel this time was not nearly as interesting as the usual way. The place in spring looks rather nice. A lovely country really. Not quite as nice as England but nevertheless quite attractive. Things are getting green and trees are blossoming. The homes are well cared for and except for the bombed localities things look much better than in any of the other countries. The germans have apparently lived well except for the interference of bombing. I am enclosing a sample invasion mark. I may have sent you some of these from germany during the Nijmegen show, we were in for the first time then. Thanks for the Easter message. Love to everyone, Pappy ★ ★ ★ April 9, 1945 Dear Babe, Thank you for the nice Easter card which I received today, also two very nice letters. I take it that you had a good visit from Uncle George. I know that he was very glad to be back for a while. Could use some of it myself. Perhaps the way things are going it is not too far away. We are sort of busy fighting and taking care of krauts as well as their past slaves. To be more specific as far as the censor will permit, we have quite a bit of fighting on our hands, but it is not too arduous, especially compared to Normandy or the Ardennes or Holland. The new thing however is some 650 square miles of germany full of krauts that I am charged with the supervision of the military government of, some sentence. In addition, I have several camps of Displaced Persons. And what could be said about that even the censor should not be exposed to. I remember reading some years ago of the germans moving thousands of people of other countries that they had conquered to germany to be slave labor. At the time my impression was that it was rather effective propaganda and that slaves couldn’t have meant just like the Egyptians capturing the Jews, as it says in the Bible for example. I realize very much now that it was much more than propaganda. I suppose that there are many more than a million but I have seen many thousands and they are a pitiful lot. All kinds, especially Russians and Poles, big, little and all sexes, just liberated by the advancing armies. For the past four years they have been held as slaves and used in homes on menial tasks, on farms, in factories, and in heavy industries. In fact, anywhere that a human could function. Their only wage was their daily keep and that was cut to a minimum. Consequently they are all thin and hungry and most of them dirty and lousy [lice-ridden] and many quite ill. It could not be believed if one did not see it. Upon their release, of course, the first thing that a Russian wants to do is find a German that he can delight in beating to his personal satisfaction; if not that, he would like to burn or loot his home. All of which may not seem like too bad an idea but it is conducive to rioting and disorder, all of which could seriously hamper our own war efforts. So all in all, it poses quite a problem. I have had a couple of visitors for the past three days, Bob Capa of Life and Martha Gellhorn of Colliers. They are grand people and it is nice to have them around the Command Post for a while. Bob had qualified [as a parachutist] with us in the United Kingdom and has been with us on and off for the past two years. He made his first combat jump with the 17th [Airborne Division in their jump across the Rhine, Operation varsity, on March 24, 1945] and evidently covered it quite thoroughly for a recent issue of Life. He must have had a lot of fun besides making a lot of money. We have been...

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