Doughboy sees Nazi general die
With U.S. 2nd Armored Division, France (UP) –
A German general commander of either the 17th SS Elite Guard Division or the 243rd Infantry Division was reported today to have been killed by Allied bombing plans while attempting to rally his troops for a stand against the onrushing Americans in western Normandy.
News of the Nazi commander’s death came from a doughboy of the 2nd Armored Division who made his way back into the American lines today after having been captured near Saint-Denis-le-Gast.
Held near tanks
The American said he was being held under guard beside a big column of German tanks, guns and caterpillar tractors – the wreckage of which a United Press staff writer saw along a side road near Roncey yesterday – when the unidentified general was killed.
The soldier said he saw a general with red collar tabs on his uniform standing outside a farmhouse near the armored column outlining a plan of attack to his officers.
He was a big shot because everyone heil-Hitlered him and clicked their heels, including the colonels, the doughboy said.
Shrapnel hits general
Then our planes dived down and there was a terrific series of explosions. They were strafing the Germans in nearly every direction and I saw a piece of shrapnel hit the general in the forehead. He staggered and then stumbled away alone.
A search party was sent out this morning to recover the general’s body for identification purposes.
The escaped Americans, whose name was withheld, got to his feet after the plane attack, rounded up 80 docile Germans and delivered them to a prisoner of war cage inside the American lines.