Submitted by Bill Donegan:
Torgau 1945
It is good that Linda and I have been working out on the treadmill every day for months, and using the weight room. We do it to keep in shape for tactical. We had no trouble at Bedford last week-end. The only physical problem was that Linda wore a blister on one foot because her boots were too big. Dressed as a medic it was providential that she was carrying a bag full of medical supplies, as the only real casualty of the wear was herself. She took a detour from the combat action to tend to her foot. After patching herself up she left her hiding place in the barn. Some American GI spotted her and yelled, “Medic don’t go that way the Germans are coming. She did an about face and ran into another group of Germans and got captured. She had forgotten that she had a gun so was not trying to defend herself so she managed to slip away when they started shooting at the Russians. Confused? We were part of the Red Army assault on Torgau this past week-end at Bedford Pa.
Many thanks go out to Gilbert White, Roger Bombard and Ray Partenheimer for a splendid tactical.
We weren’t able to take many photographs but here are a few we managed to take. There was no shortage of drinking vessels for the Red Army as we had captured a pottery shed.
The weather was snowing with gusts of wind over 50 MPH. The lake looked like the ocean with white-caps.
The Russians managed to capture all their objectives, but the whole town was filled with Germans and they kept up a steady counter-attack. At one point a company of recently dead Russians were gathered together, with heads uncovered discussing what to do. A few of us got cold so we put our ushankas back on. Suddenly there were German hand grenades coming at us from every direction. No peace for the dead!
There were plenty of vendors and many good deals were made, thanks Phil! And Dale!
No food was served this year but Linda and I wore our uniforms to Bedford for a Bistro meal. We had stopped at a blimpy for coffee and saw two Goths coming in. People were paying attention to us dressed as Russians and were ignoring the Goths. I looked at them and said, “We trumped you didn’t we? Just got stares from them.
Here are some photos.
Respectfully submitted, Bill Donegan
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