Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
7:36 | At the top of Hill 400, as it was known to the Army Rangers, German Army veteran Klaus Schulz, pays tribute to the few brave men who held the position despite repeated German counterattacks. He reads the words of a Ranger who had climbed the cliffs at Pointe Du Hoc, yet who calls this battle his "longest day." Part 2 of 2.
Keywords : Klaus Schulz Germany Hill 400 bunker German artillery Pointe Du Hoc Bergstein Ranger Hurtgen Forest
Klaus Schulz had served in several different German units when his application for officer training was accepted. Unfortunately, he had two applications active, which messed up the whole thing. He was sent to train for the armored infantry and deployed in the Hurtgen Forest. He recalls capturing lost Americans as well as encountering Germans who were trying to get captured by the Americans.
In 1944, Klaus Schulz was transferred to an armored infantry regiment and began training on the appropriate vehicles. Advancing American troops interrupted that, and the trainees were ordered to defend a ridge near the school. Schulz went out with a patrol along the ridge, and discovered that they were too late.
As the Americans pushed into Germany, Klaus Schulz was in the midst of the confused, desperate German defense effort, moving among different units and dodging artillery. Jumping from foxhole to foxhole he managed to avoid the shells, but he couldn't avoid capture. He knew just a little about America, enough to make him think he was going to be scalped.
German Army veteran Klaus Schulz, standing at the site of the American assault on Hill 400 at Bergstein, relates the tale of the Ranger companies that were ordered to seize the hill. On the eve of the assault, their commander was transferred and a new, untested officer would lead them. Part 1 of 2.
