VII. Othelia's Story - 95th Evac: Unholy Stuff

#7 Othelia's Story - Operation Dragoon and on to Germany

Lt Rosten & friends

Operation Dragoon

Editor note:  "Operation Dragoon", the forgotten invasion of France, took place on August 15, 1944, with elements of the US 7th Army landing near Toulon.  Some claim the operation name was chosen by Churchill who opposed it and was "dragooned" into it.  The landings were overwhelmingly successful and a rapid advance up the Rhone Valley ensued.  The southern 2/3 of France was liberated in a timespan of 4 weeks. Advances were so rapid, the hospital was moving nearly weekly.

Six months later we left Italy. Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France had begun and the 95th joined them on August 15, 1944.  A U.S. hospital ship, the “Marigold”, took us to southern France. The crew of the Marigold were aware of our other “unfortunate” crossing, so they went all out to make this trip as pleasant as possible. We landed at St. Maxine and travelled by truck convoy to our first setup in France, near Gonfaron. Our tents were put up but for a week we had no cots, so slept in our bedrolls on the ground. One night they brought us litters, but at midnight they took them from us. They were badly needed in the wards.

Operation Dragoon

And that other invasion of France

Rations

The French people were most pleasant and hospitable. They came to visit and brought us gifts of wine, grapes, melons, peaches, cheese and sometimes eggs. Every ward had 2 French boys and a French girl working for us.  

95th nurses in France

Calmer times

There were not many air raids in France, not as constant and frightening as in Italy. And artillery fire was at a distance.

Better digs

Liberation of Paris

95th @ Arch de Triomphe

Odyssey of the 95th

95th Evacuation Hospital stations in France

Cavalaire, Southern France – 15 August 1944 > 17 August 1944 (bivouac)

Cogolin, Southern France – 17 August 1944 >18 August 1944 (not operational)

Gonfaron, Southern France – 19 August 1944 > 27 August 1944 (closed awaiting movement orders and necessary transportation 28 – 31 Aug 44)

Beaumont, Southern France – 3 September 1944 > 4 September 1944 (bivouac)

Saint-Amour, France – 5 September 1944 > 17 September 1944

Saulx, France – 20 September 1944 > 6 October 1944 (most forward Seventh US Army Hospital)

Renauvoid, France – 9 October 1944 > 19 November 1944 (officially transferred to ETO 1 Nov 44)

Golbey, France – 20 November 1944 > 2 December 1944 (established in buildings)

Mutzig, France – 6 December 1944 > 31 December 1944 (set up in buildings)

Epinal, France – 3 January 1945 (return to Mutzig)

Sarrebourg, France – 8 January 1945 > 23 March 1945 (set up in buildings)}

May 4, 1945 Stars and Stripes

Dachau

Editor note: From accounts by Nurse Mary Fischer & Zachary Friedenberg and others. Viewer Discretion Advised - there are some difficult sentences to read here.

95th Evacuation Hospital stations in Germany

Bensheim, Germany – 29 March 1945 > 6 April 1945

Kist, Germany – 8 April 1945 > 25 April 1945

Ebermergen, Germany – 29 April 1945 > 21 May 1945

Oats (left), Mary Fischer (center)

Bretten, Germany – May > June 1945

ETO Patch (European Theater of Operations)

We were in Germany when the war ended and we were anxious to go home.  Before we were to go home, there was an unpleasant tour of duty in store for us. In May 1945, we were sent on temporary duty to Dachau Concentration Camp , near Munich.

Although the nurses had witnessed on nearly a daily basis mangled bodies from the battlefield, they were shocked by what they saw at Dachau - men, women, children in the final stages of starvation, covered with sores crawling with lice and fleas, infected with typhus, tuberculosis and so weak they could not move. 

There were no Americans in the camp, but practically all other nationalities were represented. They were the most pitiful sites one can image. Words cannot describe the situation. There were a lot of women patients. All were suffering from malnutrition and other nutritional diseases. As a rule, they did not seem to be appreciative, but in reality they were probably unaware of what was happening. They were full of despair.

Dachau

The two main diseases were typhus and tuberculosis.  All were suffering malnutrition and starvation.

The first procedure upon arriving at Dachau was getting sprayed with DDT powder. We all got a big laugh over it, although it wasn’t really funny. They squirted us with a big squirt gun on our bodies and clothes.

When we got on duty, we were wondering why everyone dreaded the feeding time so much. We soon found out. Supper came at 4:30 PM. When the U.S. Army first took over the camp, they fed the patients G.I. rations, but for some reason these were cut off and they had to draw from German warehouses. The patients were then fed 2 meals a day. Breakfast at 10:30 consisted of one thick slice of dark bread with butter, a serving of scrambled eggs and coffee. The next meal came at 4:30 PM and usually consisted of vegetable soup, one slice of bread with peanut butter, a cup of mashed potatoes and coffee. While we were there we forfeited part of our own rations so patients could have milk and graham crackers at 9:00 PM.

Dachau

We dished out the food in the hall, then put it on trays and carried it into the dining room or wards. All patients who were able came dashing into the hall when they smelled the food or heard the rattle of the food cart. It took several of our men to keep them under control. They had to be watched or they would steal food. They began to shake all over as if they were going into convulsions. The look in their eyes was wild when they saw food. We tried to tell them to eat slowly, but we might as well have saved our breath. They just gobbled their food as fast as they could and begged, pleaded and cried like children for more to eat. Many of the patients vomited after eating. Some inmates would die no matter what we did. We would spoon food into their mouths. But they had been starving so long, they couldn't absorb food anymore.

There were approximately 16-20 patients in a ward. In the center of the ward there were 3 latrines. Many had diarrhea or dysentery.

When the Americans came they gave the patients a bar of soap, a toothbrush and a comb. These people just stared because they couldn’t believe it. The patients were so thin they looked like skeletons - almost unbelievable they could still be alive.

We visited the infamous crematorium and gas chamber. There were 2 huge ovens, they looked like fireplaces where the bodies were burned. Apparently they couldn't burn the bodies as fast as they gassed them. When the American troops arrived there were box cars filled with bodies awaiting the crematorium. The place hadn’t been properly cleaned and it still reeked of unholy stuff.

Some of the patients would just stare into space and wouldn’t talk. We never encouraged them to talk. There were others that were eager to talk about their experiences. Two brothers told us that when they went to bed in the concentration camp, it was always 2 or 3 to a bed and finding one of them dead in the morning was not uncommon. Their wooden beds were padded with on a mattress ticking and they had one blanket per bed for cover. The blanket would get soiled from the constant dysentery, but it was never washed.

While at Dachau we had the pleasure of telling the French and Dutch patients that they were going home. How they cried for joy. Some of them knew they would die on the way home, but they preferred that to dying in Dachau.

To be continued ...


Copyright © 2015 Dave Hoplin