On April 7, 1945, the 291st Infantry of the 75th Infantry Division faced increasing fire from snipers and 120mm mortars. I have come to the conclusion that my father’s 290th Infantry Division didn’t enter Castrop-Rauxel because they were busy liberating the towns of Frohlinde and Kirchlinde Germany. The battle faced by the 291st Infantry is however right in line with what my father, 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken might have faced in the Ruhr.
The first German captured in Castrop-Rauxel was a citizen soldier, and he stepped out waving a white flag. He was shot from behind in the hip, by a soldier from the German 2nd Parachute division. The parachute division had been given orders to fight to the last man.
White phosphorous grenades thrown into buildings by Americans helped encourage the Germans to surrender. Groups of 2 or 3 American soldiers would dash into each building in pursuit of snipers. Enemy fire seemed to come from every direction. The front line was undefinable, and the situation was extremely fluid.
It was discovered that the best way to move forward down city streets was to use windows and side doors. Moving directly down a street would produce a hail of sniper fire. By 5PM the southern edge of the city had been reached.
The move forward was uneventful until the two companies came to a road block that funneled traffic. It was dark. Then all hell broke loose. Three or four German automatic weapons spat death from the front and sides. The German Panzer Faust anti tank guns hit the road block and Americans scurried for cover in the ditches on the sides of the road. The Americans tried to retreat in the ditches, but a parachute flair was shot into the air illuminating the attack. Americans froze and hugged the earth. Those who moved, were fired upon.
C- Company soldiers fired upon the soldiers crawling back from the roadblock in the ditch. Luckily this friendly fire missed it’s marks and the men finally got back to safely. A reinforced squad of Germans from the 2nd Parachute Division made their way back into Castrop-Rauzel after dark and they captured 2 platoons of American soldiers. It was decided by the 75th Infantry Division that the attack would be held off until the following morning.
Erin Shaft 7 is located right outside of downtown Castrop-Rauxel Germany. Next to this are several new office buildings that have a very modern steel beam grid on the facades that blend well with the industrial look of the mine. The Erin Schacht shaft was sink in 1951, so it is a post World War II coal mine shaft. 68-meter-high Dörnen-type head frame became a landmark of Castrop-Rauxel and was preserved as an industrial monument after the mine’s closure in 1983.
Castrop-Rauxel, like many German industrial towns, heavily relied on forced labor, using millions of foreign civilians and POWs (especially from Eastern Poland and Russia) for mining, munitions, and infrastructure. Germans considered Soviets and Poles to be sub human. The forced laborers suffered in horrific conditions, starvation, abuse, and often died from overwork. They were not permitted to use the air raid shelters so many died in Allied bombings. Nazi Germany depended on slave labor for its war machine.