February 20, 1945: Panningen Netherlands

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February 20, 1945 was the beginning of the VENLO, LIMBURG + NETHERLANDS CAMPAIGN. The 75th Infantry was sent to an assembly area near Panningen Netherlands to relive the British 6th Armored Division. I am fairly certain that 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken would have joined C-Company here or the next town they were moved to.

1st Lieutenant Dick Sassin explained the move this way, “ We’re going to move in at night. They are going to move out. We aren’t under fire.” The 75th infantry division was to operate under the command of the British Second Army’s VIII Corps, 21st Army Group under Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery. The division was to take up a defensive position along the West Bank of the Maas River. German troops were well entrenched on the East bank. The river is about 100 yards wide at the location I saw. Germans would often fire harassing mortar rounds to the far shore of the Maas River.

Panningen played a significant role in the closing stages of World War II. It became a defensive position for the Allies along the West Bank of the Maas River. Nightly patrols across the mass were a critical cactivity for the troops stationed in Panningen.

I decided to sketch the Monument Deportation Everlo. It is a memorial in remembrance of the fallen and missing residents from Panningen. In the autumn of 1944, over 1,000 boys and men in the region between the Maas and Peel rivers were rounded up by the Nazis in raids and deported to Germany for forced labor. These events cost the lives of 120 men and left lasting scars on survivors and those left behind.

There were also three metal plaques that had engravings of the names of Canadian and Royal Air Force Pilots who had crashed in the area. Also listed were names of soldiers who had died from the 15th Scottish Division, the 49th West Riding Division, the 51st Highlands Division. In all, the names of 54 soldiers were listed as fallen hero’s to the town of Panningen Netherlands.

The trip to Panningen Netherlands for the 75th Infantry troops was accomplished in weather that had turned for the better. The box cars were not a hellish ride. 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken would have been taking a similar ride on his own or with other replacements to join the 75th Infantry troops in the Netherlands.

Saint Martin’s Church Weert Netherlands

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With each new town I stop at I go to the downtown market to see which buildings might have been standing in 1945. In Weert Netherlands I decided to sketch Saint Martin’s Church built starting in 1456. Construction lasted for more than 100 years. The tall church tower was completed in 1887. The church was badly damaged in an Allied bombing raid in October 1944. The tall church tower remained standing, The Germans used the surviving tower as an  observation post.

The tower collapsed after a second WWII Allied bombing and damaged the nave below. It took years of hard restoration work to bring the building back to its former glory.

The 75th Infantry Command Post was in Weert as troops were assembled in the Netherlands. If 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken reported here before joining his C-Company he would have seen the highly damaged Church.

As I was doing this sketch I noticed a young man watching me from one of the tables at the left of my sketch. When I finished, he came over and let me know that he was sketching me at work. unfortunately I finished my sketch before he could complete his sketch. He could speak English rather well and invited me for a bite at the restaurant he was sitting in front of.

That restaurant, which is just out of view in my sketch, was MacDonalds. He told me it is the most  American of restaurants. So, I had a Big Mac, Coke and fries in Weert. Actually fries are very popular in every European country I have gone to. My goal now it to find restaurants that to not show fries on their online menus. I went to an Indian restaurant today just to avoid French Fries.

The young artist showed me his sketchbook and he had a wonderful sketch of the Saint Martin’s Church. He managed to catch all the horizontal variegated brick work which I had ignored in my rush to complete my sketch. We became instagram buddies. He had to help me locate a couple of the buttons on my iPhone needed to complete the task. Though my focus is in trying to unearth some of the history from 80 years ago, people keep introducing themselves to remind me that looking towards the future is just as important.

Of  course the artist asked me about the current United States president. I explained that having a wanna be dictator in the White House is part of the reason I am looking at the World War II past. Someone else told me that America has no history compared to Europe.

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” –Winston  Churchhill

“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”. –Karl Marx

Windmill near Weert Netherlands

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Weert Netherlands was a command post and headquarters for the American 75th Infantry Division after the Battles of the Colmar Pocket in South West France. It is possible that 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken could have reported here before joining his C-Company troops in Panningen Netherlands. The 75th Infantry was to set up- a defensive line along the West Bank of the Maas River. German troops were on the East bank of the river and the 75th needed to keep them from advancing back into the Netherlands. The Netherlands surrendered to Germany in May 15, 1940, after a five day invasion. The entire country of the Netherlands was liberated by Allied forces by May 5, 1945.

1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken would have arrived 9n the Netherlands shortly after February 17, 1945. That means German forces still occupied some areas of the country. Weert managed to escape-e major bombing destruction, although areas around the city were a battlefield. The most fighting the 75th saw in the Netherlands was in Roermond.

I like that in the Netherlands they train trees to grow only in tight horizontal Boxes. It started to rain very lightly as I sketched. I leaned over the drawing and waited for the rain to stop.  A fellow walking his dog stopped to see how the sketch was going. He asked if he could take a picture of me holding the sketch and l was happy to pose. This particular windmill has been around for 150 years, so it would have been here in 1945.

I walked towards the entrance of the mill, but it was not open. A pear tree had dropped ripe fruit next to the mill. The tree was on a neighbors property, but the fruit had dropped over a fence by the mill. I picked up a few pears since Seacoast Bank was still denying me access to the finds I had put aside for this trip.

when I went back to my car, I was about to get in and the fellow who had been walking his dog waved and called my name. I had parked right in fr0nt of his home. He invited me into the back yard for a coffee and we talked politics and about his job selling medical equipment. His home was lovely and they had a gorgeous garden. That is true of most homes in the a Netherlands, they love have lush gardens.

It is hard to imagine that this was a war torn country back in 1945.

Belgium Battlefield

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In Gingelom Belgium, lt was quiet in the German encampment. There was activity in the Red Cross medic’s tent so someone must have been injured previously. A rather large crowd had gathered around the rim of the valley where the German encampment lay. I sat on the edge of the hillside and started sketching the encampment before the battle started. A single American vehicle had been captured at the northern edge of the camp. It was obvious that the Americans were outnumbered and they put their hands up and surrendered before there were any fatalities.

Ater this small victory the camp settled into a short lull. Then there was a rumble of engines that could be heard. The allied troops arrived from a dirt road that lead to the camp from the west. I am assuming it was west based on the directions of the shadows I put in my sketch. The first American scouting party was overwhelmed by the Germans and they raised their hands and were captured. After that squirmish  things grew quiet for a moment. Then the roar of the rest of the Allied troops could be heard as they rolled over the hills surrounding and into the camp. Americans lay on the ground to fire at the enemy, or hid behind a German motorcycle. A vintage American WWII aircraft buzzed the field, dropping an orange plume of smoke. There wasn’t enough smoke to hide the movements of the Americans but it added to the confusion. It started to rain which added to the challenge of getting a watercolor sketch done.

The Allies then flanked the tents to the south and moved towards the makeshift hospital. They searched every tent to be sure each area was clear as they passed through. The Americans (and Scott’s)  far outnumbered the Germans and they were able to clear the camp. After the victory. All the Allies lines up in a row, presumably for their final orders.

This was a fairly small reenactment and I don’t believe there were any fatalities, although I didn’t have a good line of sight for half of the German camp because of a large tree. Having a vintage American WWII aircraft buzz the battle field was an unexpected surprise. “Angels on our shoulders.”

So, would 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken been in a similar battle scenario? It seems that most of the fighting in The Ruhr Pocket of Germany involved going from building to building in tight urban combat. There would have been the constant threat of enemy sniper fire. For many of the battles Arthur Thorspecken’s C-Company platoon was working along with the 8th Armored group, “Thundering Herd”.. Having a tank roll into camp would certainly intimidate an enemy infantry if they did not have similar large armaments. It was discovered however that tanks do not do so well fighting in the tight quarters of an urban city. There just isn’t room to maneuver. The infantry does better fighting in tight house to house scenarios, according to the 75th infantry’s 1st Lieutenant Richard (Dick) Sasin.

Gingelom Belgium: The Briefing

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As the time of the WWII battle approached, there was a briefing among the allies in the entry way to a courtyard across the street from Museum Winter 1944. 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken would have been in charge of handing out similar orders to his platoon of 18 to 50 men. I jotted down a sketch in my pocked sized sketchbook and finished just before the meeting broke up. From my vantage point in the courtyard entry doorway. I could not overhear the plans being put in place. I would make a horrible spy but at least I would get a few decent sketches done.

One of the solders came up to me and looked over my shoulder at the sketch. In English, he complained jokingly that I had only drawn American soldiers with the helmets. That wasn’t true because I drew several fellows with berets. He p0inted out that Scotsmen like himself wore RED berets. I quickly pulled out a red colored pencil and scribbled in some red on a beret. The soldier was quite pleased and bragged to his buddy about how he had affected the art being made.

Army troop trucks started firing up and with a roar they were off to battle. I asked the owner of Museum 1944 how far a hike was it to the battlefield and she invited me to take a ride to the site in her father’s jeep.  As we drove to the field, we passed quite a few villagers walking to the battle site. I felt a little guilty since I wasn’t in a uniform,  but at least my shirt was drab green which camouflaged me.

The German camp was in a recess in a field with hills on three sides. There were no lookouts on top of those hills. Had there been lookouts, they might have noticed that hundreds of people were gathering on top of the hills surrounding the site. There was one rather large tree which divided the camp in two. On one side, to the East, there was a Red Cross medical area with nurses. I decided to focus on the front end of the camp, with a few scattered tents.

 

City of Namur Belgium

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After seeing a very detailed model of the Citadel, I felt the need to do a detailed sketch of the city of Namur Belgium seen from the fortress. The four foot high fortress walls made it impossible to sit and do a sketch, although I saw a couple precariously perched on top of the wall. If they fell forward they could drop several hundred feet. Ahhh young love.

I stood at the wall and used the top of the wall as my desk. I was wearing 3 layers for warmth since the winds can get brisk and I needed a waterproof shell since I have been rained on just about every time I start to do a sketch. There was some sort of retreat going on down the hill to my right. They were having a race where two people had to work as a team navigating a series of obstacles.  They had a ball or water balloon between them and they needed to keep it balanced without using their hands. I stopped sketching to watch the hilarity as couple after couple failed. There was also a running group running up and down the thousands of stone steps around the fortress. No, my exercise this morning is to sketch of the city.

I love sketching old forts. I could spend a week here and not run out of sketch opportunities. I kind of regret not sketching the tunnels the American army used as a command post. However, I need to get to the front lines where the troops were preparing to defend the Netherlands at the Meuse River. Different countries s-ell the name of the Meuse differently. I am certain troops at the time often were not sure what town they were in or even what country. They just wanted to survive. I know for sure that Holland was the final destination for 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken who arrived in Europe on about February 17, 1945.

The 75th Infantry histories I have been reading refer to the Netherlands as Holland. That conjures up images of wooden shoes and windmills. Seems like a quiet romantic setting, but not at war time. Before I left, I found a thread from someone who wanted to know how his father might have died in Holland in 1945. His father was also in the 75th Infantry. The Americans were on the West Bank of the Meuse and the Germans on the East bank. Both were in sight of each other maybe 100 yards apart. The most likely cause of a death would be a random mortar blast, or a dangerous trip across the Meuse  River at night to gather intelligence. I do not know if 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken was ever on one of these very dangerous recon missions.

 

Namur Belgium: The Citadel Fortress

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It was a rainy day when I went to sketch the Citadel in Namur Belgium. I had to take several breaks from sketching to let the rain die down. There was a quaint little restaurant at the Citadel called Le Fief de Namur and I went there for lunch. It felt very old world and the food was healthy and delicious.  A man at the next table wished me Bon apatite.

The chances that 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken was at this giant fortress are slim, but the 75th Infantry did have a Command Post here. The command post would have been in the labyrinth of tunnels under the fortress. I asked about a tour that is offered of the tunnels stressing that at some point I might want to stop for some time to complete a sketch. I was told that was impossible. I would have to keep up with the tour.

Instead, I decided to walk through the museum in the fortress. The exhibits were impressive coving ancient history from the geological formations to medieval times. The most impressive exhibit was a scale move; of the fortress. Such models were built to study the possible weaknesses of the fortress. The level of detail in the model was impressive. The model has been exhibited in several fine art museums as well. I considered doing a sketch but it would have taken at least 3 hours to complete. I already had several sketches of the fortress and planned to do another of the view overlooking Namur.

The museum exhibit incorporated a series of panels. Some of the panels were blank to represent the many unknown holes to be found in any history. The panels floated through the exhibit as if on a monorail, at times the panels would spiral overhead. When the Citadel became less functional as a protective fort, sections of the vast property were turned into theater and sports complexes. Unfortunately there was little in the museum about WWII. The Germans captured the fort in May of 1940 and then the Allies took it back and used an air field close to the fortress before my father got to Europe in February of 1945.

Charleroi Belgium: Ibis Styles Aero 44

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I find the small pocket sized sketchbook is great for quick informal sketches at moments like waiting for the food to come at dinner. To my right there was a large table full of guys that seemed to be together on a business trip. It was a jovial scene with everyone sharing photos on their cell phones.

Of course in WWII no Infantry soldier was allowed to shoot photos or write anything about where they had been or where they were going. ‘Loose lops sink ships” was the propaganda slogan to encourage troops to keep their lips sealed. My father 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken never wrote or said anything about the war. He kept his lips leaked up until his dying day. As a child I thought I heard him say one that a bullet had hit a tank right next to his leg once. His C-Company platoon was  assigned to work with the 8th Armored Division when the 75th Infantry Division pushed into Germany. So the tank aspect of my vague memory holds up.

Two other 1st Lieuenants from the 75th Infantry did write about their experiences in the war, and I am using their writings as a way to get a sense of what a 1st Lieutenant would have gone through in WWII.

The scene I sketched in the hotel restaurant probably isn’t much different that a scene in an infantry mess hall except for the fact that there was a woman in the room at the far table. Belgium was liberated by February of 1945 when Arthur Thorspecken might have been in the city ready to join the 75th Infantry as they moved up to the Netherlands.

After this dinner, I went up to my room and discovered that my travel credit card was missing. I tore apart my luggage and could not find it anywhere. Then I remembered getting gas on the drive to Charleroi Belgium. The gas pump just wouldn’t work with my card. I got frustrated and finally went inside to pay in Euros. I must have left the card in the machine in my frustration. In the morning I decided to make the drive back to the gas station. It was a long shot, but I had to try. I pulled into the gas station and pulled up to the same gas pump. Of course the card was not in the machine. I went inside the store with a vague hope that some good Samaritan had turned the card in to the attendant. I don’t know how to speak Flemish, but with some German, English and some hand gestures I explained that I had lost my grey card. The color gray caused the attendants eyes to light up. He went in the back room and came out with the card. For once Lucy was on my side. I had a brief retreat but pressed forward to the next city. Now if I use the card in a machine, I keep a finger on it at all times.

Place Ducale, Charlesville France

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Charlesville France was a 75th Infantry Command Post as the troops were moved up into the Netherlands after the Colmar Pocket Campaign in the south of France. The 75th Infantry troops arrived in Panningen Netherlands on February 15, 1945 about 2 days before 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken might have arrived in Europe. Losses were great after the Battle of the Bulge. Of the over 200 men of the 75th Infantry who went into that battle only 21 men came put alive. Replacements were still desperately needed after the battles in Colmar.

I am assuming Arthur Thorspecken would have reported to a command post before joining his men in the field. There were 5 command posts between Colmar France and Panningen Netherlands, so I sketched each. I can not confirm yet if Arthur was at one or all of these cities leading up into the Netherlands. I am assuming the command post would be packed up each day and moved to a new city.

That is how this sketch trip has progressed. I would arrive in a city, sketch and stay overnight and then pack up and drive to the next city. With finances in question due to my bank refusing to allow access to funds after  a fraud charge on my card, the trip always felt like jumping without a parachute. If I could not get lodging, I could always sleep in the car for a night, but that hasn’t happened.

What I remember about this Charlesville Town Square lunch was that a fly wanted to drink my Coke more than I did. I finally gave up swatting him away and moved the bottle as far away as I could to let the fly sip to his hearts content. There were also hoards of children wandering the streets. Why were they not in class? There was a puppetry museum on the corner of the square, but that wouldn’t relate to 1945, so I let it pass.

After lunch, I went to Winston Churchill Square to sketch a war memorial. I found an odd quote from Winston in a small cafe. It said, ‘You should do something good for the body so the soul enjoys living in it.” – Winston Churchill.  Now Winston was not known for being a fitness buff, so he must have been referring to food and drink.

Charlesville was occupied by Nazi Germany and the military crossed through the square in 104 was part of the Battle of the Ardennes but the square suffered little damage. Charlesville was liberated on August 31, 1944 during the rapid Allied advance through France. The British 2nd Army liberated the city. The city was firmly under Allied control in early February of 1945 when Arthur Thorspecken may have entered the city.

Rhemes France: Koboom

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After the Clamerey, France American WWII Camp Reconstruction, I drove north to Rhemes, France. Between Rhemes and Mourmelon, France My father helped run a Cigarette Camp. Cigarette Camps were set up after Germany surrendered to help troops what would be shipping out back to America. The camp the Arthur Thorspecken helped run was Camp Cleveland. I don’t thing Cleveland is a cigarette brand but other camps had names like Lucky Strike and Marlboro. Other camps were also named after major US Cities.

Since the Cigarette camps were at the last phase of the war, I will post the actual sketches done of the location at the end of this series of sketches. My goal should be to keep the order of the sketch chronological as much as possible. However sketching while I wait for a meal to arrive is basic tourist fare and separate from the other sketches being done. Solders who ran Camp Cleveland did get leave on occasion to go to Paris and Rheims France. Some solder in uniform might be seen in any of the local cafes at the time.

In Rhemes France German General Alfred Jodl signed the act of unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht to the Allies on May 7, ending WWII in Europe. The signing took place at General Eisenhower’s headquarters in a building now known as Musee de la Reddition. It is a rather dull looking municipal building which is now a museum. Eisenhower really should have had the surrender signed in a grand palace of which there are many. Rhemes often played a prominent role in the coronation of kings of France. My focus wasn’t on the surrender since my father was not there at the signing. Instead I focused on what I could find of the Cigarette Camp he helped run along with C-Company of the 75th Infantry Division.

Oh, for dinner at Kaboom, I had a delicious Pad Thai and a good old American Coke. The guy I sketched noticed me still sketching as he left. He took a photo before heading back out on the street. The section of the city I was in was pretty swanky with a casinos and very fine dining. I am sure it was very different in 1945.