Plague Cross of Frohlinde Germany

Posted on by Thor

Frohlinde means Joyful in German. The plague cross, known locally as the Bookenkreuz, dates back to the time of the Thirty Years’ War, when the plague raged (1618 and 1648). The farming communities of Frohlind95h e, Obercastrop, and Rauxel, as well as other surrounding villages, erected plague crosses and obligated themselves to hold annual processions to these crosses and distribute alms, bread, money, and other donations to the local poor.

While the 291st Infantry Division was attacking Castrop-Rauxel Germany, my father, 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken, was leading his C-Company of the 290th Infantry, 75th Infantry Division, into Frohlinde. Heavy 75th Infantry artillery and air bombing was aimed at the city before the attack, effectively leveling the city.

All Allied units had been ordered by XVI Corps to attack south to the Ruhr River as quickly as possible. What resulted was that all the allied units raced against one another in their dash to the objective. This race to the objective resulted in some chaos as units surged forward without being aware of the progress of units to their left and right. The result could be units separated and isolated behind enemy lines.

On entering a city and seeing the type of fighting needed, the Company Commander should have given his platoons very definite zones of operation. That platoon zone should have then been broken down into individual squad areas. Only then could mopping up operations be successful in a Company zone. In the heat of battle, however, such strategic planning can fall apart.

A definite front line can evaporate, with some units pushing forward quickly while others might be stopped or delayed by heavy enemy resistance. Communication between companies could be problematic, with radios down or a messenger delayed in delivering a message.

The overall objective of General Ray Porter’s 9th Army Group was to drive east after crossing the Rhine River, and then attack south to defeat the estimated 370,000 German defenders trapped in the Ruhr Pocket. Dortmund Germany was the largest industrial City in the area of attack and Frolinde was on the north West outskirts of Dortmund.

According to the XVICorps estimate, the 75th Infantry would face the veteran 116th Panzer Division’s 16th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. The Germans could convert the villages, cities, and industrial plants into strong points to delay the advance.

Useful information was gained from prisoner of war interrogations. Interrogation teams faced a torrent of German prisoners with more than 3,600 passing through the division’s cages. From this flow came a large amount of all kinds of information, including the insight that the Germans planned to continue delaying actions, withdrawing after the first significant contact.

Major General John B. Anderson, the XVI Corps commander, commended the 75th Infantry Division for its “aggressive patrolling, constant observation, and the activities of [its] intelligence agencies.”

75th Infantry Ladies Auxillery

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On the first day of the 79th annual,  75th Infantry Reunion, the Hospitality Room was on the schedule as being open. I had arrived before my room was ready, so I decided to sketch the hospitality room as I waited.

Ralph Steiner, the president of the 75th Division Veteran’s Association and someone from the reunion committee were meeting with the woman from the hotel staff who plans such functions.  Chicken or beef options were on the table for the final gala dinner. I had contacted Heidi via Facebook at the last minute and managed to get the reunion rate on a hotel room for the 4 days I was there. Heidi  said that her father, like mine, had never told stories about his service in WWII.  She has been attending the reunions for years and now is the heart that makes the fun happen each year. My curiosity is leading to my wanting to travel the cities in Europe that my father’s 75th Infantry C-Company had liberated of seized up until the final days of the war.

Today I discovered that WWII reenactments a big in France and I am hoping to sketch a few on my travels. Unfortunately the biggest celebrated 80 years since the D-Day  invasion and that happened June 6th. I can’t regret what is passed, I just need to focus on what lay ahead of me.

While doing research on C-Company at one of these round banquet table, the ladies auxiliary came into the room and held a meeting. The minutes from last years meeting were read, then business was forwarded. I was pleased to hear that they plan to make donations to two of the sites we had visited. The Woodring Wall and Museum in Enid Oklahoma. The wall and a small library and room filled with airplane models were on a small air base. The museum was in an abandoned mall and there was  little to no air circulation. Despite this the limited staff was so helpful to the veterans who visited the site. Their mission to preserve military history would get a boost from any donations. I did notice one mom walking through the museum with her daughter at the military museum.

Some of the women of the auxiliary are the same woman who laugh loud and make the reunion such a blast to attend. I learned so much in the few short days I was there and I met some amazing vets including Charles who is 99 years young and was with the 75th Infantry at the Battle of the Bulge.

Looking through one of the history binders on one of the table I found my father listed as a replacement 1st Lieutenant for the 75th. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. Also during the ladies auxiliary meeting I found the names of the work and POW camps that my father’s C-Company had liberated. All last week I was searching to the camp mentioned in several of the C-Company oral histories. The problem is that there were so many Concentration Camps,  Work Camps and POW camps that there were too many possibilities. Attending the reunion, gave me a first hand account from someone who was there. I wanted to shout for joy, but the meeting was in progress and I didn’t want to disrupt the business at hand.

I totally reworked the listing of towns that I plan to visit when back in the hotel room.I added tons more information about other companies movements so I would have a bigger picture of what was happening.  Now I need to compile a simpler list that is just about the towns and how long C-Company was in each. I also need to finish compiling a Google map that shows the location of each town. Though I am planning a very specific path through Europe, I might stray if there are reenactments of 80 year anniversary celebrations in other towns. I saw some amazing photos of the 75th Infantry walking through the woods and down muddy roads. The quality was much better than any other historical photos I had seen at the time. I didn’t recognize the face of the 1st Lieutenant pictured. I soon realized that I was looking at a reenactment of my fathers infantry unit. History had been brought back to life in these crisp color photos.

Market Day

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Stella Arbeláez Tascón and I went to the Webster Westside Flea Market (516 NW 3rd Street, Webster, FL). This is a painting of the combined haul before we divvied up the spoils of the marketing war.

Stella is great at comparing prices and finding the best deal while I just grab on impulse and sometimes forget to pay. I’m just excited to get the produce in my ancient granny cart which was rickety by the end of the shopping spree due to the produce weight.

The jar contains, Tamarind, a hard shelled pea shaped Fruit legume, which is sweet and bitter at the same time. I bit off individual seed pods and nurse the fruit off the seed with my front teeth while rolling it in my mouth.

I have become addicted to having several oranges every day. I am also a fan of cooking corn on the cob every night. It only takes 5 minutes to boil an ear so it is a quick snack.

In the background of the sketch are some ink bottles. Stella was testing each bottle of ink for it’s permanence when used with watercolor washes. It turns out one bottle is not permanent and that is the one she had been using.

My backpack for my Europe trip arrived yesterday. Each morning I put it on to walk around the block to see how it feels. I shopped at REI and maybe packed it 1/3 full. I hope on my travels I can find keep finding lush bounties of fruit as I hike, train and drive from town to town. I am getting close to finishing my itinerary. Which will give me a list of the towns and hamlets I must visit to follow in 1st Lieutenant Arthur Thorspecken‘s footsteps as his C-Company infantry unit moved from France to Belgium, Norway and ultimately the heart of Germany at the end of WWII. I think I solved the mystery of which work concentration camp his unit might have liberated and moved the victims toward Eastern Europe via train box cars. The displaced person’s didn’t want to get on the train and his unit had to hammer the box car doors shut with nails. The trip East might have been a death sentence. Skeletal faces started out from between box car boards in sorrow.

Colombian Consulate

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By Thomas Thorspecken

After driving to Alligator Alcatraz for the first time, Stella P. Arbelaéz Tascón wanted to pick up her Colombian National ID at the Colombian Consulate (280 Aragón Avenue, Coral Gables FL.) It was a quick drive across the state. The building with its Mediterranean Revival architecture blends well into the very posh neighborhood.

Walking to the consulate we passed a Pilates class and the Coral Gables Museum. A group of woman still in their tight exercise leotards must have just left the class as they passed me as I setting up my art stool in front of the Museum.  It was very early, and the museum was closed, so I was less concerned about a museum guard shooing me away.

Stella left me to watch Boo Boo her adorable tiny pup. I tied his leash to my belt as I sketched. A second group of Pilates warriors stopped to ask his name and give him all the pets. A man about half way up the block from me, seated on the sidewalk looked like he might be homeless, then again, I probably looked about the same having just come from the sweaty Everglades.

The last time Stella was here, she had to wait overnight since the line to get into the consulate had been so long, snaking around the block. This time the line did not extend past the width of the building. Also She did not have to wait in line since she was just picking up her document. The bureaucratic process still gave me enough time to complete this sketch, so she must have been inside over an hour.

With the United States spiraling into a dictatorship, having official documents is more important than ever given, the ICE raids of workplaces and family gatherings. Stella and I watched a video of a realtor talking about how many rich people are leaving the country, selling their million dollar properties. She used to see one such sale every few months but now she is seeing a flood of people getting out of the country.

I was considering purchasing a home in New York State, but now I am reconsidering the idea of buying a property in the United States. My new plan is to travel Europe, sketching each day, for eight months, following the movements of the 75th Infantry, C Company, in the final months of WWII as they defeated Fascism. My father Arthur Harold Thorspecken was a 1st Lieutenant in C Company and I am now plotting their battles, breaking it down by the day. My sketches will be dated based on the events taking place in 1945. I am pouring over several pamphlets my father had been given at the end of the war and a written recounting of the infantry’s movements based on the recollections of another 1st Lieutenant of C Company. My father never talked about the war. My brother warned me about the winter weather, but C Company had to deal with freezing conditions as they moved around Europe. I will just have to deal with whatever weather is thrown my way.