OCCUPATION
THE end of the war had arrived quietly for us. In almost a year of combat we had learned to take
things as they came. In September 1944 when we were beginning to be veterans we had made the
mistake of sharing the general enthusiasm that the war would be over in a matter of weeks. We had
been disappointed then and were not to be surprised again. The battalion kept on playing the game hard
from day to day and got out of the habit of listening to the news every hour on the hour. The
Cannonball Courier, our battalion newspaper, carried a daily news summary.
In spite of our wariness against over-optimism, however, we began to see certain signs during
the last few months that could be sanely and safely interpreted as a preview of the end. When the 11th
Panzer Division surrendered to our division even the most pessimistic agreed the war would soon be
over; it was.
When Prime Minister Churchill announced VE day as the 9th of May the battalion area was
quiet. We went on doing our jobs. We were thankful, but many thought of the job ahead. On the 14th
of May our combat job was done. We left our last firing position in Czechoslovakia and headed for our
occupation zone, Neunburg vorm Wald, Germany. The day was warm and sunny. At 1920 Battery A,
the lead battery of our march column, entered the town that was to be our home for some months to
come. We looked around and saw a fairly large German rural community, reported to have a peacetime
population of 2,500 persons. Now it was crowded with refugees and DPs of many nationalities. Many
former inmates of concentration camps wandered dazedly about the streets. Many of their fellow
prisoners had been shot by SS troops in the woods just outside of town. Later on, Lt. Sheely, and his
CIC (counterintelligence) crew supervised decent funerals for these victims.
We got right to work on military government for our Kreis and found out that there was more
work than we thought. During the first two weeks battery patrols brought in over 2000 PWs to the
battalion PW Cage down by the town creek. It seemed as though the whole German army was on the
road trying to get home before they were caught. Down the roads and through the fields they came and
were caught by our patrols and road blocks.
While we pulled guard and performed our military government duties we were also making our
new home livable. Battery A moved into a Gasthaus downtown. Headquarters moved into the Tax
Assessor’s office, and the other three batteries moved into apartment houses. Our billets were by far the
best in which the 345th had ever lived. After living outdoors for so long they looked mighty good to us.
Every man in the Battalion was kept busy either cleaning up our equipment, on guard, military
government, or working on the quarters. We began to see an occasional movie, and the athletic program
got underway. Volleyball courts, baseball diamonds, and horseshoe pits took shape. Captain Walls and
Lt. Gitchel worked hard on the I&E program, and Lt. Stanley outfitted a dark room and started
developing pictures. We had acquired around 40 horses, so riding rapidly developed into a major
pastime.
There were many things to do to keep busy, and all the while we kept reading the Stars and
Stripes about REDEPLOYMENT. We did not expect to leave the outfit so we kept on with our work.
By July 4th we were well established in Neunburg. Our occupational duties were routine now, and we
had more time for athletics and recreation. A battalion PX had been set up under the supervision of Mr.
Robertson, and we also had an Enlisted Mens club. We began buying our rations there and tasted our
first coca-cola since leaving home. There was beer too, and a beer garden.
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