One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey From the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau

By Alex Kershaw

It was after dark on July 9 when orders were given on the boats carrying the 45th Division for men to sew on shoulder patches Men pulled out needle and cotton, took off their combat jackets, and then attached soft felt patches, colored red and gold, showing the image of the mythical thunderbird. 

Ironically, before the war, the division’s parch had been a swastika but it had been dropped in 1938 because of the Nazis’ appropriation of the symbol. There had been many suggestions for a new patch, including a smoking Colt A5, the gun that had won the West. But to reflect the division’s roots in Indian country, the symbol of a thunderbird had been chosen instead.

(Kershaw 2013, 23)

The Führer’s implication was clear: If the Germans did not stop the Allied advance, they were not deserving of the Third Reich or of ultimate victory in the great racial struggle that would determine all of Europe’s future. Therefore, like all inferior races, they were expendable. “Should the German people give up.” Hitler warned, “then this would demonstrate that they had no moral worth, and in that case they would deserve destruction. That would be the rightful judgment of history and providence.”

Hitler went further in an angry aside to Albert Speer, his amoral armaments minister, who dared express the hope that some of Germany’s industrial base might be saved rather than incinerated. “If the war is lost,” snapped Hitler, “the people will be lost also. It is not necessary to worry about what the German people will need for elemental survival.On the contrary, it is best for us to destroy even these things. For the nation has proved to be the weaker, and the future belongs solely to the stronger. In any case only those who are inferior will remain after this struggle, for the good have already been killed.”

(Kershaw 2013, 220)

It was late afternoon when Sparks arrived at Third Army head quarters a grim-looking Ways barracks with some nine hundred rooms in the foothills of the Alps. He reported to the Third Army chief of staff, who was rude and angry He told Sparks that he was facing court-martial for allowing German prisoners to be killed unlawfully.

The charges were so serious that General Patton himself was going to handle the matter.

“General Patton’s out now, the chief of staff added, “but he’ll be back in the morning. Come and report to him at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”

The next morning, a worried Sparks arrived for his meeting.

“Colonel, sit here,” a captain told Sparks and then left to find Patton, who was staying in a nearby mansion once owned by the wealthy publisher of Mein Kampf.

Sparks sat waiting for an hour, he later recalled, growing increasingly anxious and impatient.

“When’s the captain coming back?” he asked.

“I don’t think he’s coming back today.”

“When he comes back,” an exasperated Sparks snapped, “you tell him to go to hell.”

Sparks was asked to wait just a little longer. Finally, he was shown into a small office, no more than ten feet square, just big enough for two chairs and a desk.

Behind the desk sat the four-star legend, George S. Patton.

Sparks saluted.

“Sir, I’m Colonel Sparks. I have orders to report to you.”

“Oh, yes, Colonel Sparks,” said Patton in his strangely high-pitched voice. “I have some serious court-martial charges against you and some of your men here on my desk.”

Sparks looked over at the papers on Patton’s desk.

“Didn’t you serve under me in Africa and Sicily?”

“Yes, sir, I did. I would like to explain about what happened at Dachau.”

“There is no point in an explanation. I have already had these charges investigated, and they are a bunch of crap. I’m going to tear up these goddamn papers on you and your men.”

Sparks would later remember that it was with a characteristically dramatic flourish that Patton did indeed tear up the papers on his desk before dumping them in a wastebasket.

“You have been a damn fine soldier,” added Patton. “Now go home.”

The interview had lasted less than two minutes.

Sparks saluted and left.

(Kershaw 2013, 318-319)

The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, what you do-is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny . . . it is the light that guides your way.

– HERACLITUS.

(Kershaw 2013, 350)

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References

Kershaw, Alex. 2013. The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau. N.p.: Crown.

ISBN 978-0307888006