Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
1:38 | Larry Westbrook describes the grueling journey across the North Atlantic in which the waters were infested with German U-Boats. Westbrook’s ship managed to nearly avoid the U-Boats, but when they reached the Strait of Gibraltar, his ship came face-to-face with an imminent German U-Boat attack.
Keywords : German U-Boats Atlantic torpedo submarine Strait of Gibraltar
Westbrook recalls his landing on the beaches at Salerno, Italy. On the fourth day of travel, a woman known as Berlin Sally came on the intercom on his ship and prepared the men for what lie ahead. Upon landing on the beaches, Westbrook details several encounters including 6 German Panzer Divisions, the attack of 10 German tanks, digging foxholes, and maneuvering his jeep amongst all the chaos.
While hiding in their ditches, two men in Westbrook’s outfit were chased by a bull with no way to get rid of it.
Larry Westbrook tells a funny story about a man that jumped into a latrine for fear of a German aerial attack.
In order to cut off German troops on their way to Rome, Westbrook’s outfit and the French Foreign Legion traveled through the mountains in Anzio. While staying in a wedge in the mountain, a member of the French Foreign Legion notified the outfit that an intense military barrage was about to take place. The men, as well as 40 civilian women and children, hid in a building in a nearby town.
During a battle on the Rapido River in Italy, after losing 3000 men, the American colonel and the German colonel met on a bridge and called a temporary cease fire.
