Pillbox Busters: Dillingen, Germany (Part 4).

And so it ends.  Over the last two weeks, we’ve been posting portions (Part 1), (Part 2) and (Part 3), of a rather long, but ultra-interesting period article on the Battle of Dillingen, Germany.  It is titled, “Yank ‘Pillbox Busters’ Blast Big Holes in Siegfried Line,” and was written by Pierre Huss, traveling with the 90th Infantry Division.  Today, we bring you the conclusion.  We resume with the words of Sgt. Joseph Williams, continuing his talk on “pillbox busting.”

“‘…Sometimes there is a delay because the Krauts are afraid to come out; they’ve been told we would bayonet them.  Therefore, one frequently ventures forth followed by the others when they see he is taken prisoner.

“‘They’re peculiar hombres and will do the dumbest things.  They’ll walk right down the street with rifles slung over their shoulders, glance at five or six of their newly killed comrades lying around and never think maybe we must be around some place.  So we knock them off in droves.

“‘On the other hand, they will play hide and seek, sneaking back into by-passed pillboxes and playing hell with our rear until we go back and blow them out.

“Most of them are freshly shaved, wear spotless uniforms and new haircuts and look like they came fresh out of their garrison showers.  We look like bums to them.’

“It is evident from Williams and various other information I gathered that plenty of Germans are being killed in the Siegfried Line.  Obviously, any German sitting inside a pillbox in the line of advance is a dead duck or inevitably is taken prisoner.

“That word is bound to get around the Wehrmacht ranks and sooner or later it will shake the Germans’ confidence in such concrete booby traps.  And then the pillbox busters will be capturing instead of cracking the Siegfried Line.”