THE BATTLE FOR BOOTS

THE BATTLE FOR BOOTS

For Donald Strand, a lieutenant in the 119th Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, the inglorious end of Kampfgruppe Peiper’s Waffen SS at La Gleize came when his battalion commander on Christmas Eve angrily looked his German prisoners over and ordered them to take off footwear and clothing he thought had been looted from American stocks or, worse, from GI dead. He had the German soldiers march into the village square and in the bitter cold made them take off their boots and trousers. The clothing was immediately handed over to the disheveled GIs who needed it most. “I can still see,” Strand later recalled, “the young arrogant German SS troops cry like babies over this as they stood barefoot in the snow and some without trousers on.” This striking picture shows post-war finds in the area, now on display at the December 1944 Historical Museum at La Gleize.

2017-04-03T04:08:59+02:00