{"id":188,"date":"2018-07-28T00:37:38","date_gmt":"2018-07-28T00:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.bridgewater.edu\/?page_id=188"},"modified":"2018-10-05T20:31:57","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T20:31:57","slug":"rhine-to-mulde","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.bridgewater.edu\/memoriesofloveandwar\/rhine-to-mulde\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhine to Mulde"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moving south with the 3<\/span><\/span>rd<\/span> Armored, the 104<\/span>th<\/span> crossed the Remagen Bridge and participated in one of the greatest encirclements in military history. As the First Army, containing the 104<\/span>th<\/span>, pincered from the south, the 9<\/span>th<\/span> Army mirrored their action to the north. When both armies converged at Lippstadt on April 1<\/span>, Germany\u2019s industrial heartland was surrounded along with 370,000 German soldiers. Following such an accomplishment, the 104<\/span>th<\/span> continued their drive east. It was on April 11<\/span>th<\/span> that the division discovered the Nordhausen Concentration Camp. Corpses of 5,000 inmates were \u201cscattered throughout the buildings and grounds… and all appeared to have been starved to such an extent that they were mere skeletons wrapped in skin\u2026 Some were stacked like cordwood under stairways.\u201d All medical personnel available in the Division were rushed to gruesome scene to provide as much help possible to the remaining 6,000. German citizens in the town were ordered to carry the deceased on stretchers and to dig mass graves by hand. It was later discovered that many of the inmates were part of forced labor groups that worked in underground V-1 and V-2 missile factories in the area. As remembered by Sergeant Ragene Farris of the 329<\/span>th<\/span> Medical Battalion, \u201cFor days and weeks, even months afterwards, the word Nordhausen brought us a mixed response of emotions. We were battle-tired and combat-wise medics, and we thought there was nothing left in the books we didn\u2019t know\u2026 Yet in a short period of two days I and many others of the Division saw a lived a story we shall never forget.\u201d Already severely affected by such an ordeal, the soldiers of the 104<\/span>th<\/span> were shocked to receive word of President Roosevelt\u2019s death on April 13<\/span>. The solemn Timberwolves continued east until meeting the Russians on April 26<\/span>, 1945, at the Mulde River. It was on May 9<\/span>, 1945, that Nazi Germany surrendered, thus ending a streak of 195 days of consecutive combat for the 104<\/span>th<\/span> Infantry Division.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moving south with the 3rd Armored, the 104th crossed the Remagen Bridge and participated in one of the greatest encirclements in military history. As the First Army, containing the 104th,[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":492,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-188","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.bridgewater.edu\/memoriesofloveandwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.bridgewater.edu\/memoriesofloveandwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.bridgewater.edu\/memoriesofloveandwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.bridgewater.edu\/memoriesofloveandwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/492"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.bridgewater.edu\/memoriesofloveandwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.bridgewater.edu\/memoriesofloveandwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":361,"href":"https:\/\/wp.bridgewater.edu\/memoriesofloveandwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188\/revisions\/361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.bridgewater.edu\/memoriesofloveandwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}