{67 years ago, on Friday the 13th of April, the 743rd Tank Battalion overran the train near Magdeburg, Germany. Shortly thereafter, other attached units of the 30th Infantry Division, notably the 105th Medical Detachment and the 823rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, also arrived at the liberation site and immediately set to work trying to handle this unexpected encounter. What will follow over the course of the next few days is the account of T4 Wilson Rice as he reports on the disposition of the survivors and the soldiers in this combat zone. The days of the week are falling on the dates of the month for this, the 67th anniversary. This account was uncovered and transcribed by Frank Towers, Historian of the 30th Infantry Veterans of World War II and a participant in this incident, as noted many times on this website.}
Wednesday, 18 April 1945.
Today a Capt. From the 501st Collecting Company, 82nd Med. Bn. which is an organization of the Ninth Army, was in here. His Unit is following up behind us and taking over the German Military Hospitals that were under our command as we have advanced. It is a great relief to Col. Treherne that this is being done. These hospitals have been a big responsibility. The Americans and our Allies have been evacuated from these hospitals, and the walking Germans have been sent to PW cages.
As the Col. And the Capt. Were talking, Col. Treherne brought up the subject of rations. The captain’s organization is in charge of hauling rations to the hospitals. The Col. asked what type of rations that these hospitals were getting, and the Capt. Said “A” Rations. This is the best ration that the Army has! The Capt. said that he took one issue of butter for one day, and the hospital said that it was equivalent to two months of issue of their ration. They also get the hospital supplement. Ration “A” includes fresh meats, vegetables, butter, etc., and the supplement included fruit juices etc,
This burned Col. Treherne up, as our men on the front lines, patients in our Clearing Station, our own personnel and officers and men up here doing the actual stuff, were getting “K” Rations, and have been getting them for several days. It made Col. Treherne so mad, that these Jerry prisoners were getting our best, and our men the worst, that he immediately called Col. Franklin and let him get his dander up. The Capt. said that it made him hot under the collar and also his men. It was hard to get his men to haul the rations. He also said that these hospitals didn’t get all of these rations, as he would cut them down to about 25%. As they would haul the rations, they would drop a crate of eggs at some Recon. Bn., a side of beef to some Ack-Ack outfit. He’s doing all right.
Casualties to date
Division 24,865
Civilian 984
Enemy 2,122
Other Units 3,635
31,597
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