Although it was sometimes disturbing to remember his experiences, because they were so horrible, Mr. Harry Gerenstein gave us the many details of his life during World War II. He enlisted because he wanted to join the army and felt it was the right thing to do. His brother also enlisted. He began his military service with one year in the Mojave Desert at Camp Cooke. He then traveled by train to Camp Shanks in New York. There his clothes and equipment were checked before he boarded a ship which was joining a convoy. He did not want to go to the Pacific, so he was glad to find out he was being shipped to Europe. After being at sea for eleven days, they landed in England.
A few weeks after the invasion of France on June 6, 1944 they boarded L.S.T.'s (Landing Ship Tanks) and headed for Utah Beach, on the Normandy Peninsula of France.
Their orders were to then drive west to the Brittany Peninsula. By the 29th of July, they had captured the city of Avranches. They then raced through Brittany taking town after town, with help from the Free French of the Interior, who helped guide them to German garrisons.
Many enemy installations were captured, 3000 Allied prisoners were liberated and the infamous concentration camp, Buchenwald was overrun.
In ten days, they had traveled 250 miles of combat to the city of Brest, a seaport city and German Submarine base, where they captured 900 German soldiers. Outside of Brest, a German artillery division , which was horse drawn, tried to enter the city. They captured many more Germans there.
Their next orders were to head east. By September, they were outside of the city of Orleans. They then got stranded outside of Orleans for about one week because the tank ran out of gasoline. This was a strategy of General Eisenhower to hold back general Patton's 3rd Army because they were running ahead of the other armies. He did this so the other armies could catch up.
Life in a tank was very uncomfortable. The tank was very crowded and there was only enough room to turn around. There was very little light. The men had no time to themselves because they constantly had to keep moving. In addition to all this, they only got to take showers once every 5 weeks!
By November, they were in Nancy, France. After taking over the airport, they prepared the tanks for winter combat. On December 24th, the division spearheaded an attack from the Saille River, where they captured 1,538 prisoners. From there, the division was ordered to move north to the city of Bastogne, the site of the Battle of the Bulge. The 6th Armored Division then took over the south flank, fighting in deep snow and zero degree weather. The battle lasted until January 10, 1945. They then drove through Luxembourg into Germany, crossing the Siegfried line, capturing Frankfurt and many other cities.
On April 11, they raced east about 60 miles against moderate resistance. Many enemy installations were captured, 3000 Allied prisoners were liberated and the infamous concentration camp, Buchenwald was overrun. When the 6th Armored Division liberated Buchenwald, at first they didn't know that it was a concentration camp and all that they knew was that they saw a lot of people suffering, starving to death, and they saw bodies piled on top of each other.
There were 21,000 prisoners at the Buchenwald Camp. When they first arrived, the prisoners didn't know they were American tanks. When they found out, they were very excited but most of them couldn't move, they were so weak.
The division was overseas for two years. During this time, 1,075 men were killed in action, 4,000 men were wounded and 52 men were missing in action. His biggest fear during the war was the thought of being captured by the Germans.
When he came back home, everything seemed so different and strange. Nothing felt the same as when he had left. He couldn't watch any war movies without breaking into a cold sweat as if he were there again. It took anywhere from six months to a year for him to feel like he was living a normal life again. This was a great experience for him but he said that he wouldn't do it again for a million dollars.
-Tiffiany Daniels, Joe Ortega