Seven American and German Soldiers Sat Down and Enjoyed a Christmas Dinner Together During the Battle of the Bulge
Elisabeth Vincken had listened to artillery fire for eight straight days before someone knocked on her cottage door on Christmas Eve in 1944. She opened it to find three lost American soldiers, one with a gunshot wound. Hours later, four German Wehrmacht soldiers showed up as well. The German woman forced both groups to surrender […]
German Officer Sacrificed His Life Trying to Save an American Soldier in the WWII Battle of Hurtgen Forest
During the bloody battle for Hurtgen Forest in late 1944, a 23-year-old German lieutenant heard a wounded American soldier crying for help in a minefield. Lt. Friedrich Lengfeld ordered his men not to shoot any American medics who might try to rescue the man. When no help came after hours of listening to the man’s […]
The Last American Killed in WWI Charged a German Machine Gun Seconds Before the Armistice Took Effect
At 10:59 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918, a German machine gun crew fired a burst of rounds at approaching Americans. One bullet struck 23-year-old Pvt. Henry Gunther in the left temple. He died instantly. Sixty seconds later, the guns fell silent across the Western Front. Gen. John Pershing would officially designate Gunther as the last […]