Page 36

Tuesday, 2 January, 1945 – Thursday, 4 January, 1945

[Continued from previous page] counter attack. It is a peculiar situation. We almost have the Germans surrounded, but they almost have us surrounded too. The heavy artillery around here (our own Thank God) is terrific. I picked up another pistol today. A Belgian 8 mm. It isn’t in such good shape but I got it as a souvenir. I am getting plenty of rest now but little sleep.

Wednesday, 3 January [1945] Bougnimont, Belgium
Heavy shelling all night but it is ours and it is beginning to sound like music to me, a Funeral dirge for the Boeche.¹ I think that Runstedt has shot his bolt.² It snowed all afternoon and there is a foot of snow. We have doubled our security guard. Have taken an unusually large number of prisoners. These people are friendly but difficult to understand. They speak french with an accent and no German. Very odd.

Thursday, 4 January [1945] Bougnimont, [Belgium]
Really a rough situation. First the Boeche made a large salient into Belgium. Then we make a salient near the base of theirs to cut them off. Our Btry is right in the middle of that salient now. We’ve almost got them cut off. But we’re also in danger of being cut off by them in the south. It was really nip and tuck. Not a comfortable position to be in. We have them to the North, East, and West of us, which means we can catch their artillery fire from every direction. Of course they’re in the same boat. There is so much shelling going on that it is hard to tell which is which, although you get used to it. Eventually it begins to [continued on next page]

Inserts

Stamps, Postmarks, and Memory: Collection of postmarked stamps, mostly from Belgium, but also including one from France and two from Luxembourg. Several of the postmarks were from cities and towns in or near where Goetz and his unit were stationed in Belgium during and just after the Battle of the Bulge, including Libramont, Neufchateau, Jemelle, St. Hubert, Viscourt, and Dave.

This is one side of a two-sided leaflet, entitled “No Joke,” intended to persuade German soldiers to surrender. It was produced by the Psychological Warfare Division of the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force (PWD/SHAEF), first printed January 5, 1945 and dropped on German troops, January 11-January 24, 1945. ZG 100.
PWD/SHAEF was established in 1943 and united both British and American government agencies to expand propaganda leaflet operations. This agency was responsible for some of the largest leaflet operations during the war, dropping hundreds of millions of leaflets on German soldiers. During the war leaflets like this were often used to disseminate propaganda to German soldiers to try to convince them to surrender or to lower their morale. These leaflets often tried to use reliable information with the sources of the information clearly labeled. This was done in the hopes of convincing German soldiers to trust the information in the leaflets, so that they would have a more significant impact.
For other leaflets produced by PWD/SHAEF and attached to the Goetz diary, see inserts from Sunday, February 4, 1945 and Friday, February 9, 1945.
Leaflet translation:
“NO JOKE”
No, captivity is no pleasure. Hardly any of your 850,000 comrades who have been captured in the West surrendered because the life of a captive appealed to him. They had to surrender, however. And more and more often, comrades, they must decide whether they want to experience peace or sacrifice themselves in a hopeless situation. They decide:
Better free than a prisoner of war.
Better a prisoner of war than dead.

It may not be pleasurable to be a prisoner of war, but many are pleasantly disappointed. In any case, you can expect the following:

1. You will be treated as a soldier,
without harassment, fairly, as is due to a courageous opponent. In the camp, self-government rules wherever possible. This means: Your own comrades are your immediate superiors.
2. Provisions are decent.
According to the Geneva Convention, prisoners of war receive the same provisions as soldiers in the American army – the best fed in the world. The food is prepared by comrades in the German way.
3. You can perhaps earn money.
Even if you don’t go to America (and the trip home from France is shorter), you receive the same payment for possible work as your comrades in America: 70 USA-cents per day.
4. Correspondence and homecoming.
You can write home – 4 letters and 4 cards in a month. You can also receive letters and parcels. What is most important, however: You know with certainty that you will see your home again after the war ends.”

“Love and Adventures, One Night in Paradise”: front cover of 32-page paperback serial romance published in Brussels by “S.P.R.L. EDITO, 15 bd Barthelemy, Bruxelles.”
This is a 32-page stand-alone short story published as part of an ongoing series Amour et Aventures (Love and Adventures). S.P.R.L Edito published the series in Brussels, Belgium. The story of this issue is Une Nuit au Paradis (A Night in Paradise) written by Pierre Deumarteau. In the story, an unnamed traveler in Navarre, Spain encounters a young girl, Bianca, who is looking for a ride. The traveler agrees to help Bianca, but when their car breaks down they are forced to stay in the same town from where she is trying to escape. Bianca tells the traveler the story of her life and her forbidden romance with the young architect, Antonio. The rest of the story follows the traveler in his attempt to save Bianca from her controlling aunt as well as from an arranged marriage and to reunite Bianca with Antonio. The first and last pages of the books contain an excerpt from the story Buenos-Ayres: Derniere Escale (Buenos Aires: Last Stop) written by Maurice Ruffine. The book advertises this story as being continued in the next issue of the series.

“Love and Adventures, One Night in Paradise”: back cover