Saturday, 10 February [1945] Auw, Germany
Was awakened this morning by a few near misses from heavy artillery (long range). Stayed awake until I got up at 0630. It snowed just a little last night but at 1000 had already disappeared. Last night just before retiring, we heard a shot just outside our C.P. Investigation disclosed that an M.P. hearing a noise had sounded off. Halt! And then requested the password. Receiving no reply, he had cut loose in the general direction of the noise (we helped Sgt. Derby bury his pet dog this morning).1 Staff Sergeant George W. Derby He had forgotten how to teach the P.W. (password). Some air activity today and some enemy shells landed in 2D Platoon area. No casualties reported. One of our G.I.’s (CPL. Martin) formally an Iowa farmer acted as midwife at the birth of a calf today (boy).2 Corporal Donald Martin was a member of the B Battery, 549th AAA, 87th Division, U.S. Army. Goetz’s good friend, he left a fragment of his own wartime diary with Goetz, who inserted it at the back of his loose‐leaf diary. Mother and child both doing well.
Received a package today. It was a chocolate cake two months old. Very moldy but very tasty. I traded cigarettes for a pipe today. Figured it was the next best thing to a cigar. Spent the evening bringing our situation maps up to date. Hit the sack at 2200.
Sunday, 11 February [1945] Auw, Germany
Up at 0630 this morning. What a day it has turned out to be. We were subjected to enemy artillery fire for about 20 minutes, beginning at 0800. An ordnance expert said that the shells weighed 1640 lbs. Pieces of the shrapnel weighed as much as 20 lbs. Other pieces were 2 feet long, thin and as sharp as needles. [continued on next page]
