ON April 29, 1945, Allied captives at Stalag VII A, a prisoner-of-war camp in southeast Germany, heard the rumbling of artillery in the distance. Lt. Charles B. Woehrle, 28, of the United States Army Air Forces, peered though the barbed wire fence to the town of Moosburg in the Isar River valley below. Plumes of white smoke rose above the village.
Gaunt, unwashed and lice-ridden, Lieutenant Woehrle checked the new Patek Philippe watch on his wrist and noted the time. The watch was stainless steel — an uncommon luxury at the time — with a hand-stitched alligator strap..
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Hele historien kan også leses hos New York Times (klikk her for å bli videresendt).
Kilder: New York Times, Chang W. Lee/New York Times (bilde), MSN Today.
