Cornelius Ryan WWII papers, box 132, folder 32: Harry S. Ullmann

Ullmann, H. S. [crossed out] Hitler Youth [end crossed out] CPL [crossed out] ?? [end crossed out] 10th Panzer Div

Box 132, #32

Harry Ullmann CPL? - HITLER YOUTH

See Also: Fergusan - 504

Groesbeek

OK Day [?List?]

[*1 pix attached See Also: Fergusan, 504*]

Research Report :

Interview with Harry S. Ullmann at home of Arthur Ferguson, Macon, Georgia on 13 December, 1967.

Harry Ullmann lives at 2557 Locksley Drive, Macon, Ga. 31208 Tel: 912 788 1280 He is Plant Superintendent for the Borden Milk Company, Macon. [*H.V.called 12-11-69 10th P.2 under Harmel

912-788-5733*]

Helmut Ullmann was born in Dresden and he joined the Hitler Youth. He had just finished high school at 16 -when he was inducted into the Army and was sent to Bjorken for training. This was the beginning of 1944 and all that concerned him was staying alive. From Bjorken he went to France and in September, 1944, as a corporal in the 10 [crossed out]25th[end crossed out] Panzer Division, he was close to Arnhem.

The first he knew of the invasion was when he saw the planes coming.over. He thought it was just another bombing mission; then to his horror he watched the parachutists coming down. The 10th [crossed out]25th[end crossed out] Panzer Division were awaiting orders to move but they were quickly given fresh orders to put up a line of defense against the paratroopers. On the 19th September they were just outside Groesbeck in a tank and within an hour 4 or 5 tanks in their Division were lost. The tank commander in Ullmann's tank was only 24 years old and had a wooden arm. 35 of them were taken prisoner and put behind a barn. The next afternoon there was a German counterattack and the prisoners were released. By this time they had no more tanks so they picked up regular weapons and joined the infantry. He was subsequently taken prisoner again by the Canadians up near Bremerhaven in April, 1945.

When the 82nd Airborne captured him near Groesbeck he was lined up against

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a house. He had heard all about the tough paratroopers in their baggy pants and he wondered what they were going to do to him. They dug their rifles in his ribs and shouted "snell, snell" (the paratroopers' pronunciation of schnell or hurry). Ullmann wondered why he should hurry just to get shot. There were only 16 of them and after they had been searched they were pushed into a barnyard where they joined another 16. They were kept under guard and that night he got his first corned beef and biscuits and C-rations.

Ullmann had come to Holland from Aachen, Germany and then he was close to Normandy prior to D-Day. His Division was held back during the D-Day landings in case anything else happened. He had spent three months in Holland prior to September, 1944 and he remembers how friendly the Dutch people were to them. They used to go for meals into their homes. At the time of Market Garden the Germans were very short of gasoline and they had to cut wooden blocks to get the trucks started. Whenthe 82nd captured him and he saw all the gasoline they had he couldn’t think why theGermans were still fighting.

Ullmann and Ferguson were joking about the possibility of Ferguson’s Batallion taking Ullmann prisoner and it is just possible that Ferguson did see Ullmann when he was prisoner in the barnyard. Ferguson remembers about 35 German prisoners and hw was impressed by their youth. He remembered remarking on one cheeky little guy who had a very dirty face.

Ferguson also commented on the way the Airborne would get the German tanks by waiting till they had passed their foxhole and then running after them, climbing on top of the tank and throwing a grenade in the turret. Ullmann

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told how they would try and grind the 82nd Airborne into their foxholes by reversing the tanks and grinding the tracks into the earth.

- Ullmann went to England as a prisoner of war and then to Scotland. Round about 1948 the British government paid for him to visit his family in the eastern zone, provided he promised to come back to work on the farm for a further year. He got into the Eastern zone but on the way back he was captured and put in prison for four days and three nights. He escaped and made his way back to Scotland where he implored the U.S. Consul in Glasgow to get him an American visa as he didn't want to live in East Germany. It was eventually granted in 1952 and he saved up to go to the States and joined the 82nd Airborne. He is married to a girl from Georgia.

- 5 - 23. In times of great crisis, people generally show amazing ingenuity or self-reliance; others sometimes do incredibly stupid things. Do you recall any examples of either? No.

24. Do you recall any incidents with the Germans? Fights, surrenders, truces or any conversations you may have had with them afterwards? Mr. Harry S. Ullmann was a ’"Hitler Youth", 17 years old, at the time of the invasion of Holland. He was a member of the 25th Panzer Division and captured by the 82nd Airborne Division in the area between Nijmegen and Arnhem around Sept. 20, 1944. He was sent to the U. S. as a prisoner of war, joined the U. S. Army upon being released, and served with the 82nd Airborne Division, Ft. Bragg, N.C. He is now a naturalized citizen and manager of the Borden Milk Company, Macon, Georgia. I met him in July of this year, 23 years later, He has a story to tell about being captured by the paratroopers in Holland.

Harry S. Ullmann 2557 Locksley Drive Macon, Georgia 31208 Telephone: 788-1280 Area Code: 912

25. Do you know of anybody else who landed within the period as infantry, glider or airborne troops, or who took part in any of the operation, whom we should write to? Please include addresses if available. 1. Kenneth D. Bowers, 110 Woodland Drive, Warner Robins, Georgia 31093. Was a glider pilot and piloted one of the gliders that landed in the vicinity of Eindhoven carrying troopers of the 101st Airborne Division. I am sure he has a story. A train load of Germans surrendered to him at the Eindhoven Railroad Station.

2. Major General Reuben H. Tucker. See enclosed clipping from The Citadel, South Carolina Military College, Charleston, S. C., where he is now the Commandant of Cadets.

3. Virgle Carmichael (Judge), Cleveland, Tennessee was a lieutenant in the 504th Parachute Infantry, 3rd Bn. He is now a Judge in Cleveland, Tennessee and should have some good stories.

4. Rev. Arie D. Bestebreurtje, Calvin Presbyterian Church, 2501 Rudy Lane, Louisville, Kentucky fought with the Dutch underground and is now a Presbyterian minister, in Louisville, Kentucky. He flew in the lead plane from England to Holland, as a member of the Dutch underground.

5. Anthony J. Van Beers, Kewkerij Weg 3, Nijmegen, Holland fought with Dutch underground and is now landscape gardener for the City of Nijmegen, Holland. He should have plenty to tell. To be his friend is an honor - to be his enemy was death, and the Germans were his enemy. He hates them to this day. We last saw him in September, 1964 at Nijmegen, Holland.