We’re moving so fast they pile us into two ton trucks. We go along faster than tanks. Sometimes, we come to a town and there will be German civilians in them. There’s been no chance for the civilian population to evacuate. These towns have never been bombed. Some of them are still there, complete with women and children. We first do what we call ‘clearing’ in each town. This means going through each house, cellars and all, seeing that there are no soldiers hiding. As we roll into these towns, armed to the teeth, there are often women at the windows. Some guys just head for the women, some look for booze, wine or schnapps, and some go after silver or gold. Everybody has his particular loot. We’re way ahead of the MPs, so nobody’s stopping us. I get to be real expert at finding where the Germans hide their jewels. Usually they’re in dinky safes behind paintings. I blow the locks off with my rifle. My rationale is they’ve probably stolen all this stuff from the Poles, the French or the Jews from all the countries where they’ve ravaged, robbed and killed.
