Men from Company C, 643rd TD BN told me the burning vehicles in the Life Magazine, 19 March, 1945 were their halftracks and guns.  They also told me that they took shelter in the factory to the left of the burning vehicles in the picture. There were German civilians and soldiers in the basement of the factory. The Company C medics had some medical supplies that they shared with the Germans and our men were sure the Germans would have killed them if they hadn't shared the medicine with the Gemans. There was a very near neighboring village called Hemmerden and our Battalion history says the action took place at Hemmerden.  This doesn't surprise me that the men who were there said they were near Kapellen and the Battalion Headquarters didn't know where the men from Company C were. 

 

 

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