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Upstarts
We did seize Zella Mehlis. If you have never heard of Zella Mehlis, you are in the
majority. It was a pretty town, nestled in the valley of the Werra River, between the
wooded hills of the Thuringian Forest. It was not a big city, and I had never heard of it
before either, but it was of considerable military importance, because it contained the
huge Walther gun factory, manufacturing all kinds of small arms. A bonanza for souvenir
hunters/looters. Everyone in the infantry and almost everybody in the artillery ended up
with at least one pistol. The most popular was the P38, a weapon that fired a smaller
bullet than the clumsy .45 caliber Colt automatic we used, but was much better balanced
and easier to fire accurately.
Lew Fauble, who was a gun buff, actually went into the factory and put together
his own pistol, selecting individual parts that fit each other perfectly, so that he had a
much more smoothly-operating pistol than the ones that came off the assembly line. At
least so he said.
About that time, an order from higher headquarters interrupted the people who
were assembling two pistols with gold engraving as a gift for General Patton. The factory
was to be sealed, and all the weapons and parts therein were declared contraband,
property of the United States. Nothing would be removed, and commanders would take
appropriate steps to see that any items, which might have been already taken were
returned forthwith.
That last part would have been impossible to enforce without calling off the war
long enough to simultaneously strip-search every soldier and all equipment he might have
had contact with. Realizing this, Bob Hughes called the battery commanders together and
directed each of them to find and confiscate one pistol to be turned in. This token
compliance was made, and the matter was dropped.
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