War Diaries (May 11) (nonfiction)
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Diaries
Benjamin F. Pearson: May 11, 1863
At 8 ½ Oc I went out in Command of a post of the pickets lines had a good time & every thing went smoothly on through the day
—First Lieut. Benjamin F. Pearson, Co. G., 36th Iowa Infantry (diary)
George Beck: May 11, 1943
The two new lads who have joined us from Munich brought us first hand information regarding happenings in some of the big places. It appears Munich has been bombed terrible by our air force and they have been compelled to leave, one of the bombs dropped nearby and their barracks caught fire. Nightly these raids have been carried out, and our lads have helped to clear away some of the debris, women and children mutilated and dead have been brought out of buildings, and others have been trapped in the cellars. Our lads volunteered to remove some of the ruins and save a few lives as the civilians were to slow, but it is forbidden, regardless of everything the Englishmen were well liked in Munich. Some fellows were employed in cemeteries keeping them clean etc. Regarding food the civilians are in a terrible state. In Berlin their has been a bit of rioting, one of our Red Cross camps was raided and five German guards were killed and an English sergeant major. The police were turned out and they had to use machine guns on the civilians, it appears the big towns are suffering terrible from food shortages. Some of our Royal Air Force who was brought down in Berlin were lynched and strung up on lampposts. Ration cards have been dropped from planes and all the shops were sold out of food and other things, the colour of the cards are changed every time now on account of this.
An Englishman arrived in Lamsdorfe a couple of weeks ago and he was bound with thick wire around the wrists, the fellow broke down as soon as he arrived for he’d never had his hands undone for five days. The camp commandant hit the guard straight between the eyes when he saw him, the wire had cut through the fellow’s wrists and his arms were swollen up. The doctor informed Swiss representatives.
—George Beck,1st Battalion The Duke of Wellington's Regiment, prisoner of war (diary)