SOMEWHERE IN GERMANY- SPOILS OF WAR On entering Germany, we were provided a code of conduct and we were told that the army would not tolerate infractions of the two following rules: (1) NO LOOTING (2) NO FRATERNIZATION These rules soon proved to be totally unenforceable and within a very short period of time we looted and we fraternized. In our race through Germany, we "liberated" a small German truck and this vehicle soon became part of our convoy. This was the personal property of my squad and in the back, we stored our illegally acquired loot and souvenirs. On one notable day, our convoy arrived at a ravine and the crossing bridge had been blown up by the enemy, in order to impede our progress. The engineers constructed a makeshift road that snaked Its way down the hill, crossed a small river bed, and tortuously climbed the opposite side to the top. There was an MP officer directing traffic and he went into orbit when he saw our truck, which was not equipped with four-wheel drive and could not under any circumstance, negotiate the crossing. The enraged officer screamed, "Push that damn truck over the side of the hill." The truck was engaged in gear and down the ravine it went, rolling over and over and we gazed in sorrow and horror as our bounty was strewn all over the countryside. One cannot fault the officers order to destroy our non-GI vehicle; after all, the war must go on and we continued on into the hinterland of the enemy, forlorn, depressed, sadder, but a helluva lot smarter. Somewhere, in this great country of ours, living in retirement now, are some old and decrepit former Military Police enjoying the fruit of our loot. return to top