I’m a tank commander of a Sherman firefly, I’m also in the leading tank with 4 other Shermans behind me. Both Sherman fireflies are in the front and back for maximum protection while our normal m4a1 Shermans take the middle. We’re roaming through the city of Erfurt making our way to Weimar, our soldiers on foot scout ahead and we came across a cathedral. We decided to let our soldiers check the buildings. I sit in my tank taking a break and suddenly I hear one of the soldiers yell “KING TIGER!!!!” I panicked and opened up my hatch looking around for the king tiger. A whistling sound passed my ear and an explosion occurred, one of the Shermans blew up with the driver inside, he crawled out trying to drag himself out. Another whistling sound passed by and hit the Sherman firefly in the back. The King tiger made a path out of the cathedral “FACE YOUR TANK TO THE TIGER, DON’T GIVE IT YOUR SIDES!!!” I order the tanks to fire at the turret ring to disable its turret from turning. “ONE!” The command was given, shots were fired at the turret ring, it was disabled, but it took out a third Sherman. “AIM FOR THE LEFT TRACK!!!” “ONE!” The track on the Tiger fell apart, one of the soldiers were running up on the king tiger and opened up the commanders hatch and threw 2 grenades in. “RUN RUN!!!!” The king tiger took its final blow and the turret fell off the side of the tank. Both drivers of the tiger were trying to get off the tank but were taking too many burns. I look around me, tanks were on fire and dead bodies were hanging off the sides of the tank. We couldn’t stay by the cathedral for long, my squad is the reinforcements that are needed at Weimar. We moved on.

 A tank commander and squad leader of a Sherman firefly is making his way through Erfurt making his way to Weimar. Suddenly he encounters a German Tiger hiding inside a cathedral and ambushes his squad. The tank commander fears the worst of what can happen to him and his squad.

The story I created is a fictional historical memoir, the character I created is a tank commander of a Sherman firefly, it’s one of the few tanks that can take down a German tiger tank. He fears having battles against these tanks because of their massive power. The tank ratio would equal one Tiger tank to 50 ally tanks. My character is also afraid of losing the soldiers that are on foot, because the man power between tanks and soldiers is powerful but if its just the tank or soldier itself the power extremely weak. The character fears losing battles, he’s in command in one of the few tank battalions in his area and soldiers in other cities are asking doe assistance so he has to make his way to other soldiers. I wrote this story through the eyes of a tank commander in a first person view.

https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/321622-tank-commanders/

 

 

(Prisoners from Dachau cheering for the American soldiers that are liberating the camp)

Source: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ve-day-70th-anniversary-look-germanys-surrender-1945-end-ww2-graphic-images-1499979

 

I was the first lieutenant in the 9th air force,
We landed on a make shift airstrip,
My squad moved to France and Germany close to Buchenwald
As we entered Buchenwald, the smell become nauseating ,
Driver told me “You ain’t seen nothing yet, theres dead bodies all over the place,”
I can’t describe the scene, its so heinous
My anger grew against Germans,
Couldn’t land in Munich fighting was still in progress,
Landed in Dachau,
Guns were still firing,
The smells of the dead bodies burned my nostrils,
Prisoners beating their tormentors to death showing no mercy on them,
Train carts filled with piles of dead bodies,
Years later I burned my uniform to remove the smell of death,

 

I wrote this poem from a World War 2 pilots view. He talks about the camps he liberated, he explains how these camps have many dead bodies and some of the prisoners are still fighting against the Nazis. I found multiple nouns, verbs and adjectives to form this poem together.

 

 

July 4 1926  – the Hitler youth company is established

The Hitler youth was a group of children between the ages of 10 to 14 and only 3600 people were in this youth group. These kids had to be very liberal and patriots to their country. They would go around in the streets cheering for their country and telling propaganda lies about Germany. The youths would always be carrying a Nazi flag where ever they go, some would be trained on how to shoot a rifle.

(A large group of the Hitler youths waiting to meet Adolf Hitler)

Source: http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/133p/133p04papers/KFrabottaHitlerYouth046.htm

Within the introduction of the story “The Cage” Riva had a neighboring friend who was named Harry, Harry had German ancestry. Harry was attacked by other Jewish neighbors because people thought he was working with the Germans, Riva and her family helped Harry and they were trying to get an understanding on why the other people attacked Harry. Within the following day, Germany invaded Poland and everyone was panicking. A knock came from the door and it was Harry, dressed in uniform and supported his fatherland. This is proving that Harry didn’t want any relation with the Jews after the war started and he didn’t want to get in any trouble. Everyone that knew Harry felt betrayed. This shows that Harry is a dynamic character.

September 21 1939: Heydrich issues directives to establish ghettos in German-occupied Poland.

Germany need to force the Jewish and the Gypsies out of their homes into a city filled with poverty. The reason that the Germans needed to do this is because they need to keep the Gypsies and the Jews in one place so when they are in need to find more people to do their labour they can just look in the ghettos. The conditions in the ghettos aren’t the best, people living in the ghetto barley get any food, warmth, and health care. People living in the ghetto contract diseases and since the doctors around can’t help them they will just have to be left there to die.

(The perimeter of Warsaw sealed off to separate the ghettos)

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto

During the evacuation in “The Cage” Riva and her family were being forced out of their homes and they are moving walking to a place that was meant to treat Jews poorly and terribly, while they were walking Riva saw her neighbors and friends being bashed and hit by German soldiers. People arrived at the ghettos with only the clothing they had on their backs and some clothing they brought back from their own house.

November 23, 1939 – Yellow stars required to be worn by Polish Jews over age 10.

Jewish people in Europe had to wear a yellow Star of David sewed on to their clothing, reason being is so the Nazis can find and track Jews much easier. Jewish people caught not wearing a Star of David were usually killed or sent to prison. The Star of David allows the Germans to quickly isolate the Jews from the non-Jews.

(A Jewish couple wearing a sewed on yellow star of David in their coats)

Source: http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust/pictures/remembering-the-holocaust/hungarian-jews-wearing-yellow-stars

Riva and her family are forced to wear a yellow star sewed on to their clothing; this was to prove that she was a Jew. During the Jew line up, every Jew within the ghetto had to be lined up and a certain amount had to be sent to labor camp. Riva’s mother wasn’t wearing a Yellow star on her shirt so a German soldier quickly pulled her out of the crowd and Riva and her Mother were separated from each other, Riva tried to catch up to her mom but it was hopeless. Riva doesn’t know what is going to happen to her mother but she fears that she will be killed to where ever she is going.

April 30, 1940 – The Lodz Ghetto in occupied Poland is sealed off from the outside world with 230,000 Jews locked inside.

Poland had the largest population of Jews in Europe, 230,000 Jews were sent to Lodz and the Germans sealed off the city with barbed wire around the perimeter. To keep the Jews in their place, Jewish police officers were created to keep the Jews in their homes and to prevent them from escaping Lodz. German police officers and guards would stand by around the perimeter of Lodz while the Jewish Police officers patrol the city. The reason why Jewish were chosen to become police officers rather than the Germans is because the Jewish know the people around the city, if they need to find a specific person they will be easily tracked down by the Jewish police rather than the German police.

(Jewish people entering the ghetto in Lodz)

Source: https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005071

Riva and her family were sent to the ghetto in Lodz. Within months in Lodz, people around the ghetto have contracted diseases and are suffering without any medical attention and the weather is getting colder and colder. Laibele got tuberculosis and Riva got bladder stones. The family has given very little food from their work, and they don’t have any vitamins to help with their diseases. Riva’s brothers traded weeks worth of bread and traded it for a tangerine and hoping that the tangerine will help Riva and Laibele. Later on houses needed to be torn down to make firewood and Riva’s family had to move out because they are planning to use her house next for firewood.

March 3 1940 Jews are put into concentration camps.

The Germans needed labour work done, but most of the Germans are rather living back in the their own country or fighting in the war against the allies. So the Germans decided to get the Jews and Gypsies to work for them, the working condition in the concentration camp is more different than how people are treated within the ghetto. Food is still limited same with health, but if you don’t have the strength to work anymore you are rather shot by German shoulders or gassed and then cremated within the crematorium.

(Jewish labor workers in a concentration camp)

Source: http://wwiiletters.blogspot.ca/2008/01/photos-of-wwii-german-concentration.html

There was a vicious knocking on the door and Riva and her family hid in the next room, the door opened and it was a long forgotten friend, Shmulek. Shmulek told Riva that he just came back from a concentration camp. Shmulek explained how the concentration camp was like to Riva and it was a camp full of hard labor and terrible living conditions, the workers at the camp were mostly separated families filled with fear and anxiety, wondering what the Germans would do to them next and if you are too weak to work you will be killed and be sent to the chimneys. The German commander felt nice and sent 5 Jews back to the ghettos. The next day there was another vicious knocking on the door and it was the Jewish police. The Jewish  police were looking for Shmulek, the police need to find the 5 people that were sent back to the ghetto and if they aren’t found the Nazis will pick out another 5 group of people and send them to the concentration camp.

January 25, 1940 – Nazis choose the town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz) in Poland near Krakow as the site of a new concentration camp.

Auschwitz is a concentration camp built in 1940 and it was one of the largest concentration camps used labor and for mass killings. The Germans would use the Jews for hard labor and if they can’t work anymore they would be killed. A German doctor within Auschwitz named Josef Mengele would use the Jews within the camp for testing medical purposes, some of the Jews would also be used for secret experiments. The Russians invaded Auschwitz which forced the Germans to abandon the camp and forced the Jews to locate another place to stay.

(Auschwitz railroads covered with broken pottery)

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_B_285_Bild-04413,_KZ_Auschwitz,_Einfahrt.jpg

Riva and her family were the last few people within the ghettos, so they decided to take the next train to Auschwitz willingly. They were in the train for hours and hours making multiple stops to pick up more Jews. The train finally stopped at Auschwitz, Riva was separate from her family and she wasn’t able to regroup with them since the crowd continued to push everyone forward. The Nazis later put women and men on different sides of the road. They were forced in to the showers and were only given a hospital robe to cover up after they showered. The Jews were forced in to small bunkers in a barrack and it was 3 floors of bunkers with each row filling up 9 people. The bunker is super cramped since 3 people are squishes on to 1 floor. Each day the Jews are forced to wake up and line up in the hot sun while the Nazis do a counting check and The Jews are forced to stand there for hours.