I'm Alsatian and I belong to '42 draft; I was enlisted by force in the RAD[in German in the original] from October'41 to March '42.

I went back to work at the Sogenal bank as a secretarial apprentice, and in October '42, I was again enlisted by force in the '42 draft in the German army.

In October '42 we joined the training unit in Munich. We were trained until February '43.

In '43, we were to go to Russia as reinforcements. We joined the Russian training camp in "Graffenbuhr" (?) but, since the Russians were advancing, the German army couldn't send reinforcements at that moment. We were told: "Go back to your training unit in Munich!" We were sent back to our training unit in Munich.

When we arrived in Munich, they started to talk about sending reinforcements to Tunisia. We were 5 Alsatians in the company. Since I heard rumours about reinforcements, I phoned my brother and told him: "Look, they're talking about reinforcement, if ever we're part of it, bring me my French identity card". And my brother took the train on the next Sunday to bring me my French identity card.

Two days later, at the morning roll call, we were told the company would go to Tunisia as reinforcement. We were 4 Alsatians to go off. We were sent to the Tunisian training ground in Reutlingen. Again we were trained there until April. You should have seen it, everyday at 6: we woke up, and we walked and all the rest… At lunchtime, we were almost no longer able to walk, we still had to sing and if we didn't sing well we had to go back to the ground before being allowed to eat… It was a bit hard for us too.

In mid-April, at first we took the train to Sardinia and from there we flew to Tunisia. There, we were a bit scared: three planes left and we were in the last one. When the plane took-off, It had hardly left that there was a leak, it couldn't go further. So we had to land on the airfield in Sardinia again.

We could only leave in the evening. Since the plane left without escort, the Italian pilot told us English planes were coming towards us; but they weren't English ones, they were the planes that had dropped the reinforcements and were flying back empty from Tunisia.

We landed in Tunis, they took us to a former French camp before being sent to the front. In the evening, we took the train to "Sous" (?). And halfway the train went off the rails. We had to go down. There even were victims… German crews at the front of the train were caught… So, we waited for the German unit in "Sous" (?) to come and get us.

In Sous, at first we were put with the Germans. It wasn't funny either because we were sniped at from everywhere. The Germans were going to Alamanif (?) and there the British who were on the hill fired at the German units. We saw an artillery shell explode in front of the armoured car… It was an afflag (?), and the noncom had ordered us to get on the other vehicles. I took advantage of the situation to get off, hide in a shell hole, and stay there until the Germans were gone. Once they were gone, I walked to Alamanif (?) to see a family to get something to eat because we had been given nothing to eat on that day.

When I got there, I came across an Italian family. Since the son was in the Italian army, I didn't want to tell everything I had been through; I said I had lost my German unit and asked for something to eat before catching up with it.

In the evening I walked towards the sea, I slept at the seaside. In the morning, since everything was quiet and I could see nothing around, I climbed on a hill where there was a vineyard. Then I dug a hole to hide, in case something should happen. And I waited.

During the day I saw an Arab walking on the road. I stood up and asked him what was going on, if the Germans were still around. And he said: "No, the Germans left and the British are coming". When I saw the British come, I took off my flannel belt and, with a piece of wood, I made a flag to join the road. There the British were coming. I came across a captain who could speak French because he was born in Paris. He told me: "since you're still wearing the German uniform, don't move. We're going to send you a jeep to get you". I showed him my French identity card I had sown inside my jacket and told him: "I'm Alsatian you see, I come from a French family but I was enlisted by force in the German army in '42". He told me: "We're going back to Tunis. There you're going to join the escapee camp in Casablanca, and there you'll have to wait for your personal file to be regularised."

In August '43, I got my liberation papers and I was told: "You have the choice between becoming a civilian again or joining the French army". Since I didn't know anyone in Casablanca I joined the French army.

In August '43, I joined the 6^th Moroccan artillery regiment. We were two Alsatians, me and someone from the Haut-Rhin.

At first, the Moroccan artillerymen called us Krauts. Since the colonel was from Lorraine, we told him we didn't like to be called Krauts now that we'd fled the German army and enlisted in the French army. So he told us: "Don't worry. I'm going to do what's necessary. Tomorrow morning, I'll summon everybody and I'll tell them that those who call you Krauts haven't heard the last of it".

Meanwhile, the second armoured division too settled in the Lyautey barracks in Casblanca. There I met an old friend, he was from Strasbourg and belonged to the second armoured division too. He told me: "Listen Charles, since you're an escapee, why not join us in the second armoured division, you were a tank driver and you've got a driver's license, you can come and join us". But I heard it from the regiment that if you deserted the second armoured division… you were considered as a French army deserter. So I told my friend: "Deserting the German army is ok, but I don't want to desert the French army, it's out of the question".

So I stayed in the (2^nd or 6^th?) infantry.

Since my regiment was going to leave for Sicily in December, the colonel told me: "You can't come with us. Since you're a deserter, You have to change your name and join another unit."

I was given new papers and I joined the second dragoon regiment in Harze (?) in '43.

When I got there, my new name was Picot… So the first times we gathered, it was a bit strange because during the roll call I expected to be called Augst, and it always went like this: "Picot! Picot! Why don't you answer?" "Oh yes, it's me! I'm Picot!" And I got used to it…

But since Picot's papers said my parents lived in Saint-Dié and since the Germans had started occupying Saint-Dié too, I was told: "It's no good, we have to change your civil status again. Saint-Dié is no good anymore. You have to choose an Algerian town". The dragoon's colonel told me: "Let's take the place were the HQ of the regiment is: Harze (?)". So, my parents' name was Bazin and mine was Picot. I was given my military record and the address was in Harze (?) and I went to the second dragoon regiment.

On August 30^th, we went on practice at sea, the regiment got ready for the landings in Sainte Maxime. American ships took us there.

We landed without any problem because the Germans didn't expect us to land in Sainte Maxime: there was nearly no German resistance there.

Then we went to Marseilles. There, Marshal de Lattre's son was posted to my jeep! The warrant officer class 1 who was in command of the platoon told me: "Don't worry Picot: Marshal de Lattre's son will be treated like any private. He mustn't think he's the Marshal's son. He must do as the others do". So I campaigned with him.

We fought in Autun: we struggled quite a lot there. In the morning, when we arrived, I had to go on reconnaissance. One of our armoured cars had broken down in the German lines. I went with de Lattre's son in the German lines. The Germans were on the hills, and we came under fire. But since there were trees along the way, they shoot above us.

When we arrived near a house, I told de Lattre's son: "Bernard, go and ask the owner if he saw an American armoured car 'round here". Meanwhile, someone shot at him and he had a foot injury. So I went back to the HQ, and in the ditch we saw another sergeant with a motorbike who'd been wounded by the Germans. Since we couldn't stop, we informed we'd seen him and they came and got him afterwards. De Lattre went to hospital and we headed for Autun.

It was difficult for us to settle there because the Germans came from Bordeaux and we stopped them from entering Auntun… There was a Russian unit, " the white ones", and they had slaughtered all the man they could find in the houses, they were thrown out and slaughtered in the street… Russians, we called this kind of unit "the White ones".

In the end, we started the liberation of Autun and, in the afternoon, a German major came to negotiate with our colonel to ask if we could observe a two-hour truce to evacuate their wounded soldiers. And the second dragoon's colonel retorted: "There'll be no truce: your units have to surrender otherwise, in half an hour, we shoot at you". He told me: "Picot, you can speak German, take two jeeps and go with the warrant officer class 1. Leave the jeep to the chauffeur and you put the German major on the armoured car and give him a white flag, and you go behind the turret with a revolver: if someone shoots at you, plug the guy on the armoured car."

We crossed the German lines, the major told us: "In theory, the units must be in the woods". We went towards the woods and to the right, unfortunately, we were a bit disappointed because FFI [French resistance fighters] were nearby and when they saw the white flag, they got scared, and they beat it. Even so, we went towards the German units and, 200m from the woods, the warrant officer class 1 told me: "Tell the major to get off with the flag and to go towards the woods to tell them to surrender". A quarter of an hour later, the major went out and we saw the units go out with their hands in the air. When they were 100m away, they lay down their arms and we made them prisoners.

Then, the major told us: "Listen, the HQ Is far from here: we're going to show you the way to General Bauer's HQ". With the jeep and the armoured car, we went to General Bauer's HQ. When he saw us, he wondered what was happening given the major still had the white flag. The major announced him the units had just surrendered and that the French army had asked him, General Bauer, his HQ, and the officers to surrender too. They made up their minds after much hesitation and surrendered. We went back to Autun with General Bauer, the prisoners, everyone…

The FFI came back afterwards. The warrant officer class 1 told them: "A little while ago you ran away. Now the German prisoners are prisoners of war, so they're ours. If you want to take the weapons you can but wait until we leave." We went to Autun.

The next day, the platoon left for Saulieu to liberate the town. When we arrived, the jeep broke down: punctured tyre. I changed the wheel and thanks to the radio I heard the lieutenant was bypassing Saulieu: he didn't know whether the Germans still were there or not. Since we were on the outskirts of Saulieu with the jeep, I said: "We take the risk, we're going through Saulieu". I went across the town and, indeed, there were no Germans anymore. When the people on the marketplace saw the American jeep, they started surrounding us and kissing us… and I met an Alsatian family who formerly lived in Strasbourg and had taken refuge in Saulieu. Since I was on the spot, I called the lieutenant on the radio and said we were in Saulieu, that the Germans had left and that there wasn't anyone.

We stayed there until the evening. In the evening, we were told the Germans came to attack Autun again. So the colonel ordered us to leave Saulieu and to withdraw to Autun. At night we withdrew to Autun to stop the Germans from attacking the town again.

Then we went towards the Rhone and Budersexel (?) where I was wounded during the campaign… I was taken to hospital and from there I was sent to a military hospital in Lourdes and, seeing that nothing was done to my hand and that I couldn't use my hand, I asked a captain, who came to Lourdes to attend a procession, to send me a permission signed by the colonel to join the regiment again. In the end I got the colonel's permission to join my regiment in Freudenstadt…

There was Freudenstadt, Siverne (?)… A lot of soldiers were killed or wounded, on our side too, and all the German SS nearby were attacking us…

Just before Wiesingen, we went into the small village. The lieutenant told me: "Picot, you must go on the hills before we enter, there must be Germans who took refuge there". So, I took the jeep with a native of Martinique, we went on the hills an indeed we could see Germans threading their way in trenches in the hole below. They lifted their helmets to show they were there. So I said to my partner: "Take the machine gun and start firing, then move a bit so that they see we're shooting from everywhere". He fired 4 or 5 shots. He went 10m further, shot again. When the Germans started to notice shots came from everywhere they started to surrender, they stood up in the trenches and they surrendered: we made the officers, the noncommisioned officers and the troop prisoners with the jeep…

The lieutenant said we would attack Wiesingen. I was with the warrant officer class 1 Kuhn and his platoon when they attacked Wiesingen. Wiesingen: all the shutters were closed, and all of a sudden we saw a tank in front of us, I saw a German crossing the street, I said it to the Chief who asked me to question him, and I answered: "It's no use questioning a German, and what if he's not alone…" At the same time, the warrant officer class 1 who was in the turret was shot at point-blank range in the head and he died instantly. And after that, it fired from all directions: the Germans opened the shutters and started firing. We withdrew and waited for the skirmisher to attack the small village.

After that, we went to Baddurheim: same thing… just before we arrived in a small village the name of which I can't remember. Through binoculars we could see three German officers on the hills: I told the lieutenant: "The Germans still are in the small village". The lieutenant said: "Well, we're attacking the small village and you'll see if the Germans are still there or not". The tanks started firing off towards the small village. When our regiment attacked the small village, the American air force came. Instead of firing off at the Germans, they shot as us. They should have recognised we were allies by the badges on the jeeps…

Finally, I had to abandon the jeep. My skirmisher and me hid in a ditch. He got shot in the bottom, so that we went in a brook: we had no guns anymore, nothing… When we arrived near a small bridge, I saw Germans with guns and all, who were looking at us. I didn't have any weapon, I bluffed them and said: "Listen, you're prisoner. Lay down your arms". The ten Germans lay down their arms: we took them since we had nothing left and we made them prisoners and we walked in the brook right down to the regiment's HQ. There we were told: "We're going to take you there, the Germans are prisoner, you go and get the jeep again. So we got the jeep."

The very same night, we attacked Baddurheim (?): It was a semiautonomous city, we didn't run a major risk. But there was a German who cycled into the village at 10 p.m. and I told him: "Listen, you're prisoner". He said: "It's not possible, I want to go home, let me go home". I said: "No, You're prisoner". Finally, there was a German unit around Baddurheim (?). At night, they were told to surrender, or else we would shoot. And the units around surrendered because it was a semiautonomous city.

For us, war ended in Siegmarigen, near the Austrian border, where Marshal Pétain was held prisoner in a castle. On May 8^th: the ceasefire, the armistice. We were happy…

But, as they say, we had good times, we had bad times, and all we want to know and tell young people and those who don't know WW2 (without mentioning the other wars), but WW2 was quite something for us too. We wouldn't like it to happen again and that young people be a bit more conscious of what happened to liberate France. Finally, it's mostly at school that that they should be told about what happened to us, and to those who died for France.