| The Battle of Jebsheim- From a French Point of View. |
| A few months ago, I obtained a copy of the wartime history of Jebsheim, France and in particular the villagers' account of what happened during the Battle of Jebsheim from 24 January to 2 February 1945. As most of you know, the 254th Infantry Regiment was the primary American Force during that battle and the accounts of the battle from an American point-of-view have been well documented and in fact are contained in the 254th Infantry Regiment Pages of this Web Site. I thought it would be interesting to those of you who have participated in combat, to know what goes on with the civilians who are caught in the middle of a terrible and deadly battle. So I have taken the liberty of reprinting in these pages an English language version of the accounts of The Battle of Jebsheim from the pens and photos of the citizens of Jebsheim, France. Take the time to read it, I think you will find it interesting, particularly if you were in the battle as I was. As you read these accounts, keep in mind that these are eye witnesses to a battle underway right in their own backyards. You will see some favoritism toward the French soldiers, but that is to be expected since these were soldiers from their homeland; soldiers liberating them after 4 1/2 years of Nazi oppression. Although the French version of these accounts have photos included, I do not now have the photos, but will add them as they become available. So, sit back and go back over 54 years to Jebsheim France. |
| THE BATTLE OF JEBSHEIM |
| PREFACE This work does not pretend to be complete. Surely everything has not been said, notably concerning the military operations. Many important facts have never been known, errors of geography and times are always possible. Due to the great numbers slaughtered in battle, many of those who might have been witness to the most heroic actions did not live to narrate these events. There were many units that deserve remembrance for their bravery or their sacrifices whose accounts have not come down to us. ( This is notably the case with the American 254th Infantry Regiment.) The perspective of our German adversaries on the different phases of the battle would have been useful. Unfortunately nothing of great interest has been sent to us. It is true that an army in flight is never very loquacious and, it must be said, few of their combatants at Jebsheim returned to the homeland. Before talking about the military operations of 1945, we must first relate briefly the temporary evacuation of the village in 1940 and the destruction that took place at this period. We must do so if only to explain the mistake made by the Allied troops on the evening of January 27, 1945 when they announced the taking of Jebsheim. The "neighboring village" they spoke of was actually the center and southern part of Jebsheim, which had been cut off from the rest of the village by a no-man's land, the result of German artillery in 1940. After plans for publication of this work had already been made, it happened that in the summer of 1982, some residents of Jebsheim were watching a television account of the murderous combats in Beirut. A paratrooper who, wishing to stress the severity of the fighting over there, said twice: "As it was at Jebsheim." This caused remembrance among those who understood the reference and created many questions from among those who did not know. This work intends to answer those questions. Without pretending to be an irrefutable historical document, this work constitutes for the population of Jebsheim a written memory of that dark period and a document for future generations who have the right, the duty even, to know the fundamental role played by the battle of Jebsheim in the hard fighting of the Pocket of Colmar; to know the glorious deeds and the enormous sacrifices on the part of the Allied troops and to know about the painful life of the inhabitants of Jebsheim who survived that hell. Yes, indeed, "As it was at Jebsheim" FOREWORD (NOTE: THESE ACCOUNTS WERE WRITTEN SOMETIME IN 1984, AGES SHOWN, EXCEPT WHERE INDICATED OTHERWISE, ARE AGES AT TIME OF WRITING THE ACCOUNTS.) More than 40 years have passed since the events of January 1945. Many of those who lived this tragedy are no longer alive and time has erased many memories and the precision of facts to be told has suffered as well. But on the other hand, time has also healed wounds, appeased hatred, rebuilt a village that really needed rebuilding and given back to its inhabitants the taste of work and hope. Today, now that former enemies have shaken hands, and everywhere people speak of the slow movement towards a fraternal Europe, this work does not want to reawaken hatreds nor arouse ideas of vengeance. It has not been written therefore in the same spirit as if it had been conceived in 1946 or 1950. If the military operations have often been related on the occasions of commemorative holidays and by newspaper articles, what has never been told; what must not be forgotten, is how the civilian population spent these dark days of January 1945. Life in the cellars, stables, and bunkers, while the battle was raging; the mad flight from houses on fire towards other places of refuge that were being bombarded in turn; the struggle against hunger, cold, the lack of hygiene: finally the contact with soldiers who, depending on the attack or counteroffensive, might speak German, American, French and Alsatian; soldiers there to protect, bring aid, or perhaps threaten, who considered civilians as enemies or even at times as spies! RELATIONS BETWEEN CIVILIANS AND SOLDIERS First Observation: Considering the large number of soldiers killed or wounded and the tremendous damage done to buildings in the village, it is a miracle that there were not more civilian casualties during those tragic days! At the end of January 1945, there were more than 600 inhabitants hiding in cellars and stables in Jebsheim. (Webmaster's Note: All the time I was in Jebsheim, about 4 or 5 days I don't recall seeing one civilian). To those, we must add the refugees from Ostheim and Illhaeusern who had fled the combat zones near them. In fact, the Allied offensive had stopped in the autumn of 1944 at the Ill and Fecht Rivers and more than 100 civilians living east of the Fecht at Ostheim and east of the Ill at Illhaeusern had been evacuated to Jebsheim where they were staying with friends and relatives. Often changing places after a bombardment, leaving one safe place for another after a fire or a breach had been opened by shelling, the civilians regrouped little by little (like a herd of cattle in danger) in the most solid buildings in the village. Some were in groups of more than 20, while others were in groups of more than 40 as is shown by various accounts we have. Windows and vulnerable spots were fortified with planks, beams, sacks of grain, manure....Provisions and hygiene were very limited. Even the combatants had not realized, as they advanced through the village that there were many civilians, hiding throughout the area; thus the soldiers were astonished when having surrounded a building and gotten down on their knees, their fingers on the trigger, to see dozens of civilians come out with their hands in the air! |
| For those of us with failing eyesight, a larger print version can be seen by clicking HERE |