Bill Kongable, a 97-year-old WWII veteran from the 89th Infantry Division, shares his harrowing experiences, including the liberation of Ohrdruf concentration camp and a brutal night crossing of the Rhine River. He witnessed a mass grave of approximately 3,000 emaciated bodies at Ohrdruf and describes a shed filled with bodies stacked like logs and an open bonfire pit for cremations. Kongable recounts the casualty-heavy Rhine crossing where his anti-tank company provided cover fire amidst intense German resistance. He concludes with life advice, urging future generations to be wary of politicians and to study history to avoid past mistakes, expressing concern for the future of democracy.
Bill Kongable, a WWII combat veteran of the 89th Division Anti-Tank Unit, liberator of Ohrdruf concentration camp.
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Introduction: Bill Kongable's Service and Initial Reflections [00:01:02]
Bill Kongable, 97 years old, served in World War II with the 89th Infantry Division, 354th Regiment, Anti-Tank Company.
Bill Kongable, a WWII combat veteran of the 89th Division Anti-Tank Unit, liberator of Ohrdruf concentration camp.
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Bill Kongable's military medals and Combat Infantryman Badge.
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The 89th Infantry Division patch, worn by Bill Kongable.
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The most overpowering sensation he recalls from the mass grave at Ohrdruf was the smell of dead bodies, a scent he describes as unforgettable.
He strongly refutes Holocaust denial, stating he witnessed its effects firsthand.
He began his military service shortly after graduating high school at 18, undergoing infantry basic training at Camp Fannin, Texas, before joining his division in North Carolina.
His anti-tank company was equipped with 57mm rifles, described as having a heavy projectile with depleted uranium, capable of melting tank armor on impact.
The Liberation of Ohrdruf Concentration Camp [00:01:21]
A patrol from Kongable's division liberated Ohrdruf in April 1945, which was the first concentration camp liberated by the Allies on the Western Front.
Kongable's platoon passed by a mass grave containing an estimated 3,000 naked, emaciated "skin and bones" bodies, haphazardly thrown into a large open pit.
German civilians, supervised by American GIs, were forced to dig individual graves and move the decomposing bodies, with flesh often sliding off the bones.
He notes that in other places with even larger numbers of bodies, bulldozers were used to cover them.
Ohrdruf was a slave labor camp where men were used to excavate caverns in the mountains.
These caverns were intended by the Germans for underground factories, hangers, and barns for tanks to protect them from Allied bombers.
Kongable believes the prisoners, primarily men, were starved and worked to death, explaining their extremely emaciated state where heads and joints appeared disproportionately large.
His anti-tank company was positioned on a bluff on the American side to provide cover fire for the crossing infantry.
The first company crossed without incident, but when the second company began, German forces opened fire.
The Germans had strategically placed machine guns and 20mm anti-aircraft guns in culverts below the road beside the river, creating a "perfect crisscross pattern" of fire at water level.
One company reportedly suffered 85% casualties (dead and wounded) during the crossing.
Kongable, as a loader for the anti-tank gun, described the overwhelming noise and confusion of the battle, but focused on his role of rapidly loading the non-explosive, heavy uranium-tipped projectiles.
He vividly remembers hearing the screams of the soldiers on the river amidst the intense gunfire.
He notes that infantry soldiers are perpetually cold, have wet feet, poor rations, and may go a month without bathing.
He contrasts the ground combat experience with that of Air Force "flyboys," who infantrymen perceived as having an easier life, a perception quickly dispelled by witnessing a heavily damaged B-24 bomber crash.
