Bob Kauffman is a friend of mine, he met the Germans

[PA. Dutchman]

THIS THE LINK TO THE ENTIRE STORY. LET ME KNOW if you can not bring it up. I could copy and past it if it is needed.

http://www.3ad.com/

Bob Kauffman is a friend of mine, he met a German who he was direclty fighting against and was invited to the Germans' Units Re-union. This is a portion of the story, the link will tell you how Bob was invited by the German Unit he had been fighting in World War Two It will provide you with more detail including the Allied and German Units in this battle.

THIS IS JUST A PORTION OF THE ON LINE STORY AT THE LINK ABOVE.

Several months later, I received a letter from a German historian, Gunter von der Weiden. Mr. von der Weiden informed me that my name had been submitted to him by Colonel Lovelady because of my interest in the "Stolberg Corridor." Gunter von der Weiden was in the process of writing a history of the fighting in that area since he was a citizen of Stolberg. In the course of our flood of correspondence, we became good friends and he had become simply, Gunter.

Gunter asked me to give my recollections of my participation in the fighting in the offensive of November 16th. I made a tape recording of my experiences and that tape recording became a 32-page transcript.

Enter Hans Zeplien

At the same time that Gunter received my communication, which was translated into German, he also had the diary of Hans Zeplien, who as a 1st LT., commanded the 14th Anti-Tank Company of the 89th Regiment, 12th Volksgrenadier Division. Gunter gave my copy to Hans, and in turn, I received the English translation of the diary of Hans Zeplien. This began an incredible three way communication.

I AM ADDING SOME MORE OF THE STORY, THE LINK TAKES YOU TO BOBS UNIT SITE, THEN YOU COULD LOOK UNDER SOLDIERS MEMORIES FOR ROBERT KAUFFMAN
In the spring of 1990, I had decided to take a trip to Europe, inviting two good friends to join me, Allan Fleming, a near relative and also a TV producer at our area TV channel, and Pete Derr. When we arrived in Germany, my friend Gunter said that he had tried to arrange a meeting between Hans and me, but something developed and the meeting was canceled. Again, in 1993, I planned another trip to Europe with Allan Fleming, with the purpose of video-taping as much of the trip as possible. We would be meeting in the very same setting where we had met before as enemies, the village of Scherpenseel, and the irony was that we met in the house of two of my dear German friends, Martin and Katie Artz. The Artz house was a house we had taken and occupied for a short time when Scherpenseel was taken on November 17th. The room in which we met had had, in 1944, the barrel of a .30 caliber machine gun sticking out of the front window, facing a ridge which was still occupied by the Germans.

The Handshake

Meeting Hans was a real joy. He too is the consummate historian. He came armed with a whole array of documents from every area of his service as both a Non-Commissioned and a Commissioned Officer. We sat at the table for about 45 minutes when Hans simply paused, laid his hand on my arm and very matter of fact-like said, "Robert, I like you." It was truly the beginning of a wonderful friendship. With that auspicious beginning, we spent the remainder of the day touring part of the battlefield, along with his dear wife. We concluded a beautiful, but exhausting day with a delightful dinner in a most charming restaurant.

In the early part of 1994, I received a letter from a Josef Schwagerl who lived near Munich. I was surprised to find an invitation to a reunion of the 12th Volksgrenadier Division to be held in Merode, Germany in the Fall of the year. It was a distinct honor; however, having just been to Europe the previous year, I didn't think it feasible to incur the expense of another trip so soon. Sadly, I had to decline the invitation. However, several weeks later I received a letter from my friend Gunter. In his letter, was also a translated letter from my good friend, Hans. In his letter, Hans made the most astonishing offer. He said that if I would agree to come to the reunion, he would assume all of the expenses of the trip because he wanted me there. It was an offer that I could not decline.
In the fall of 1994, Allan and I flew to Europe and met my friend Hans in Scherpenseel. We then traveled to Merode, the scene of the reunion. Hans saw to it that our accommodations were all first class. I must admit that my first experience with this group of veterans from the 12th Volksgrenadier Division was rather intimidating. I did not know how the individual German veterans felt about my presence, in view of the fierce combat that our two Divisions had participated in. In fact, with all of the combat experience that my friend Hans had in the fighting in Europe, he astonished me when he told me that the fighting in the "Stolberg Corridor," was the fiercest fighting that he had experienced. I was certain that he would have said the fighting in Russia was worse, especially in the Demyansk "Kessel".