February 22, 2021
Imagine Rolling Your Own Cigarette In Ice-cold Winter Air
The men of the 317th Infantry Regiment spent the final years of World War II fighting through some of the most intense battles of the war. By January 10, 1945, the Allied troops were pushing forward to contain German forces on the western front. At the same time, the German military was throwing everything against the wall to continue their war machine.
This colorized photo shows the exhaustion of war and the way in which a simple pleasure becomes all that much more necessary after days and days of non-stop gunfire. The men who fought in World War II spent years away from their loved ones with only the men in their regiment to keep them company. Every day brought a new danger, and a new possibility for death. In this instance, a hand rolled cigarette is more than just a smoke, it's a beautiful respite from the every day world.
As a society we may not be as hyped on smoking as we once were, but there's still something soothing about this photo of two rifleman taking a smoke break, likely their first in a long time, in the desolate ruins of what was recently a battlefield. The looks on their faces, the way their bodies are coiled and waiting for a set of orders to come through. You and I may not have been in their position but we all know that feeling of relief that comes with taking a break no matter how small it may be.
Taking a look at this photo in its original coloring and in black and white shows just how powerful it is to see the past as if it's something that we can experience. The military green, the off-white of the cigarette paper, it all serves to put us right in the moment.
Tens of thousands of American soldiers lost their lives by January 1945
In the last year of the war, the German military was expending the last of its well trained soldiers in massive fights against the Allies. They were throwing everything against the wall on all fronts and coming up short. In January 1945, 100,000 German soldiers were killed, wounded, and captured by the Allied forces while a similar fate awaited 81,000 American troops. Those lost lives came after weeks of non-stop fighting on the ground and in the skies.
According to Pfc. Michael Bilder, there was a brief, unspoken agreement between the Americans and the Germans, take care of our POWs and we'll take care of yours. But when news came in that Germans were executing American POWs near Bastendorf that sentiment changed. He explained:
After word got out that American POWs had been killed, a number of our guys became a lot less likely to offer quarter to any surrendering Germans, and the enemy quickly picked up on our change of attitude.
