Hidden Attack

Heroes Remember

Hidden Attack

Transcript

There was still resistance in there, and even after we got in there we had to, like shake, get them out of the houses and stuff or cellars where they were. Or up in the church steeples, the snipers would get up in the church steeples then fire at us like, because they had lots of view from the... Try and destroy the church steeples, the tanks would try and do that with their guns. Interviewer: So how did you get them out of the houses? We just had to break in the house, or throw grenades through the windows, or break in and, and get them like with our weapons you know. Interviewer: And what about the basement, how did you get them out of the basement Well the same thing, like a basement or a dugout you'd toss a grenade in. If they didn't come out to surrender you'd, you'd, if you knew they were there, or you'd yell at them, "Hände auf! Come and surrender!" Hände auf means hands up. Of course we'd curse, we'd use some bad words like Schweinhund and all this stuff like we got to know quite a few of the words. And, but we did get into one village one night, we expected it to be full of Germans. We got in there and we didn't meet no resistance, so we got up on the second floor of the main street, it was just a little village, and well I don't know what would compare with, was a little bit smaller than Whitehorse, like almost call it a village anyway. We got up in there and we were waiting, like we were going to go out like, into the houses at daylight you know, to see that they were clear. And at day light we look out the window there and down the road comes the German army marching in threes, with half tracks. Like there would be a bunch of soldiers and then half tracks and more soldiers. I bet there was two or three hundred of these. But we were on both sides of the street, we had our machine guns, like our other buddies was on the other side, had another company from the regiment, we were on this one side and we opened fire. We call all them, they didn't even know we were there. Of course that was a butcher though, it was kind of...but it was war and if we let them go they were gonna maybe get us later on in the day. But the half tracks they started to blow up with their, they had loaded with shells and stuff, ammunition. could see the driver there and that one eye was blasting and he, well I guess the bullet killed him and he, but he fell down and his feet caught in the peddles of the half track and he was, it was dragging him along the ground, you know along the street. But I don't know, you get kind of cruel, like you were shot at the day before and shells are coming down and you get so, yeah you just... I don't, I don't think any of them really got away because we were firing from both sides.

Description

Mr. Buchanan describes how they would get people out of houses using grenades. He also remembers entering one village and hiding on both sides of the street to attack the German Army.

Floyd Buchanan

Mr. Buchanan was born September 7, 1921, and grew up in the prairie provinces of Canada. Military history was not a new concept to Mr. Buchanan as a record of military service is prominent on both sides of his family. In 1939, while visiting Vancouver, news that war had broken out swept the city, and Mr. Buchanan who had just turned 18 enlisted right then and there in the city of Vancouver claiming that it seemed a natural thing to do. Mr. Buchanan started his basic training right away in Vancouver, then in Ontario, and finally in Nova Scotia where his adventure began by boarding a ship in Halifax in the fall of 1940 for England. Mr. Buchanan was given more training while in England, gaining experience as an infantryman, tank driver, and a gunner. His first battles took place in France, and his regiment then moved quickly into Holland where they were a vital part of the Liberation of the Netherlands. After the war Mr. Buchanan went home to his family in Saskatchewan and currently resides in Whitehorse.

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