Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Canada's forces in WW 2

When I was stationed in Germany in the 1970s - then West Germany - there were a lot of Canadian veterans in their 50s and 60s visiting Europe. We had the chance to spend time with some, their German counterparts and veterans from other European countries. In my experience, most were ordinary men who shared some bad times. I lived in Hugelsheim which was on the Rhine River across from Alsace, France.

If you can imagine the war at your front door, the memories were still fresh in the minds of the people who lived there. It was barely 30 years after WWII. Unlike what you hear, the locals talked about the war and their memories, both good and bad. They did not keep it to themselves.

When I was posted to 4 Wing, Germany, there was a memorial marker and some graves located a short distance from the back gate that led to the village of Schiftung. I got there in 1979, shortly after a new memorial to these soldiers was erected near the road.
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This was on the memorial marker.

Gedenkstein für 31 deutsche Soldaten im Söllinger Wald zwischen Flughafen und dem Ort Schiftung nahe der Gemarkungsgrenze. Die Soldaten fielen bei Kampfhandlungen im Elsass am 19. Januar 1945 und wurden zunächst hier beigesetzt. Einzelne Tote wurden später in ihre Heimatorte umgebettet. 1976 errichteten überlebende Kameraden den Gedenkstein.

Translated - Memorial for 31 German soldiers in Sollingen Forest between the airport (Cdn Forces Base Baden - 4 Wing, Steve) and Schiftung (a nearby village, Steve). The soldiers were killed in combat in Alsace on 19 Jan, 1945. They were initially buried here. Later, several were reburied in their hometowns. In 1976, friends who survived put up this memorial.

Alsace was across the Rhine from the base.