Letter 434

Garzweiler, Sept 28th 1944

Dear Egon!

Its time again to write to you although I have not heard from you for awhile . I am nursing my injury here for a few days , hopefully a week or so with good food and plenty to drink , good Nurses and decent weather. The injury is only a cut on my right upper leg, a small bomb shrapnel from a fighter bomber attack at Rath

Anhoven. We were on a transport from Erkelenz towards a place called Baal, and had just stopped for a rest when out of the blue, several of the Fork tailed Devils appeared with cannons blazing and dropping a few bombs. There was a ditch beside the road not very deep, but it was better than no cover at all. Some bombs dropped in the middle of the road, that had a surface of Basalt Cobblestones, hard as iron , and bits flying like a swarm of bees. One bit hit me just above the knee, and 7 other Comrades were wounded, we had one death, Anselm Ritter , a truck driver died on the spot. Lucky only 2 trucks were hit and it was not the ammo carrier or we would be in hell or Heaven by now. Garzweiler is a quiet nest, nothing doing and a small aid station here , in a few days I suppose to go back to the Company who are somewhere in the Eifel . For now, wishing you more luck than I have and Greetings to you from

Ralf

YES Luck!

From: Corp.Ralf Barczyk FP # 57 395 Res Grenadier Battalion 15

To: Mr.Egon Barczyk Putzig-Wpr. Bahnhof str 58

The “ Fork tailed Devil” was the German expression for the P-38 Lightning Fighter Bomber because of his win fuselage.