Herleshausen is a town south east of Altefeld. It was right on the border to East Germany. This was a border crossing point. It is located on the Werra river. Our cook, Sgt. Swenk, bought meat at a butcher shop by the train station.
It was to this station and border crossing that the last German prisoners of war that the Russians had, were taken to and released in late 1955. It has been difficult for me to find any information about this historic event. I know it happened because I saw many of the released prisoners in buses on the road at Altefeld. The buses were heading north to I believe it was Braunschweig in the English zone.
I do remember that some reporters covering the event stayed at the Gasthaus in Altefeld the evening before the release. We American soldiers were not welcome in the Gasthaus the evening before the release. I was not there my self, but was told that they were asked to leave and did but not before pouring beer in the light fixtures and other activities that I will not get into.
The Herleshauden Germany web site contains some information. Search through it and enjoy. Herleshausen is located in a wonderful area. Also, Wikipedia has a great amount of information. Take a look at it.
Here are pictures of the train station as it was when I was there. Marie Elena Miglietti put them on Flickr. Once I saw a TV program about a notorious German officer that was released that time. In the program, he walked right under the "Herleshausen" Sign. At that time it was more readable.
I just found a large article about the prisoner release in October 1955. It is in the German language. Even if you cannot read the German language, there are many good pictures to look at.
Here is a nice picture series of the Herleshausen area.
Here is another a nice picture searies of the Herleshausen area.
I had a discussion with Don Shipman about Herleshausen when my wife and I met him in Bethlehem, Pa. He was there before me. He was there temporarily with a detachment of the 332nd and had some fun with the border guards (Russian/German). I ran into one of them myself, in the middle of the Werra River (the border), while out on a German dredge. We talked about the old tower that they used as a guard tower.
New page June 22, 2010