Born on the Wrong Side of the Fence

Bruno Ehlich was 9 years old and in the Hitler Youth when the village he was living in was liberated by the 90th Infantry Division. As American tanks approached the village, all but a few of the SS soldiers fled, and Bruno was tasked with carrying ammunition to a small anti-tank gun. The gun was nicknamed the "Door Knocker" due to its inability to penetrate the tanks' armor. As one shell bounced harmlessly off an approaching tank, Bruno went to get another shell just as the tank fired, demolishing the gun, killing its crew, and wounding Bruno. A tanker grabbed Bruno and asked him where the Germans were, and Bruno directed him to a secret passage in the Leuchtenburg castle where civilians and soldiers were sheltered. Wounded as he was, Bruno was happy to see his village liberated. He would eventually emigrate to Australia and become a sergeant in the Royal Australian Air Force. Blessed with a photographic memory and hoping to find and thank the American tanker who captured him, Bruno committed his memories to paper in this riveting memoir of life as a young boy in the middle of World War II.