Englishman Woodrow Wyatt (1918 – 1997) was a major in the Suffolk Regiment serving on the General Staff when he wrote this letter about all that he had seen during the Normandy campaign in 1944. He stressed a few times in this letter that an officer in his position was an infrequent visitor to the front line and he in no way could ever have the same sensibilities as those men who reside at the tip of the spearhead day in and day out. Nonetheless, he does his best to answer the questions that his friends have put to him regarding all the gruesome sights that one is apt to find on battlefields.
“The Germans proper are in two categories: the ordinary conscript and the S.S.
The former look similar to their alien comrades although a little cleaner and more intelligent. They don’t talk much and seem apathetic and relieved to be out of the war after five years of it… The S.S. are very different.”
By the time this appeared in print, Wyatt had been transferred to India. A year later he would be elected to serve in Parliament.
