[The following takes place as the American paratroopers in Easy Company first entered the German city of Cologne. Cologne was one of the most heavily bombed cities in Germany during the war.]
Every window was shattered, every church had been hit, every side street was blocked with rubble. The magnificent cathedral in the center of town had been damaged but had survived. The giant statue of Bismarck on a horse was still standing, but Bismarck’s sword, pointing toward France, had been cut off by flying shrapnel.
A group of Easy men wandered to the Rhine, where they began pointing and laughing at the grotesque ruins of the Hängebrücke, or suspension bridge. An elderly German couple stood beside them. To the shame of the Americans, the Germans began to cry and shake their heads. All their beautiful bridges had been twisted and mangled, and here were American boys laughing.
Source:
Ambrose, Stephen Edward. “Getting to Know the Enemy.” Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2004. 258. Print.
Further Reading:
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg / Otto von Bismarck
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