We remained here in the barn today because the road ahead of us is crowed with Kriegies who left Sagan before us. I slept intermittently from 6 pm last night until 10 am this morning--awakening only when cramped limbs cried out louder than usual. It was necessary for us to sleep in 14s, with our feet between the knees of the fellow facing us. That's how much sleeping room we have here.

My shoes were frozen this morning--but I have a pretty good pair, luckily. My feet were completely wet last night and I suffered with chill blaines all night long. Somewhere along the line I've lost all the sox I had, except for the 2 pair I'm wearing. Some of the fellows are wearing rags around their feet because their shoes have broken apart. More crackers and prunes today, and still no Goon food. Today three of us bargained for a sled from a civilian, and are going to use it together.

Muskau, Germany, Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 31, 1945

Last night we slept commparatively well--because of over-exhaustion. We were able to stretch out by overlapping our blankets with three other lads so that our feet came up past their knees--and vice versa.

Today we marched 34 kilometers. The cold weather broke and the temperature rose to about 35 degrees, consequently the sled didn't work too well. The three of us took turns pulling it--2 kilometers on and 4 off. The sled weighs approximately 120 lbs. Tonight I'm bleary eyed and can't think rationally. We're housed (2000) of us in a pottery factory. It's quite warm, and we have lights on, so it's not too bad--except for the clay dust which is all over everything.

My shoes and sox are completely wet through from today's march, but as yet, thank God, I haven't gotten any blisters. We were told that four of our men from the West Camp died of exposure the first night they were away from Sagan--they slept in the snow because there were no facilities in the area for housing them. The Goon guards have been quite decent, and as liberal as possible. The civilians have given us water and hot coffee when they could. One old man about 80 years old stood in the street while we marching through Briebus--he was passing out hot water from a bucket and kept repeating over and over again: "The good God take care of you boys."

Muskau, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 1, 1945

Today we remained in the pottery factory. If they had marched us this morning I'm afraid we'd have lost several of the lads. Many of them have fevers and others have large blisters and chill blaines on their feet that they can't even put on their shoes. This morning when I awoke I was more tired and stiffer than I"ve ever been in my life. Last night the Goons finally came through with rations for us--1/5 of a loaf of bread per man. This is the first Goon food we've received in 5 days.

Later--We went around to all the electric motors here in the factory and took the grease from the bearing boxes for our shoes. Now they won't be quite so damp inside (I hope). This evening we received 1/4 loaf of bread, 1/2 lb of margarine, and 2 tablespoons of soup per man.

Muskau, Germany, Friday evening, Feb. 2, 1945

We're still in the pottery factory, and as a result the morale is much higher than here-to-for. The sick have been taken care, and we've all taken advantage of the much needed rest. The Goons gave us 1/2 lb. margarine and 1/2 a cup of burned barley soup per man. We now have more margarine than bread!!

Rumor says thar we're to march 20 kilometers tomorrow--the Eagle Squadron seems to think this rumor is authentic. We are certainly fortunate to have the General with us. Our Center Compound has suffered less and has beeen treated better than any of the other Compounds. The war news has been excellent the past few days--this, more than any other one thing has kept our morale up.