The 20th Armored Division landed in the French port of Le Havre in February 1945. By April, the division was already moving through Belgium into Germany. Later that month, the unit pushed deeper into Bavaria, crossed the Danube, and captured the city of Munich. This happened on April 30, 1945, just a few months after landing on the European continent. The end of the war found this armored division in Austria. Learn more about the story of a World War II hero from Brooklyn who fought in this very division at brooklyn-yes.com.
The 20th Armored Division
Major General Orlando Ward was only active for a few months of the European war, but he saw its beginning and end. Arriving in North Africa in November 1942 with the 1st Armored Division, he was wounded in Tunisia in April and sent back to the United States. Only two years later, he returned to combat as the commanding general of the 20th Armored Division, one of the last American divisions to be deployed to the ongoing fighting in Europe.
When the 20th Division’s commander left the North African front in 1943, the vaunted German Wehrmacht’s Africa Korps was still fighting, and the Allies were still reeling from the blows the Korps had delivered in battles like Kasserine Pass. When he returned, the Africa Korps was gone, and there were very few German units doing anything but retreating quickly or surrendering. It was a contrast any American would appreciate.
It’s worth noting that the 20th Armored Division made its mark long before it was deployed across the ocean to Europe. Thousands of soldiers were trained in its ranks and then sent to Europe, where they were assigned to other combat units. The division itself was ordered to land in Le Havre only in April 1945. At that point, the unit finally got a chance to fight under its own colors. After training in Bussey, it moved through Belgium to Langendernbach, Germany, on April 10. In Marktbreit, the division was attached to the III Corps. From there, the 20th Armored’s path led to the fronts of the Seventh Army in southern Germany. As part of the Allied forces, the tank crews advanced on Munich.
On that journey, the 20th Armored stormed into Salzburg just behind the leading elements of the 3rd Infantry Division and captured a whole host of high-ranking Nazis, including three lieutenant generals, a major general, and Dr. Paul Schmidt, the head of the press office for the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Dr. Schmidt was an especially valuable prisoner, both literally and figuratively. When he was captured, he had a briefcase with 85,000 German marks and 1,000 krone inside. After turning south from Munich to cut off the Germans’ escape routes from the city, which was captured in a few days, the division moved to an area north of Lake Chiemsee and was stationed in Traunstein in June.
Tank Commander
Charles Levy served in this very division. Under the command of Major General Orlando Ward, he rose to the rank of tank commander. Charlie was born on May 18, 1919, to Charles and Sarah Levy. He spent his entire childhood in Brooklyn, although he was born in a town 45 kilometers from New York City. He was raised by his mother, as his father died before he was born. She later remarried. The streets of the large housing complex where he lived in Brooklyn had a huge influence on shaping his worldview. Since Charlie’s deceased father had emigrated to the United States from England, the boy was a second-generation American.
Charlie grew up in a Jewish neighborhood, and although he wasn’t a particularly religious child, the Jewish community had a strong influence on his upbringing; he spoke Yiddish, for example. But that didn’t mean that young Charlie didn’t encounter other cultures present in Brooklyn at the time, such as Italian and Irish. Reading was a favorite pastime for the boy and later, the teenager. He had hundreds of books at home that he would reread. He dreamed of being a writer, though the realities of life led him to completely different pursuits. For instance, in his youth, Charlie worked as a textile salesman for a man named Morris Shanthal, a German immigrant who made women’s hats. Then World War II began. Charles Levy was drafted on November 30, 1942, and a week later, on December 7, he began active military service.
The Liberation of Dachau
Then came his service in the 20th Armored Division, a U.S. Army unit. Despite having no prior military experience, Charlie was able to rise to the rank of sergeant and became a tank commander. While in the 20th Armored Division, Charlie did not serve in the infantry, so he didn’t witness many battles firsthand, but the division he served in is remembered as an incredibly important combat unit of the U.S. Army. It is known, for example, that Charlie and his unit were among the American soldiers who helped liberate concentration camps at the end of World War II.
After invading Germany and crossing the Danube River, Charlie, as part of the 20th Armored Division’s artillery battalion, took control of Munich. The 20th Division’s most powerful work was done on April 29, the day before the capture of Munich, when American soldiers participated in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp, located northwest of the city. While liberating the concentration camp, the soldiers witnessed the horrific torture and abuse inflicted by the Nazis. In Dachau, Charles Levy and his comrades saw half-dead “ghosts”—former prisoners—and piles of skeletons and mutilated corpses. These sights were not for the faint of heart. The sheer number of victims of Nazi cruelty shocked the soldiers who encountered it at Dachau. Even battle-hardened war veterans were horrified by what they saw. What’s more, the Americans caught Dachau in the midst of its devilish, deadly work. For Charles Levy, as a Jew, what he saw was even more terrifying. Without a doubt, these brutal scenes affected him for the rest of his life.
For many of the survivors at Dachau, the soldiers of the 20th Armored Division were the first friendly faces they had seen in years, after being confined there in inhuman conditions for most of the war, suffering abuse. Thanks to the brave and determined actions of the “Armored Raiders”—the unofficial nickname given to the 20th Armored Division—these people were liberated and given hope for rescue and survival.
Life After Victory
When the Allies won in Europe, Charlie Levy and the rest of his unit could enjoy their time there for a while, visiting historical sites and landmarks—for example, the Eiffel Tower in Paris or Neuschwanstein Castle outside Munich. After returning home to Brooklyn in 1945, Charlie started selling insurance. He later met his future wife, Gladys Sizler, on a blind date and married her on December 12, 1953.
Charles Levy is remembered by his family as a man who fought in one of the most brutal and bloody wars of the 20th century. For his service during World War II, he was awarded several medals.
Sources:
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-20th-armored-division
https://www.armydivs.com/20th-armored-division
https://www.morethanaheadstone.org/all-stories/a-jewish-hero-of-wwii