Purple Heart Stretch - Would German Soldiers Peacefully Surrender to an all Black Platoon?

Not all of Caldwood’s encounters with Italian civilians were smooth and easy. On one occasion, he convinced his Lieutenant to allow him and two other soldier volunteers, to escort several starving Italian women to a nearby market in town to buy food.  Unbeknownst to Roy, to reach the market, they had to pass through an area known among the Buffalo Soldiers as “Purple Heart Stretch.” On Purple Heart Stretch you were either killed or seriously wounded. Shortly after they began their journey to the town,  they were spotted by German soldiers who were stationed up in the mountains. 

Undaunted, Caldwood chose to keep moving forward, and the group eventually reached the market—only to find it empty. While walking back   to their outpost location, Caldwood and the women were attacked by German mortars. They ran to shelter behind a broken cement wall. Caldwood listened carefully to the intermittent mortar firings and realized that the Germans were not trying to kill them but instead they were “speaking” to them. The Germans were saying – “we are not going to fight to the death, we instead want to surrender to your Platoon”. Roy came out from behind the wall, he was not fired upon by the Germans. Upon returning back to his outpost, he witnessed the peaceful surrender, to his 2^nd Platoon, of one of the last batches of German soldiers. The next day the Italian Campaign was officially declared over. 

Near the end of the war, Caldwood was involved in another incident involving civilians. An Italian man working as a muleskinner with the 92^nd Reconnaissance Troop informed Caldwood’s lieutenant that local partisans had abducted a young woman and were holding her against her will because she had been “friendly with the Germans.” The muleskinner guided Caldwood, the lieutenant, and several riflemen to the partisans, who ultimately released the young woman after realizing they were outgunned by the American soldiers.