Dead and Wounded

At 13:00, truck 107 left Ravensbrück with cavalry captain Ankarkrona and Obersturmführer Danziger, as well as a young German woman, who were to accompany the vehicle to Lübeck. Additionally, the luggage of the Swedish family was carried. The Swedish man, his wife, and mother-in-law had themselves traveled with the bus column. Along the entire route, traces were visible of the feared "Tiefflieger" that had been active along the road. Particularly after Schwerin, destroyed vehicles were scattered closely together, some still burning.

A few miles west of Schwerin, we first came across one of the Swiss trucks in a ditch to the left of the road, and to the right, one of the 3rd platoon’s trucks, number 104, had been knocked completely off the road. The cab was riddled with bullets and splattered with blood and brain matter. From two German soldiers “guarding” the vehicle, we learned that the Swiss column, led by a lieutenant between 12:00 and 13:00 that same day, had been fired upon. They had stopped to take cover and, when the planes left, resumed driving. Just as the driver started the engine, the planes returned and unleashed a deadly volley. We had no idea who had been in the vehicle, but the German described the driver as a very young, fair-haired man.

It later emerged that the lieutenant in question was Lieutenant Hallqvist, and the driver was Erik Ringman. A French woman had been with them. Ringman and the woman had been hit in the head and killed instantly, while Lieutenant Hallqvist had suffered life-threatening head wounds. The truck was now completely plundered, practically everything stolen. Nevertheless, we continued toward Lübeck—maintaining heightened aerial vigilance—and arrived at 19:30 at the Swedish Legation in Lübeck, where the incident was reported. That night we slept at the Swedish Church in Lübeck.