On that ill-fated autumn night, a German patrol grappled its way towards the American line in an orchard. One of the German soldiers tripped over a taut tripwire, upon which two light signals kicked in, sending the patrol into hellish flames. The result was outright carnage, with all but one of the 30 soldiers mown down with machine-gun fire.

Moments later, darkness enveloped the bloody scene. Only a voice still sounded, pleading in English, with a German accent: "I am a soldier, you are soldiers.... please help me."

Bill Call and his sergeant went over and dragged the badly wounded German to their own position in the orchard, placing him with his back against the trunk of an apple tree. The dying German talked to the Americans for another hour and a half, about home and how he had been a professor before the war. "I was so sorry to see the man die" Call later said.

In 2012 a panel was erected to commemorate the story and take a step towards reconciliation.