"I recall a fellow grabbed machine gunner Sloan's morsel of cheese and swallowed it quickly before we were aware of what happened," Jack Nickell wrote in a letter to fellow ex-prisoner of war Glenn Schmidt. "I recall that court-martial. They found the thief guilty and he was given his choice - to man the honey bucket until we were liberated or be put to death." Nickell and Schmidt were POWs at Stalag IX-B, one of the worst of the Nazi prison camps, after being captured in the French village of Hatten during the Germans' Operation North Wind. This is a rare firsthand account of the battle of Hatten from three members of the 242nd Regiment of the 42nd "Rainbow" Infantry Division.