One of the places we lived in Germany was Mannheim. Actually, we lived in a suburb of Mannheim called Lampertheim, first. Then later we moved into military housing at Benjamin Franklin Village, near another Mannheim suburb, Kafertal. I was stationed at Coleman Barracks in Sandhofen, another little town near Mannheim, for the first year. Then I was transferred to Turley Barracks right in Mannheim. We were young and the little apartment over the shoe repair shop in Lampertheim was our first home as a married couple. We had a lot of fun there. There was a stagnant backwater channel off the Rhine that was just across the highway from our street. Summer was sultry and humid and mosquito-ridden. We discovered that while mosquitoes had no interest in MamaCharlie, if there was one mosquito in the area at all, I would be bitten at least a dozen times. I hate that sound of a buzzing around your head; then it stops and you know you are getting bit.
GIs aren't supposed to swim in rock quarries. But the rock quarry at Roxheim, about six Klicks across the Rhine, had lifeguards, picnic tables and campsites. So we were there often. The water was emerald green and the sand was hot. It was at Roxheim that we discovered the oddity of modesty, German-style. We watched in amazement as a family set up on the beach. Dad pulled out a blanket and held it up while Mom and the daughters changed into their swimwear. If you were on the blanket side of the operation, you saw the blanket. If you were on the other side...you saw EVERYTHING. But they were shielded by the blanket! A couple of times we went down to the south end of Mannheim to a really extensive beach resort called "Blau Adria" that had camping and boating and everything. All in all, it was a pretty cool way to spend a summer Saturday.
Right across the Rhine from Mannheim is the city of Ludwigshafen. It has one of the largest chemical factories in Europe. So, especially in summer, you were treated to some really different aromas. But on the road from Kafertal to Sandhofen, Highway 44, you pass a huge sawmill facility that had the oddest smell of any place I have ever been. It always smelled like a huge tuna salad sandwich. In fact, the GIs all referred to it as the "tuna fish sandwich factory".
Mannheim is a transportation hub. Railyards, riverport, and truck terminals. It took a lot of pounding during WWII. It was allocated 10000 tons of bombs, putting it in the top category as a target. But due to the chemicals being produced across the river, Ludwigshafen was allocated 10000 tons, as well. Physical size-wize, the two cities together don't cover as much ground as Dresden or Hamburg or many of the other high priority target cities. But they got twice the bomb allocation as the more famous "targets". Plus, they were "designated dump sites" which meant when bombers couldn't make their assigned target for what ever reason, they could dump their bomb loads on Ludwigsburg Chem-factory or Mannheim Port or rail yards. So they not only got what was theirs, they got a lot of weight intended for others.
Mannheim, unlike some of its neighbors such as Heidelberg or Worms, hasn't got a lot of charming historical buildings. Yeah, they have a neat water tower and the University building is kinda cool, but it is an industrial town with working class folks populating it. Just a busy, smokey, tuna-fish-smellin' place. But it is special to me because it was the place where MamaCharlie and I got our start, had some great times with great friends, got a big dog, made a great kid, and learned to be real people.