- At any rate I told Seatter that I was going out and talk with
one of the A Company guards
- and see what he thought, since the foxhole wasn't big enough for two. I had no more
gotten within
- whispering distance of the two guards when I heard 3 more popping noises. The two guards
- started for a place of possible shelter and so did I. I hit the ground hugging a large
manure pile
- near the shed. The pile was about 6 ft. high by 8 ft. long and 4 ft. wide. I had to
almost forcibly
- prevent myself from running toward the sound of the artillery, thinking that the closer
I got to the
- guns, the better chance I would have of the shells going over my head. My position was
to the
- right of the rabbit shed and as I lay there I could tell by the noise of the shells that
these were
- going to come much closer. These 3 rounds landed within the space of 4 seconds.
- I was lying in a mixture of manure, mud and snow and as the
first round exploded behind
- the shed I could hear the shrapnel going through the shed and striking the barn or
stable part
- of the house. The next round seemed to come right for me as it landed just to the right
of the
- manure pile--between it and the house. I was literally covered with the whole top of the
manure
- pile.
- The third round hit the near corner of the roof of the stable,
making a terrific noise. I could
- smell the nauseating odor of the gunpowder used by the German Army, afterwards referred
to
- as "dead Germans," as I lay there with my ears ringing. As I clung to the
ground, I could hear
- the trickle of particles hitting the roof of the rabbit shed. I knew where there was
another foxhole
- and all I could think of was getting into it. It lay near the .50 cal. machine-gun
position in front of
- and near the extreme right end of the house. In order to get there I had to run across
the face of
- the whole building, and that is exactly what I did. But there was someone in the
hole--Palitz of
- the 1st Platoon. I landed on top of him just as 3 more rounds started on their way.
These landed
- on the house, blasting a large hole in the stable and in the corridor between the stable
and the
- house, killing one cow, and doing much damage to the building. I had just run across the
opening
- not 10 yards from where the rounds landed. We lay, scared, in the foxhole as 3 more
rounds
- came in. These went over the house and landed to the right of it, but beyond the
crossroads.
- One, I learned later, landed in a foxhole, killing a rifleman. After laying there for
about 5 minutes,
- I went back to the rabbit shed and there was Seatter, safely in the foxhole, but the
shed was full
- of shrapnel holes.
- Everyone inside the house had made for the cellar just after the
first 3 rounds came in. Two
- men were wounded. One, in the finger--one of the guards who I had started to talk to.
One, in
- the leg--a fellow who had been sleeping in the corridor. But, Mendez, a Mexican-American
- from A Company had been hit by the last round that landed near the crossroads. It had
hit
- almost squarely in his foxhole. That was the only shelling we got there during the 8
days. The
- reason we later heard was that one of our units was to have marched up the road
and taken the
- road to the extreme right at about 1:00 AM, but at the last minute had canceled the
movement.
- Nov. 19, 1944: The company was ordered back to Corps Reserve,
an assignment we later
- came to dread. We withdrew to the Spider and I slept in my blankets under some
evergreen
- trees in the snow. I had received one package from home but had distributed the contents
among
- my several pockets. I still had my overcoat, too. So far, it wasn't so bad, and we were
going
- back of the lines.
- Nov. 20, 1944: We were taken that morning to an assembly area
where we built fires and
- cooked rations. We were told to get rid of everything that
we didn't want to carry. It began
- to rain around noon and the roads soon became very muddy. As we started out walking in
- two columns, we noticed a Piper Cub (artillery observation plane) bottom-up in a nearby
field.
- We kept walking until dark--and the rain came down. Shortly after dark, we passed
by a
- battery of 105s which opened up just as we drew alongside. The muzzle blasts almost blew
- us off our feet and the sky seemed to light up as bright as day. Around 8:00 PM we
stopped
- to rest and have hot (?) chow brought up to us. By this time I had decided to get rid of
much
- of my excess equipment. While we were waiting for chow, several of us cut down our packs
- in the dark and made suspenders out of them. It was hard to keep track of everyone and
- everything, dispersed as they were and dark as it was among the trees and in the rain.
Finally,
- when the chow did arrive, it was cold. Cold mashed potatoes, cold string beans, cold
roast
- beef, and cold coffee. To top it off, we had burnt cold chocolate pudding with bread.
The
- rain soon diluted everything we ate anyhow.
- Immediately after chow, we unpacked our weapons from the
vehicles. I left all my extra
- equipment, including shaving gear that I had just received in a package, with Bill
Purcell, our
- jeep driver by now. Then we loaded up and took off down the road in the darkness.
I was
- carrying the 45 pound tripod for the machine gun. It wasn't too bad until we approached
the
- Meurthe River. For almost 4 hours we advanced a few yards at a time. I had to sling the
- tripod on my shoulder, take a few steps, then take it down again. One had to stay
close to
- the man in front of him or lose him in the darkness. The problem was that the bridge
over the
- river was blown up. We had to veer to the left, down an embankment, across some railroad
- tracks to a temporary foot bridge (some logs and a hand cable). The rain continued to
come
- down. Saddle up--stop, wait, etc., all over again--4 hours of that. Finally, I got
across the
- foot bridge, with one hand on the rail and the other holding on to the tripod. A
perilous trip
- across the river as the water was rushing by just under foot (we later learned that the
foot
- bridge had washed out about 30 minutes after we crossed over). We walked along the
bank
- of the river, up the embankment, to the main road again. About a half mile further on we
- came to a small town. We crawled into the first barn we came to, pulled the dry hay over
- us and as it was 4:00 in the morning immediately went to sleep.
- Nov. 21, 1944: --Only to have to get up at 5:00 AM. It was very
hard getting up that
- morning, the first day of offensive combat. We had been herded into a position of
relieving
- a unit of the 3rd Division that had established a bridgehead and there we were in
no-man's
- land with nothing to do but go on. We had been soaking wet, having stood in the rain for
- about 16 hours, so we were pleasantly warm when we emerged from the hay. And very
- hungry--but there was nothing to eat.
- We organized as best we could and together with C Company
started two columns
- cross-country out of town. Our objective, the high ground east of St. Die, inside of
three
- days. We filed up the street and climbed through a fence and across an open field. The
- two columns were separated by about 35 yards and each man had about a 10 yard interval.
- I had just entered the first field and was following an old fence line when one mortar
round
- exploded between two men on the column to my left. Everyone hit the ground and
- soon there was a cry for "Medic" (mortar rounds make no warning noise; the
only evidence
- is the explosion upon contact with something firm). Maurice Plourd, our Medic, was
- hesitating about going forward but soon another round landed with a loud explosion and
- much smoke very near another man in the same column, and only after we had moved
- about 20 yards. Everyone hit the ground again, but the head of the column kept moving so
- the followers had to keep up. I was running with the tripod on my back and when I went
- past two wounded men, I could hear one of the Medics say that one was hit pretty
badly in
- the stomach and the other was hit slightly in the leg. The action was over for those two
- and several of us expressed our willingness to trade places with them.
- We continued on, winding our way up and down the hills and
valleys. We went
- comparatively slow because as yet we had not contacted the enemy. I soon ate the K
ration
- that was issued for noon. Several times we had to lie low in order for our artillery to
throw a
- few rounds in a wooded area ahead of us. Finally, about 2:00 that afternoon we
came to a
- rise overlooking a small villager near the river. Our riflemen fired a few rounds into
the town
- and only two Germans could be seen running out. We walked through the town and
- proceeded to climb the steep, cone-shaped hill directly behind it. About two-thirds of
the way
- up, a small road wound around it. There, rifle fire held us up. The enemy commanded the
- heights and kept us from advancing.
- There I saw my first action. I was told to set up my machine
gun in the road and fire
- indirectly over the rise into a group of evergreen trees, keeping a steady rate of fire.
I fired
- about one and a half belts of ammunition, which probably did not cause any harm other
than
- to scare the several German soldiers lying in holes among the trees. The bullets were
glancing
- off the trees and rocks at a tremendous rate. Everyone seemed to be firing at
once. Never
- again was I to hear so much American small arms fire at one time--we were always short
- of ammunition later on. Cease fire was called out and the riflemen moved forward.
- The top of the hill was flat with a small open meadow on one
side with a thickly wooded
- section on the other side running down to the base of it. The riflemen were advancing up
- a fairly steep slope, running with M-1s leveled. They were following trails because of
the
- thick underbrush. The first rifleman flushed a young German soldier out of a foxhole
near
- the trail and as he was standing with his hands raised, the rifleman walked toward him
to
- search him for weapons. The German was very young, about 16, dressed in the German
- uniform with overcoat and cap. Several of the riflemen were motioning him to come on
- down the trail and apparently he thought that since he was captured and everyone was
- trying to talk to him, he would lower his hands. This was unfortunate, since he had a
potato
- masher, a German hand grenade with a long wooden handle for throwing, resembling a
- potato masher, on his belt. The second rifleman didn't give him a chance; two quick
shots
- in the stomach and he fell to the ground to die within a few seconds. He was dead when
- I passed him about 30 seconds later.
- The riflemen were advancing with rifles firing--a tremendous
waste of ammunition, but as
- there were no targets, the method was very effective. Capt. Neely, C Company Commander,
- was in charge of operations. We were going to make one last effort to storm the mountain
- top before dark. We could hear a burp gun spitting every so often and we wanted to hunt
- it out before it got dark. C Company was given the orders to cut loose with everything
and
- storm the last level. There was very little opposition; occasionally a round or two from
enemy
- artillery would whistle through the trees. The enemy must have sensed what we were
- attempting because 6 of them surrendered before we went over the top. Then we jumped off
- with very good success. The riflemen quickly cleared the area, except for the wooded
section.
- There was a log dugout with a machine gun blocking them. I was given the mission
to either
- silence the gun or keep it occupied while riflemen could sneak around and throw a
grenade
- in. I hoisted my tripod and with Hudson following with the gun, ran across the open
space into
- a ditch just inside the woods. There, I set up and lined up the sights on the dugout.
Everyone
- took cover and just as soon as the riflemen were ready I opened fire, firing in short
bursts
- for about two minutes. Two grenades went off but no one was in there. The enemy
had
- escaped before we had surrounded them. By that time it was dark and I had lost the
- water hose to the gun. (The .30 cal water-cooled machine gun is complicated. It is
slow firing
- and takes many men just to get it operating. The first gunner carries the 45 pound
tripod; the
- second gunner carries the gun proper, which has water in the water jacket, and a can of
- ammunition; the third gunner carries a two gallon can of water, a water hose and an
ammunition
- can. The purpose of the water is to keep the barrel cool during firing and allow the
steam to
- condense back into water.) Probably losing the hose in the dark was the
best thing that
- happened, as we soon threw away the water can and never fired the gun long enough at one
- time to get it too hot, after that.
- We were led to the far side of the plateau and were told to dig
holes in preparation for
- a counterattack in the morning. It was very dark but we scraped at the rocks and dirt
trying
- to dig a gun emplacement. We were sleepy and hungry and long before we had a suitable
hole,
- we decided to crawl in, cover ourselves with branches and go to sleep. Carroll, Hudson
and
- I crawled into the hole, but as we had no watch among us, and as we were so tired, we
- immediately went to sleep, without thinking of setting up a guard. Even so, I
awoke quite
- early; we were wedged in so tightly and my shoe-paks were resting on the trail leg of
the
- machine gun--my feet were freezing because of the conduction of cold through the metal
- to my feet.
|