A History of the
91st Chemical Mortar Battalion


Dedication

To our comrades who gave that "last full measure of devotion" in the service
of their country – and to the infantry, tank destroyers, tank battalions, combat engineers, and all others "Up Front" with whom we have had the honor to
serve in the field.


Introduction

To the men of the 91st Cml Mortar Bn this book is more than a unit history, it is an autobiography – a rather personal sort of affair. It was written more in deeds than in words by the men who make up this separate battalion, which is, at best, an infinitesimally small part of the present day strength of the United States Army.

Since a unit is a collection of individuals, like an individual it gradually assumes a character and a personality which distinguishes it in particular from other units. The object in compiling this book is to preserve the character of the Battalion, our Battalion, by recording for future nostalgia some of the memories that the men like most to recall when they engage in a typical "bull session." The body of the text is essentially a condensation of the unit's official history together with humorous incidents, anecdotes, and human interest stories, all unexpurgated within bounds and representative of many thousands of war stories that might have been told about Army life in garrison and in combat overseas. The personal episodes are related as nearly as possible in chronological order parallel to the historical data that best provides a comprehensive background for the stories themselves.

No attempt has been made to describe in detail the geography of that section of Europe over which the Battalion traveled and fought, nor to pass judgement on the character and integrity of the people who live there. The reasons for having placed this limitation on the scope of this work will be obvious to those who have ever come in contact with people who have had their countries and homes turned into battle fields. The political and social reverberations which will undoubtedly be brought about as a result of this latest of World Wars have been left to future historians to record.

When the men of letters eventually set about the task of writing the history that was made by the U.S. Army during these years, they will probably make no mention of Tony Giambruno and Alonzo Clifford, to whom the men of C Company are forever indebted for having made a habit of spreading good cheer when the seriousness of a situation placed our spirits at a low ebb. They will never have heard of John "Goodfellow" Ettline who always was ready to make personal sacrifices and give parental counsel to the "kids'" in the outfit. And though they may write generally of the heroism and devotion to duty displayed by many men in the fields, they will probably not make specific reference to the frigid winter days in Luxembourg during the Battle of the Bulge when several of our mortar platoons were firing so rapidly that one crewman from each squad was kept occupied cooling the mortar barrel with snow so that the propelling charges would not ignite before the shells struck the firing pin.

Yet, when the histories are written, it will be incidents such as these that World War II will bring to mind for the men who participated in the fighting. For them, the war was very personal affair, and this is their autobiography.


Our Commander

In honor of Lt. Col. Roy W. Muth, who commanded the 91st Cml Mortar Battalion from it's activation on February 15, 1944 until April 15, 1945 when he was promoted to Chemical Officer of the VIII Corp.

A graduate of the United States Military Academy, he was uncompromising in his demands for discipline and strict compliance to duty; and yet possessed of a faculty for projecting himself into the last file of the last rank with a degree of humility and understanding that only a true leader of men can ever attain. The cooperation and teamwork that was required to develope a spirited and efficient combat team he solicited not by reference to his authority or by threat of reprisal but with dignity, bearing, and military "know-how" that bred respect and inspired confidence.

There were times in training when some of us thought his capacity for detecting seemingly inconsequential errors, and his mania for exacting perfection in routine, were stressed without reason. But after having fought in the field against a resourceful and determined enemy, we can better appreciate how invaluable his coaching was and how seriously he had accepted his responsibilities along with our own best interests.

Combat men aren't addicted to flowery speeches and flamboyant gestures; and we used to look forward to hearing from the Colonel when he would address us in his sincere, direct, and simple way to explain a situation or commend us for a job well done.

Now, in turn, we, the men of the 91st Cml Mortar Battalion would like to take this opportunity to commend you, Sir, and say "thanks" too, for a job that was truly well done.


Activation

The 91st Chemical Battalion (Motorized) was activated 15 February 1944 at Camp Joseph T . Robinson by authority of Ltr 321/57(CWS) (31 December 1943) GNGCT, Army Ground Forces, Subject: Organization of 90th and 91st Chemical Battalion (Motorized) and of General Order No. 23 Hq Fourth United States Army, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The 85th Chemical Battalion (Motorized) was the parent organization although both the 85th and the 86th Battalions furnished cadre men to the new organization. General Order No.1, Hq 91st Cml Bn (Mtz), 15 February, 1944 announced the Assumption Of Command by Lt. Col. Roy W. Muth.

The original Battalion staff was announced in General Order No.2, Hq 91st Cml Bn (MTZ), 16 February 1944.

Major Dale L. Vincent, Exec O
1st Lt. Elmo C. Whitacre, S-1
2nd Lt. Ray C. Christena, S-2
Capt Renato J. Barone, S-3
2nd Lt. John W. Toole, S-4 (Actg)
2nd Lt. Henry B. Szygulski, Pers O
2nd Lt. Paul Leikin, MTO

For the first month after activation a few fillers were received from 4th Army Special Troop units in Camp Robinson, Ark., and Camp Swift, Texas. The first large group of men, 214, to come to the Battalion arrived on 18 March from the AGF Replacement Depot, Fort Meade, Maryland. These men were former Anti-Aircraft personnel who had received seventeen weeks of basic training, at Fort Eustis, Virginia.

While awaiting the arrival of fillers the cadre men were engaged in an intensified AITP (Army Instructors' Training Program) to better qualify them to instruct the new men in the tactics of Chemical Warfare and the 4.2 mortar and also to prepare them for their responsible positions as NCOs.

On the 24th of March 1944 Ltr. 370.5 - GNMC 13, 13th Hq. and Hq. Det. Sp. Tps., Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Ark., Subject: Movement Orders provided the authority for the 91st Cml Bn (Mtz) to move to Camp Swift, Texas on 1 April 1944. The Battalion's organizational equipment was moved by rail to Camp Swift on 3 April. The personnel moved by troop train on 2 April arriving in Camp Swift on 3 April. The Train Commander was Lt. Col. Muth and Capt. Barone was Asst. Train Commander. Upon arrival at Camp Swift the Battalion was attached to 5th Hq. and Hq. Det. Sp. Tps., 4th Army.

Two days after the arrival at Camp Swift 297 men were received as fillers from Hq. AARTC, Fort Eustis, Va. These men had all completed about twelve weeks basic AA training. This was the last large group of men to be received. For the rest of the month of April men arrived from various units in the 4th Army. Small groups were received from the 94th, 99th, 103rd, 75th, and 85th Infantry Divisions and the 13th Armored Division. At the same time men were shipped out to other units until shortly after the 1st of May the Battalion was stabilized at T/O & E strength plus a T/O Cadre strength.

The following story is written about Company C, but it probably gives a picture of the reactions and feelings of all those "displaced" AA trainees. Although an Army career is often punctuated by abrupt and unusual reassignments, their change from the intricate mechanism of AA guns to the unusually simple 4.2 mortars with its three main parts was undoubtedly a body blow. Here is a vivid description of their astonishment and possible doubts concerning their new weapon.

Men's reaction upon learning of assignment
The story of Company C began when a trainload of experienced Coast Artillery – trained replacements were met at the station in Camp Robinson, Arkansas by one of the cadremen of the 86th Cml Mortar Bn. A diminutive sergeant he was with a snap in his voice. He introduced himself as Sgt. Hennessey - later became somewhat affectionately known to the men of the Company as "Sergeant P. J." After having been slightly brow-beaten through basic training and pummelled through a very impersonal processing at a replacement depot, the newly arrived fillers were pleasantly surprised by this new sergeant's easy-going manner and his apparent desire to make the boys feel as though they had at last found a home for themselves in the Army.

As the group marched along at "route step" to their new battalion area, the sergeant was bombarded by a dirth of questions from the new men in ranks who had imagined themselves at their new assignments working in laboratories behind a maze of Bunsen burners and assorted retorts. At that time the sergeant said something about the infantry and about a new chemical mortar being used in close support of the infantry. What the sergeant had to say made no particular impression then, perhaps because the prospects of spending our week-ends in nearby Little Rock loomed bigger in our minds.

Several days later, Cpl. Merkle was to give the new men their first orientation lecture on the 4.2" Cml Mortar M I A I. He appeared with a kiddy cart on which were chained what we thought must surely be the spare parts. To the astonishment of the ex-AA men, who had been trained on bulky and complex remote-control fire direction mechanisms, the Cpl. proceeded to assemble a weapon from the very little he had to work with. He followed his brief dissertation on nomenclature and the types of shells commonly used with a rather gory summation of the unit history of some of the experimental battalions first committed to combat in Sicily. About then, the men began to wonder whether the weekends in Little Rock would be worth it.

None of us knew too much about mortars and especially Whitey DeVaughn. After examining the piece or "pieces" for sometime, he turned and said, "The darn thing's got no breech. What makes it shoot?" There were many others who made technical inquiries about the operation of the weapon but it was Reinmuth who first expressed in words the anxiety that all of us felt inside. "For close support, uh?" he said. "Personally I think this pipeline contraption will require a man to get too damn close." Everybody forced a dirty laugh.


Training

April 10, 1944 to October 2, 1944

The training program was begun on 10 April. This was an Individual Training Program (ITP) which was to train the individual soldier in the basic principals of warfare and in Chemical Mortar practices in particular. During the last half of this program specialists schools were held for communications and IMG personnel in which every man was thoroughly trained to carry out his job in an active theater.

ITP ended on 24 June 1944 and ITP tests were conducted by 5th Hqs. on 27 June. The Battalion received a VS (Very Satisfactory) rating on this test.

On 26 June the Unit Training Program (UTP) was started. This program was to be eleven weeks in length and complete the training requirements for overseas movement. In this eleven weeks of intensive training a great deal of field work and mortar firing was included. Special tests and training programs were included from time to time. On 14 July 3 Officers and 63 EM were sent to Fort Bliss. Texas to attend the AAATC for instruction of the .50 calibre machine gun. On 19 July 10% of the personnel were subjected to the Mustard Sensitivity Test.

Three tests were given on August 3rd, two of them to a small group of men and the other to over 90% of the Battalion. The first was a physical fitness test in which 20% of the Battalion participated. This was a rigorous physical endurance session in which the Battalion was given a VS rating. The next was a Basic Medical Test which was given another VS rating. In the third, a Combat Intelligence Test, the rating was Satisfactory.

For three weeks between the 7-26 August the Battalion carried out a field training program. The first week was spent at Lake Austin, 37 miles Northeast of Camp Swift. During this week much of the daylight time was devoted to swimming and ball games. At night problems in mortar tactics were carried out in the huge hills surrounding the Lake. In all it was a notable week for the men after spending all summer in the heat of the Camp.

After this week of semi-relaxation the Battalion returned to Camp Swift in a 150 mile convoy road march. Upon arriving in Camp the convoy immediately moved out to the field and set up a bivouac area where more mortar problems, both dry run and actual firing problems, took up the next two weeks.

At the end of this two weeks Air Ground Tests wire held. In the first phase the rating was VS and in the last two the Battalion was rated as Excellent.

The first week after the return to garrison was spent in preparing for UTP test which was held on 5 September. This test consisted of a Battalion mortar problem which was given a rating of VS. UTP ended on 9 September. This ended the training for the Battalion which was now ready for overseas duty.

The original movement orders were received on 14 August in Ltr 370.5 (9 Aug. 44) OB-S-E-M, War Department, Subject: Movement Orders, Shipment 9609. The 91st Cml Bn (MTZ) was assigned number 9609-G. The 1st of October was set as the readiness date for movement to the POE. As soon as training was completed packing was begun on an organizational equipment except motor vehicles. This packing was completed and all boxes loaded for shipment by 15 September.

The next two weeks were taken up with packing all equipment which was to accompany the Battalion (TAT). At the same time a physical reconditioning program was instituted for a week. By 27 September all the equipment was packed and the Battalion ready to move.

The call for movement and staging of the Battalion was received in Ltr SPTAB TEM 370.5 (No. 299) -15 Sept. 44, War Department, Subject: Movement Orders, Shipments No. 9609 - B,C,G,K,R,S,T,Y. Shipment 9609 - G was called to arrive at Camp Miles Standish, Taunton, Mass., on 5 October. On the 2nd of October the 91st Cml Bn (MTZ) left Camp Swift PAC Ltr 370.5 GNMC-5-3, 19 Sept. 44, 5th Hq. and Hq. Det. Sp. Tps., Fourth Army, Camp Swift, Texas, Subject: Movement Orders, Shipment 9609 - G. At time of movement the Battalion had a strength of 39 Officers, 1 Warrant Officer, 566 EM.

"Bucking" by definition is the technique of winning recognition when the incentive makes competition exceptionally keen. In any new outfit, when the Table of Organization calls for ratings to be distributed to men who can qualify, "bucking" inevitably ensues. The 91st Mortar Battalion was a new outfit.

In his anxiety to engender a spirit of open competition among his new charges, Capt. Horton one day assembled all his fillers in the day room, shortly after a drive to discover leadership was begun. He asked 12 men to stand up. "Here are your squad leaders. Buck sergeants," he said. He asked the next 18 men to stand. "These are your gunners, computers, and platoon communications chiefs. Buck corporals," he said. When all of his other "prospective non-coms" were standing, the Captain turned to the few dejected sacks who remained in their seats and said in an almost conciliatory tone, "It would be well to remember that in an organization of this kind, every man is a vital part of this integrated and balanced fighting machine we intend to build. Some men are born leaders. Some men can learn leadership. Some men just never do develop the capacity for commanding willful cooperation from their subordinates. For that reason," (and for the reason that the T.O. won't allow it, he might have added) "I can't make all of you non-commissioned officers. But no man who shows initiative will go unrewarded. We will have PFCs." To say that his lecture had an electrifying effect on the privates that made up the majority of his audience, is surely a gross understatement. In the days that followed, beardless boys with tenor-pitched voices suddenly became as loud and as domineering as they had once learned to be reticent under the heel of the demagogue cadre men who had lorded over them at their basic training centers. One bosom buddy would reflect a look of heart-felt chagrin at being ordered about by newly appointed PFCs. who up until that time would probably have sympathized with him in their suppressed mutual contempt for the Army's "caste system."

The approach of a 2nd Lt. would usually provoke some of these "aspirants" to raise their voices in order to make heard a recitation of some choice bit of oratory that they had obviously rehearsed. There were self-styled wits who sought to gain notice in classes by fashioning puns around each and every remark made by an officer regardless of whether the punch lines were timely and appropriate or not. Guys who ordinarily read comic magazines would often infiltrate into the brass-filled orderly rooms to make requests for technical manuals. There was the wolf-like variety of "bucker" who would try to register by crashing social circles or by exploiting human weaknesses. There were some men who would lean over backwards to give the impression that they had no desire to be non-coms, even to the point of threatening with violence any men who would dare to insinuate that they were ambitious. The subtle rivalry continued until the last re-organization took effect, until the men themselves were generally agreed that those who held their assignments were those most qualified to hold them. But probably no man took success with such a note of triumph as did acting-Sgt Whitey DeVaughn when his appointment to PFC was read aloud before the assembled company after retreat one day. First Sgt Don (Whistles) Carbaugh gave the company "At Ease" (as he did almost instinctively every night about that time); and, after going through the customary harangue about how to properly segregate the garbage, he began to read off the names of the men listed for promotion on special orders. Some men accepted the tidings with modest dignity, others tried hard to appear "most" unconcerned; but Whitey made no attempt to restrain his emotions and he spoke for the group when he shouted, "Whee!"

After each man had been more or less permanently assigned and trained to perform an individual mission, the 4.2 mortar began to come into its own. After weeks of crew and specialist training in all phases of mortar practice, the men loaded their questionable "goon gun" into jeeps and set out for that bit of Camp Swift called the Artillery Range. It was to become much too familiar to us in the weeks that followed, but on this particular day it was virgin territory.

Word got around the battalion area that sometime later in the week, the mortar men were going to fire the vaunted "goon gun" for the first time. A drawing was held to decide who should inherit the honor of sending the first shell on its way. We drove out to the artillery range, set up the guns on an azimuth pointing generally toward the center of the impact area, and then fell back far enough behind the gun to be able to observe the burst of the shell. The command was given to "fire." There was a sharp muzzle blast that the crewmen have since learned to turn from and duck under almost involuntarily. The deed was done. Some men who kept their eyes glued to the muzzle of the barrel were surprised to learn that they could follow the flight of the shell with their naked eye until it was high on the crest of its trajectory.

There were many trips to the range after that first one, some to develop the gunner's skill at placing the shells where they would do the most good, some to enable the specialists to learn to weave their functions into the unit's battle operational set up. Only after having used 4.2" mortar in action against an enemy can we fully appreciate the humor in some of the errors we made during that era in our evolution as mortar men when firing the "pipes" was still a novelty and an adventure. Some men in C Company are still convulsed with laughter when reminded of the day General Bartholf stood beside Col. Muth at the OP to watch one mortar crew register their gun on a bush that stood out prominently on the landscape. The crewmen had already begun to develop a healthy respect for their own marksmanship and yet, to their chagrin, they were having a great deal of difficulty in getting on target.

The recoil springs were checked, the sight was calibrated, only propelling charges that were recently removed from water-proofed containers were used, the IMG section was threatened, but still there was no marked improvement. After the "talent scouts" had left the box, obviously none too pleased with the "variety show" the boys had staged for them, someone discovered that an eight-ball had driven the aiming stakes just deep enough into the ground to keep them standing upright. The gunner was using the new M59 sight for the first time and did not know that he could adjust his line of sight without changing elevation by simply making a slight adjustment on the sight scope assembly. As a result, he was aiming on the tops of the stakes, which assumed a new azimuth each time the wind changed direction.

On several tactical problems, the mortars were firing over the kitchen truck and the cry "Rounds Away" spelled the doom of many surprises the bakers were preparing. After a day of heavy firing, the battalion was apt to be called out at dusk to return to the range and dig fire breaks around the perimeter of an impact area after he having set fire to the parched prairie brush. We began to refer to ourselves as a fire fighting detachment of the Post Engineers.

A particularly memorable incident occurred on one of those numerous night problems. A platoon in A Company, commanded by Lt. Sommers ("Empty Suit" to all his battalion associates) was in position in a heavily wooded area. Communications and FDC were in operation but there was some question as to what azimuth the guns should be aligned on. Lt. Sommers was not quite sure himself so he instructed the crewmen to set up the guns in the general direction of the moon. He then strode off to make sure everything else was running smoothly. After three quarters of an hour of intensive digging by the gun crews, the mortars were finally emplaced. Lt. Sommers returned and was deeply annoyed to discover that the guns were not pointing directly at the moon. Of course, the moon had moved in the sky during the elapsed time. The IMG section was nearly stricken with apoplexy.

One of the biggest problems the officers had to contend with was the selection of targets. If there was one tree or one bush that stood alone on open ground and within range, there would invariably be more than one observer who would call fire on that spot. A volley of shells would come raining down. One would score a direct hit. And every crew would automatically compliment themselves for their superior marksmanship. It was just this variety of intermingled conceit, pride, and confidence in themselves that made these crews more than a match for the "superman" when they later took sides against him in the field.

The other phase of training besides the mortar practice included hikes in the Texas sun, classes in all the things that a GI learns before going overseas, numerous parades, inspections, and Army routine.

There were moments of relaxation on week-ends off the post, but very little on duty time. We were too busy getting ready to fight. Then came a surprise. As a start for a three week bivouac, we moved to Lake Austin for that famous week of swimming, eating, and "a minimum of work."

The climax of the battalion's unit training was the trip to the "Lake" where the men were to enjoy a week of "rest and relaxation." We headed for Austin in a jeep convoy one bright morning and, after passing through the outskirts of the city, arrived at our bivouac area on the Colorado River. We pitched pup tents under shady trees along the beach, for purely tactical reasons of course. Our carbines, M-Is, and mortars overshadowed the sign, "No Firearms Allowed."

The training schedule called for three night problems, calisthenics, classes, a hike, subsistence on K rations for two days, light details (like dredging the sea weed from the Colorado River), mortar and motor maintenance, and organized athletics, notwithstanding such other small assignments as would be necessary to prevent the men from becoming bored with nothing to do.

Aside from these slight encroachments on our spare time, the week was primarily our own. The officers told us that we must not take advantage of the Army's generosity in having provided such a delightful bivouac area, so they insisted that no man sleep during sun-up hours, not even after a night problem. The week might not have been especially eventful if someone had not noticed some girls sunning themselves on the opposite shore. The officers found it hard to explain the spontaneous and keen interest displayed by several mortar crewmen in certain fire control instruments - notably those with multi-powered lenses.

In the middle of the week, the men were introduced to Major Thomas "Anzio Joe" Watson who prior to that time had been kept quite occupied with his duties as battalion Plans and Training Officer. He told us some hair raising accounts of his experiences as an observer with the 84th Cml Mortar Bn on the Anzio Beachhead in Italy. A short time after Major Watson made his lecture, an insurance agent came out to the bivouac area to sell lump-sum life insurance and strangely enough he did a rushing business.

Where there's water there's fish and Sgt. Ridosh and Cpl. Leach went after them. Rumor has it that Sgt. J.P. Lewis indulged a little himself, catching two fish over the period of a week. Jack insists that they were not minnows!

About this time the motor pool got very overseas conscious and began to practice amphibious assaults. What looks more like an LCI than a jeep trailer without its wheels? Well, it floated anyway and the motor pool played "Here comes the Marines" all week. It was about this time that some of the men decided to extend invitations to their wives. After all, a vacation is a vacation. So the hill behind us became alive with females who soon learned the intricacies of bivouac, pup tents and all.

We had a beer party that Saturday night which was such a hilarious success that some men went in for a moonlight swim, clothes and all - most of them against their wills. When the battalion returned to camp the following week, the men were looking forwerd to resuming their normal duties, and were thankful too that the Army doesn't make a habit of being unduly generous.


Movement Overseas

The 91st Chemical Bn (Mtz) departed for the staging area, Camp Myles Standish, Mass, on October 2 1944. Lt. Col. Muth was in charge of Train No.1, Major Vincent in charge of Train No.2. The Battalion arrived at the new camp on 5 October 1944. After five days of turning in reports and preparing clothing and equipment for shipment, the Bn departed for the Boston POE on 11 October and embarked for overseas duty aboard the USS Wakefield on the same day.

The next eight days were spent aboard the ship in a smooth crossing of the Atlantic. On 19 October 1944 the ship docked at Liverpool, England. Co. A and Hq. and Hq. Det. departed for Southampton 19 October, embarked for the channel crossing aboard the British troopship H.M.S. Monowai on the 20th and landed on Omaha beach 22 October. Cos. B, C, and D left Liverpool on the 19th of October and embarked for the channel crossing from Southampton aboard the H.M.S. Antenor on the same date, landing on Omaha Beach on the 21st.

From the 22nd of October to the 31st of November the battalion remained in bivouac in Area P of the Valognes Staging Area for the purpose of assembling T.A.T .and organizational equipment. T.A.T. equipment, in part, was located in Rouen on the 13th of November and the missing items requisitioned on the 24th.

In the meantime, a Station List dated 24 October 1944 assigned the 91st to the Third US Army.

On the 27th of November the unit was alerted for POL System Security involving patrol of the gasoline pipeline from Cherbourg to the limit of the Normandy Base Section responsibility.

The battalion took over the security of the POL System on 3rd December. The Bn CP was established in the Chateau de St. Colombe, the companies setting up their CPs along the pipeline.

On the 10th of December the Bn was relieved of its POL System Security assignment and the companies assembled in the Abbe de Blanchlande to prepare to move out to join General Patton's Third Army.

To any soldier who went overseas, the troopship on which he traveled will always be a thing to remember. For most men it was the first ocean voyage, and it was taken under conditions which would have made an impression on a dead man. On a ship traveling in a combat zone, there are other feelings which are fully expressed in the following description of the voyage.

There is an atmosphere aboard a troopship in which the cynic is fortunate, for at least he knows that if death comes, it will come quickly in the crowded, below-water-line troop compartments. One could feel this tension at almost all times in our steel-walled areas which we called home on the former luxury liner, "Wakefield," nee "Manhattan." It was rather well suppressed in the poker games, bull sesion, and literary gatherings over the material which was furnished by the Red Cross. But nevertheless, it was still there, from the time we left the submarine nets of Boston, until we anchored in Liverpool. One thought was uppermost in our minds: suppose a submarine is in the right place at the right time.

On deck, at almost any time of the day, one could find small groups of the 91st observing and expounding on the reliable merits of the dual 40 mms, the 20s and the deck guns. "Good lord, man, this ship could fight off her weight in wild cats. Just look at those guns. I was on the 40s myself at Ft. Eustis. Damn good fun."

But 25,000 tons of ship is a big target, a very big target. All of us knew that. Perhaps, that is why so many of us used to sit on the forward hatch and watch the radar bed-spring continually turning in its position on top of the foremast. The slightest stop or back track in its ordinary course would bring all eyes to the horizon, straining to see what the electrons had already found far beyond. We never saw anything which was in the slightest way out of the ordinary, but the rumors flew thick and fast.

The boat drills, the security regulations about garbage disposal and smoking on deck at night, all these served to show us that this was serious. Remember that most of us had never been on the ocean before, and that the newness of it all, the standup mess hall (2 meals per day) and the sea- sickness added to the tension.

The poker games seemed to grow progressively larger. Down in A Company's section, 1st Sgt. Burke began to have his brainstorms about the Red Cross sweaters, prize fight, and partial pays. B Company's distinguished mess sergeant is reputed to have become a millionaire overnight. D Company's compartment was strangely quiet as the famous whistle was trilled momentarily. Life apparently went on in a more or less normal way.

And yet, few of us were sorry to see the low shore line of England through the early morning greys of the dawn. Our Atlantic crossing, 11-18 October, 1944 was over!


England and the Continent

Landing in England, we began a train trip during which we gathered our sole impressions of that country. Through soot-hazy windows, we discovered the neat green countryside of England and its bombed out cities remaining as a testimony to that fateful summer and winter of 1940-41.

The evening of the 19th of October we climbed out of our railroad coaches to find ourselves in Southampton. There we boarded more ships to cross the English Channel to the continent. We landed in LCIs at Omaha Beach, a code name given to the rocky shores where American doughboys first waded ashore on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Our first impressions of Omaha were ones which began to make us doubt the values of our manual-based training in the United States. For, emerging from the total darkness of the before -dawn period, the French coast seemed to be an ETO Broadway of lights. There were floodlights, colored lights, spotlights, and just plain lights. All in an area which to us, as we arrived, seemed to be the first real combat zone that we had entered. Why then all the blackout driving, pitch black Texas bivouacs, and so forth? So this was what combat areas were like.

A little indignantly, and a little impatiently, we waited to be unloaded. As daylight gradually dawned, we were able to take stock of the grim reality of Omaha Beach. The harbor was full of ships, some riding at anchor like our own, and others just hulks of great ships whose broken frames, shrapnel-scarred superstructures, and sea-washed decks made restless monuments to the struggle some four months previously. Some of these had been scuttled intentionally, of course, to strengthen the sea wall made from the now-famous concrete caisons; but the majority were otherwise, and the manner in which they dotted the harbor made this far too obvious.

Eventually LCTs came alongside to take us ashore and we left our ship through a canvas tube stretched from deck to deck. Some debarked via the much rehearsed cargo-net route. We chugged ashore and landed on a floating dock which ended in the sands of the beach. At the other end of the dock, as we staggered off with our duffle bags we met our first combat men, Air Corps personnel who were to use the same ships we had crossed the Channel on to go home on rotation. They were dirty, tired and jubilant. We were clean, fresh, and downhearted. The contrast was one which impressed us a great deal.

The panorama of the beach was one of tremendous activity, because even at that late a stage in the War, Omaha and Utah beaches were still being used to land men and supplies, while Cherbourg handled oil, gas, and ammunition principally. There were people and vehicles moving about constantly, threading their way through piles of supplies which lay all over the beach, and around mountains of C rations which were undoubtedly the biggest stock of the stuff in the ETO, and perhaps the world. Above this turbulence rose the two-hundred foot hills which cost us so many casualties on D-Day. At this particular time they were green and fresh looking, although dotted with the whites and greys of the Westwall fortifications.

In due time we assembled and started along a trail that slanted up the slopes. We passed very close to a half-destroyed pill-box, which looked very formidable even in that condition. I recall several comments on the apparent strength of the Westwall from some of us, but the actual truth of the matter is that it was nothing at all compared to the fortifications we saw later in the Seigfried line. Nevertheless, to green troops who do not appreciate the basic weaknesses of any line-type of fortification, it is a very awe-inspiring sight to go through one.

As we reached the top of the ridge, we looked out across a small valley at a sight most of us will never forget. For there on the opposite hillside were the neat rows of thousands of crosses and stars which make up a military cemetery. They stood as a grim reminder that this was a war we were entering, not a maneuver or dry-run.

When we reached the crest of the cliff, carrying a full pack and weapon, we sloshed our way through our first French town of St. Laurent, and got to see what was left of part of it. Going on through the town we got our first glimpse of the Normandy countryside and its hedgerows. There were supply dumps all over the land. A few shacks were in evidence of how the boys lived in the rain and mud. They built the sides of the pup tents up with boards about 4 ft. high and used the tent itself as a roof. This allowed them to stand up a little better. We hiked across fields in ankle-to-knee deep mud and slop to reach an apple orchard, our first camp site. We were mud from head to foot, cold and hungry.

After searching the area, we gathered enough wood to start a fire. Spam, jam, coffee, and GI bread were served by mess personnel. After this repast. we pitched tents and sat around trying to dry out and scraping some of the mud off our clothing and equipment. After a very unrestful nigh everyone awoke to find that the sun could shine after all. It did until noon anyway. After that we had a steady drizzle. Mines had not been cleared from the area and all were cautioned not to get off the beaten paths. All complied.

Late that afternoon we all got "March Order" and found six new ¾ ton trucks waiting to haul us to "P" area. All bags and baggage were loaded and we took off. As we rode along, we passed through Carentan, and other French towns, and had our first sight of how badly a town could be flattened by artillery. After about a 25 to 30 km. drive, we arrived outside of Montebourg and entered our designated area where we were destined to stay for several weeks.

Because of the incessant rains, the area soon became churned up by the constant shifting around of men and vehicles until it turned into a sea of mud. We hauled sand from nearby Utah beach in order to make paths through the goo. Cigarettes were like diamonds by this time. Spam and jam and corned beef made up our daily diet. Washington got some mail for us one day and even those of us who didn't receive any were happy anticipating the next mail call.

Lt. Lefler was busy all the time searching for TAT that couldn't be found. We were always hitting the sack and hoping the rain would stop. No money. No cigarettes. No anything. Those were bad days. Then came pay day and our first PX rations. Much bartering ensued – candy for cigarettes. D bars were plentiful, everyone had a good supply. Hobo coffee was made in a gallon can over an open fire at a ratio of one canteen cup of coffee to one gallon of water. It would take the paint off a board if you set the cup down. Socks were boiled in cans over the fire and hung out to dry, provided of course it stopped raining. There were cases of trench foot developed along with aching back and sore joints. Ball games were started, weather permitting.

Then came the rains again in bucketfulls. We had to get off the ground. A detail was sent over to an ordinance outfit to pick up truck platforms. We built shacks. Everyone started to feel a little more comfortable. We played poker each night and craps too. We purchased steaks at the local butchers in Montebourg at for 150 francs and up. They were good. Many bets were made over the coming election. How to pick the football winners were the favorite pastime of Lt. Parker, Courtwright, Peluso and others. The drivers made a convoy to the gay city of Paris. They returned with many stories as to what you could or couldn't do with a D bar. They also found to their amazement that "P" area had been deserted. The whole battalion had moved up for guard duty on the important pipe line. At last we were out of the mud, we hoped. It was still raining in Normandy, even if it was early December.

Cigars: PFC Heimlich was working as one of the company's permanent KPs. Once after the PX rations were distributed, Col. Muth was giving out cigars to some of the officers at the kitchen. Heimlich, feeling the inequality between the ranks and his own need of a weed, went to the colonel and said, "Sir, how about giving me one of those?" He got the cigar but he lost his happy home in the kitchen and was put out in the cold with the rest of the men.

Mustard gas: There was a big explosion one afternoon and T/5 Branning and Sgt. Hanny were sent to investigate. About half an hour later they came back saying that they had mustard gas on their shoes and leggings. They had seen the location of the explosion but they were more concerned about their legs and feet. They must have had their odors confused though, for the next morning Branning was still walking on his feet and Hanny on his knees.


Battle of Ardennes

December 13, 1944 to January 25, 1945

On the 13th of December the Bn. moved out of Abbey de Blanchlande in two serials. The bivouac site for the first night (13th) was Verneuil. The night of the 14th, the first serial bivouacked in a chateau outside of Fere Champenois, the 2nd serial bivouacking in Sezanne.

The Bn. moved out of its bivouac on the morning of the 15th expecting to reach its scheduled stop in Nancy that afternoon. Captain Watson, Bn. S-3, preceeded the convoy into Nancy and there received orders for the Bn. to continue beyond Nancy to the XII Corps area. The Bn. was to billet in the Lorraine village of Pontpierre and await further orders. The Bn. entered the village early that evening.

There were no soldiers in the village. The inhabitants were farmers who spoke both French and German, the latter the common everyday language. The men were billeted in individual homes soon after arriving. There was neither enthusiasm nor hostility on the part of the populace, although the next day the Tricolor flew from the upper stories of the dwellings.

The Bn. was soon alerted for action. Initially Co. D was attached on 19th December to the 35th Infantry Division and in time to the 137th Inf. The mission of the Regiment was to secure the Saar River line by limited objective attacks. Co. D supported this action and on the 19th December had the signal honor of firing the first round for the 91st. The historical report submitted by the company is quoted:

"Today Co. D was the first company of the battalion to go into action. At 1053 the 2nd squad of the 1st platoon under Sgt. Kelley fired the first round of HE. The round was dropped down the barrel by PFC R.G. Holmes. Range 3,400 yards, elevation 1,010. Forward observers supplied by the artillery, with communications being relayed through artillery radio, through 137th Regt. switchboard to artillery switchboard to Co. D switchboard. Target was crossroad in town of Bleismengen, Germany. Seven rounds were used to range in, after which the eight mortars fired up 200 yards, back 100 yards, up 50 yards, and back 50 yards."

Co. C was attached to the 87th Inf. Div. which was on the right flank of the 35th and although it moved into the Division sector in the town of Woelfling the company was never sub-attached and never committed.

The remainder of the Bn. was attached to the 80th Inf. Div. with Co. A attached to the 318th Inf. and Co. B to the 319th Inf. The Division was in Corps reserve and was to be committed to the right flank of the Corps on D plus I and jump off to break the Siegfried Line and capture Homburg. The attack was called off and the companies never committed because of the new German offensive in Belgium and Luxembourg. On December 20th Co. C reverted to Bn. control and rejoined the Bn. in Pontpierre.

On December 22nd the Bn. moved out on Corps order from Lorraine to Luxembourg, accompanying the XII Corps (TUSA) in its shift occasioned by the threat of the mounting German counter-offensive.

Effective upon arrival in Luxembourg on 23 December, Cos. A and B were attached to the 4th Inf. Div. and C and D to the 5th Inf. Div.

The Bn. (Cos. C and D) moved into assembly area in the village of Gonderange. The town was quite fun of reserve Armored and TD elements, and was approximately 7 miles from the front lines.

Co. C proceeded to the town of Asselschwer. Co. D, several hours behind the remainder of the Bn., spent the night (22nd) in the city of Luxembourg and the next day closed in on its assembly area in the village of Eschweiler.

The Corps mission was to push the enemy back and to secure the South and West banks of the Sauer River. Cos. C and D supported the attack of the 5th Div. from the line Fels-Christnach-Consdorf to the River, a distance of approximately five miles. Co. C advanced from Heffingen to North of Beaufort in support of the 11th Infantry Regiment and Co. D advanced from south of Consdorf to Berdorf in support of the 2nd Inf. Regt. On the 29th December, when the 12th Inf. of the 4th Inf. Div. relieved the 2nd Infantry after it had secured the river line, Co. D moved to support of the 10th Inf. north of Eppeldorf on the left flank of the Division. The 5th Division at that time was in position to defend the newly gained ground and Cos. C and D were placed in support of the Outpost line.

December 25th, Christmas day, found Co. A moving out of Gonderange to its assembly area in the town of Lellig. Co. A was attached to the 8th Inf. Regt. of the 4th Infantry Division. The column was strafed on the road soon after it moved out of Gonderange. The plane was identified as an American P-47 with friendly markings. A subsequent G-2 report corroborated our knowledge of the use by the Germans of American planes with American markings.

The tail vehicle, the maintenance truck, was completely wrecked, exploding twice and burning. Of the seven occupants of the vehicle, 2 were killed, one subsequently died, and four were seriously wounded.

Killed:

Tec. 5 Frank C. Cox
Tec. 5 Earl M. Kay
Tec. 4 Joseph F. Hern

Wounded:

S/Sgt. Herman N. Maurer
Tec. 4 Alton L. Brittingham
Tec. 4 Loy H. Goodman
Tec. 5 George W. Kotson

Co. A was not committed until 27 December and was placed in support of the Outpost of Resistance (OPLR) attached to the 3rd Bn., 8th. Inf. The 3rd Battalion's mission was to defend the OPLR and to advance it to the high ground overlooking the Sauer from Wasserbillig to Moersdorf.

Co. B was committed on the 23 December in support of the 22nd Infantry Regt. which had the mission of clearing out the enemy from the west bank of the Sauer and establishing an OPLR overlooking the river. On the 26th of December a muzzle blast occurred while the 2nd platoon, Company B was firing a mission. Cpl. Kevin P. Hegarty was killed and Sgt. Robert W. Raudenbush was wounded. The company moved forward to a new position 500 yards south of Ferme Fromburg on the 28th of December to support this action and on the 30th December was out of range of the enemy. The 22nd Inf. did not deem it advisable to have the company move forward.

On the 30th of December another regrettable incident occurred in Co. A. Pvt. William B. Bailey died as a result of enemy action while driving to the CP In Lellig from the 2nd platoon's position on the North outskirts of Mompach. He was to pick up chow for the platoon at the kitchen when the fatal accident occurred.

The old year rang out with a sour note for the Bn. and Co. D in particular when 2nd Lt. Malcomb N. Parker was killed in action while on a FO (Forward Observer) mission on the 31st of December. The town of Reisdorf , in which his death occurred, was in German hands only the previous day. While making his way forward alone, Lt. Parker was killed by machine gun fire. Lt. Parker was subsequently awarded the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service (Posthumously).

Since arriving in Luxembourg, Hq. and Hq. Det. had been in Gonderange, a few kilometers in the rear of the Infantry Regimental CPs and within a half hour by jeep of all the companies. Although two companies were attached to the 4th Inf. Division and two to the 5th Inf. Division, administrative control over the companies had been maintained. The Battalion also closely supervised the tactics assisting and advising the Company Commanders and maintaining close relations with the supported units. On January 1st the Battalion moved from Gonderange to Bech. Before moving out, the town of Gonderange was given a good working over by 10 FW-189 in the morning and 5 FW-190 in the afternoon.

The situation remained unchanged in Company A sector on the second day of the New Year. Comparatively few rounds were fired but all with extremely remarkable accuracy. However, for the men the afternoon was ruined in spite of the good work, by a serious accident. The mortar in the 3rd squad pit was blown up by a shell bursting in the barrel. PFC. Donald W. DeWitt was the most seriously injured with a shattered right arm and a bad shrapnel wound on his left side. He died en route to a hospital. Cpl. Clarence Beckner and PFC. John S. Wicklund both suffered burns and shock.

FO No.13, XII Corps relieved Cos. A and B from the 4th Infantry Division and attached them to the 80th Infantry Division effective 4 January 1945.

Both companies were attached to the 80th Inf. Div. Artillery. The mission of the Division was to cross the Sure River in the vicinity of Heiderscheidergrund, seize the high ground in the vicinity of Nocher, and envelope and destroy hostile forces in the vicinity of Bourscheid by continuing the attack to the east and seizing the high ground in the vicinity of Masseler. By VOCG 80th Inf. Division Artillery, Co. A was attached to the 313th FA Bn. and Co. B to the 905th FA Bn. A's rear echelon was set up in Bissen and the platoon gun positions were established north of Feulen in the vicinity of Scheidel. Co. B's positions were close to Heiderscheid.

On January 5th a field message directed Co. B to be prepared to displace north across the Sure River. Early in the morning of the 6th the company crossed as per schedule. Neither A or B Co. fired during the day for the attack met very little resistance in its early stages.

On January 8th the Bn. Hq. and Hq. Det. moved by infiltration into its new location in the town of Mersch, Luxembourg. The railroad station, as well as two nearby inns and an empty house provided shelter for the detachment.

Co. A was relieved from attachment to the 80th Inf. Division and attached to the 4th Inf. Division 11 January. They were to be in direct support of the 80th Inf. Regt. to support the OPLR. The company closed in on Lellig on the 12th establishing a CP and rear echelon in the town. The platoons moved into the positions that they had recently vacated. The situation in this sector had not materially changed since the previous attachment to the 8th Inf. There were two battalions in line in a defensive situation along the Sauer River. The mission of the Company was to support the Infantry in an aggressive defense of the sector.

At 1600, January 16th, Co. A moved to a new location north of Eppeldorf on the Sauer River. The new positions were necessary in view of the impending operations. The company was still attached to the 8th Inf. and occupied positions formerly held by Co. D.

On the same day (January 16th) the 1st platoon of Co. B was attached to the 313th FA Bn. and moved into a new position on the right flank. Co. B was now in position to provide smoke for the Infantry in its coming operation to cross the Sauer River at that point. Co. C's first platoon shifted over to a new position above Stegon overlooking the enemy held town of Diekirch. This placed both platoons in a position to concentrate fire on that town.

The XIII Corps attacked to the north on January 18th in the direction of St. Vith to add the final chaper to the "Battle of the Bulge". The 4th Inf. Division on the right, with Co. A in support, attacked at 0300 with the 8th CT (Combat Team) across the Sauer River to capture Bettendorf and continue north and east to the German border. The 5th Inf. Division in the center attacked at 0500 ‘with the 10th Inf. supported by Co. D on the right and the 2nd Inf. supported by Co. C on the left. The 10th Inf. was to seize two important hills northeast of Diekirch and to continue to Bastendorf to the north. The 2nd Inf. was also given the mission of capturing two important hills as well as the town of Erpledange to the west of Diekirch with two battalions and having cut off Diekirch with the aid of the l0th Inf. to mop up Diekirch with the third battalion, then continue the attack to the north. After the attack progressed 5 miles the 11th Inf. passed through the 2nd Inf. in the vicinity of Landscheid and continued the attack to the North. Co. C went to the control of the 11th Inf.

The 80th Inf. Division on the left (with the first platoon of Co. B attached to the 313th FA Bn. and the second platoon of Co. B attached to the 314th FA Bn.) attacked at 0700 to clear the enemy from the south and west banks of the Wiltz and Sauer Rivers, capture Nocher and Burscheid and force a crossing of the Wiltz River east of Wiltz.

The largest number of shells to be fired in any 24 hour period was fired by Co. A on the 18th. Although only 7 missions were fired, a total of 1,072 rounds were expended, 528 WP and 544 HE.

Co. B's second platoon, just south of Dahl, gave direct support to the 319th Inf. in its assault on the town of Nocher and the surrounding area. The position received heavy mortar fire and during one particularly heavy barrage. Three of Co. B's men were wounded. They were Sgt. Frank H. Gray Jr., Sgt. Arthur O. Spaulding, and PFC. James W. Goss. Sgt. Gray and PFC. Goss were evacuated and Sgt. Spaulding received treatment at the Battalion Aid Station.

Co. C earned the heartfelt thanks of many doughboys when they answered an urgent request for smoke from an Infantry assasult company that had suffered severe casualties in an effort to cross a particularly exposed area. Co. C complied and the enemy positions were showered with WP shells thereby allowing the Infantry assault company as well as the rest of the Bn. to slip by without suffering any further casualties.

PFC. Donald H. Kinder was wounded in the hand by shrapnel while a smoke screen was being fired during enemy counter-battery fire.

By the 19th the attack was well under way. The 4th Division continued forward causing the first platoon of Co. A to "pick up" and move up to the river at Bettendorf. Co. B also found it necessary to displace forward into a position near Warken. Co C. infiltrated into the vicinity of Erpeldange during the day. However, the platoons did occupy their positions until after dark as the area was still under enemy observation.

By January 20th Co. D had moved its platoons into position Northeast of Diekirch and in the town of Bastendorf. The CP was East of Diekirch and the rear echelons actually in that recently fallen town.

The 81st Cml. Co. (SG) was attached to the 91st for this phase of the fighting in order to enable the Bn. to consolidate any smoke operations. The plan for the Smoke Generator Company was for the company to be prepared to assist the 91st in smoking bridging operations at Ingellorf on call of C.O., Co. C 7th Engr. Bn. with smoke pots and generators, and to be prepared to smoke bridging operations at Diekirch on call of C.O., Co. B, 133 Engr. Bn.

On D plus I, one section of generators covered the bridging near Ingellorf with a half section on both sides of the river.

The 4th Division objectives of the attack launched on the 18th were taken on the 21st but strong pockets of enemy resistance remained to be mopped up. Co. A assisted in these operations. The second platoon gave close support to the 8th Inf. In the taking of the town of Longsdorf. The Infantry had been held up by enemy small arms fire and direct 88 mm. fire for almost 48 hours. On January 21st the second platoon of Co. A poured a heavy mixture of WP and HE into the town which silenced the 88s and cut down much of the small arms fire. Shortly after the barrage was lifted the town was taken.

The 80th Inf. Division continued in the attack with Co. B supplying smoke screens for the difficult operation. The terrain through which the 80th Infantry attacked was extremely rugged country with a poor road net. It was definitely terrain well suited for defense. The attacking force had to cross deep ravines and, in most cases while under enemy observation. It was a very costly struggle, resolving itself into the doughboys slugging it out without benefit of armor.

Co. B's first platoon supported the Infantry in its attack on the town of Bourscheld by maintaining a smoke screen for 7 hours and 40 minutes on the high ground from which the enemy was placing observed fire on the attacking Infantry. The second platoon moved into a new position and received a call for smoke to screen the high ground in the vicinity of Masseler. The screen was satisfactorily maintained from 1300 to 1745. The hill was taken by our forces, but they were forced to withdraw later. Casualties among the Infantry in this sector were reported as extremely heavy.

Co. C moved forward with the 5th Division and made preparations to fire a screen in support of the Red Diamond elements showing off att 0800. The smoke was not requested and by 1600 the Division had advanced so rapidly that all targets were out of range and it was once again necessary to displace forward.

Both platoons and the FDC of Co. D occupied new positions in the vicinity of Brandenburg, Luxembourg.

On January 22nd Co. B moved into Bourscheid and was attached to the 905th FA Bn.

Co. C's two platoons also advanced this day, both going into Lipperscheid where the 5th Division was sustaining heavy casualties due to air bursts from enemy artillery.

By the morning of the 23rd in the 8th Infantry (Co. A) sector the objectives of the recent drive had been taken for the most part. Co. A no longer had targets in range. Both platoons anticipated moving forward to bring targets in the Siegfried line across the Our River into range.

For Co. B the day was one of movement, but no fire. The progress of the 80th Division precluded the possibility of any fire missions. The Company passed to the control of the 319th Infantry. The Company CP was established at Goesdorf. The first platoon set up near Nocher, the second near Dahl.

Co. C's mortar men were subjected to heavy counter-battery fire but they remained at the guns until all the available ammunition had been expended, the 11th Inf., 5th Division needing all the fire that "Charlie" Co. could throw. The mission was successful but at the expense of four casualties in the 1st platoon. Sgt. Emanuel Owens, PFC. Avery Cunningham, Pvt. Herbert Gilbert and medical aid man, PFC. Remus Meza were the injured.

By January 24th in the 8th Inf. sector of the 4th Division front the situation was stabilized with Infantry troops occupying the line along the high ground Southwest of the Our River. The 12th Regiment pulled up along side of the 8th by nightfall. Co. A was instrumental in the advance and securing of the ground of both Regiments.

Co. B left the 319th Infantry to join with the 313th FA Bn. of the same Regiment on the 24th. The CP moved to Eschweiler, the platoons just East of the same town.

The 5th Infantry Division troops to which Cos. C and D were attached encountered stiff resistance in Horscheid. Both platoons of Co. C coordinated their fire and succeeded in softening up the town enabling the doughboys to advance slowly but steadily. Co. D fired a smoke screen stopping all counter-battery fire.

January 25th found the 4th Inf. Division continuing the attack in a northerly direction in the area East of Fouhren. This day's action necessitated Co. A to move its CP to Gilsdorf.

All elements of Co. B displaced forward at 0030. At 0400, while the men were digging into position, six 88 mm. rounds landed in the draw; one round landing in the midst of a gun crew killing one and wounding four. Sgt. .Walter L. Lundberg was killed. Sgt. Edward B. Clay, PFC. Ralph W. Stevens, and PFC. Kenneth L. Heimlich were wounded and evacuated. Cpl. Eugene H. Howard was wounded and treated by the battalion surgeon.

Cos. C and D with the 5th Infantry Division moved into the outskirts of Horscheid at 0600. By 1800 that evening (25th) another forward displacement became necessary for Co. C. This time well into the town.

Company C upon being attached to the 5th Infantry Division on 23 December moved into position to support the Division in its drive to clear the enemy from the ground of Luxembourg. The company moved east from Fels and Christnach to the heights north and east of Beaufort. After reaching that point the Division set up a defense line which they held until the attack on the Bulge had progressed further. So Beaufort became the place where the men of Company C received their first real taste of battle.

Beaufort – To the men of C Company there is no other word that is more nearly synonomous to the word "war" as the name "Beaufort." In this once-beautiful tourist resort, situated on the banks of the Our River in Luxembourg, a group of wide-eyed trainees began to assume the likenesses of veterans. Here were 1,000 combat lessons rolled into one. The experiences we gained served us in good stead when the drive to eliminate the Bulge began some twenty days later.

The town was situated only a few miles from the right anchor of the 40 mile corridor that the Germans had punched through the center of the Allied lines. The Fifth Infantry Division was assigned the mission of rolling the Jerry line back to the banks of the Our where a strong line of defense could be built - thus insuring that the breakthrough would remain channelized until enough forces could be mustered together to cut the pincer at its source. The Fifth Inf. accomplished their mission at no little cost. At the same time, farther west, General McAuliffe with his famous 101st Airborne Inf. was making his gallant stand at Bastogne to prevent the Germans from fanning out into the Third Army's zone of communications. Not until the German drive had lost its momentum and the situation was brought under control did we finally appreciate the strategic importance of holding Bastogne - with all of the dire consequences that might have befallen the troops east of the Arlon-Bastogne highway had the General elected to surrender when instead he answered the German ultimatum with the one word "Nuts".

The drive to cut off the bulge never did materialize. The weather and the terrain did not lend itself to mass maneuver. While other forces were engaged in the slow, grim, process of methodically reducing the Bulge with relentless pressure on its point and its sides, C Company remained in a defensive set up at Beaufort for eighteen days, waiting for the Krauts to make a stab across the Our in an attempt at widening the corridor sufficiently enough to enable their forces to exploit their initial gains - gains which were, as a result of courageous action all along the wooded, snowy hills, already doomed to failure.

That's the big picture. Both sides had massed artillery on both sides of the river; both sides were feverishly laying mine fields, stringing wires, and preparing defense positions against a possible attack; both sides made a practice of sending out reconnaissance and combat patrols in an effort to gain information or keep their opponents constantly harassed.

We entered Beaufort on a bitter cold night. The sky was overcast and the village stood out in stage like relief when the moon came out from behind the clouds to cast a hazy light on the glassy crusted snow. A barn at the far end of town was in flames; there was some discarded gear in the streets that the Germans had abandoned in their anxiety to make tracks; but, aside from these, the town didn't look at all war-torn or war-like. There were empty houses, without curtains, that looked as though they had lost their souls when their inhabitants abandoned them. There were animels in the barns and they broke the silence from time to time with pleading calls for the care end attention they were accustomed to. Occasionally a jeep would pass through town and the driver seemed to try to avoid racing the motor, as though to do such would be as sacrilegious as cavorting at a wake.

The mortars were dug in and emplaced on the outskirts of the built-up area of town. The crewmen laid down their bedding in underground huts and fox holes that had been constructed by slave laborers for German artillerymen. The sky would occasionally light up as nebelwerfers streaked across the horizon farther down the river.

The next day Lt. Mortimer went out to the OP to fire into Germany for the first time. The duel was on. In the eighteen days that followed, Beaufort was methodically bombarded with artillery fire until hardly a house remained unscathed. Until we became familiar with the whine of our own artillery whistling overhead, the men would often scurry for their foxholes only to hear the sounds die off as the shells raced off in the direction of the enemy lines.

By the time we were ready to shift sectors, almost every man could recognize and identify a war noise from any foreign sound. Some men were even presumptuous enough to indicate the types of arms by their calibre and their manufacture. The cellars with firm foundations on our end of the town were converted into comfortable living quarters where the mortar men could retreat to shave, heat a cup of coffee, or write letters. An elaborate communications network was installed by the communications section which enabled Capt. Horton to reach any man in the company as well as higher headquarters by simply calling the switchboard. At night. when patrol activities were unusually heavy the crewmen who remained at the guns would be called out of their underground huts to fire night missions. Tec 5 Jarvis and Tec 5 Lindberg would plug in the proper terminals to enable everyone to listen-in on the progress of the mission as the sensings came down directly from the infantry outposts.

On one occasion, an outpost called in to complain that some Jerries were chopping wood just across the river. A few rounds were dropped in the area as identified from map data. The wood chopping stopped abruptly. The observer was extremely pleased with the fire. When asked about the effectiveness, he answered, "Well, they're either scared to death or picking up what you chopped for them." For some unknown reason, Jerry used to send a patrol at just about the same time every night using the same road, and carrying shaded flash lights. We made an appointment to meet them through the infantry. Lt. Goodson registered two guns on the road during the daylight hours, and when night fell, a volley was sent out intermittently at approximately the right time. The results could not be observed but the men who braved the cold of the night felt a high sense of satisfaction after firing that mission.

PFC. Sarre and PFC. Odman decided that they would forego the safety of the damp cold cellars and establish their headquarters on the second floor of a modest but comfortable home in which there were two beds with mattresses. Before they could set up housekeeping, a shell tore away a corner of the house and the two cold bloods came scrambling down the stairs. As the barrage continued, the pair lay huddled under a table on the first floor and Sarre was prompted to remark. "Ya know, Bingo? Maybe tomorrow we should change our apartment."

It was actually dangerous to stand near the doorway of any cellar in that area when someone yelled, "Incoming mail!" That was especially true when Jarvis was caught in the open. There was no other man in the company who could fit through the door when that hulk of a man came piling in. A source of unending amusement to the boys in the FDC those days, was Jarvis' notorious appetite. His switchboard was always cluttered up with preserved fruits and canned vegetables that he had managed to scavenge from among the ruins while off duty, discounting an assortment of "goodies" that he regularly received from home. Other headquarters personnel often found it hard to catch any sleep in the FDC when Jarvis was on night duty because of the yapping and the clinking of jars and cans. And as though that weren't enough, he used to hunt stray poultry with bread crumbs in one hand and a club behind his back in the other. Sgt. Rogers prepared nourishing hot chicken broths using K ration bouillon powder as a seasoning, whenever Jarvis made a kill. Sgt. Jack Fredericks often complained that there wasn't room enough for a reel of W110 after Jarvis had loaded the commo truck with his reserve of food-stuffs. The mortar men once tried cooking a rabbit over a gasoline fire. The result was a delightful gastronomical adventure that later brought on violent abdominal pains for the men who had sponsored the dish and were forced to partake generously of it in order to save face with the weak-bellied skeptics.

Tec 5 Honeycutt discovered an old-fashioned water heater in a barn. A one-man detail stoked the fire while the men took turns bathing in a large galvanized tub. Capt. Horton made the mistake of climbing into a bubble bath during Jerry's harassing hours. Disregarding his fellow officers' pleas to take cover, he soaked in the luxury of the warm water until a large shell fragment came through a window and made a nasty gash in the opposite wall. The captain momentarily became oblivious to military dignity and composure, and his obsession for cleanliness was almost superseded by an instinctive desire to remain whole, even if dirty. But after sweating out the next shell, he concluded that the first was a stray and that he wasn't the sort to give any heinie the satisfaction of chasing him out of a bath tub. So he went right on washing, and listening.

Candles were at a premium when they could be used in blacked-out first-story rooms or cellars. The more electrically inclined devised lighting systems from discarded combat wire, undamaged light bulbs, and run-down German batteries. One of the most problematical engineering tasks was routing available stove pipe on make-shift stoves so that it would reach an aperture allowing the smoke to escape and the heat to stay in. Some of the clean round holes in the walls of those houses were not made by high velocity shells.

After firing on marked concentrations and anything that might move on the landscape throughout the day, we would spend out "quiet" nights making hot chocolate from D ration bars using heating tablets or improvised cooking stoves. While sipping the hot chocolate, we would involuntarily become involved in conversations that ranged from women, to mortar technique, to women, to war strain, then back to women.

Before long, the majority of the men acquired straw from which they made substitute mattresses. A company aid station was set up in one sturdy basement where "Doc" Haister could bed down and nurse back to health the men who had contracted severe colds, frost bite, and trench foot.

One of the most memorable barrages to which C Company was ever subjected came on New Years Eve at precisely twelve. Jerry ushered in the New Year by firing everything from flare pistols to heavy-heavy artillery. The following morning, when some of the men went out to inspect the damage, they returned excitedly with their report. "Remember that terrific noise we heard last night?" one asked. "Well," he said, "I can't be sure about what hit; but I do know that the house three doors up from Hoister's place has disappeared". He swallowed and added, "Even the cellar is gone!" Although under similar circumstances, we could probably not have made things more comfortable for ourselves, we suddenly felt the old surge of the pioneer spirit and an unbending yen to get out of Beaufort and on with the war.

Beaufort sidelight – In Beaufort, Luxembourg the motor pool was set up in a barn near the outskirts of town. The mechanics were working on their tires, when it suddenly started to rain 88 shells. Then the race started. There is probably no champion runner who could run as fast as the mechanics did that day. It really is a wonder that there were no casualties from men running all over each other. At another occasion the mechanics were delivering gas to the platoons when they were once agoin cought in a barrage. They were out of the truck in a hurry, scurrying for shelter. As a matter of coincidence they all picked what they supposed was the safest available spot - under the gas-laden truck.

Company B during this time was attached to the 4th Infantry Division, supporting their drive to clear the west bank of the Sauer River north of Moersdorf. Their positions were set up near Herborn where they spent their Christmas day for 1944. From an OP near the Infantry outposts, CPL Vic Sergeant wrote home on the 26th describing that Christmas day.

The Western Front

December 26, 1944

Dear Mother and Dad,

On Christmas morning the tired lieutenant in the fox hole opposite to ours, looked out over the rim of his hole, out across the uncanny empty sweep of frozen woods and orchards which is the front, and grinned. He looked over at me and said:

"Here it is Christmas of '44 And what're we doin'? We're digging some more."

And he began to peck at the frozen earth to deepen his hole. Three men lived and slept in that hole in crouching positions for there was no room to lie down.

About 15 yards forward was the thin front line itself - a collection of foxholes, each about 10 feet apart, hacked into the sheltered side of a frozen bank.

The lieutenant was very young, but also very quiet. The men of the Infantry had been at war so long they said little. They had been hacked, shot and blown to pieces in a bloody affair just 3 weeks before; the survivors were here now, and now the enemy had put on a push.

There were about 40 men between us and the invisible enemy in the frozen valley. The enemy was on both sides and in front of us.

The boys hung stockings outside each fox hole. and in the stockings they placed K rations, hand grenades, and ammunition. For even here we remembered it was Christmas though with a wry grin. On the field telephone we heard that the boys back of us were having turkey for dinner. "Let us look at our menu," somebody said, bringing out a box of K rations.

Water was short, as we couldn't get it in until after dark, so we gathered canteen cups of snow, covered our holes with a blanket, went in and melted the snow by burning a cardboard K ration box. We got about one fourth of a cup of water at a time and added halazone tablets and drank, for we were all thirsty. The temperature was five degrees below zero.

At about 11, I got through on the radio, and we decided to throw some shells into the town below. My officer, Lt. Tom Goodwin, went forward to a hole where he could see the town. Looking out over the bank, he looked squarely into the frozen face of a dead German killed the night before. There were other dead Germans around, and some American bodies which had been there 3 days. Nobody could get them out for the path to the rear was exposed, dangerous, and could be travelled only at night or for some purpose of urgency to the living.

We sent back our fire commands and down in the valley we could see buildings go flying into the air. The town was on fire. My lieutenant was very pleased with himself and every time he saw us later that day, or in the night, he would ask, "Is that town still afire?" We named it "Our Town" for it was ours. We had flicked the radio switch, transmitted the commands and destroyed it. The dead GI Joes frozen on the slope were avenged.

Jerry was mad. His "Screaming Mimi" (Multi-barrelled rocket gun) began to sob over our heads with its terrifying noise. About 3 they began to lob mortar shells into us. Van and I lay in our hole huddled close. Van had dozed off and, as the shells began to come closer to us with their sullen whine he woke wih a start . "Hell," he said, "those boys are firing short." "Those aren't ours," I said, "that's Jerry." We laughted about it afterwards. But then we lay closely huddled shivering. "Damn it," Van said between chattering teeth, "I don't know whether I'm shivering from cold or whether I'm scared." I knew exactly why I was shivering. After awhile you didn't hear the shells whine. There was just a great burst as each shell hit close and sprayed earth and shrapnel atop of our hole. Presently it was quiet again. Although it was so cold, I was sweating.

We threw a blanket over our hole to hide as much smoke as possible and lit some cardboard inside to get warm.

At dark we went to bed. We had two blankets under us, one over us and one over the fox hole. We hadn't been able to carry more with all of our equipment. The cold was like a dull pain.

At 10 p.m. the young Infantry lieutenant decided to send a patrol down to the burning town to see what they could find. Five tired, cold men were chosen and set out. Van and I lay and listened, presently, a few desultory shots. At daylight the platoon sent back a report. They had captured one German, killed one. But Jerry had abandoned the town. Now "Our Town" was really ours.

Just one other thing. The day after this, I looked into the pack of the dead Jerry on the forward ridge. It contained a cake of soap, a towel, some socks, a German-English grammar and one other book: Euripides' Tragedies.

B Company occupied the general area north of Herborn until 5 January 1945 spending nearly a week without firing a round. A day or two before New Years 4,000 bottles of Champagne were discovered in a cellar and every man in the battalion had enough to warm the cockles of his heart. Cpl. Watkins, an unusually stout individual, required more than the average person to combat the cold of winter and threatened everything in his staggering path with his bulk. However an injury to his nose upon contact with a small tree put an end to his maneuvers.

When the XII Corps drive toward St. Vith started on 18 January, Company C had been supporting the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 5th Infantry Division in their sector before Diekirch for several days. The first objective of the drive was the clearing of the city of Diekirch which was heavily defended by the German troops. Here is the story of the part one gun from Company C played in taking Diekirch.

Diekirch and Dahl – Just before crossing the Sauer River, our platoon was in a defensive set up near Erpeldange and Eppeldorf. All four guns were firing in nearly parallel direction for practically all barrages. The order came from the FDC for the 3rd squad only to relay the gun and fire on an entirely new azimuth. The change involved a lot of work to swing 500 mils to the right in order to hit the new target which later proved to be the city of Diekirch. The squad did not know until several days later that the 2nd Inf. CP of the 5th Div. had requested some 4.2 fire on a factory in the city of Diekirch. The factory was holding up advances on the city with deadly fire from machine guns and machine pistols. For nearly three days our gun fired with only brief intervals. After completely burning and destroying the factory the Infantry called for fire on many adjoining parts of the city.

Some of the "doughs" personally thanked us for a job well done, which was highly gratifying to say the least."

(The following supplement to Sgt. Dragich's story is a direct quotation from the official unit history and is self explanatory. – ED.)

Bn. Hq. receives daily G-2 and G-3 reports from Corps. On January 14th Intelligence Summary No. 302 for period 131200 to 132400 Hq. XII Corps, noted under the 5th Infantry Division: "Four large fires in Diekirch at 131830, also four explosions at 131850 and four at 132000, and all of them believed to be the result to our artillery (SIC) fire into the town."

The above report, though not causing great consternation in the Bn., did result in some muttering in Bn. beards. Co. C in particular, knowing full well that they alone were responsible for the fiery denouement of Diekirch, were slightly more irate concerning the crediting of the Artillery with their accomplishment.

Major Vincent, acting as Liaison Officer to Corps, attended the G-2 briefing on the 15th. The Corps G-2 made reference to the previous day's report on the firing of Diekirch and stated that since no Artillery had fired on Diekirch, he was at a loss to explain the cause of the large fires in the town. Naturally, the CW officers present enlightened the G-2 and it is expected amends will be made to give the 4.2 inch cml. mortar credit for its accomplishments.

In this same drive Company B was supporting the 313th and the 314th FA Bns. of the 80th Infantry Division in another sector. They had their troubles too.

It was at Goesdorf that we experienced our first counter-attack. When the fire command came down designating a powder charge of five rings, we were told to have carbines handy, for the enemy was but 1,000 yards in front of us. But the infantry with our help beat off the attack and matters returned to normal. We had fired 691 rounds in two hours.

On the evening of January 16th, the second platoon moved from Goesdorf, Luxembourg to take up positions in an orchard on the outskirts of the village of Dahl. The men immediately began to dig into the frozen ground to make protection for the mortars, in preparation for a scheduled fire mission the next morning in support of elements of the 80th Division. Shortly after midnight the men retired to dugouts previously used by the infantry.

At four o'clock enemy artillery began to shell the area and an adjacent cross roads with 88s and 105 mm. howitzers. Shortly before dawn the platoon arose to prepare ammunition for the scheduled fire. The barrage continued, forcing the men to stay close by their mortar pits. The men were startled to see that the fire was evidently observed, although the position was not under observation. An over round would be corrected and the next round would land in the position. Short rounds were similarly corrected. The platoon knew that the attacking infantry was going through hell and would need all the support they could get. They continued to prepare the scheduled fire.

At nine o'clock the enemy changed tactics and began shelling with 80 mm. mortars. Sgt. Frank Gray refused to take protection even when strongly urged by his men, insisting that the job he was doing was more important. The barrage continued and at nine-fifteen a close round burst in a tree ten feet above his head. His men heard him moan and asked if he were hit. He replied that he was all right but that he couldn't move his legs. Cpl. McRae and PFC Cantrell tried to help him into a pit for protection. They called for a medic and Cpl. Lansing, a former medical aid man, left his fox hole, running through the barrage with complete disregard for his own safety to treat Sgt. Gray.

At the same. time a fragment from the shell had ricocheted from the barrel of the fourth squad's gun to the base plate shattering it into small pieces. One of the pieces struck PFC Goss in the back and the other hit Sgt. Spaulding in the hand. Sgt. Hoehn treated both of these men and bandaged them. Sgt. Spaulding though wounded himself refused aid until Goss was treated. Hoehn went through the shelling to get bandages and stretcher and aid man Travis. An aid man from an 80th Div. heavy weapons company helped Lansing administer first aid to Gray and evacuate him. Several times they were forced to hit the ground to avoid incoming shells but neither took cover until Gray had been taken to a battalion aid station.

A near hit by the second squad mortar ignited the powder rings of several shells starting a fire and throwing dirt on the men. While Gray, Spaulding, and Goss were being evacueted Lt. Clark, the platoon leader, and S/Sgt. Rodolico came out to realign the guns. At ten o'clock all preparations had been completed and the men, badly shaken, were allowed to take shelter in neighboring houses. The pay-off was that the mission was never called for by the infantry. Late in the afternoon, a German Captain was captured. He admitted having used a radio from a nearby cellar to direct the fire on the platoon.

During the two or three days at Tadler the weather was bitter and our commo section encountered much trouble keeping lines in. It was necessary to hunt line breaks twenty hours a day and the commo boys deserve great credit as winter was probably rougher on them than anyone. Experience taught us later that telephone was a secondary means of communication, that radio would have sufficed ninety per cent of the time, especially in a situation such as this.

From Tadler the first platoon moved to Nocher. For the first time we had a chance to see what the 4.2 could really do, for we had pounded Nocher for twelve days and nights. This was the concentration "Charlie Dog" which the men of High Dawn Baker will always remember. Nocher was as flat as anything seen in Europe. We found two cellars in the town which were inhabitable. One had four feet of potatoes covering the floor. We made it our home. It was warm as there was one of those pint sized stoves in it and plenty of wood outside. "88s", 120 mortars, and meemies kept us on edge constantly.

There wasn't much sleep that night; it was like any other night in Luxembourg. Nocher was flattened, but no more than the rest of Luxembourg; every house and building was "Kaput." For the most part all that was left standing were the three foot thick stone walls that fhe Luxembourg people built their homes from and, of course, the inevitable manure piles, and in many places the latter were burning, a fact which added to the stench of battle and made it almost unbearable. All farm animals had either been driven off or were lying dead in the fields or in the streets. Luxembourg must have been a beautiful and peaceful place before Hitler come to power. Even in the ruins of its villages could be seen the beauty that must have once existed before it was swept under by the battles.

Company A also supported the 4th Infantry Division in this attack from their positions near Eppeldorf. On the 19th the progress of the attack carried the first platoon into Bettendorf, a small town on the Sauer River, where they remained for several days while the heights north of the river were being cleared of the enemy.

Bettendorf, Luxembourg, the once picturesque town where General Patton is reputed to have swum the Sauer River as an inspiration to his troops served as a locale for a great many experiences of the first platoon of A company. The Patton legend which grew up here was an example of the difficult fighting which three American divisions went through. The first platoon was here for almost two weeks and during that time was attached to the 4th Inf. Div., 80th Inf. Div., 4th Armored Div, and back to the 80th Inf. Div, in that order. The mortars moved into Bettendorf from Eppeldorf by infiltration since the road was under direct observation from the high ground across the Sauer River. It was the most beautiful OP an observer could ask for. We found that out later.

It was here in Bettendorf that Sgt. Clarence Beckner earned the cluster to his Purple Heart. He and his squad were setting in their gun behind a battered house and ducking meemie barrages every 15 minutes. There was a road junction very close to the position and that's what the Jerries were after. "Beck" got his second Purple Heart when a piece of shrapnel crept right in his hole with him. That's how close those barrages were.

All guns were set in that night under a unique system. The squad leader would stand at the gun pit and watch the horizon while the men dug in the gun. When the sky lit up with the typical tracer effect of nebelwerfers going off he knew that they had about 30 seconds to tale over. They flew into the houses and the sounds of slamming doors and running feet were intermingled with the thud of bodies hitting the floor and the explosions outside. The men immediately returned to the pits and resumed work for 15 minutes after which a repeat performance was in order. It was a pretty harrowing night.

S/Sgt. Frank Bednarczyk, Lt. Szygulski, and Tec. 5 Palo were at the OP most of the time and they often came back with stories of close calls. On one occasion Bednarczyk had no hole to get into and when the shells were landing close he hid behind the only tree on the landscape. When the barrage lifted he noticed that only fragments of the tree were left. Palo never stopped laughing at that one till the platoon left Bettendorf.

The night Lt. James Schmutte and Cpl. Donald Kurtz were hit was the darkest they had ever seen. Lt. Schmutte and Bednarczyk tossed a coin to see who would go out as FO with an armored Infantry Battalion of the 4th Armored which was to pull a sneak attack on Moestroff right across from the Siegfried Line on the Our River. The plan was to hold all fire and cut the communications lines from the town. It was to be a knife sticking party and our FOs were there in case they ran into trouble. As fate had it, somebody stepped on a mine and a number of men were killed and wounded. Those were the only casualties that night and paradoxically the town was taken with no difficulty. Lt. Schmutte and Cpl. Kurtz were evacuated for wounds, the former with shrapnel in the lower part of his posterior and the latter with fragments in the knee. Their absence was sorely felt in the platoon.

From the position in Bettendorf the platoon supported an attack by the 80th Div. which finally succeeded in taking the high ground in front of us removing that dangerous OP. Over 450 rounds were fired and together with the 81s and artillery all German resistance in that area was smashed. Our FOs had an opportunity to count the German dead and there were many.

The stay at Bettendorf was not altogether unpleasant. Our self-styled cooks had an opportunity to exhibit their talents. Chicken dinners, fried rabbit, smoked hams, and bacons from the chimneys, and wine from the cellars were all part of the home style meals. PFC. Manning of Sgt. Pannucci's squad even baked pies and cookies between fire missions. There were occasional cases of indigestion though. What the fellows enjoyed most were the unusual accommodations. Each squad had a house of its own with the guns set up in the garden outside. Cold water wasn't exactly ideal for washing dishes, so out the window went the dishes. Most notorious for this was Sgt. Ditmars' squad with PFC. Ballinger, PFC. Hansen and Cpl. Scerca the star offenders.

Lt. Ralph Sheets joined the outfit at Bettendort and was rapidly indoctrinated into the lives of the 4.2 mortar men. The life here was a revelation to him.

There was one single factor more than all others put together which caused the bitching during the winter, and that was the intense cold. At Goesdorf it was particularly bitter. A guy would crawl into bis palatial hole at 6 p.m. and emerge the next morning through a foot of snow to find everything capable of freezing – frozen quite solid. The first thing to be done was to build a fire in order to thaw out shoes and rubberized overshoes prior to donning them. Even then the feet were not protected against the weather. Moisture partially, but cold, no! It was to be a great day when the shoe-packs we were reading about became a reality.

This brought the Battle of the Ardennes to a close. All four companies did little more for several days until the XII Corps regrouped before the Siegfried Line, the next phase of action.

The Little Foxes – We were really in a spot one time when we lost our motor pool and kitchen. The kitchen truck had a flat tire and the motor pool stopped to help them fix it. The convoy went on and the kitchen truck and motor pool truck were to follow. They did follow until they came to the town that we were in, but instead of stopping with us they just kept on going. Did we look for them!! The "Cap" had everyone up all night looking. In fact he had everyone saying "Where's ‘mah' Motor Pool?" Long before morning we were all cursing every member of both the motor pool and kitchen. We had to move on in the morning without so much as a cup of the cooks "mud", and everyone was in a foul mood. When we did find them, neatly set up in a town and living like kings, we really called them some beautiful names. Some people think that perhaps they were dumb like a fox. We slept in a field, and they slept in a very nice house. Now I, for one, don't want to criticize anyone, but...


Battle of the Rhineland

January 26, 1945 to March 21, 1945

On January 26th the 80th Infantry Division was relieved by the 17th A/B Division of III Corps. The 80th in turn relieved the 4th Inf. Division. Co. A remained in position and was attached to the 80th, while Co. B was reverted to Bn. control and on the 28th of January moved into the Bn. Hqs. town of Mersch for a well earned rest.

By January 29th the bulge was virtually eliminated. Now the tide was swinging East into Germany. No longer blasting the resurgent enemy that had broken through the Ardennes, our mortars were now preparing to hammer at the Siegfried defenses.

On February 1st the 91st looked something like this:

Co. A - 1st platoon just outside Gilsdorf attached to 10th Inf. of CCB, 4th Armored Division. 2nd platoon in Beaufort attached to 318th Inf., 80th Inf. Division.

Co. B - Left Mersch to relieve Co. C. Attached to 11th Inf., 5th Infantry Division. 1st platoon in Weiler, 2nd in Wahlhausen, CP and rear echelon in Merscheid.

Co. C - Relieved by Co. B. Moved into Mersch for a three day rest.

Co. D - Attached to 304th Regiment, 76th Inf. Division. All elements dispersed between Osweiler and Dickweiler.

On the morning of February 2nd the 10th Inf. of CCB, 4th Armored Division began an attack on Hoesdorf. 24 hours later the attack was still under way and Co. A was still standing by ready to deliver fire when called on. In the early hours of the 3rd, Lt. Schmutte, Platoon Leader, 1st platoon, and Cpl. Kurtz, communications man, accompanying the FO party of the 10th Bn., CCB, 4th Armored Division on their way into Hoesdorf, were wounded when an S-mine was tripped which in turn set off several others. Lt. Schmutte and Cpl. Kurtz were evacuated. All of the Infantry assault company officers were in the FO party and all were wounded. In spite of the loss of ALL officers, the unit went on to take the town.

The XII Corps had now consolidated its defensive positions along the line OUR-SAUER Rivers and continued to patrol to the same line.

Approaching operations occasioned much movement into new positions during the first two weeks of the month of February. The supported Infantry Divisions,the 80th, 5th, and the 76th were jockeying into position for a smash through the Siegfried line.

On February 4th Co. A's 1st platoon moved to a position on the Sauer facing Moestroff on the other side and was attached to the 905th FA Bn. (80th Div.). Co. D moved into the 417th Regimental boundary, 76th Division, at the little hamlet of Jacobsburg, preparatory to moving into the line.

On the 5th both platoons of Co. A moved nearer the Siegfried line. The 1st platoon went into position West of Hoesdorf, the 2nd into Bigelbach. Co. B moved into Berdorf without delay, although the roads were clogged with the military traffic incidental to a big push. Cos. C and D, attached to the 5th Inf. Division, also pushed forward. Co. C, all rested up after three days in Mersch, moved into position near Berdorf. Co. D left Jacobsburg for Echternach. Hq. and Hqs. Det. moved from Mersch to Kreuzhoecht, a small farm settlement near Altrier. The Bn's. new location in the immediate rear of the companies greatly facilitated communications. The demand for ammunition when the assault started was expected to tax transportation facilities. An expectation which was soon to be justified. The Bn's. close proximity to the companies was to reduce that problem.

The XII Corps attacked the Siegfried line at 0100 February 7th with the mission of breaching it. The 80th Inf. Division (Co. A atchd.) was on the left, the 5th Inf. Division (Cos. B and C atchd.) was in the center, and the 76th Division (Co. D atchd.) was on the right.

Co. A in position with one platoon near Hoesdorf and the other near Bigelbach joined with the 905th and 313th FA Bns. In the preparatory fire prior to the jump-off of the 80th at 0200 and gave support to the Division artillery for the remainder of the period.

The 1st platoon began firing at H-hour minus 40 and continued until H plus 25. The 2nd platoon fired its first mission into Germany. The town of Biersdorf, Germany was to be fired prior to the attack. All of Co. A's targets were on the East bank of the Our and Sauer Rivers.

Two companies of the 319th Infantry accomplished the difficult task of crossing the Our River, difficult because the river current was extremely swift and well covered by enemy fire.

Enemy observation from the East bank of the Sauer made the Engineers' task of spanning that stream a not too easy job. Co. A was called upon to screen the towns of Biersdorf and Wallendorf from which the Jerries watched our every move.

Co. B, attached to the 10th Infantry, in position North of Berdorf supported the crossing of the Regiment with smoke, firing over 6,000 rounds in three days by the end of the period.

The extreme urgency for smoke in this operation was evidenced in this (5th Div.) sector on D plus 2 (Feb. 9th).

River crossings are difficult operations, but in the face of abruptly rising ground studded with pillboxes that comprise the Siegfried line, crossing the river without screening enemy observation was suicidal.

Despite the difficulties due to the shifting of the wind and the need for moving the screen forward as the Infantry advanced, a 9 hour smoke screen was maintained by Co. B with an expenditure of 2232 rounds of WP. At one point the screen was lifted for a short time and immediately the German artillery and machine guns opened up on our troops. The screen was quickly reestablished and the enemy fire ceased.

At one point smoke generators and smoke pots were employed as a substitute for mortar fire but were found to be ineffective. The severe strain on the supply of WP occasioned by the need for continuous screening induced this change.

The Infantry found it too costly to attempt any further crossings in this area but the screen was continued as a ruse. They successfully crossed at a lower point and the Infantry observers and line officers declared it a "grand job". Late that night (10th) the regimental commanding officer called Captain Grove to thank and compliment him on the fine job Co. B had done.

Co. C, attached to the 11th Infantry, in position Southeast of Berdorf, supported the crossing of the 11th with both smoke and HE. When the Infantry jumped off a 1,000 yard smoke screen was established to cover the assault boats crossing the Sauer.

Three battalions of Infantry were across on the 10th but were running into numerous pockets of enemy resistance. At about 2200 the situation cleared and Co. C prepared to shove off across the river and into Germany. Lt. McCluskey and T /5 Russell were the first men of the company to enter Germany when they crossed the Sauer to establish a forward Observation Post.

Co. D, in position in Echternach, supported the crossing of the 417th (which was attached to the 5th Inf. Div.). Co. D again stowed away another "first" when Lt. Smith, with the advance Infantry elements, distinguished himself as the first man in the 91st to trespass on German soil.

The enemy pillboxes of the Siegfried line, on the high ground overlooking Echternach, stared down into the town and the 4.2s stared right back and suddenly began to belch forth WP-HE mixtures almost incessantly for three days. To be exact Co. D served Jerry 2,041 shells between H-hour and 0600 February 10th.

The severity of the resistance from the many pillboxes of the Siegfried line is evidenced in the fact that all companies were still firing from their original H-hour positions on February 11th and by the fact that since the beginning of the operation a total of 24 screens were maintained for from 30 minutes to 9 hours, fired from 1 gun to an entire company, and expending, by the end of this period 9,194 WP and 500 FS shells, almost 1,215 tons.

By February 11th, 2400, the attack on the Siegfried Line continued with greater success than experienced the preceding week.

Co. B was the only Company to do any firing worth mentioning. The 1st platoon screened Infantry crossings and bridging operations in the 5th Division sector. The 2nd platoon displaced forward some 2,000 yards closer to the river.

Co. C spent the day on reconnaissance in preparation to cross into Germany. No firing was done, however, they did receive several heavy barrages during the afternoon. The FDC in Biesdorf was shelled killing PFC. Lamosek who was standing just outside the building housing the FDC.

By February 15th the bridgehead was firmly established and the forces regrouped in preparation for the continuation of the attack. The 2nd Infantry relieved the 417th Infantry on 16 February. All platoons but one were in Germany and Companies B and C were across the river in their entirety. Co. B opened their CP in Bollendorf, the platoons moving to Ferschweiler. The CP for Co. C was at Ernzen with the platoons dispersed close by. Co. A's CP was in Bigelbach, Luxembourg but both platoons had crossed the river, the 1st platoon in Ammeldingen, the 2nd in a position East of Wollendorf. Only the 2nd platoon of Co. D crossed the Sauer into Germany. They dug in near the river's edge East of Echternach. All moves were made in good order. The traffic into Germany was heavy. That country was popular with the American tourists that season.

February 15, 1945 - The 91st Cml Bn was exactly one year old. The exigencies of the situation prevented the Battalion from celebrating together, but each of the companies took it upon themselves to celebrate. All companies served beer, and Co. A added ice cream and cake - an indigestible combination, but good.

The XII Corps attack continued under the original plan. On February 18th the 2nd platoon of Co. A supported the 318th Infantry in an attack around Hammerdingen. Co. B moved forward into Shankweiler where both platoons fired varied missions, among them enemy troop concentrations, vehicles, and a smoke screen to obscure the visibility of German self propelled guns firing into the town.

On February 18th the Battalion began to reorganize under a new T/O ordered by Third Army and was then designated the 91st Chemical Mortar Battalion. It was planned to break up Co. A, reassign the personnel and to re-designate Co. D to Co. A.  O/D No.78, XII Corps, moved Co. D from the 76th Infantry Division to the 80th Infantry Division, and moved Co. A from the 80th to Battalion control on the 19th of February. Co. A moved into billets in Zittig, Luxembourg. The administrative details involved in the disbanding of the Company occupied much of the time while in Zittig. At the same time the men enjoyed a rest after 57 days on the line.

On February 20th the last Company A formation was held. All officers and a few of the cadre addressed the assembled company. Needless to say, the officers and men were saddened by the disbanding of the company. Their spirits were somewhat raised by receipt of commendations from the 80th Infantry Division, the 905th FA Bn., and the 314th FA Bn.

PFC. George B. King, Co. B, was wounded and evacuated on the 19th of February when the jeep in which he was riding was struck by shrapnel.

Lt. Clark's 2nd platoon of Co. B won't soon forget the 22nd of February, 1945. On this day the 2nd platoon was subjected to the heaviest enemy artillery barrage that any one in the 91st had as yet encountered in the 2 months of combat. The shells were of extremely large caliber. Six craters, in and around the platoon position, were deep enough to be used as mortar emplacements. It was nothing short of a miracle that brought the entire platoon through the shelling without serious consequences.

On the same date the newly designated Co. A (formerly Co. D) moved its CP South of Korperich. The 1st platoon moved into Kewenig, Germany, and thence to Korperich. The 2nd platoon displaced forward three times to finally settle down in the town of Huttingen, Germany.

The final bridgehead across the Sauer and Our Rivers was secured by the 22nd of February and XII Corps regrouped to continue the attack to the Northeast. Co. C went to the 304th Inf., 76th Inf. Division but since there was a boundary shift to the Northwest they did not have to move. The other companies had to displace to get into new forward positions.

Bn. Hq. and its newly formed Hq. Co. moved into Germany proper. Hq. and Hq. Co. was located in the Hotel Wald Villa, near Bollendorf, on the slope of the hill running along the Sauer River.

The XII Corps began an attack across the Prum River at 2300, 24th February. From the initial assault to the finish of the planned operations the attack advanced, favorably against light resistance. The general offensive on the Third Army front with steady progress by the 4th Armored, 76th, 80th, and 5th Infantry Divisions, made it difficult for the companies to fire and keep pace with their supported units.

During the period the Corps continued the attack to the East and Northeast and cleared the enemy from the area bounded by the Sauer-Mozelle-Kyll Rivers in the Corps zone.

The 80th Inf. Division, Co. A attached, proiected the Corps North flank and mopped up the enemy in its zone. The character of the opposition was attested by the fact that the company did no firing during the entire operation.

The 5th Inf. Division, Co. B attached, cleared the enemy out of its zone, with the 1st platoon supporting the 2nd Infantry. The Division forced bridgeheads across the Kyll River on the 3rd of March. At the close of the period the 2nd platoon was preparing to cross the river having been given a very high bridge priority.

The 76th Infantry Division, Co. C attached, having completed the clearing of some 200 pillboxes of the Siegfried line, swung South and cleared the enemy from the Sauer-Mozelle-Kyll area and contacted XX Corps at Trier. Co. C was initially attached to the 304th Inf. and went over to the 385th Inf. when it passed through the 304th in the vicinity of Eisenach. At the close of the period Co. C displaced to support the 76th crossing of the Kyll.

On the 25th of February only Co. C remained in position. Neither platoon of Co. A was able to fire due to the rapidly moving situation. The 1st platoon moved three times, the last position being in the town of Ortcheid, but by nightfall both platoons were in the process of displacing forward again. The Co. CP was established in Niedersgegen. Co. B was on the move all day.

On the 26th the platoons of all three companies were "on the road". Only the CPs were able to remain stationary, and then for only a matter of hours. Co. B moved their CP into Dickendorf. Co. C got into Alsdorf after an attempt to pass through quagmire flat lands on the night of the 25th was prevented by road blocks and heavy artillery fire.

On the 27th Co. A's CP moved into Hutterscheid while the 2nd platoon moved into the town of Rittersdorf. It was necessary to take immediate further reconnaissance for another forward movement. Co. 8 - the same story - Infantry moving too rapidly and no targets available. The company CP was scheduled to move to Esslingen. Co. C's platoons moved into the vicinity of Meckel.

The next day Co. A's 2nd platoon went to Wiersdorf. Co. B packed up their CP and shoved off for Esslingen, found out it was "trespassing" on the 2nd Infantry domain, were evicted, and moved on to Idenheim. The 1st platoon moved from Igendorf to Idenheim, but one section of three guns was immediately moved to Trimport. Co. C's CP, the 2nd platoon, and one section of the 1st platoon moved in and around Gilzen. Lt. Sheets and his driver, PFC. Hazlett were wounded by the explosion on a land mine detonated by their jeep as they were traveling over a road presumably swept for mines.

The month of March found most of the companies still moving forward. The 2nd platoon of Co. A displaced into the town of Niederweiler and was placed in support of the 313th FA Bn. (80th Div.). Co. B remained in position except for the 2nd platoon which passed to support of the 11th Infantry and moved North into the vicinity of Ahlbach. One section of the 1st platoon of Co. C went into Eisenach and one section of the 2nd platoon went into Helenburg as the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 304th Infantry jumped off. The Company support was transferred to the 385th Infantry attacking through the 304th.

March 2nd - Co. A's 1st platoon moved into a new position Northwest of Phillipsweiler. Co. B moved in its entirety putting the CP in Bitburg, the 2nd platoon in Motsch, and fhe 1st platoon 1,500 yards forward from the old position. All elements of Co. C also moved. The Company CP went into Undelfungen and the platoons West of Trierweiler. Hq. and Hq. Co. moved from Bollendorf, on the German side of the Sauer, to Alsdorf, a town on the Echternach-Bitburg highway.

Co. C supported the 304th Inf. in its crossing of the Kyll River on March 3rd. The 1st platoon was set up in Hofweiler, the 2nd Southeast of Idenheim. The CP was in Ittel-Kyll. Co. B remained in position. Co. A moved its 1st platoon into Bickendorf.

The Third Army offensive, spearheaded by the 4th Armored Division, catapulted the Battalion deep into the heart of the Rhineland. The 80th Inf. Division remained inactive, but Cos. B and C, supporting the 5th and 76th Inf. Divisions, went along on the "Ride to the Rhine."

XII Corps advanced at H-hour, 4 March, to seize the West bank of the Rhine River between Andernach and Koblenz on two routes. The formation was as follows - 4th Armored Division on the left followed by the 5th Inf. Division, and the 80th Inf. Division; 76th Inf. Division (reinf.) on the right. The companies remained attached as before. The 4th Armored passed through the bridgehead across the Kyll River that was secured by the 5th Division the night of March 4th-5th and in 58 hours had reached the Rhine River, 52 miles away!!! The 5th Inf. Division motorized CT2 (Combat Team No.2) with the first platoon of Co. B attached, and CT 11, with Co. B minus 1 platoon attached, on the 6th of March. These two Combat Teams followed the 4th Armored Division and mopped up in its zone. The attack went so fast that no firing was done by Co. B.

The powerful offensive virtually crushed all organized resistance West of the Rhine although many bypassed German positions remained to be cleared. The overall picture was that of armor slashing through, with the Infantry following as fast as possible to occupy the Rhineland. The front line was jagged with salients thrust fo the Rhine and intermediate points. This resulted in the anomalous situation of Bn. Hq. and Hq. Co. being at one time deeper within Germany than the companies, having moved into a salient not part of any company sector. At Daun, Germany, Bn. Hq. and Hq. Co. entered the town two days after it was taken.

Co. A remained with the 80th Inf. Division. This Division remained in positions West of the Kyll River. Although the Company did no firing we shall trace its route up to the Rhine. On March 4th the CP moved into Niederweiler while the 2nd platoon went into position at Schleid. The next day the CP joined the 2nd platoon in Schleid. On March 7th the CP and the 2nd platoon moved into Bickendorf. The 89th Inf. Division joined the XII Corps in the line between the 5th and 76th Inf. Divisions on the 9th of March and Co. A went to this Division but by the end of the period had not been committed.

The 76th Inf. Division ran into considerable resistance after securing the initial bridgehead across the Kyll and Co. C, in support, did quite a bit of firing to aid the Division in its assault. On March 4th the 304th Inf. Regiment shoved off on a night attack. Co. C stood by ready to fire but was not called upon to do so. The next day the 2nd platoon moved into position in the vicinity of Rohl to assist in halting a counter-attack but their fire was not called for. On March 6th the 1st platoon defended the right flank of the Infantry holding the bridgehead across the Kyll River. The 2nd platoon moved into a defensive position at Speicher in support of the 2nd Bn., 304th Infantry. The next day one section of the 2nd platoon displaced to Herforst to support the 1st Battalion's attack on Arrinrath. On March 9th the 1st platoon moved into Landscheid from which supporting fire was given the Infantry in its drive to Muschweiler. Later one section moved into Berg to fire on Minderlittgen. Counter-battery fire was very intense. One barrage of 88 mm. fire killed S/Sgt. Richard Yarnell and wounded Cpl. Lee and PFC. Kelly. On March 10th the 1st platoon in Berg fired in support of an early morning Infantry attack and later displaced into Minderlittgen. The 2nd platoon also moved into Minderlittgen and at 2400 displaced again and went into position in the vicinity of Wittlich.

Bn. Hqs. moved from Metterich to Duan, deeper into the Rhineland, on March 10th. A chemical factory was occupied for a Bn. CP.

Having reached the Rhine, Third Army forces were now moving into position to move South, cross the Moselle River and eliminate the enemy in the Saar. The first part of the period was spent in clearing the enemy from the West bank of the Rhine and the North bank of the Moselle and regrouping for a continuation of the attack. FO No.16 prescribed an attack across the Moselle River in the 90th and 5th Division sectors. The Moselle River in front of the 76th Division was prescribed as the XII-XX Corps boundary so Co. C was relieved from the 76th on March 13th and sent to an active sector to support the 90th Division.

On March 11th, while still attached to the 76th Division, Co. C's CP was in Wittlich, the 1st platoon in Wengerohu, and the 2nd platoon in the vicinity of Altrich. On the 12th the 1st platoon displaced to Wengerohr. Upon attachment to the 90th Division the company moved approximately 75 miles. The Company CP "set up house" in Polch. The platoons moved into positions ready to fire for the approaching river crossing. The 1st platoon, attached to the 359th Inf. Regiment, moved into Metternich and the 2nd platoon moved to Moselsurch to support the 357th Inf. Regiment.

Co. B, still with the 2nd and 11th Inf. Regiments of the 5th Division, established a CP in Kolig and 1st platoon positions in Clotten on March 11th. The next day the CP moved to Brohl and the 2nd platoon established its mortar positions North of Karden and the Moselle. The 1st platoon was prepared to fire in support of the crossing of the Moselle River by the 5th Infantry Division. On March 13th both platoons moved into position closer to the new attack point, the 1st platoon in Brieden and the 2nd in Muden. Both platoons moved to the banks of the Moselle on the 14th, the 1st went into position Southeast of Brieden, the 2nd into the town of Mosselkern.

Co. A did its first firing in 20 days In support of the 89th Inf. Division mopping up operations. On March 11th the CP was established in Pickliessen, while the 1st platoon, supporting CT3, went into position in Landscheid, and the 2nd platoon, supporting CT5, went into position in Manderscheid. On the following day the Company CP moved to Manderscheid. The 1st and 2nd platoons displaced and went into position in Niederscheidweiler and Dreisch, respectively. March 13th was moving day again, the 1st platoon to Beuren, the 2nd platoon to Lescherhof.

Following the companies in their moves to cover the Moselle River crossing, the Battalion CP moved to Polch on March 13th.

The 5th and 90th Inf. Divisions jumped off at 0200, March 14th and had all assault Regiments across the river by nightfall. Co. C fired a screen to aid the crossing operations after which the 1st platoon displaced to Morhausen and the CP to Brodenbach.

In the 89th Division sector the remaining pockets of enemy resistance were being cleared out. These operations kept Co. A "double-timing all over the place." The 1st platoon set up their guns 1,000 meters Southwest of Aldegund and the 2nd platoon moved to Faid for the day and displaced to Reil the next morning.

On the 15th of March Co. B fired to support an Infantry attack on the town of Lahr. When the mission was completed "March Order" was given and the 2nd platoon went to Zilhausen. The 1st platoon went to the Southeast with the 2nd Inf. Regiment. The Company CP moved to Muden.

The 4th Armored Division passed through the 5th and the 90th Inf. Divisions' bridgehead the afternoon of the 15th and the race was on again.

The 90th (Co. C atchd.) was given the mission of securing the West bank of the Rhine from Boppard to Bingen. The 1st platoon of Co. C early in the day moved to Morshausen but fired no missions. Then later in the day displaced again to Obr Gondershausen. The 2nd platoon crossed the Moselle River at 1100 hours. They emplaced their mortars at the Northwest edge of Herschweisen to act as flank protection for the 357th Regiment. The guns were in an unusual position, being in line with the 81 mm. mortars and 4 German 120s manned by the former cannon company of the 357th. The following day (16th) the 1st platoon displaced from Obr Gondershausen to Lissenfield. The entire platoon then assembled at Brodenbach in preparation for a transfer to another sector. Both sections emplaced at Notershausen. The 2nd platoon, in a defensive position in Herschweisen, displaced to Buckholtz at 1800.

Co. C went to control of the 357th Infantry on the 17th and supported the attack on Boppard. The 1st platoon moved to Pfaffenheck which was bitterly defended by a garrison of SS troops. The numbers of enemy dead were seemingly disproportionate, but this small town was strategically important. When resistance was smashed, the Infantry shifted to another sector leaving the platoon and a small Cavalry reconnaissance unit to hold the town. The 2nd platoon, supporting the 2nd Cav. Gp. (atchd. to 90th Inf. Div.) fired the first round across the Rhine River for the 91st. The target was Pilsen. Cpl. Campbell dropped in is first round down the barrel.

Co. B, in the meanwhile, was on the move in an extremely mobile situation. On the 16th of March the 1st platoon left the 2nd Inf. and went to control of the 10th Inf. The Company was following the 5th Division in column. They spent the night of the 16th in Castlelaun but on the alert for a quick movement. By nightfall of the 17th they were someplace in the vicinity of Simmern. Co. B was traveling as a part of the 19th FA Bn. convoy.

The 89th Inf. Division crossed the Moselle on the 16th of March against light resistance. Co. A did no firing. The 1st platoon crossed on ferryboats at 1000 and the rest of the Company followed the next day. The 1st platoon, following the Infantry, set up in Grenderich and did no firing. The 2nd platoon moved into Briedel on the 17th. The company was across in its entirety now and still moving on. On the 18th the CP moved into Denzen, the 1st platoon into Linderscheid, and the 2nd platoon into Rhaunen. On the 19th the CP displaced to Echneppenbach and the 1st platoon to Kirn. The 2nd platoon was packed and waiting. On the following day the CP opened in Heimburg while the 1st and 2nd platoons displaced to Barweiler and Otzweiler respectively. March 21st was the first for several days that the entire company did not move. Only the 2nd platoon moved to Becherbach.

The other companies' reports for these days are no different than Co. A's. It was a continuous process of displacement from one position to another.

Co. B, on March 18th, located its CP in Weinsheim while the 1st platoon settled down in Monzingen and the 2nd in Weinsheim. The next day the CP and 2nd platoon ended up in Wallertheim, the 1st platoon in Steinhardterhof. On March 21st the CP and 2nd platoon moved to Schwabsburg, the first platoon spending the entire day on the road without stopping. These moves put Co. B close enough to the Rhine that it might be said that their "Ride to the Rhine" was practically finished. On March 22nd the 1st platoon displaced to a RJ (Road Junction) South o Hillesheim. The 2nd platoon moved at about' 1900 to occupy positions in the town of Oppenheim on the banks of the Rhine. Under cover of darkness the mortars were set up to cover the historic crossing of the Rhine River.

Co. C - March 19th - At dawn the 1st platoon displaced from Waldalgesheim to Weiler where the guns were set up and several registrations fired. The platoon then dug in at Wolfsheim. The 2nd platoon moved to join the 358th Regiment in Dromersheim where orders were received to set up in Nonsheim. March 20th - At noon the 1st platoon displaced to Essenheim. Shortly after the halt the first section of the platoon moved forward to a RJ just North of Obr Olm in support of an attack on Bretzenheim. The second section displaced to support the attack on the left flank of the sector. The 2nd platoon displaced forward in support of Co. C, of the 1st Bn. of the 358th Inf. in their advance. Before they set up the platoon had moved through the towns of Aspisheim, Englestadt, Bobenheim, Schwabenheim, and into Winterheim. Here they set up to fire on Ingelheim. After the mission was completed the platoon displaced to the town of Drais. March 21st - At dawn the first section of the 1st platoon went forward into Marienborn to better support the attack on Bretzenheim. At 1700 they displaced into the cleared section of that town. The other section, from their position in Drais, placed fire on Gonsenheim. As soon as the town was cleared they moved in to support the attack on Mombach. During this time the 2nd platoon displaced to Gonsenheim where they fired a 5½-ring mission. They ceased fire after drawing direct fire. March 22nd - Both platoons fired in support of the attack on the city of Mainz. At noon the 1st platoon displaced to the outskirts of the town. At the end of the day the city was cleared of enemy troops. This was the largest city that the Third Army had taken by assault thus far.

In its effort to keep as near to the companies as possible, Bn. Hq. and Hq. Co. displaced to the town of Kulz. just North of Simmern, on March 19th. On the 21st the unit moved to Wollstein, 12 kilometers East of Bad Kreuznach which had been cleared the day before. On the 23rd Bn. moved again, this time to Gau Oderheim.

On March 19th the first issue of the Battalion weekly newspaper (unnamed as yet) came off the presses and was very well received by all personnel of the organization.

Thus the first part of the period, the attack South of the Moselle, came to a close with the XII Corps completing the mission set forth in FO No.16. The Corps regrouped to continue the attack. FO No.17 prescribed the surprise attack across the Rhine River South of Mainz.

The action in the Bulge was tough slow and made at a heavy cost - the sort hated by all combat troops. The bitter cold, the hilly wooded terrain and the enemy's determined resistance made living conditions damnable.

Once through the Siegfried line the attack followed swiftly from hamlet to hamlet with sporadic resistence in isolated pockets. Summer was coming - summer when "the living is" easier if not exactly easy.

That German plumbing – Lt William T. Free, commanding the third platoon was unfortunate enough to undergo a truly amusing experience at his own expense. An orientation on German plumbing is in order before the story gets underway, however. Most middle class houses in Bavaria have the same type, a cess pool along the side of the building, sometimes covered, often not.

It was a certain night in Hengersberg when Lt. Free was about to conclude an investigation and retire for the evening. Rounding the corner of a building, his goal in sight, he forgot completely the possibility of open cesspools. Consequently before he had gone very much farther than the corner of the house he found himself submerged to his chest in the most undesirable of swimming holes. The burst of profanity that followed was immediate and highly abusive to the German race. Indeed, it is doubtful that there shall ever occur the equal of Lt. Free's specific and heartfelt language. The next morning all that remained to indicate what had happened was an abandoned pair of boots exuding a none too aromatic odor.

The Action in Wilwerwiltz, Luxembourg – On the evening of January 26th, the second and third platoons of company B moved into position to support the 80th Division in an attack on Bockholz and Hosingen, Luxembourg. The platoons' convoys moved through the village of Wilwerwiltz into Pinsch where Infantry were still mopping up resistance. In Wilwerwiltz the convoy parked on a bridge which was being sporadically shelled by the enemy and were lucky enough not to be hit. In Pinsch they parked on the infantry lines, 50 yards behind the forward outposts and , 50 yards from an enemy Tiger tank in position on a nearby hill. The Tank Destroyers were called on and the tank was silenced. About midnight the column moved back to Wilwerwiltz and went into position to support the next day's assault. The third platoon was on the reverse slope of a high hill at the forward edge of the town