Capter 14 - Marching Fire

Sometime around mid-afternoon the company received orders to attack to the west across an open field, and secure a wooded area at the far edge of the field. Everyone gathered around the CP to listen to the Lt. who was the company commander, and only commissioned officer they had left, give the plan of battle.^{See Note below}

We were to spread out along the elevated railroad track, and at his signal, go into what the infantry calls" marching fire", that is, firing your weapon from the hip rapidly while moving at a zigzag run or trot and taking any cover available. Our job was to put down a mass of artillery into the wooded area and as soon as the shells began landing the signal was given to advance.

That was my first and only infantry charge. A fact I've been very thankful for! The bullets were whizzing in what seemed like all directions, several men were hit crossing that field including the Company Commander and one of the original men called Sgt. Moses, When we finally reached the woods the Germans had high-tailed it out of there evidently taking their dead, and wounded with them. They had definitely been there since there was plenty of evidence left behind. We could not keep up with the fast paced infantry since we had to carry that heavy radio with us. We placed it on a pole and let it swing down between us. The enemy took a few pot shots with a mortar at we two struggling guys with that radio between us, and kept us laying in the snow and playing dead, until they either thought we were, or had to move out, or found what they thought was a better target. I'll never know which but am very thankful they quit when they did, and didn't lay the next round on top of us.

Shortly after the woods were secured we got orders to leave C Company and return to C Battery for another assignment. I'll never forget that bunch of paratroopers very "devil-may-care, don't give a damn" types, but very good fighters. If they were ever afraid they sure as heck didn't show it.

One paratrooper who had gotten wounded, and was being sent back to the rear, gave me a brand-new 45 pistol and holster, which was a highly prized weapon to an enlisted man in the artillery, since only the officers were issued them. All the officers in C Battery wanted to beat me out of my new 45 since most of them had old beat-up ones. I wore that thing on my hip a long time. Finally someone at battalion issued an order that an enlisted man could not wear a side arm. I was kind of glad since that heavy thing was tiring to wear, and was making me walk one-sided. I traded that thing to someone for a camera, and then lost the camera. What the heck, "easy come easy go". It wasn't a very good camera anyway.

Our guns were moving almost every day and on occasion more than once a day. They would stay in position and fire as long as possible, many times going into march order under a hail of enemy small arms fire, which meant the German infantry was right on our tails.

Field artillery is supposed to be behind the shield of protecting friendly troops, but in the Bulge this was hardly ever the case. In our situation the Fourteenth Cavalry had been pretty well beat up and was almost done as a fighting force. The 106th Division was badly bloodied, two regiments were captured intact, and the rest badly cut up. So we really had very little frontal protection during the entire battle The Germans might come at us from almost any direction, and I believe someone said that on one particular day our guns fired shells in a complete circle.

I'm not going to try to go into minute detail about what happened each and every day, since my memory isn't that good and I did not keep a log of the days events. The 275th was involved in about twelve days of the worst fighting in the history of war, but much of the time before and after those twelve days things were tough, but in no way as rough as that particular time. It seemed you might ask why I don't remember those few days very well. Not only has my memory slipped a little, but there was so much happening so terribly fast, and so different from anything I had been accustomed to seeing or doing.

When the Krauts finally succeeded in taking St. Vith, and pushed us out, we went into a position several miles out near a little village called Hinderhausen. We could sit there and shoot back into St. Vith. Shelling the enemy who had occupied the territory that we had just vacated. That poor little place probably was shelled and bombed more for a little town than any other place in the war. It was located in a crossroads and a major rail center, and was quite valuable to the side that controlled it.

Note: In The Valiant 275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion compiled by the HISTORICAL COMMITTEE; Roy U. Clay, Robert Schnulle, Donald W. Herman and Raymond W. Richerson in July 1978. The following reference is made:

"25 DECEMBER 1944

"1500  - Friendly attack opened to retake Manhay. Attack led by a separate airborne infantry battalion commanded by Lt. Co Richard Seitz. The 275th fired a creeping barrage in front of the Abn.  Infantry which followed at a distance of 50 yards. This closeness surprised Col. Clay. Dick Seitz later explained, "We knew we would have some casualties from your artillery fire but the casualties would be less than from enemy weapons if his battalion were to follow the barrage at a greater distance." He was correct and Manhay was retaken."

Patrick O'Donnell,  historian@thedropzone.org, advised that "...the 517 PRCT - 2nd Battalion." was the unit commanded by Lt. Col. Seitz.
Read O'Donnell's interview with Lt. Gen. Seitz. http://www.thedropzone.org/europe/Bulge/seitz.html

For more information about the 517th PRCT see:   517 Parachute Regimental Combat Team  and
Battling Buzzards': The Odyssey of the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team 1943-1945
Book by: Gerald Astor [ASIN: 1556113633]