FIRST PLATOON COMPANY “A” (continued)

On November 18^th we were ordered to move to positions formerly occupied by an anti-tank platoon. While on a reconnaissance of these positions we received direct fire from a large caliber gun. With darkness closing in it was necessary to hold the platoon, which already started to move, on the road until daylight. At dawn the platoon moved to Guebling where it took positions which proved to be very worthy. Our Infantry was being held up by enemy machine gun nests in a small woods. Our 3” H. E. shells set at quick and delay opened the road and the Infantry went on a drive of twelve miles. We were credited with one O. P. and three machine gun nests having been knocked out. Our next move proved thrilling and exemplified the aggressiveness of our small task force. When it became necessary to get across a blown railroad bridge the boys turned Engineers for a short time and built a crossing. They put halve tracks across and several days later trained Engineers doubted that it would carry a Jeep. They would hardly believe it when they were told the story.

We remained attached to the 101^st Infantry Regiment for several days. On November 30^th we moved to the town of Burback . The following day we move to the town of Deidendorf to support the 101^st F. A. Bn. and occupied in direct fire positions. We fired throughout the day here. The 3^rd of December found us in Rimsdorf. The 5^th this same month brought our Company C. P. to the half taken town of Saar Union .

On December 16^th orders came down that 5% of our men would be transferred to the Infantry. Everybody was sweating it out. The important ones went to the 26^th Infantry. Also, on the same day T/4 Warren and PFC Jugla received the Bronze Star.

When the Battalion was detached from the 44^th Inf. Div. and attached to the 87^th Inf. Div. on December 24^th we were pulled back from the line Christmas Eve, with all its cold and beauty found us on the road back to Dieuze. Everyone had a good idea what was up. Christmas Day was spent in Dieuze and we had a grand dinner with a menu similar to that of Thanksgiving. Late in the afternoon and just before dark, the platoon along with the rest of the battalion departed for a assembly area east of Reims, of writing and a 1500 December 26^th. The next couple of days were spent in this area. It was an old battlefield with the trenches and entanglements still playing to view. Our biggest work was maintenance and ammunition. The evening of the 29^th found us on another move. This time into Belgium . The battalion was located at Bertrix. Company "A” was in the vicinity of Recongne and did not arrive until 0200 on the morning of December 31^st. At 0400 we were ordered out to give direct support to an attack by 1^st Bn. 364 Infantry. This took us to Bras Hout where we bumped into some resistance.

Two of our guns set up and fired direct APC and HE for the next few days that followed. One gun was set for firing implementation shells which aided our patrols. Inspection later showed much damage by the fire. When fighting quieted down in this sector are platoon became attached to Company “C” for support of the Infantry in the vicinity of Tillet. About this time of the Belgium Bulge was pinched off and fighting in this vicinity was quite.

The battalion now moved down into Luxembourg and stopped just short of Germany . Here we went into an indirect firing position for two days, and then pulled out into a defensive position. This lasted nearly a month and was almost like a vacation. The men did enjoy a few passes to Paris and Luxembourg while here. Those who visited Paris reported it has wonderful.

At last the battalion was pulled into an assembly area on March 3^rd, supposedly one of those ten day rests. It lasted one night and we moved south. We were relieved from the 2^nd Cav Group and attached to the 94^th Inf. Div. Then relieved from the 94^th and attached to the 65^th Inf. Div. Four days later we moved into Saar Lautern, which turned out to be another stay of not much action. Except for being caught out once in a while when Jerry decided to shelve the place, it was very quiet. We tried to hoist a gun up on the roof of the highest building in Saar Lautern to fire onto the enemy positions. We were able to direct fire for one of our other platoons from our O.P. It was fun to watch for a German to start down the road and see if you could catch him before he got back in.

And now came the beginning of that last long drive, that sent the Jerries back on their heels and crushed them. We left out of Saar Lautern and made a fast ride to Neunkirchen . We were held up here while we were converted from towed 3” to S.P., or the M-36. The M-36 came in on the morning of the 27^th and we took off that afternoon. With the drive going as fast as it was it was difficult to get up for the fighting was. On the 28^th we test fired our new weapons. We moved out again the following day and on March 30^th at 0045 we crossed the noted Rhine River . The war was moving too fast now for the Infantry to walk and keep up, so with the slogan, "always room for one more ", we loaded them on our TD. Those with good seats enjoyed the ride. Others said they would rather be back in the Infantry walking. We were having fun now. None of this laying around doing nothing. On April 5^th, with the Infantry hanging onto wire destroyers, we rolled down the highway in the direction of Langensalza. Working along with a platoon of medium tanks, we stopped outside of the town and the Doughboys dismounted. The Tanks and TD took up echelon formation and pushed on into town.

Here is where the fun really started. Our platoon took up the left flank of the town. Machine guns and rifles started firing at us. Just as soon as concentrations of enemy troopers or machine gun nests could be spotted the 90’s would start firing. We were pretty busy, but not too busy to know that our buddies in the other parts of the town were busy too. The Germans still had a few planes in operation, and some of them came over to see what we looked like. They must have liked us because they started showering the place with heavy “confetti.”  We liked it too because we threw some right back at them.

Night found hundreds of Jerries in columns waiting for transportation to a POW enclosure. Many of them were sleeping soundly on the ground. Due to the large number of PW we were taking it held us up and kept us from advancing as fast as we could have. However, the next day things were on the move again, and we were pulled out now and attached to the 76^th Inf. Div. again. We moved down to Zeitz and had quite a scrap there. We had more opposition from enemy planes than we had been having. It was not long though before our and planes came and drove them from the sky.

Our last action was in Auers Walde and did not amount to very much, because we were doing all of the giving with nothing coming our way. This was about May 1^st. It was about this time that we went into holding positions. Seven days later we knew that the end was here, and then on the 9^th it was officially announced that the war was over.

SGT Rollin Zilke

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