FIRST
PLATOON COMPANY “A”
On
November 18th 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 101st Infantry Regiment for several days. On
November 30th we moved to the town of
On
December 16th 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 26th Infantry. Also, on the same day T/4 Warren and PFC
Jugla received the Bronze Star.
When
the Battalion was detached from the 44th Inf. Div. and attached to
the 87th Inf. Div. on December 24th 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 26th. 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 29th
found us on another move. This time into
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
At
last the battalion was pulled into an assembly area on March 3rd,
supposedly one of those ten day rests. It lasted one night and we moved south.
We were relieved from the 2nd Cav Group and attached to the 94th
Inf. Div. Then relieved from the 94th and attached to the 65th
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
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 76th 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 1st.
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 9th it was officially
announced that the war was over.
SGT
Rollin Zilke