HEADQUARTERS PLATOON, COMPANY
“A”
We
moved into the town if Nauroy, it was a ghost town not a thing there, which was
located about seven miles east of Reims, France. Here we ate our Christmas turkey mid the falling snow and pine
trees. We remained here for two
days, then moved into the country of Belgium and set up our CP near the town of
Assisnes. We refueled the vehicles
and moved the next day to the town of Recogne, were we set up our CP.
The platoons went into position to the north of Recogne.
We moved the CP two days later into the town of Seviscourt, where we
spent the next five days. From
Seviscourt we moved to the town of Bras. A
direct telephone line was laid to the 87th Division, which kept the
switchboard busy forwarding messages. The
men from the platoons were kept busy ducking the enemy artillery and picking up
shell fragments to be turned in with their shell reports.
On Jan. 12th we moved into the town of Jennevllle, where we
set up our CP in the house of a priest. By now the Bulge had begun to shrink considerably, so we soon
received orders to assemble and move into a new area.
We received orders, on the 15th of Jan. that we were to assemble in the town of Libramont in preparation for a long move to the town of Contern, Luxembourg. The areas that we were to occupy were reconnoitred, and everything was made ready for the movement into a defensive position before the city of Luxembourg.
The
CP moved into a large chateau at Papeterie, but here ran into trouble. The place
was too large for our platoon to properly keep clean and livable. After some
debate it was decided to move to Manternach. We remained in Manternach until
March 2nd, when we pulled out to assemble in the town of Oberanven.
We were told that we were assembled here for a rest period, our first since we
had been committed to combat. It was at Oberanven that one of the men
distinguished himself by carrying a blazing can of gasoline away from the
vehicles and buildings and was severely burned. He was later awarded the
"Certificate of Merit".
After
thirty-six hours at Oberanven, we were ordered to move to the town of Portz.
Here we received orders to move farther south, so moved into the town of
Bettange and set up our CP to await further orders.
On
March 7th we received orders to move into position near the city of
Sarralautern, so moved our CP on the out-skirts of Pikardwhere we overlooked
Sarralautern and miles of enemy held territory. Here the wire crew had an
exceptionally hard time maintaining communication, as the enemy artillery and
mortar fire was continually breaking the telephone lines. One afternoon there
was a deafening explosion in the valley just to the south of the CP. A few of
the men went to investigate as to what it was, and soon called for help. Several
of the men ran forward to assist and found they were working in a minefield. A
jeep containing three men had been crossing the field when it struck the mine,
while working around the vehicle one of the men stepped on to an antipersonnel
mine injuring two of the men. Three of the men received a "Silver
Star" award for their fine work and prompt action in helping to take care
of the injured.
On
the morning of the twentieth the unit to which we were attached moved through
Sarralautern and headed east. We set up the CP that night in the town of
Hulzweller, and the next morning started a race for the city of Neunkirchen. We
set up our CP in Neunkirchen, but late in the afternoon moved west and set up
the CP in Quirschied. Two days later we moved back into Neunkirchen and
assembled the whole battalion. It was here that we received our new destroyers.
This kept the maintenance and radio crews busy checking the vehicles and
installing new equipment. We departed from here on the 27th and moved
into the town of Teschenmoschel where we completed our test firing.
We
left Teschenmoschel on the 29th and headed east in a series of one
night stops through Saulheia, Frankfurt, Wettersfeld, Ramrod, Muhlbach, and
Sterkelshau arriving In Sontra on the 3rd April. The company was
assembled here and the next five days spent on maintenance before taking off on
another race.
On
the eighth of April we were off again, racing through the towns of Wendehausen,
Diedorf, Klettsted, Badtennstedt, Heberseim, Buttstadt, Osterfeld, Zeitz,
Meuselwitz and Mittweid. Here we remained for two days before moving onto
Wittgensdorf, where we set up our CP and remained for the next seven days. We
were then ordered to move our CP into the town of Hartsannsdorf, because we were
within an area which was under Russian artillery fire. We remained in
Hartsannsdorf until the war ended then assembled the company in the town of
Limbach.
SGT Arthur Bignall