In August 1944, some 650 men of an understrength
infantry battalion from the 30th Infantry Division fought for survival on
a hill near Mortain in Normandy as the Germans launched their largest
counterattack in France in World War II. For most of six days and nights,
the Americans were cut off from supply lines without adequate food, water,
medical supplies, or ammunition.
The decisive artillery defense, much of which was launched by forward
observer Robert Weiss, has been credited with making the difference in
this pivotal battle of the Normandy invasion. With only one radio, powered
by dying batteries, Weiss and his team brought down a rain of brutal iron
that time after time turned back the German offensive.
