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The mighty air offensive heralding the thrust of the pent-up force from Normandy into Brittany was now underway. Our ground troops were following closely behind saturation raids and by July 30, preparations were completed for the first movement. Coast Drive - Our route of march paralleled the St. Malo Coast as La Haye du Puits, Lessay and Coutances were rapidly left behind. They were blasted and shattered towns formerly housing the enemy in the path of the torrential force now sweeping over them. Nazi garrisons had been put to flight, but scattered and disorganized elements lurked everywhere. Here, and all along the route to follow, civilian residents were anxious to inform us of their nationality and loyalty. Appreciating the momentum of the drive, they wished to assure us all collaborators had been seized. The company remained for several hours in a large apple orchad [orchard] in the vicinity of Montmartin-Sur-Mer early in the afternoon of July 31. There was some enemy aerial activity over the coast and we dug protective holes for shelter. All measures for an overnight stay were completed when we were informed "make preparations to leave." Several vehicles had come in for repair, but one of the automotive platoons would remain to complete the work and thereafter join us. Sgts. Anglemyer, Turner, Pincher, Kolodziejewski, and King, Schairer, Hays and Sprague were the favored "selectees." They later related that after dark our former bivouac area was spotted by a Heinie recon plane which circled above several times flickering a signal light. A flare dropped near their 3/4-ton and enemy bombers were over the fields. King and Turner crashed into a hole and Kolodziejewski piled in on top of them. There were plenty of shelters, but the boys sought safety in numbers as several eggs smashed into the orchard where company vehicles had been parked earlier in the day.  Bailey span near Lessay We had come some 70 miles, with several brief halts, and now stood outside the limits of Granville and Avranches, to the southeast. There is hardly a man in whose mind the events of these early August days will ever be forgotten. |
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Granville Aflame - It was late in the day as the column of trucks wound its way haltingly through the debris-littered streets of Granville. The resort city, high on the cliffs overlooking the Golfe de St. Malo, was still in flames and the atmosphere thick with the acrid smell of burnt powder and toppled structures. With dusk and a short halt, assistant drivers were alert at the ring-mounted fifties. If attacked from the air we presented an easy prey in the city streets. Several men dismounted from their trucks and ran to a corner cafe where a liberation party was in progress. The proprietor had recently reopened the place to entertain members of his family and three CIC men were still engaged in working over the city, ferreting out the enemy hidden in some buildings. They inquired what troops we were and when informed surprisingly related that sporadic gun fire was still being encountered within the entire sector. Supporting infantry units, which had moved in to occupy and flush the areas so rapidly left behind by our armored spearhead; were observed in the streets for the first time. They advised us not to linger in the open during a halt but to take cover until we were ready to move on. Pat Lafferty, standing before the cafe debating the price of a bottle, was startled when kissed by an old crone in a gay mood. With his attraction for the fair sex he could blame no one but himself. It was dark as the column got underway, moving slowly beyond the city. The night was pregnant and forebode no good. Dead horses and cattle lay along both sides of the road. Horse-drawn carts and Nazi 88's had to be cleared from the trucks' path ahead. They were the remains of a fleeing enemy strafed by our Mustangs and Thunderbolts. The stench was appalling and we quickly donned gas masks or held handkerchiefs to our faces. There was some air activity and tracer fire of our antiaircraft support, from halftracks of the 777 AA Battalion, lighted the sky. Our guns were still silent but they would soon be put to great service. We camped for the remaining early hours of morning in the farmland vicinity outside Granville. Some men did not leave their trucks until the sun began to pierce the darkness. We then observed a thickly wooded field, littered with the familiar Heinie wagons and quickly discarded rifles and gas mask containers. From all indications we had moved into fields hastily vacated by the fleeing remnants of that column strafed on the road. Engineer personnel had already begun to clear the route that morning when Lt. Bragg, Stern, Crum, Byers and Kauffman were dispatched with a wrecker to help them remove the rubble which hadn't been cleared during the night and still blocked the traffic of vehicles and artillery pieces moving ahead. They collected a number of Nazi horsedrawn 88's which had been knocked out of action, and towed the weapons to a central point in adjacent fields where all had an occasion to observe them.  German vehicle strafed and destroyed near Brest Back at camp, the boys were rummaging through the heaps of discarded clothing and a variety of papers, photographs, letters, pay books and company records. A Heinie headquarter's company had met their just reward here. Many helmets, bayonets, rifles and lesser objects of interest were being acquired as the incentive for the souvenir and war booty had its beginning in this bivouac. To them would be added the number of curios we picked up as time passed and we penetrated deeper into occupied territory. The first Heinie pistol was discovered by "Gone-With-The-Wind" Callender as he worked over the hedges, and a bayonet came to light as one of the men lifted the seat of an abandoned medical-supplies wagon. In the excitement of obtaining souvenirs, we had forgotten that anything could have been booby trapped by the Krauts. Early in the afternoon we called a halt to the booty hunt and digging of slit trenches to cook up a light snack. The kitchen truck had left our first encampment in a group of vehicles to accelerate our drive, so each man was preparing his own rations. Without warning there suddenly appeared over the area a swarm of Nazi fighter-bombers. They were coming in almost at tree-top level, bent upon strafing and bombing the bivouac area and adjoining fields. Our .50's and guns of the 777 ack-ack tracks were firing furiously as they came at us all that afternoon. Each time they were driven off we arose from the holes to seize a pick and entrenching shovel, frantically burrowing another foot deeper into the ground. "Suitcase" Guidetti, The Profile, was boiling some bartered eggs in his excavation, but had come up for air during a brief lull. At another alert and attack, he dove for cover, smack upon eggs and gasoline stove. "Suitcase" is still unable to explain how those Size 14 snowshoes moved him so fast. "Ghosty" Kampmier, the Thin Man, discovered his project lacked about three feet of depth when bursts from a ground-mounted .50 almost lifted him from his eight inches of trench. Fearing this was the end, "Porky" Payne and Schairer dared sample the contents of a bottle they had picked up earlier. They were preparing for an exit with more than a smile. The Evacuation and prime mover men were subjected to a pounding and nerve-wracking afternoon as their huge vehicles could readily be spotted despite their camouflage coverings. They were in an exposed field and the planes were over them without let-up. Leyde, cigar clenched between his teeth and red mustache bristling, was blazing away with his gun mounted atop the armored cab. Kimble, Pearre, Tempone and Williams were repairing a peep, which the Heinies had seized but had since been recaptured by 50th Infantrymen. Just about to complete his work, Tempone was installing a rotor when the planes swooped over them. Kimble, Pearre and "Sashbones," Mike's pup brought from England, hurled themselves under a 3/4-ton truck for safety. Williams crawled under the peep and to his amazement found himself beside a French housewife who had scrambled from the field where she had been working. Mike had fallen on a cow-dung heep [heap] in his haste, but remarked he would remember the spot if another attack developed. Before the day's activity was at an end he had landed on the same pile on three occasions. "Maggy" Magnus had managed at that time to get himself pried loose from his company duties long enough to take one of those ----'s baths. Completely nude, Maggy was bathing from his steel helmet when the planes came over. Dumping the water from his helmet, he slapped the latter on his head, and, otherwise uncovered, dove between the Instrument truck and a hedgerow alongside which the vehicle was parked. Bullets didn't touch him, but the hedge inflicted a network of scratches upon his completely exposed skin. Lt. Lewis, Mathis, Payne, Devall and Wheeler, a demon peep driver, were under strafing attacks as their vehicle was busy up and down the road all that day. These men had some hair-raising escapes. By late afternoon the raiders had been driven off at a greater loss of planes than prestige. Miraculously enough, we had come through unharmed and were now arguing back and forth over the number of enemy craft downed -- a total of 14 to 16 -- and who was deserving of recognition for their destruction. The antiaircraft guns of the 777 attached units were given the nod. But the company had weathered the brunt of direct enemy attack, and we now realized the firepower of our own force. Almost every vehicle constituted and adequate antiaircraft defense. The guns had been removed from the ringmounts atop the trucks and were stationed about the bivouac. Sandbagged and pointed to the sky, they had proven their merit. |
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Avranches - The "Afternoon Of An Air Raid" sharply recorded, we prepared to move that night. The column started to roll about midnight enroute to Avranches and the Brittany Peninsula. General Patton's Third Army, with the most formidable force of armor on the Continent, was pouring through this breach and the Nazis were throwing a "Sunday punch." A bright moon silhouetted the vehicles and we crouched low in the trucks. Suddenly they were over us again, rocket-firing bastards seeking an easy prey. A bridge ahead of us was the main objective as we moved slowly toward it, over the bomb-cratered road. On either side, as far as the eye could see, they had dropped their loads short of the target. They were zooming in at low altitude, out of the moonlight, off to the left of the road, unleashing their rockets at the closely grouped vehicles. One hurtled between the Artillery trucks and those men awake had their feet over the tailboard making haste to seek shelter beneath the trailers as they feared a plane was descending to strafe the length of the column. Charlie Russell had almost completed digging through the floor of his truck. Security guard patrols, arising from their concealed holes close to the road, urged us to make haste and keep moving, and "under no circumstances stop on the bridge" ahead. With a mute prayer on our lips and with bated breath, we found ourselves successfully across, beyond Avranches. Behind the mine-sweeping tank, with its huge rollers which already had rumbled over the field of encampment to determine the safety of the terrain, we prepared to move into bivouac. There was no rest after the tortuous afternoon and evening, for the enraged Luftwaffe was still performing as an aroused swarm of hornets about the bridge. Some men bedded down in holes rapidly dug as soon as the nets had been thrown over the trucks; others were under their vehicles or sprawled in the narrow clearances between them and the hedgerows. At daybreak and time for chow from a cardboard package or tin can, we observed enemy communication wires laying in the field, strewn by Heinies during the night. Cart tracks were visible about the perimeter of the field and the grass had been trampled down by Krauts who had bivouacked there. Lt. Stolz brought in some Heinie field telephones and all platoons were in close communication with the command post when they had been installed. Formerly, before the wires had been laid from the track to the vehicles, a messenger would require some time to inform all sections of new developments and changes in orders, dispersed as we were. The first case of seized liquor was buried upon instructions from Capt. Hall as the disheartened Lt. Stolz and an amazed Jake Judy stood by almost in tears. Two M-8 recon cars were brought in to be processed before distribution, and automotive crews were at work upon other vehicles. Suess and Otto Kaufmann had left the bivouac to work upon a tank some few miles from us. Upon a close inspection of the vehicle, they observed a German grenade in the turret. Suess feared it was a booby trap and cautioned Otto not to touch it, but fearless Otto climbed into the tank and heaved the masher across he field. Suess was giving him hell when he replied, "Aw geez, I trew it out fast - it couldn't hoit anyone." |
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Out Of Normandy - We are unable to forget those one-night stands and dramatic incidents in the complete blackout. On the move a great part of the day and night, the company was effecting automotive, artillery and small-arms repair in a satisfactory manner. By August 3 we had raced 180 miles to Medreac in Brittany. We had received our first army pay in France, and already had utilized our company shop tents as emergency shelters for wounded division and enemy personnel until they could be evacuated to the rear. A considerable number of towns, villages and cities had been liberated by our forward elements and we were receiving the joyous acclaim of liberated residents as our vehicles passed through their communities. They stood along the roadside freely offering "des oeufs" and "le cidre" as we tossed cigarettes or a chocolate bar in return. On several occasions thereafter, Bill Abbott, murdering the language, acted as interpreter and intermediary between men in the company and sharper trading natives. Bill failed us one time when some GI blasted a keg of cider from the hands of a native with whom he had been negotiating. Lts. Naas and Stolz were keenly aware of the mined terrain and field areas enroute as they directed us from one bivouac to another, in close support of the combat command but with a maximum degree of safety for our personnel and vehicles. It was essential that ground conditions and working positions be the most advantageous and conducive to service and safety of all men and equipment. Lt. Naas became suspicious of ground conditions at our field encampment near Medreac when he observed wood shavings and freshly dug dirt. Probing with his bayonet, he became puzzled when no mines materialized. Calling upon a French youngster to learn whether or not mines had been planted in the area, he was amusingly relieved when the kid kicked the dirt heaps and explained he had been digging the holes and whittling on a stick while tending cattle in the field. A number of men already had been posted in a medium tank or recon car serving as a road block in some concealed spot remote from the bivouac. We can't fail to record the first occasion when our untried but heroic warriors ventured forth voluntarily or otherwise at Medreac. "Task Force Naas" included Sgts. Maxfield, Roberts, McKee, Kennedy, Galati, Braun, Callender, T/5's Garrity, Henry, Atkins, Mooney, Osborn and Pfc Englesman. They left the camp one morning, heavily armed with two 30 cal. machine guns, two bazookas, rifles, grenades and a tank to drive off a threatened attack of 300 Kraut troops who had been reported moving south along our route. The men set up their positions, and with reinforcements from other companies and bandsmen from Trains Headquarters, comprised a strong force. They remained all that day and night, and returned early the next morning without mishap. No enemy appeared. On another occasion, "Snuffy Smith" Waara, Tex Houston, Joe Keeley and "Commando" Beers were posted in a scout car at a crossroads to halt any enemy penetration along the route. The foe failed to show up, and the boys only missed some peaceful slumber, But there was to be another opportunity to prove their valor. These events did have an effect, however, and a guard's imagination, alerted in the darkness, would magnify minor incidents. The yelp of a howling dog, rustle of the wind through the trees or sound of some distant shot sent chills up and down the backbone. |
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Brittany And Brest - The division objective was to contain the enemy and secure the surrender of Fortress Brest on the Atlantic coast. We were moving closely behind spearheading forward units, and on August 4 were striking westward across the Peninsula. Enemy pockets of resistance and towns still infested by disorganized Nazis were speedily passed and left for infantry troops to clear and occupy. The trucks were moving over dirt roads through forested country when the lead vehicles were shot at, and at once the word passed back that snipers had ambushed the column. Desperate Krauts had sprung from the gullies and hedges close to the road and opened up on the lead peeps and halftrack in a vain attempt to kill the personnel and make their escape in the seized vehicles. Warrant Officer Patterson and his driver, Kelly, returned the fire with tommyguns, and at once the guns from the halftrack began firing. Capt. Hall and Sgt, Nicholas were manning the machine guns, while "Numby" Gerew, demonstrating the effectiveness of his Heinie rifle, almost accounted for the "Old Man." Guns along the column started barking across the fields as the word of attack went from truck to truck. "Laughing Boy" Stanley, perched on the running board of his vehicle directly behind the track, was almost cut in two by a burst from Nick's gun now blazing forth in all directions. At that moment, a rear tire on his truck burst, and all the kitchen crew -- McElroy, Apotas, Rachwal, Mattel, Morrison and Nail -- thinking they were the target of that explosion, hit the floor of the vehicle as one man. Loncharte, up ahead at the wheel, began to wonder where his next meal was coming from -- he presumed it would be damned hot. Krainer and Willis remained in their truck behind a medium tank in our column. When the tank's machine guns started to spray the hedges, the boys felt they were too close for comfort and Willis moved his truck alongside the tank for greater protection -- he thought. Lt. Bragg and Billy Byers had been riding the length of the column before the sudden halt, watchful of our trucks which might have developed some mechanical difficulty. They were towing an ammunition trailer and the lieutenant was perched on some 37mm ammo cases when they heard the firing ahead. He presented an easy mark to anyone lurking behind the hedges, and quickly cast out the boxes, settling low in the peep. At the abrupt halt and start of the fireworks, the Artillery personnel trailer caved in upon impact with the Small Arms truck, driven by Biggs Perdieu, a "big operator." Men in both vehicles were discussing the damage to the trailer as Lt. Bragg drove up and advised that it be unhooked and left behind for one of the wreckers to bring along. At the gunfire, all scrambled onto their trucks, seized weapons, and began to blaze away at corn stalks and hay mounds. In the darkness, any object or shadow appeared to be a Heinie. Maxfield had a very close call when he almost stopped a wild shot coming from his truck as he moved to his seat in the cab. "Snort" Heiser, asleep in his vehicle, was disturbed, but refused to believe he was in any great danger. Tempone, Kimble, Gray and Kinney were far to the rear of the column in a medium tank they had worked upon before we began to move. They had lost their direction and had "pushed" the vehicle in an attempt to catch up. The engine failed completely, and to their misery, the tank caught fire. Mike grabbed an extinguisher -- it was empty and just as they decided to leave the burning tank, they were subjected to sniper fire which rattled off the steel sides. At that moment, the boys were relieved to see their boss, DeFilippo, arrive with Pearre and Willians, two able firefighters who extinguished the blaze. The men remained there to help load the vehicle upon a prime mover coming along the road. These events were over in a matter of a few minutes and the Nazis, who hadn't been aware of our strength since they saw only the lead vehicles, were now accounted for and termed "Good Germans." The company moved into fields in the vicinity of Kerindret where we remained until the morning of August 8. Trains units had requested an armored car crew from Ordnance, and a "Commando force" of Houston, Beers, Waara and Keeley took to the road in advance of the column moving toward the Brest sector. With a platoon of engineers, infantry and tanks, they were to draw fire and report the strength of resistance, if any, along the route or in towns ahead. We met them that night when the column was halted for several hours in the small town of Le Folgouet, several miles from our bivouac ahead at Plabennec, after moving 62 miles from Kerindret, over the route which they already had scouted. The halt was well advised. Nazi infantry units were being routed up ahead and they were seeking an escape through the woods and fields to towns we had raced through and left behind -- a man could probe a hedgerow and bag one or more Krauts who hadn't as yet determined to surrender. While we remained on the road, talking with the residents who crowded about our trucks, many men purchased some liquid refreshment at a corner cafe presided over by a most beautiful girl. Drink and price were almost forgotten as all gathered around to chat and admire her beautiful eyes. We gave her our division insignia for a souvenir. "Sneezy" Kobezak, Lafferty, and Luber took a short walk to purchase postal cards and found themselves in a cafe off the beaten path. As they ordered three drinks over the dimly lighted bar, a voice out of the shadows exclaimed, "make it four." At that, the men turned around to see a small figure drawing several franc notes from his pocket. They were observing one of the daring paratroopers who had descended over and all about the Brest perimeter to engage in whatever destruction they could create to facilitate the entry of ground forces. But this fellow was not the average specie. He was a Chinese -- born in Indo China, the men learned, who had lived at the Port for years prior to the war. The father of two children, he had escaped to England, and joined the paratroopers to make the descent with French and English jumpers several days before. With the shoulder flash of China on one arm, one of France on the other, a string of grenades around his waist, his automatic weapon and pineapple-like thermite bomb protruding from his tunic, he presented a figure capable of great destructive force and one whom the men were unable to forget. As they withdrew, an excited crowd before the doorway was leading away two girls who had been consorting with the enemy and relating to them accounts of our column strength on the road. They were marched off into the woods to have their heads shorn and branded as traitors to France. The trucks got underway at 10 p.m. and by midnight we were encamped on a farm some 12 miles from Brest, in an area thick with the enemy in adjacent fields. The following day, August 9, we had a birds-eye view of the battle raging over the city. A great force of our bombers -- Fortresses, Liberators and Lancasters -- were attacking the Port and the ring of flak being thrown up against them by Heinie batteries appeared as a solid wall of flame and black smoke outlining their flight over the Nazi stronghold. It was the most intense concentration of defensive fire we observed, Suddenly, there was a huge burst of flame high above and a shattered bomber was tumbling to the earth. All afternoon the P-47's and 51's were swooping low over the sector, strafing and bombing thickly wooded hideouts of battered enemy forces almost in the bivouac area. Our cerise identification panels were quickly displayed upon the ground and from the vehicles when a burst of fire struck our field. The planes were succeeding in driving the enemy almost within our respective bivouacs. We remained here about five days, sufficient time to enable some of the company to exhibit their fearless courage in taking a number of prisoners. The Heinies were being driven from their holes in the woods and they had just about enough from the strafing guns. Early one morning "Uncle Willis'" and "Crying Accordion" Joe Cherney were at a guard post near the hedges with a trusty 30 cal. machine gun. Their strength was bolstered by the presence of "Never-say-Die" Bob Squires manning a 50 cal. gun. Parts Supply and Kitchen personnel, asleep in this locale, had little to fear with this alert group watching over them. The boys began to hear noises and low gutteral conversation coming from over the hedges but didn't move from their guns for closer investigation. Willis hurled a "case" of grenades over the shrubbery and Squires cut loose on his 50. Lt. Wurst, awakened by the racket, more than a mere disturbance, called out to the men. They were frozen at the guns and insisted upon reinforcements and more grenades but hadn't seen any Krauts yet. Honors for seizing seven captives went to Ed Kennedy, Matz and Johnson, who were posted at a tank roadblock almost at the point where Willis was wildly flinging his grenades. The Heinies had moved along the hedges to come upon the tank where they immediately threw their hands into the air. Kennedy, Matz and Johnson breathed sighs of relief to observe there was no enemy armor for their turret had jammed when Johnson's carbine became wedged into the mechanism. A combined operation had come off successfully and Willis, Cherney and Squires shared some distinction for they had been instrumental in driving the Krauts into the position of the roadblock. The following night, August 10, the entire company was aroused by disturbances in the same area occupied by the Kitchen and Parts Supply men. "Stove-Technician" Schavoni was on guard near midnight when he observed a Kraut moving toward him across the field. He made tracks and attempted to arouse the sergeant of the guard, Schaeffer, who sought to calm him down by stating "it's nothing but a cow." Schavoni replied in great excitement if that was a cow he wasn't remaining around for milking time. S/Sgt. "Flash Gordon" Revnyak, aroused by the conversation and activity of the sleepless men near him, halted a figure approaching out of the darkness. Schavoni froze in his tracks as he believed himself a Nazi captive. Chris Apotas and Rachwal, two gallant cooks, (?) awakened to a pitch of sharp alertness, were hearing muffled conversations close to their post. Rachwal peered over a hedgerow and was confronted by a Jerry who had also become inquisitive about the reason for all the uproar. Rachwal yelled at the top of his lungs and without hesitation McLean came to his aid, firing a shot in the air. With that, nine Jerries, surprised by this show of force, arose from their concealed places in the field with their hands flung high above them. As they were being marched away for interrogation, McElroy, unaware of the events and observing the first captives taken by his buddies, almost swallowed one of his many pipes. The men moved off to the halftrack where the captors remained as a guard over the captives until daybreak when they were herded away to a PWE. Almost all the group participating in the two nights' hair-raising events were later observed sporting Jerry pistols and exhibiting other curious they had fallen heir to at the expense of their prisoners. Encouraged by the booty cast aside by fleeing troops and prisoners captured along the route into Brest, many of the company personnel scoured the road gullies and fringe of woods in search of pistols and lesser booty. Very few were successful. One morning after several hundred Jerries were marched off, "Peewee" DeSimone, Nicholas, "All Heart and Muscle" Kurtz and Callender aided in escorting a group being led off to the temporary compound of an engineer unit. They found no weapons, but had a bit of trouble warding off the French natives who were determined to seize their former tormentors and shoot them.  Weapons and equipment cast aside by prisoners A group of our Prime Mover men -- "Troubles" Novak, Nelson, Umbower, Parsons, Schairer, Schoenberger, Hutcherson, Nail and Jewell (on this one occasion) had a most interesting page to add to the account of their great work which lay ahead. One afternoon they were instructed to go back some 40 miles from the encampment at Plabennec, to retrieve whatever tanks and vehicles they might discover. A tentative report of the site and the number of vehicles knocked out could not be confirmed nor were they aware of the strength of enemy stragglers which had infiltrated into by-passed towns and villages. At a rural road intersection enroute they questioned an English-speaking Maqui as to his knowledge of the whereabouts of any of our tanks or vehicles. He had no personal information of any equipment in the sector, but directed the men to a small community of some 500 inhabitants isolated in the hills of Morbihan. Pleneour-Menez was their destination. After considerable difficulty in maneuvering the prime movers and trailers through the narrow and steeply banked roads they came to a halt at the town square. A great number of men, armed with a motley array of weapons, crowded around, gazing in bewilderment at the mechanical monsters they never had seen before. Our boys were beginning to have some doubt about their own safety. But they were suddenly cheered and accorded a great welcome by the mayor of the community who reassured them and disclosed he was the chief of an FFI group of several hundred men garrisoned in the community. He pointed out a recon car which his men were intending to repair and use, but would now gladly return to them. The site of two medium tanks outside the town's limits was revealed, and the men were urged to spend the night as the mayor's guests. A guard of FFI was posted at the movers and our crew provided with spleeping [sleeping] quarters in the town hall where once the German occupying troops had been billeted. A gala dinner of omelettes [omelets] and beefsteaks was prepared, and the men were wined and dined as liberators in the communal mess hall of the French Resistance Forces. There were exchanges of addresses with the major and his aides and numerous toasts while the boys relaxed from a bit of rug-cutting with the women who had prepared the excellent dinner. For all, It was the most festive occasion since they had come overseas. The next day, with two tanks and the recon car aboard the trailers, and to the cheers of the entire populace, they departed to rejoin the company at Plabennec. |
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Plouay - On August 15, preparations were being made to depart from the Plabennec sector. Nets were removed and the trucks loaded and readied for movement. Our route circled back north trough [through] Lesneven and Morlaix, then sharply south to Carhaix and the vicinity of Lorient. On the way we observed units of the Fourth Armored Division Ordnance, and this chance meeting enabled the boys to poke a few gibes at one another and debate the relative merits of their outfits at a road stop. We turned off the main road about three miles south of Plouay and encamped on extensive farm and orchard land in close support of the division units battling before Lorient. Our stay here was most enjoyable and we began to reap a harvest of eggs and cider from the farm people who walked from truck to truck bartering their wares for whatever we might trade. They were primarily interested in obtaining "de 1'essence" -- our valuable gasoline. Their explanations were varied, but one shopworn excuse was the anxiety to get the farm machines operating once again. "Willum, Dopey" Payne was most resourceful on these occasions, exhibiting the wiles of a Yankee trader. He had made the acquaintance of an aged cripple who would resort to any medium or cure-all which might rid him of rheumatic pains. "Willum," suffering from all sorts of pains himself, was aware of the "only" cure. Payne personally advised his new-found friend to take from six to a dozen Halazone tablets with each meal, and he, in turn, would be energized by the cripple's cognac and cider. The treatments were rigidly adhered to and both showed remarkable improvement. We were making the most of these profitable deals, but the natives appeared well satisfied and Anglo-French relations were further strengthened. On one occasion, "PeeWee" DeSimone and "Numby" Gerew negotiated a fair exchange when they palmed off a D-ration chocolate bar and soap, receiving in return three dozen eggs. Guards posted about the bivouac at night were still in a state of jitters and a huge German shepherd dog belonging to one of the farmers was often mistaken for a Jerry prowler. Some of the boys, sleeping in the fields or beneath their pup tents, were almost trampled by the cattle coming in to graze during the early morning hours. Amorous impulses were considerably sharpened and Pietch, Devall, Kurtz, Kreiner and the effervescent Squires and Gardner were not to be denied. A youthful Frenchman attached himself to Loudenslager, Waller and Kreiner to remain with the Parts Supply Section until we reached the Orleans area. The boys had assured his family he would be a competent interpreter for the company. Actually, he was a shrewd profiteer working in their behalf against his brother French, and most anxious to see a bit of his country and eventually Paris. They outfitted him in a GI regalia and he unofficially became a member of the company. But his sponsors would have exchanged their status for his and remained at Plouay where they had dined with his folks and charming sister, who had been broadcasting over the liberation station at Rennes. Each bivouac was a shop and working area where vehicles and material of the line units would be serviced and repaired for further combat duty. Sgts. Cook, Augiemyer and DeFllippo, with their capable automotive and tank maintenance men, were kept busy repairing tanks and trucks while all sections applied their respective technical skills to the work rapidly coming into the encampment. Captured German instruments were being reconverted to our use, and enemy small-arms weapons were conditioned for the French Resistance forces who were so ably aiding our progress. Sgts. Zemsia, Mathis, and Coyner had their shop trucks and personnel setting a hot pace for future work in the field under the tireless supervision of Lt. Bragg and Sgt. Lambert, shop foreman. Warrant Officer Patterson and Sgt. McKee returned one day with some valuable precision tools and equipment after having visited a rest camp for Heinie submarine crews, concealed in the woods near Lorient. On numerous occasions when necessary parts could not be drawn from authorized sources, the men fashioned serviceable and satisfactory substitutes from whatever material they had available to complete their jobs and return them in the shortest possible time. At times it was necessary to travel back long distances, over routes not totally cleared of the Krauts, to spot and retrieve vehicles left behind by fast-moving combat units we were supporting. One day, Lt. Bragg, Byers and Marquard returned some 70 miles to the vicinity of Morlaix where a platoon of our 9th Infantry was seeking some tanks which the Heinies had been reported using. One had been moved from its reported site and was spotted directly on the road as they drove about the sector. They climbed atop the turret, and looking down, saw a case of "potato mashers" readied for use. The men were informed by FFI that 500 Krauts had surrendered nearby the day before, and if they had come this way sooner, or remained at the site when the weapon had been first discovered, they would have been seized or killed. Lt. Robert H. Foster, formerly of a 90mm antiaircraft unit, joined the company as assistant shop officer. He was soon taught the rudiments of poker playing by our more skilled and experienced officers, but there was little time for a comeback. He had been initiated into the society of the Evacuation Platoon and was presently engaged "on his first mission" to retrieve two tanks left behind by the Fourth Armored Division in the St. Nazaire sector. A group, numbering Hilger, Culbreth, Pyle, Smiht [Smith], George and Kissel, took off for Muzillac, near the Atlantic Coast, 40 miles, southeast of Plouay. An 86th Recon unit, bivouacked in the fields near Le Roche Bernard, was under artillery fire from German coast guns when the boys moved into their field to which the tanks had been withdrawn. They discovered one tank had been used by the Heinies and then almost completely burned; the other was in running order and was quickly removed as the men made tracks back to the comparative quiet and safety of Muzillac, 15 miles to the west. Billeted that night in a hotel, with the comforts of home, they sat down to a full dinner unmindful of the danger of the afternoon. It wasn't until many months later that the Nazis were driven from the coastal strongpoints. Lt. Foster didn't remain with us long, leaving to join another company in the battalion when Lt. Herbert F. Shaffer was assigned to the former's duties with the Evacuation Platoon. He had never seen the huge M25 prime movers before, and later related he realized the importance of the work these vehicles were accomplishing. Not only did he supervise the work of his able crews, but he became an active member, sharing at all times their burdens and dangers ahead. Johnny, "The Mad Russian," Semenowitz's blood pressure was beginning to rise about this time. In addition to his woes as driver of the Artillery Personnel Truck, he was accorded the honorable distinction of "running the water haul" and juggling the five-gallon cans from one water point to the other across France. On all occasions his truck was repeatedly loaded and then unloaded of the mens' equipment to make room for 45 or 50 cans. The waterhauling job was performed by Loncharte to whom it was assigned only when his truck was emptied of all rations and the safety of the run fully determined by Johnny and his fearless assistants "Red" Garrity and "The Genius" Keller. Religious services, held regularly on the field, were well attended by our personnel. The first division memorial assembly was observed at Plouay where officers and men of all units gathered in respect and tribute to fallen comrades. Salvos were fired upon enemy positions not far distant. The two-week stay passed rapidly and without incident. "Bed-Check Charlie" was still persistently overhead until we were able to tell the time of night by his sputtering, washing-machine-like motors. We were thankful he never dropped anything. |