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In the Middle of Nowhere - While Battalion Headquarters was in the Noyal Pontivy area the night of August 3, Sgts. Burke and Steele pulled in with the information that its location was smack in the middle of nowhere. They had caught the column after a visit to the rear depots, and had finished the last 80 miles before catching Battalion without seeing a single soldier. The Brest campaign undoubtedly was the high spot of the ETO war for Division Ordnance. It brought the most trouble solving supply problems, the only casualties due to enemy action and stories which made the rounds for the rest of the year. Action began after leaving Avranches when Donald "Slick" Smith, among others, started to the rear for vehicles, rounded a corner and had the engineers blow a house into his lap, rounded a second corner and tried to take a stone wall with him when a jack-hammer gave out a burp-gun rattle and glued poor Slick's foot to the accelerator. Other drivers found more speed in their peeps than Henry Ford knew he had put there. Meeting this same convoy on its return trip to guide it, "Texas Billy" Sohns neglected to make a few right turns in his role of guide, and wound up trying to capture St. Malo as well as various smaller villages enroute. The Ammunition Section also had some trying times, aside from just running out of ammo. Tech. Sgt. John Watson became the first of the Bronze Star commandos when he led an ammunition convoy through Pontivy after the Germans had recaptured the town. John shrugged off this little stunt with the explanation that he merely said to the boys, "I'm going through and the rest of you can follow if you feel like it." They felt like it. |
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Keeping the Guns Going - Fortunately the Germans didn't shoot that time, but later when an ammunition dump was being established at Plouvien, the Krauts did shoot, and at the dump. To hear Clarence Preau and Bob Herzfeldt tell the tale, it was a busy morning, no less. Ammunition was considered a delicate commodity with 88's landing nearby and several trucks needing a quick unloading. None of the Quartermaster trucks hauling the ammo were knocked out, but the 212th AFA Battalion lost five vehicles at the gate of the dump. And in the same area, Tom "Bullseye" Burke turned infantryman one day, armed himself with a shot of cognac and his carbine, joined four other GI's on the prowl for Krauts, and came back with a tale of garnering some 125 prisoners and a case of Three-Star after a stiff little battle which had a doubtful outcome for a while. During the Brest "rat race," Lt. Rabon was constantly on the go, trying to locate the ammo dumps which were supposed to be only five miles away but which turned out to be as much as 200 miles back at the time the division reached the vicinity of Brest. Or if the captain wasn't hunting ammo dumps, he was trying to contact corps headquarters to get more ammo. Personnel Section was on the move too. By August 5, advance elements of the division had cleared Avranches and the surrounding territory to such an extent that the Administrative Center moved to a bivouac near Granville. Office space was provided in a school building, and quarters were located in an adjoining field. Just before leaving Fierville, T-4's Kuca and Scott went to Battalion Headquarters and ended up by becoming Personnel Section's only "combat soldiers." Before return transportation could be provided for them, they had gone through Avranches and to Brest. |
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Work for the Medics - In a move lacking some of the earlier excitement, Battalion proceded [proceeded] 50 miles on August 6 to a bivouac 1.3 miles northwest of Carnoet where it was located until the morning of August 9. During the stay here, the Medical Detachment, using large shop tents which were carried as part of the equipment, set up a clearing station where a large number of Sixth Armored Division and enemy troops were cared for to help the much dispersed 36th Medical Battalion until it had an opportunity to move in and take over. Training received by the medics under Captain Schmitt prior to entering combat had prepared them for any sort of emergency; each individual was capable of performing his duties on the battlefield. They all were able to render first-echelon medical service, and to assist, when called upon, in the performance of second-echelon duties during emergencies when the medical companies were completely cut off from the wounded. At Carnoet, the Battalion Medical Detachment accomplished the task of caring for 23 soldiers with the efficiency of experts. In the field, individual medics with companies operated their dispensaries in shop trucks, while the Medical Section with Headquarters Company pitched a CP tent. Whenever the situation permitted, the aid station was set up in houses, and in one instance in Rouves, France, it occupied the remains of a partially destroyed Catholic church. Proper care could not be administered to units of the battalion from a central dispensary because of the distance which usually separated the various companies from Headquarters. Speed with which the companies moved during the campaigns made it necessary that one member of the detachment be attached to each company to handle emergencies. The nucleus of the detachment always was present at Battalion Headquarters, and liaison was maintained through any means available. Pvt. John Dohanos was with "A" Company, later being replaced by T-5 George A. McAvoy. T-5 Alfred R. Bachtold was with "B" Company, and PFC Ruby Brumer with "C" Company. Using improvised aid kits and never having sufficient equipment for major operations, these individuals established an enviable record, earning the respect of men in the units they served. All consultations and minor operations were referred to the section at Battalion Headquarters, and evacuation of patients was effected through the supporting company of the 36th Medical Battalion to hospitals in rear areas. This was usually done by ambulance or peep, the latter so modified that four litters could be safely fixed, the patient or patients riding in the open, two over the engine and two behind the front seat, if necessary, but in the cold and inclement weather of the winter, ambulances were always available. During the Brest Peninsula campaign, an ambulance was attached to each column enroute to new areas. On one occasion, while transporting T-4 Clifford Betters by peep, Captain Schmitt and PFC Stotler ran into a violent rainstorm. All units of the division were on the move at the time, and the patient had to be taken to a rear installation, necessitating a trip of about 65 miles from Le Mans to Rennes, France. The patient was dry and comfortable, but Capt. Schmitt and Stotler were so soaked that they had to dry themselves before making the return trip. During the early days of contact with the enemy, a major portion of each day was devoted to digging foxholes, but no one ever dug as large a hole as did T-4 Alfred J. Tix and T-5 Alfred R. Bachtold -- it could have accommodated a 3/4-ton truck. After excavating several cubic yards of clay earth, the pair had to abandon their hole 24 hours later. But the longer the war continued, the more decimated the Luftwaffe be came and the less digging was done. When the battalion began to occupy dwellings, no more holes were dug, but each move meant the cleaning up of a new mess to make comfortable and sanitary living quarters each time the battalion moved into a new area.  On the road to Brest |
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Fast Movement - From Carnoet to Plabennec on August 9 was another dusty 62 miles for Battalion Headquarters as the whole battalion travelled more in the manner of maneuvers than of war, but at Plabennec the battle caught up with Headquarters or vice versa, with unexpected suddenness. There, the battalion was completely surrounded by a disorganized enemy and evidently by many who were not in a state of total disorganization. |
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Jerry Shoots Back - On August 10, the first morning in the bivouac near Plabennec, German artillery shells began flying over the area, headed for Trains' truck park and causing some consternation since the shells were coming from the rear and from an area through which the column had passed the preceding afternoon. Battalion Headquarters' bivouac was untouched by this fire, but personnel headed for the Trains area were candidates for the Purple Heart. Lt. William Meisinger, then on liaison work between Battalion Headquarters and Trains, turned to Warren Williams with a confident, "There's nothing to worry about," and then both hit the dirt, using a hedgerow for protection. Neither did much digging. One shovel, two men and artillery could bring about disturbing circumstances, it was discovered. During this shelling of the Trains area, Lt. Rabon had over 300 tons of ammunition on the ground for immediate use of division troops. He supervised the unloading of 39 trucks full of high explosive ammo under intense enemy fire which hit and destroyed three truckloads or 600 rounds of 105mm ammunition. For his work in keeping the division so well supplied with ammo during the Brest run, he was awarded the Bronze Star. Letter companies of the battalion, in support of their respective combat commands, travelled the routes of those commands in close support, and in so doing, were subjected to considerable enemy action which resulted in the loss of a small number of their personnel but no equipment. The supply of ammunition furnished for the division by the battalion moved over routes infested by the enemy, and the setting up of ammunition dumps equivalent to army installations by Lt. W. D. Rabon and Tech. Sgt. John H. Watson and their three-man crew operated in a markedly superior manner, under extremely hard conditions. |
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Never a Dull Moment - That first day at Plabennec was marked by a continuous air and ground performance. Early in the afternoon eight P-51's demonstrated the correct method for working over an enemy column a few miles from the area, and Kraut prisoners stumbled into the PWE by the hundreds as a result. Later, the heavier bombers gave a performance over Brest -- all this taking place on different sides of the Battalion Headquarters area which was good for its view but otherwise uncomfortable. In the vicinity of Plabennec, Capt. Carl Miller and Tech. Sgt. Jim Cottom demonstrated that, after all has been said and done, officers and enlisted men do think alike and agree on some things at least. They encountered small-arms and mortar fire one day as they were on their way to an engineer water point, and just as they reached the water point, a mortar shell exploded in the immediate vicinity. With the crash, both bailed out of the peep and hit the ground. They made several attempts to get their carbines from the parked peep alongside which they lay on opposite sides of the vehicle, but each time, an incoming mortar shell would force them to resume the horizontal position on the ground. Finally, after an especially close burst, the captain looked over his side of the peep straight into the face of the sergeant who was peering over his side. Both mouths opened, and the same words came out of each at exactly the same time: "Let's get out of here!" 
Captured German anti-aircraft artillery near Brest Also mortar targets just about then -- and plagued by 88's foo [too] -- were Lt. Meisinger and T-5 Warren Williams. While Williams was driving the Lieutenant in his peep from Division Ordnance to Trains on August 10 in the vicinity of Plabennec, they were nearing the Trains area about 8 a.m. when a mortar shell struck a tree and burst not very far in front of their moving peep. Pieces of burning branches showered down on the little vehicle and its occupants as they passed under the tree which the shell had struck. It had been raining that morning, but the weather had cleared, so Lt. Meisinger and Williams were airing their bedrolls in the Trains field when, about noon, Germans, zeroing in 88's, sent rounds whistling overhead. Lt. "Mouse" and Williams gathered up their rolls and made hasty tracks for a hedgerow from the protection of which they watched shells explode in adjacent fields. After that first day, things calmed down, and nothing more exciting than sporadic timed fire from German dual purpose AA guns disturbed the serenity of the area. In this case too, as in the shelling of the first day, no Battalion casualties ware sustained. The organization remained in the Plabennec bivouac until August 14 when the column took off on another long haul for the vicinity of Lorient, leaving Brest to the Germans for the time being. |
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Ordnance Carries On - By the end of the Brest campaign, army supply arrangements had assumed a normal status, as far as Division Ordnance was concerned, and operations were characterized chiefly by five copies, receipts, reports and many requisitions. Nature caused most of the section's trouble from then on with daily doses of deep mud, rain, snow and generally disagreeable operating conditions. Joe Schaefer, Illinois' donation to the cause, maintained a steady hand on the typewriter keyboard through it all, and managed to keep the paper flowing and records straight in offices with and without roofs and windows. And while the warehouse crew was kept busy with its box lifting, "Texas Billy" and David "Shaking" Lewis argued steadily over the question of which near-bald head sported more hair, Dave claiming the decision because of his luxurious mustache. |
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Chairborne Men Advance - The Administrative Center -- and the Battalion's Personnel Section -- remained at Granville only seven days, during which period of time advance elements of the division had gone so far forward that it was impossible to keep contact with them or to receive reports. The section was as much on edge wondering what was happening to the rest of the battalion as the battalion was, wondering what was happening in general. On August 12, the Brest Peninsula had been cleared of the enemy enough for the Center to move, first to a field outside Combourg for 36 hours (the section's shortest bivouac) and then to fields south of Plouay, near Lorient. Apparently the Gods of the Germans throughout that vicinity had been ducks. The section occupied a corner of a field which attracted all the water in the Center, and the ground was wet. So were the feet of the men living and working there. During the section's stay here, the "combat soldiers," T-4's Kuca and Scott, decided that fighting was not for them, and returned to the section. About one week before leaving Plouay, Lt. Boch came to stay as Personnel officer, and the "Life of Riley" hitherto enjoyed by the enlisted men was finished. On August 13, the Center began to live as if in garrison after moving from Plouay on a long ride to the beautiful village of Chateauneuf-sur-Loire, 28 kilometers east of Orleans. Here it occupied office space in a school which was part of a chateau of Louis XVI. An administrative bivouac was established for sleeping, and for the only time in Europe, much to his disgust, Sgt. Eschenbacher pitched a puptent along with the rest in a sunken garden of the chateau. |
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Medics in the Field - Also "roughing it" like everyone else those days was Doc Schmitt's Medical Detachment. And their worst complaint concerned the monotony of eating C and K rations, a situation which they remedied through the cooking of available livestock and the preparation of captured German rations which were gathered all along the route of conquest. Kitchen utensils were requisitioned from occupied homes and carried along from one bivouac to the next. In the winter months, a coal stove became part of the Medical Detachment load. Requisitioning food, drink and equipment became quite a pastime for the Battalion Medics as more enemy-held territory was over run by the divisions and raiding parties frequently visited burned out factories. It was at the radar station on the Brest Peninsula that 15 receiving sets were acquired, sets which were distributed where they would do the most good. One was kept for the Detachment, and another found its way to the 16th General Hospital in Liege, Belgium. It also was at that radar station that the first assortment of wine, cognac and schnapps was procured. |