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| Heroes - August 14's move for Battalion Headquarters from Plabennec took the column 99 miles to a new area 1.9 miles south of Neuilliac, and the following day the convoy clicked off 28 more miles to pull into a bivouac 4.3 miles northeast of Plouay where the division began a containing action against German forces in Lorient, and Ordnance initiated a maintenance and resupply program. Here Division Ordnance sustained its first casualties when Staff Sgts. Thomas Burke and Charles McCutcheon were seriously injured by landmines in an incident which also brought about the death of Pvt. Anthony V. Mastroianni of Headquarters Company. Also injured was Pvt. Matty W. Dabkowski of Headquarters Company. All four men were awarded the Soldier's Medal for their parts in the incident. Burke was so badly injured that he was permantly lost to Division Ordnance, while "Little Mac" returned for only a few days at the end of the Bastogne campaign before being rotated to the States. The casualties occurred while the men were on a trip to an ordnance depot near Brest. It was at Plouay that the division's first "bowl formation" was held on August 28, 1944. This formation took the form of a memorial service for members of the division who had lost their lives in the fight thus far against the Nazi enemy.  First "bowl formation" at Plouay in memory of the dead |
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Lorient and Long Jumps - Local civilians were more than liberal with part of their large stock of fresh eggs and cider. Things became so settled and homelike during Headquarters 13-day stay near Plouay that Division Ordnance's Donald Smith had one old farmer making regular morning deliveries to the section.  Destroyed railroad bridge near Laval, France Even though the battalion was entertaining a small war at its back door in the seaport town of Lorient, the big show was moving across France at a rapid clip. Accordingly, Headquarters packed up the morning of August 28 and started the first of another series of long moves which wound up at Nancy. The first jump amounted to 352 miles, and was made in a continous rain to end up in a bivouac less than a mile south of Bucy St. Liphard. Enroute the convoy stopped to spend the night of August 29-30 two miles east of Chateau Gontier. At Bucy, matters were complicated by a gasoline shortage which was serious enough to confine even the colonel to the area. Major Wood and Capt. Lewis Elliott really did some "sweating" on that occasion when, enroute from the beach with a string of more than 125 replacement vehicles, they were stranded in the middle of a French field because of lack of gas. It was the captain's consistent opinion that he had enough ordinary troubles with Kern as a driver without the addition of other woes. |
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The Pine Forests - But the gas came through, and on September 2 another 32 miles was pushed off the map and camp set up in the Lorris forest. This was a pleasant area with no battle noises and little rain. The outcome of the war appeared so optimistic in those days that even Jule Poppitt was betting even money on a finish before New Year's Day. But the fighting was still far away when the battalion was at Lorris, so on September 21 Headquarters and the rest of the battalion packed up for another excursion which was good for 204 miles and several cases of sore eyes because of toxic properties of the dust kicked up by the column. The stopping point was another wooded area near Martigny-Les-Gerbonvaux which fairly oozed rain after the first day. Rain had been unpleasant before, but now wet socks and shoes on a cold morning were the most uncomfortable items in the world. The trip itself to the area was as uneventful as a motor tour with one exception. The Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron was given an M-8 howitzer just before jump off time with a "no-crew" excuse, Mr. Ward and Sgt. Ryan volunteering to bring it along. After a little trouble learning how the thing started and moved forward, they sailed past the column like experienced tankers -- for the first and only time. Before the trip was over, the crew of this vehicle had undergone several changes, and even Maj. Stiteler was forced to take over to insure delivery. In the Martigny area, Maj. O'Hara inherited a little trouble, a total of more than 100 truckloads. This resulted from a trip he led back. to the beach at Cherbourg for medium and light tank tracks to keep the armor of the division rolling across France. The expedition, consisting of 96 trucks laden with tank track, plus additional trucks and other vehicles of numerous types for a Third Army depot, wound up with trucks, drivers, track and a convoy spread over half of France. After shepherding forward-echelon elements of his motley crew into the Gremecy woods for direct delivery, the major spent three more days counting men and vehicles as they straggled in through the deepest and stickiest mud in France. The supplying of tracks by Major O'Hara and crew was only part of a general refitting program carried on at Martigny during the five days that Battalion Headquarters spent there. Back in Chateauneuf, two very pleasant weeks had been spent by the Personnel Section which moved out, headed for Nancy, on September 22. However, spirits which the departure from Chateauneuf had caused to drop rose again when Nancy brought forth barracks for the section -- a good fortune which was to last through subsequent bivouacs until the Administrative Center was disbanded. |
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Nancy - Battalion Headquarters finally got indoors on September 26 when the entire battalion moved 32 miles from Martigny to Essey-Les-Nancy where the remains of buildings at the local airport were occupied for shops and living quarters. Headquarters first moved into an ammunition dump, along with several harmless concrete bombs left by the Germans, but later found the remains of a house, minus roof, windows and doors. Working on this with materials from refuse piles in the area, the men managed to construct a fairly water tight shelter, complete with a furnace which required more attention than a day-old baby. With the entire division gathered in the Nancy vicinity, Gen. Grow held a bowl formation there, the second for the division in Europe. Awards were distributed, but due to the failure of the public address system, the entire proceedings were unintelligible to members of the battalion, assembled in a huge field with the rest of the division. At the airport, on November 1, 1944, Lt. Col. Graeves received his promotion to that rank from the grade of major which he held when he assumed command of the battalion in England. |
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Preparing for a Push - While here, the battalion continued refitting the division, although one combat command and parts of another were continually on one-hour alert immediately behind the front line. In addition, the battalion supported two limited-objective fights of the division from the airport location by setting up evacuation sections in the combat command service parks, from which points damaged materiel was evacuated for repair or replacement as soon as it arrived. All repairable fighting equipment was returned to its combat unit within 12 hours from the time of its evacuation.  Airport and wreckage at Nancy Major Stiteler, battalion ship officer, was the busiest man in the area as combat troops were being given close support and the division was being readied for another big push. This last program included the establishment of a production line on November 2 for the fabrication and welding of "duckbills" to tank tracks. Working 24 hours a day on this job, men succeeded in getting all medium tanks of the division ready for the "jump-off" of the big offensive which started November 8, 1944. The major, known as "Butch" because if his big frame and also the possibility due to his handsome profile, did a good job as battalion shop officer throughout the war. A great hand at "straightening out" a battalion maintenance officer when things were not going exactly to his taste, nevertheless it was noticable that his size and his "bark" were much more imposing than his "bite." Another name to attach itself to the major, who supplied most the color in battalion officer circles was "Task Force Stiteler." This title, he picked up because he was armed with so many weapons. For instance, on the Brest run, his protection included a .30 machine gun mounted on his peep, a .45 pistol, tommygun, BAR and grenades. A man who enjoyed his food, the major would nose around the battalion messes to find the one serving the best meal, and there he would eat. |
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Personnel Pulls In - Personnel Section, upon arrival in Nancy September 22, found the Administrative Center scheduled for location in a former French cavalry post which had been occupied for winter quarters by German troops who had named it "Rommel Barracks." Nancy was the location of the section's longest bivouac in the ETO, The members stayed in that French city for ten weeks, a period of time which, aside from working hours, was used to good advantage by the section in making friends and otherwise advancing the Good Neighbor policy in Europe. It was here, late in October, that First Lt. Newland H. Holmes Jr. came to the section as adjutant and personnel officer to replace Lt. Boch who had failed to recover from combat exhaustion contracted during the Brest campaign and consequently had to be evacuated. About three miles eastward of Nancy was located the division's bazooka range, a product of the 128th Armored Ordnance Maintenance Battalion, where men of the division, including Ordnancemen, got in practice at firing that powerful rocket weapon. Located in a field on a hillside, the range had a knocked-out German tank as a target, a tank whose totally blasted condition testified to the effect of bazooka shells and to the accuracy of the men who fired the weapon from crude pits about a hundred yards from the target tank. Because of the deep mud prevalent at the time, many shells which missed the target would skip over the ground, slithering over the slimy earth without exploding. These would have to be collected periodically, piled up and exploded with a charge of nitro starch. |
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Mud, Movies, Marlene - For Battalion Headquarters and the rest of the organization located at the airport, the Nancy stay was marred by continous rain and its resultant mud. Also doing its bit to make everyone slightly uncomfortable during the nocturnal sleeping hours was a Heinie railway gun which occasionally rattled things in the middle of the night by tossing shells into the city. A battery of 90mm AA guns, located near the Headquarters kitchen, gave "Bedcheck Charle's [Charlie's]" milk run all the fireworks of a full scale raid. On the pleasant side for everyone at the airport were almost nightly movies shown in a German-built indoor rifle range. Men from all elements of the division would gather each evening, after making their way through the knee-deep mud, to sit on boards and helmets in the cold sand making up the bullet backstop to watch the evening performance. Many of the movies shown at Nancy were old musical comedies, and these were thoroughly enjoyed by battle-weary troops. Also outstanding in memories of Nancy are USO shows which played at the airport, especially one in which Marlene Dietrich, million-dollar gams and all, cavorted on the stage and sang "Lili Marlene". |