CHAPTER V   MORE RIVERS                             [2] prev contents next

 

The attack across the Prüm continued at Prümzurley. While Company E of the 385th Infantry relieved the 417th Infantry's 3d Battalion which returned to its own regiment's control, the 385th resumed control of its own 1st Battalion which was holding the high ground north of Irrel. The new advance was assigned to the 385th's 3d Battalion which relieved the remainder of the 2d Battalion on the line at Ernzen. The entire 2d Battalion was to follow. At the outset the Prüm crossing was contested by the enemy, who was well rooted in Prümzurley. Attempted use of a footbridge by the 385th was met by marked sniper fire emanating from strategic positions in the town, fire which persisted at every crossing attempt. The 808th TD Battalion's second platoon of Company B was called up to the west bank of the river overlooking the town to train 90's on buildings housing the snipers. A few cannon rounds, a belt or two of .50 caliber machine gun fire, and the enemy felt differently disposed. As if from nowhere, three German soldiers appeared at the far bank's edge, one waving a white flag. Fire was suspended while the trio swam the river to the west bank. Their aquatic mission, it turned out, was to arrange for the surrender of a fifty-three-man enemy garrison. The three soaked intermediaries were given a boat to ferry some very docile "supermen" to our lines, and the 3d Battalion 385th Infantry crossed the river by the once "hot" footbridge to take over the remaining prisoners.

Tank destroyers moved into Wolsfeld to settle an argument
and secure the left flank . . . . .

It reads smoothly. Three krauts take a swim and doughboys take the town. It's like saying we came we saw we conquered. It reads smoothly but get in close where you can smell the sweat, in close where you can hear the grunts and the groans. There's Brown. Rank: Staff Sergeant. First name: Robin. Middle initial: E. You'd think nothing could happen to a guy conventional enough to have two names and a middle initial. He and his squad are approaching a nazi pillbox near Prümzurley. Suddenly, at fifteen yards, a machine gun starts carving up the squad, causing it to withdraw. But in a few minutes Brown, leading his own MG crew, returns to the point of contact. Then he advances alone to within five yards of the Jerry fort which is throwing lead at him all this time. He's painfully wounded, but he pulls the pin of a hand grenade and tosses it into the pillbox. The official report said: "Causing unknown number of enemy casualties, thus removing the obstacle to his squad's advance." Then Sgt Brown urges his bleeding body to crawl one hundred yards, under the angry blustering fire of other enemy machine gun nests, returning to his squad's position.

Or you see a string of our massive trucks go tearing down a road and you think, America's got gas, America's got oil, America's got tires. It's a cinch. From where Tec 5 Chester Kozloski sits in the driver's seat the picture looks less rosy. He's taking his truck into Holsthum one night. He finds his path blocked by a shell hole in the center of the road. In backing up the two-and-one-half-tonner, he rolls over a teller mine. The blast wrecks the truck, almost shakes his head loose from his shoulders, but he's unscratched. The following night he's driving another truck on the same road. Another mine, another wreck. "I don't carry any lucky charms," says Kozloski, absolutely unhurt, "and after those two narrow escapes I figure I'll never need any."

In the newspapers it reads smoothly. The Allies advanced on all fronts . . . . .

Accurate artillery time-on-target fire convinced many nazi commanders
who were supposed to fight to the last man . . . . .

At Holsthum the ONAWAY Division had pushed through and beyond the main fortifications of the Siegfried Line, and in forty-five days of contact so battered the enemy 212th Division that it never again recovered. Then the direction of advance was suddenly changed and the doughboys turned their sights toward Trier, most ancient of German cities and site of many of the most magnificent Roman structures in North Europe. Here was a mission beyond what any other division had been called upon to do, -- smash through the depth of the Siegfried Line at one point, then wheel and battle south through the stoutly fortified line to another objective. The lightning change in tactical plans and objectives resulted from a purposeful visit by the late Gen George S. Patton, Jr., Third Army Commander, to the division command post.

The late Gen George S. Patton, Jr. paid a purposeful visit to the 76th CP . . . . . . 
Direction of attack was shifted and the north bank of the Moselle River
became the division objective . . . . . .

It was a cold, gray, damp morning. Gen Patton, in parka, glistening helmet, spotless tan boots, and armed with the famed two pistols, drove up to the 76th Division CP, strode brusquely into the inner sanctum, placed a huge fist on a map of Trier. That was all. It was an order. We were going to pinch off the enemy and teach him the error of his Siegfried follies. All efforts now were concentrated on making contact with the XX Corps to the south.

Early on the 27th, the 417th moved in a column of battalions through Wolsfeld. The regiment was supported by a medium tank company of the 702d Tank Battalion, and the 76th Reconnaissance Troop's 3d Platoon. The 1st Battalion of the 417th led and took its objective southwest of Idenheim against meager resistance before continuing to the southeast. The 3d Battalion followed., passed to the right flank, and advanced on Welschbillig. The 2d Battalion, nucleus of a task force designed to exploit southern advances on division order, was teamed with the following cohorts: Company B, 808th TD Battalion; Company A, 702d Tank Battalion; 76th Reconnaissance Troop minus one platoon; one platoon of Company C, 301st Engineer Battalion; a detachment from Service Company, 417th Infantry; a radio team from 76th Signal Company; and sixteen trucks and proportionate driver complement of the 76th Quartermaster Company.

 


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