THE "battle of thirteen towns" was not CT 304's toughest assignment, nor was it the most important. But into its spectacular hours, between dawn and dusk of a single day--April 10th--- was packed one of the great battle experiences of the regiment. The original setting was undramatic. On the wide Thuringian tabletop to the east of Langensalza, astride the path of the 6th Armored Division, lay a network of fortified towns which formed a stronghold of enemy resistance. On its quick reduction hinged plans for a new thrust to the east. That day the 2nd battalion, tacking and veering this way and that, covered close to a total of 40 kilometers and grossed ten towns reduced. 1st battalion, following a southerly course, covered over 25 kilometers and accounted for three towns and innumerable pockets of enemy resistance along its path.
Col. Choquette handed this mission to the 1st and 2nd battalions, with the support of elements of the 15th Tank Battalion and the 691st TDs, as well as of Anti-Tank and Cannon Companies and the 302nd Field Artillery. With its 57s now self-propelled--mounted on the 2= ton "weapons carriers"--Anti-Tank Company was to protect the left flank with one platoon, support 2nd battalion with another, and 1st battalion with the third. The 105s of Cannon Company and the 302nd were similarly attached. In short, the battalions and supporting units were to constitute miniature armored task-forces. Jumping off at 0430, the 2nd battalion swung out from an assembly area in the vicinity of Urleben to open the attack on Bad Tennstedt. This was the objective of G Company. According to the plan of Col. Richardson and his staff, E and F Companies would coordinate with G, leap-frogging one another along the east-west highway.
Advancing toward Bad Tennstedt, across open fields, the 2nd platoon of G Company drew fire early. They stopped for a fire fight, while another platoon pushed on to overrun three enemy machine-gun positions and take fifty-three prisoners. H Company machine-guns and a platoon of tanks now came up at the request of Capt. Roberts to aid in knocking out George's stumbling block. The 2nd platoon was able, shortly, to move up abreast of the other platoons and the company entered the town. By 1400 machine-gun and rifle fire within the town had been silenced. G Company was ready to shove off again.
With the northern column, incidentally, had gone a three-jeep contingent of the I & R platoon in the personal charge of Lt. Cloud. It was already pretty well established that the First Army lines were approaching nearer and nearer to the regimental and divisional sector of which CT 304 was the northernmost flank. Obviously, in order to avoid conflict or an embarrassing incident it was imperative that contact be established with them at the earliest possible opportunity and their sector lines ascertained by division and our own sector lines revealed to them. All day long, in close cooperation with the 76th Recon Troops this I & R squad ranged up and down on the left flank of this advancing column keeping a sharp-eyed lookout for the slightest sign or trace of friendly (or unfriendly) troops.
Meanwhile, a platoon of F Company, with Captain Retire, had attacked Kleinvargula, taken the town and joined the remainder of the company a thousand yards south of Bad Tennstedt. Leap-frogging G Company, F bowled across the fields to take its next objectives, Kleinballhausen and Grossballhausen, two adjoining villages directly east of Bad Tennstedt. And now the Luftwaffe turned up. Jerry fighters strafed the column and were met with a stream of fire from every available weapon as they circled and swooped--and circled again and away. Then machine-gun positions of the enemy had to be dealt with. Snipers were taking a toll of our men. Substantially, enemy armor was the only thing not encountered that day. And the enemy was fleeing before fire superiority, with Fox-men in hot pursuit.

By this time, E Company had circled around G and F to attack the next town, Schwerstedt. When Fox approached Schwerstedt, however, word came from Capt. Maberry that Easy Company had been pinned down a hundred yards north of the nearest buildings by concentrations of heavy machine-guns. The tanks had not come up, but Lt. Frutchie was already setting up his light machine-guns and 60 mm mortars, bracketing in on enemy positions. An encircling movement was indicated. Tanks and anti-tank 57s came up to assist F Company riflemen in flanking the town to the south and driving in. A bitter street-by-street, house-by-house fight, with heavy casualties, yielded 109 more prisoners. Meanwhile, E Company had been freed to enter from the other side of town and join in the fight.

IT was mid-afternoon. The box-score for the battalion was five towns (and five to go!); and the tempo of the fighting was increasing. Directly ahead lay Straussfurt, Vehra, Werningshausen, and Henschleben, a cluster of towns squeezed into an area of eight square kilometers. Already, tanks, TDs, anti-tank guns and cannon were pounding Straussfurt, filling the air with a bombardment reminiscent of a Hollywood war thriller. TDs were particularly aggressive here, winning high praise from Col. Richardson, who, on the spot, recommended the commander of the unit for a Silver Star. Moving in under the thunder of the big guns' direct fire, the riflemen of G Company advanced almost to the town's outskirts before encountering light machine-gun and rifle fire. But all of the starch had been taken out of the enemy and a dazed population kept to its cellars as the town was cleared of snipers. E Company joined in the taking of the town, then veered to the south to take Henschleben, again with the aid of the "task-force" armor.
During this action F Company had marched southeast from Schwerstedt in a fire-and-movement dispersion, under direct enemy observation, toward Vehra. The terrain was swampy and the troops forded several streams.

A bridge across the final stream guarded the entrance to the village. With 76 mm tank guns and 50 cal. machine-guns concentrated on enemy positions, the infantrymen infiltrated across the bridge and assaulted the town with a curtain of marching fire. Vehra was taken. Now, fresh orders were received to continue in the attack toward Werningshausen. And just some thirty minutes previously Lt. Cloud had called in, over the radio and relay station, the all-important message: "Have contacted First Army elements. Have established our situation with them and ascertained theirs."
Darkness was falling. Dog-tired, the infantrymen marched on to a stretch of rising ground 500 yards from the village. There, in a movie-like setting, the troops and guns fanned out across the field to stage a crashing finale to the events of the day.

TANK guns from the right rear poured a stream of 75 mm shells and machine-gun slugs, whistling past the shoulders of the elements on the right flank. 57 mm shells, in a deafening roar, came in from the left flank. The men were advancing deliberately and steadily, with marching fire. Now, to their amazement, five 57 mm gun trucks were backing across the field in a line abreast of them, flames belching from the muzzle blast of each gun. Anti-Tank had decided that the guns could advance "backwards" on line with the riflemen. 50 cal. and 30 cal. machine-guns mounted on the trucks sent out red streams of tracer fire. Night was turned into day as the crescendo of fire increased, ricocheting in all directions from hit targets, and the town lay silhouetted against the sky, a furnace of burning buildings.
When barely 150 yards from the town, the guns were ordered to cease fire, and the riflemen entered the town, meeting a completely befuddled enemy and little opposition. A more concise account of this entire action is to be found in the diary of Lt. Singleton, the Artillery FO:
"(April 10th) Received orders early this morning that we were to go on the attack again.

Preceded by tanks, to plaster the towns ahead of us, we were then to move in and wipe out the enemy small-arms fire. Artillery preparation would also be fired on the town at the command of the company commanders. The companies were to take turns capturing the towns and call on the other companies if they needed them. E Company had as their mission the taking of the town of Schwerstedt. While moving in a large open field to by-pass another town, we were strafed by Jerry planes. This was our first time to encounter the enemy planes and we were scared stiff. Fortunately no one was hurt. The tanks were still in the last town and the captain decided to take the town by surprise rather than use the artillery preparation. Fearing an ambush by Jerry, I had the rest of the section remain in a ditch about three hundred yards from the town while I went forward with the captain. Each platoon was designated a route of approach and we began to advance simultaneously. About one hundred yards from the nearest buildings it happened. Machine-guns opened up on us from a ditch running parallel to the town and we were pinned down, most of the men in an open field with no cover. I was fortunate and was able to take cover in a ditch through which ran a creek and although I nearly froze, I was safe from fire. Wormed my way back- to the radio and found out that Cpl. Russo had already sent in the mission but our artillery was out of range. At this time Lt. Frutchie began to shine. Without regard for his own safety he had his men set up machine-guns and the 60 mm mortars to fire on Jerry. One mortar round made a direct hit on a nest killing three Germans. About this time the tanks came up and opened up on the buildings. F Company finally entered the town after losing heavily in casualties. On the next town for E Company, seventh for the battalion, we fared much better. The town was taken without resistance-company withdrew to Vehra for the night . . ."
To the south, on a parallel line, the 1st battalion had been pushing all day in a twenty-five kilometer town-taking whirlwind which resulted in the capture of Herbsleben, Gebesee and Ringleben. The regiment's final score for the day was thirteen towns--plus several hundreds of dazed and discouraged prisoners. Included in the bag was the regiment's first general officer PW-- LT. Gen. Karl Hernkamp, commanding general of the 210th Volksgrenadier Division.
That night, in the after-battle silence, the 417th moved in to relieve the regiment.