CHAPTER III INTO THE LINE

Mines and booby traps also took their toll of unsuspecting civilians . . .

When litter bearers arrived they found they couldn't place the stretcher flat for Hnath because of the trip wires immediately on either side of him. With the stretcher held at an angle, one end over a trip wire, the other up in the air, Hnath summoned his ebbing strength to pull himself upon the litter. Lt Bock and Pfc Jones made two trips into the mined zone to administer morphine to the colonel and Pvt Pendleton and removed them from the area. By hand and jeep the casualties were rushed to the aid station and life saving plasma given them, as a misty dawn broke over the countryside. Had the removal taken another thirty minutes, the operation would have been observed from the enemy lines.

". . . No new advance along this front. However, some small patrol activity has been reported . . ."

In another volunteer patrol, Pfc Spencer Geasy was injured seriously in a minefield and was carried by comrades, as gently as possible, for over three miles to an aid station. He sang and joked all the way, even insisting he could hop the entire distance. The medics said they never met a guy like Geasy. "You, know, doc," he said between teeth gritted in pain, "I always had trouble with my feet. One was flat and the other had athlete's foot." He paused, a sedative making him drowsy. "Funny," he mumbled, "can't remember which was which." And then between half-moving lips: "Gee, doc, I hope it's the flat one. That gave me the most trouble."

However, some small patrol activity has been reported . . .

Patrolling continued without let-up; there were always trained understudies to take over for the casualties. The division was sounding out the enemy in preparation for the event both friend and foe knew was coming. The Germans were not coming this way again -- not after Rundstedt tried and failed. The Americans were going over the river to get them. Thus ONAWAY men built up, through hardening experience, a store of first hand knowledge of what confronted them. Enemy tactics of this period were quite similar. They wanted to know more about the new outfit that had moved in across the river. There is evidence, in the form of a map captured later in the campaign, that the Germans did know what hit them.

Towards the end of January the enemy had become desperate for more complete information. They sought to capture prisoners for questioning. On the night of the 29th the area held by the second platoon of Company I, 385th Infantry was boxed in with heavy mortar and artillery fire. Approximately twenty Germans armed with rifles, machine pistols and "potato mashers" launched a surprise attack as this barrage lifted. It was no soap. Quickly organizing their resistance, the 385th men made it too hot for the foe to linger. He retreated hastily, with only minor casualties sustained by the defenders.

Cases of trench foot began to show up in the clearing stations . . .

All the casualties weren't from steel and high explosives. During training in the States ONAWAY personnel had heard of that insidious scourge of the combat soldier -- trench foot. The men had been taught that cold, wet feet and improper blood circulation could be as dangerous to the extremities as a minefield. Along the Sauer, though, where troops were required to hold positions for protracted periods in all weather, manning outposts where during daylight hours any movement to help circulation might bring the pi-i-ng of a German bullet, trench foot joined the ranks of the woes of "'the line." Cases began to show up in the medical clearing stations. Commanders of forward positions acted quickly, rotated personnel at frequent intervals and inspected feet. Clean, dry socks for the men were sent up along with their rations. The trench foot toll was held satisfactorily low despite the raw, bitter weather by the combination of instruction and precaution.

Holding the line and feeling out the enemy weren't the only military considerations of the 76th while in Luxembourg. There was the problem of tactical security amidst a civilian populace that for generations had been as much under German dominance as that of any friendly nation. Although supposedly all civilians except those necessary for maintenance of community interests had been evacuated to the city of Luxembourg, a large number remained. How friendly these Luxembourgers were to Allied designs could not be judged merely from the friendly attitude most of them showed. In a security-conscious organization, certain factors could not be overlooked: (1) Luxembourg people were closely linked to Germans in speech and habits; (2) the Duchy itself had been under German control for four years; (3) it was not improbable that many Germans were masquerading as friendly Luxembourgers. Thought and effort, therefore, were directed by the division to guard against German Intelligence operations and sabotage, as well as to protect American movements and intentions. Supply and tactical roads had to be cleared of streams of itinerant civilians. In this continual activity, the 76th MP Platoon gained invaluable experience for the trials of the eastward push that were to develop.