From Maxonchamp, the 7th Infantry cleared Remiremont and pressed on toward Vagney, France and the Vosges Mountains. In early October 1944, our CP was established in a large 2 story house in an open field on the edge of Vagney.

Early one morning, I was ordered to lead a small patrol into the center of town and check the condition of the 1st Bn CP, since all communication had gone out during the night. This was vitally important because with no communication from the Bn CP, the rifle companies had no direction and the field artillery could provide no support. I was also ordered to be on the lookout for "stragglers", men who became separated from their company and were in no hurry to get back. They wanted a few days to collect their senses. I wasn't called upon to do this very often and I hated it! It was an MP function, but there were no MPs this close to the rifle companies.

I took Bigler, my platoon runner with me and we went in on foot. We crossed the destroyed bridge leading into town which was lying on the bottom of the shallow stream bed. Soon, we came upon a store front with all glass gone from the windows. I looked inside and saw about a dozen GIs asleep on top of 6 ft. long restaurant tables.

It was very cold and they were covered with their single blanket. The blankets were pulled up over their heads and their boots stuck our the other end of the blanket. They hadn't even posted a guard! This was a disagreeable assignment I had been given. I would have preferred to walk right by and let them rest, but my sense of duty overcame me. I pulled the blanket back from the head of the first man and as I stared at his face, I realized he wasn't sleeping, he was dead! I checked a few others with the same result. I then realized that the 1st Battalion was using this restaurant as a collecting point for KIAs so that Graves Registration personnel would have no trouble finding them. Here were a dozen GIs who had given their lives for their country and I had suspected them of malingering! I never looked for stragglers again, orders or no orders!

We continued through to the center of town and came upon an American Sherman tank, motionless and silent, in the middle of the street. (See pic above) A few GIs walked about and their sergeant told me what had happened. A Kraut patrol of about 30 men and a Mark !V tank came into town during darkness. A firefight erupted and the GIs could hear but not see a German tank slowly coming toward them in fits and starts. Lt. James Harris, 756th Bn Tank liason officer came forward on foot to investigate. He was severely wounded by a burst of MG fire and the man with him was killed instantly. He crawled back to the corner and summoned his tank forward. He didn't have the strench to climb aboard.

When the 2 tanks were head to head in the middle of the street, they couldn't see each other even though only 20 to 30 yards apart in the darkness. A Kraut foot soldier fired a burst from his light machine gun at the Sherman. The American tank machine gunner immediately returned that fire The German tank, now having located the Sherman in the dark by the source of the tracers, fired three quick rounds from its high velocity 75 mm main gun using armor piercing shells. (See photo). The shells went through the heavy armor plate, and exploded inside killing the crew. There were further casualties and then the Krauts withdrew. A medic found Lt. Harris in the street bleeding profusely but he died where he lay.

Lt. Harris was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving the Battalion CP from destruction with all of the attendant effects on the battle.

I found the Battalion Co who confirmed what the sergeant had told me. He said he had wire men stringing wirre back to the Regimental CP and expected to be in communication with them shortly.

I returned to the Reg'l CP, reported, and began beefing up defenses for the CP. I arranged for the 601 Tank Destroyer to send us one of their TDs, which carried a 90mm anti tank gun and stationed it out of sight behind the DP building. I was concerned that the Krautsmight take a crack at the Regimental CP. Late that afternoon, we came under attack. Mortar fire first and then machine gun and rifle fire. We were dug in and returned fire with our rifles, Bars and 2 LMGs

Suddenly, a Kraut flak wagon poked its nose out of the woods and opened full automatic fire on us with its 20mm exploding shells. It was a self propelled vehicle with 4 20mm anticraft shells which was used with equal effectiveness against ground troops. The crew was protected by a single sheet of armor, effective only against small aarms fire. Our tank destroyer, which had been hidden behind the CP building, lumbered around the corner and blew the flak wagon to bits with its first 90 mm shell! Our TDthen reloaded with HE and the went to work on the remaining enemy. We remained in our defensive positions throughout the night, but they didn't choose to challenge us again.

Russ Cloer - 3_7_I_Recon

The following is a series of letters that I received this week. I am planning on creating a page for him in the near future. Until then you can read about my new friend right here.

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I am writing after reading on line about the "148th" of VI corp. I was an original member of the 148th. Eng. Com bat Bn., activated in Camp Shelby Miss., in 1942, being in the original cadre, as Dental Officer, which then received the roster of @ 800 men and officers, trained there until we went overseas in June 1943 to England, trained there until D-day when we went in on D+3, and were actually in 7th. Corp, 1st Army, through the entire campaign in France, (etc.) to the end of the war in ETO, going from St. Mere E glise (on Utah beach) to Eisenach ,Germany when Germany surrendered, and we were in the 1110th. Eng. Combat Group with three other battalions, and were the actual group that built the Hodges Bridge, the first ,Class 70 Bailey Bridge over the Rhine, just downstream from the Remagen Bridge before it collapsed. (I can provide details of the construction problems we overcame).

We then went on through Liege, the Bulge, and the rest of the route until the end of the fighting, when we were sent back to France to build the "cigarette" camps for redeployment to the U.S., and the low pointers in the outfit went to Marseille for redployment to the Pacific, and were at sea when the Bomb was dropped on Japan, and the war ended.

Those men were discharged before we ,in Camp Lucky Strike were shipped home in Nov of 1945.

The VI corp outfit must be a new designation from the 148th. I was in. I have many more details for your info if you are interested in this.

Lester

Joe,

Click this address,,

Take picture put on 50 caliber and send to RUSS

http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/Poster.html

papa

Marines 1945

Any one know what Island had Capt. R. W. Baile and Lt. Virgil Terry ?

Only thing I know is (1945) the island had—

Piva Strip

Base Ordnance Depot.

Base Supply Depot

Base Ammunition Depot.

BIPOD.

Signal Transmission Center

Art papa@twmi.rr.com

Many of you know that I am reading Gen Bradley's book, A Soldiers Story. This morning I want to share some disturbing and haunting facts that give you a real feel for the part a rifle platoon played in the war. The next two paragraphs are taken directly from Bradley's book and show you why the CIB is so cherished amongst the infantry. Sobering facts boys and girls.

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Previous combat had taught us that casualties are lumped primarily in the rifle platoons. For here are concentrated the handful of troops who must advance under enemy fire. It is upon them that the burden of war falls with greater risk and with less likelihood of survival than in any other of the combat arms. An infanty division of World War II consisted of 81 rifle platoons, each with a combat strength of approximately 40 men. Altogether those 81 assault units comprised but 3.240 men in a division of 14,000.00. In an army of 350,000, fewer than one of out seven soldiers stood in that front line. This does not mean, of course, that none of the other seven fought. Many of them did, but as machine gunners, artillerymen, engineers, and tankers. And in Theater the proportion declined at an even more precipitous rate: one man with a rifle for each 15 men behind him.

Prior to the invasion we had estimated that the infantry would incur 70 percent of the losses of our combat forces. By August we had boosted that figure to 83 percent on the basis of our experience in the Normandy hedgerows. The appalling hazard of an infantryman's life in combat was illustrated at St-Lo where in 15 days the 30th Division sustained 3,934 battle casualties. At first glance those casualties would seem to imply 25 percent losses for the division. That figure, however, is deceptive. Because three out of every four of those casualties occured in a rifle platoon, the rate of loss in those platoons exceeded 90 percent.