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Crossing the Rhine
The 10 Engineer Battalion was an integral part of the 3rd Infantry Division throughout the War, but other Combat Engineering units were called upon to support projects the size of building a pontoon bridge across the Rhine capable of carrying 35 ton Sherman tanks. I thought this story would be appropriate for this site.
Crossing the Rhine
In mid March of 1945, as the 3rd Division prepared to attack the Siegfried Line in Germany, my Company Commander told me I was eligible for a three day pass in Paris under an R&R program that I didn't even know existed. I was assigned as replacement platoon leader of the I & R platoon when my predecessor was KIA on a recon for the Volturno River crossing in Italy. I was delighted and wasted no time in accepting his offer. I was authorized two days travel time each way and was allowed to take my jeep and driver. PFC Steele and I stopped at Service Company to pick up some clean clothes and headed west, arriving in Paris by mid-afternoon of the second day. We checked in at the leave center, where the Army impounded our jeep so it wouldn't be stolen, and we were assigned to hotels on the Place de la Concorde.
I had a wonderful time in Paris and saw all the sights despite not having the jeep to get around. I learned to use the Paris subway which was highly efficient, went everywhere and was easy to use, particularly with French civilians standing by to help at the first sign of bewilderment by an American soldier. The only problem was that the subway stopped running at 10:00 P. M. and aside from walking, there was no transportation available other than taxis which were very expensive. The only real sour note for me was that I saw more French soldiers in Paris than I had seen in the Colmar Pocket, which was supposedly their sector of fighting.
Early on the morning of the scheduled return day, I reported back to the leave center where I was reunited with my driver and jeep and we headed east to rejoin the Regiment. We made much better time on the way back being more familiar with the road net. Also we were heading in the same direction as the Red Ball Express 6x6's going to the forward supply dumps with ammo, fuel, rations and with top priority on the roads. By late afternoon, it became apparent that we could make it back in one day so we pushed on and found Headquarters Company in Frankenthal, Germany by dusk.
I reported to my C.O. and told him I was back a day early and why. "Good," he said, "I have a job for you. We're crossing the Rhine tonight. H hour is 0230 and we'll be crossing about 200 yards downstream of the blown autobahn bridge." He pointed it out on a map. "I want you to take your jeep and reconnoiter a route down to the river bank suitable for tanks. Then come back here and there will be four amphibious DD Shermans waiting to follow you down to their I. P. The assault troops are going to need that armored support badly."
I stifled the urge to tell him I was still on leave. I needed no reminder of the devastating losses we suffered a few weeks earlier when Major Duncan's 2nd Battalion attacked the town of Utweiler without armored support. So I settled for a simple "Yes sir." and went looking for my driver PFC Steele to break the news to him.
We traversed about two or three miles of perfectly flat farming country between Frankenthal and the Rhine River, which was interlaced with a few dirt roads used by farm equipment. It was pitch dark of course, but we had no trouble finding our way because we could guide on the slightly elevated autobahn leading to the blown bridge and Steele's night vision was superb. We rode right down to the river bank. It was about a four foot drop to the water, the river was almost 400 yards wide, and the water was flowing at about 8 MPH. Visibility was unlimited except for the darkness. What I remember most is the absolute silence. The only faint sound was the soft gurgling of the water against the river bank and the muffled sound of the jeep's idling engine. The autobahn bridge on our right was silhouetted against the sky, a huge and very high single span suspension bridge with a section of roadway missing in the very center. I scanned the other side of the river looking for defenses but saw nothing but more flat ground with no vegetation or structures. If there were anti-tank guns over there, (and there surely were), they had to be under the far side bridge ramp which would provide both overhead protection and concealment for the crews. I was no tactician, but I wondered if the planners of this operation had planned it from a map or had come down here to look at the terrain. I would have moved the crossing site another 200-300 yards downstream, not nearly so close to what appeared to be an obvious enemy strong point.
It was between 10:00 and 11:00 P. M. when we turned around and made our way back to Frankenthal. We saw no one and nothing in the way of military preparations on the way to the river and back which surprised me. The four DD Shermans were waiting in Frankenthal. I talked to the tank platoon leader and he showed me the accordion or bellows-like rubberized canvas surrounded by a steel framework to lift it into place so the tank would float. There were two propellers on the back end for propulsion and steering. I remember thinking it looked like a real "Rube Goldberg" and I tried to visualize the 35 tons dropping down that four foot bank into the 8 MPH water.
The tanks started their engines and the roar was deafening! They started forward behind us in column and the clanking of the tracks was fearsome! I remember thinking that when we get down near the river bank, all that noise would alert every Kraut within miles. All hell would surely break loose!
And so it was! Our jeep was about 20 feet from the river bank when the first 88mm shell came streaking across the river from beneath the bridge ramp and hit the lead tank causing it to burst into flames right behind us. As the burning tank lit up the area, more shells followed, focusing on the remaining tanks. Steele and I reflexively dove out of the jeep and crawled into the nearest depression in the ground which appeared to be a bomb crater from an earlier air attack on the bridge. We felt reasonably safe there until artillery shells began to burst overhead (air bursts). I remember thinking at the time that it had to be "friendly fire" falling short, because every shell seemed to burst at the same height indicating use of proximity fuses (posit fuses) which I don't think the Krauts had at that time. But it mattered not who was firing it. We had no overhead cover in the bomb crater, so we climbed out and made a desperate run for the bridge ramp about 150 yards away. We waited there until things quieted down and then walked back to Hq. Company abandoning the jeep on the river bank. I heard later that the first tank had been destroyed, two others had their flotation gear perforated and the fourth was missing.
When we got back to the CP, I noticed for the first time that there was a lot of pain in my upper left arm. I peeled off my field jacket, pile liner, wool sweater and wool shirt and found that the upper arm from shoulder to elbow was completely discolored in blues, purples, greens, reds and yellows and it was swollen and throbbing. I walked over to the aid station where I was told that I had probably been hit by a spent shell fragment but it had not broken the skin because the blow was cushioned by my heavy layered clothing. No treatment was necessary. It would go away in a few days. I still wondered whether that artillery fire was enemy or short "friendly" fire until I read the crossing account in the Regimental History years later. It says, "The DD, or "floating" tanks of Company C, 756th Tank Battalion had moved up during the artillery barrage before H Hour but one was hit by enemy fire, set ablaze and destroyed. Two others developed maintenance trouble." That answered my question but raised two more. Why didn't someone tell the two guys leading the parade in an open jeep what time the artillery barrage was scheduled to start and was the "maintenance trouble" holes in the rubberized flotation gear from the "friendly" artillery fire? I heard that three more amphibious tanks came forward after the enemy anti-tank guns were silenced. They floated across the Rhine, but two slid backward into the water while trying to climb the far bank and were lost with their crews. I have read that most of these DDs were given to the British. That was a splendid idea which could only have been improved upon by giving them to the Germans. The 7th Infantry had seven of them attached for the crossing. One DD tank made it across the river. Three were destroyed along with their crews. And three were damaged and couldn't enter the water.
I had little time to think about it because my CO was waiting for me with another assignment. Engineers had built (or were building) a pontoon bridge across the Rhine at Worms which was ten miles north where the 30th Infantry was crossing. I was to get another jeep and lead four conventional Sherman tanks north to the new bridge, cross the Rhine and then lead them ten miles south through the enemy held east bank to join the 7th Infantry bridgehead, all during the remaining hours of darkness. I had several more questions, but I remembered Utweiler and my leave in Paris and therefor kept them to myself. I accomplished the mission before daylight and felt good about having helped to get armored support to the rifle companies which were meeting stiff resistance in the battle for Sandhofen.
In later years, my buddy J3rdInf, who was a rifleman in the third battalion which crossed on rubber assault rafts, told me they were in a fierce fight for Sandhofen on the far bank, when the conventional tanks I had led across the Bailey bridge at Worms, joined them and helped in defeating the enemy.
3_7_I_Recon
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