Joey wrote_
Breakthru at the Siegfried Line
The Siegfried Line was a defensive line of fortifications composed of concrete pillars shaped like dragons teeth and spaced so that tanks could not get through them. But infantry could. Under covering artillery fire 1st Battalion, 36th Armored Infantry Regiment advanced through a murderous hail of small arms fire and enemy mortar bursts to capture a number of pillbox positions.
The combat engineers worked frantically to attach explosives to the dragons teeth while being raked with machine guns and mortar fire. A break was found in the line allowing 20 tanks of the 32nd Tank Regiment to pour through and back the infantry up ahead.
My Company recieved their first Presidential Unit Citation for that engagement. Seven tanks were left blazing among the pillboxes. A platoon of reinforcing tanks arrived at dusk and the battle continued until near midnight when a halt was called; the wagons were circled and the infantry outposted the area. We had bored deep into Siegfried defenses.
The Division spent Sept. 14th and 15th punching through the second line of Siegfried defenses.
During the following days, 3rd Armored continued to mop up the area we had taken. That meant clearing towns out house by house and room by room. Some towns were bigger than others and required the rigorous task of kicking in doors and tossing grenades into windows before barging in, shooting. These tactics were necessary to eliminate Snipers and die hard pockets of enemy soldiers.
It got monotonously wearing so I developed a habit of getting sometimes a city block or more ahead of the squad. One time I got to the edge of town, alone when I spotted a large group of buildings with two pillars constructed of red bricks which was the entrance to a long driveway.
A man in uniform darted down an underground cellar doorway. Rushed up the driveway shouting "Komen sie raus." To my surprise about 20 men in uniform came walking out of the cellar with their hands up.
After lining them up they tried to tell me they were policemen, not soldiers. Didn't fall for that story. Made them put their hands behind their heads and march single file, back down the street. That's the last I saw of them. Some people behind me were in for a surprise when they saw this troop of men parading down the street.
A Nun in full Habit came walking out of the building. She told me this place was a convent and a hospital, full of sick people. She also said; Would you like a bowl of soup? Been living on the K rations I carried in my pockets for months on end, a bowl of soup sounded good to me.
I went inside with her to a large mess hall with long wooden tables and someone brought me a bowl of cabbage soup which I ate with my left hand while my right trigger finger rested on my rifle.
The Nun,who happened to be the Mother Superior and I were the only ones in this gigantic mess hall. I had not shaved in weeks. Had not slept in weeks. I stared right in her face all the time, while eating the soup with one hand on my gun. Fortunately no one made any false moves so I quietly backed out of there without farther incident and went to find my squad.
Joey's HomePage