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HEADQUARTERS 82d
AIRBORNE DIVISION
Office of the A.C. of S., G-2
In the field, 7 July 1944
SUBJECT : Report on James R. Hattrick
TO : OIC , MII Team #412, 82d Airborne
Division.
Upon instructions received by Major
Ketterson, Col. Schollhammer and Chaplain Riddle, this interpreter went
to GOURBESVILLE (Department of Manche) on 3 July to investigate the
report about the heroic stand of a paratrooper on 6 June 1944.
The mayor of Gourbesville, Mr. MICHEL
DELAUNE who seems to know all the details of the story, was contacted.
Several paratroopers of this division
dropped NE of Gourbesville about ½ to ¾ mile from the village during 5/6
June and obviously worked their way toward the village during the night.
Mr. Delaune’s home is the Chateau
of Gourbesville, destroyed by fire by the
enemy on 13 or 14 June. Up to 2300 6 June it was being used by a
German medical company as CP and First Aid Station.
More than 100 German medics armed with
rifles, machine pistols and light machine guns, were stationed there;
the remainder of that Medical Unit, probably a Battalion, was stationed
in AMFREVILLE. From 0700 7 June to the 14 June the castle served as a CP
for a German regiment.
Mr. Delaune became aware of the
presence of American soldiers in the vicinity of the castle at about
0600 6 June, because of the guards had been replaced by a cordon of
outposts surrounding the castle, some of them dug-in and others in
ditches and hedgerows. These enemy soldiers were fired upon throughout
the day, but Mr. Delaune could not see the soldiers doing the firing.
However he believes there were 5 or 6 in the vicinity of the castle and
some others in another part of the village. That morning Mr. Delaune
went to a farmhouse, about 400 yard [sic] NORTH of the castle and found
there 2 wounded paratroopers and another one taking care of them.
The Germans lost men from the fire all
day long and were returning it fiercely. They sent out several patrols
and probably found one or two of them who were hiding near the castle.
In the afternoon at about 1700 Mr. Delaune, under the pretext of
bringing his horse out of the firing zone, tried to locate one of the
paratroopers he could locate from the direction the heavy firing coming
from and in which the Germans were firing all day. That soldier was
hiding in a hedgerow in a large field adjoining the garden of the
castle. Mr. Delaune wanted to tell him to go to the farmhouse where the
wounded were, to get some food from the farmers and to hide there.
However, the soldier was so well camouflaged that he could not discover
him. Shortly afterwards both sides were again firing heavily. The
Germans sent out another strong patrol and apparently killed that
trooper at about 1800 and captured or chased away the others. At about
1900 the Germans brought in the body of the American paratrooper. At the
same time they collected the bodies of 9 German soldiers, at least six
of them fell in direct line of fire of the paratrooper and credited to
him by the Major. The medical soldiers buried him in the cemetery of
GOURBESVILLE, also the 9 dead Germans and 4 or 5 other dead Germans
brought to the cemetery earlier. Later that evening they brought to the
cemetery at least 18 other dead German soldiers and they were preparing
to burry [sic]
them there. However, when they suddenly
started to move westward they took these bodies along; The Major also
claims to have seen them taking along a large group of wounded,
including some American paratroopers and several American prisoners.
The two wounded in the farmhouse were
never discovered by the Germans and were being cared for by the farmers
until the arrival of our troops in Gourbesville. On 1 or 2 July they
came back to Gourbesville to thank the farmers again for hiding and
caring for them.
When American Graves Registration
personnel removed the body of the paratrooper on 30 June (they were
going to burry [sic] him in an American cemetery) the identity of this
soldier became known: James R. Hattrick, ASN 34591767. The people of
GOURBESVILLE who had taken fresh flowers to the soldier’s grave every
day, requested a Memorial Stone be erected on the site of the soldier’s
grave. It has been decided that a Memorial Plaque to the heroic
soldier’s memory will be placed on the Memorial Stone in the cemetery
for the French Dead of the Wars 1914-1918 and 1939-1940.
Michel Rainer,
S/Sgt., MII Team # 412
1st Incl.
OIO, MII Team # 412, Hq. 82 A/B Division, Office of the A.C. of S., G-2.
7 July 1944
To: A.C. of S., G-2, 82d Airborne Division, APO 469, U.S. Army.
Forwarded.
Alain A. Chevalier ,
1st Lt., OWS.,
OIO, MII Team # 412
[Note: Transcription of poor quality microfilm
images by Niels Henkemans is gratefully acknowledged.] |
