In a reconnaissance with my artillery observer, I had
spotted a German multiple-firing railroad gun; I think a 40mm Pom-Pom
north of the village. We brought in artillery fire on the gun and silenced
it. The 1st Battalion was receiving a great deal of fire, including a lot
of screaming mimis from the north on our right flank.
While we were still clearing the village, Lieutenant Colonel
Ekman, the 505th Commanding Officer, came up and wanted to know what I was
doing waiting on the east side of the bridge. I told him I was waiting
until the Battalion had cleared the village. We were standing at the
northeast corner of the arching bridge over the railroad. In spite of my
telling him that a German machine gun located on the road to La Ham was
firing on the bridge, he started to cross it. The Germans opened fire on
him and he had to make a running jump off the rear end of the bridge.
Colonel Ekman left to check on the 2nd Battalion. I was concerned about
having Germans on our left and right flanks. The 2nd Battalion had moved
into position between the 1st Battalion and La Ham but were making no
progress. Lieutenant Cooperider and I went down to the railroad track
about 200 yards to the southeast when we saw three Germans crossing the
railroad track to get in behind us. Cooperider said, "Let's get the hell
out of here," and we returned to the village. After we cleared the village
and the 2nd Battalion had passed through, I set up a CP about 75 yards
east of the railroad overpass.
Shortly thereafter I had been on the third floor of a small
factory with William Hall, my runner/bodyguard, trying to locate with my
field glasses the German gun location to the north. I was walking back
toward the railroad overpass when I spotted one of the 2nd Battalion
Company Commanders walking back to the east away from the 2nd Battalion
front. I asked him what he was doing there in the 1st Battalion area. He
said he was not going to stay up there on the northwest edge of the
village where all the screaming mimis were falling. I told him they were
falling all over the area, talked to him for about ten minutes telling him
that he was responsible for the welfare of his men. I gave him a break and
sent him back to his company. I never told anyone of this incident until
years later when my wife and I were visiting the Vandervoorts at their
home in South Carolina. After hearing of the incident, Vandervoort told me
that he believed that was why he was held up in his Battalion's attack
toward La Ham. Later, Vandervoort said, this captain became a fair company
commander.
About 2100 hours the night of the 10th, I had been patrolling
our position and was returning to our CP when the Supply Officer of the
2nd Battalion and his driver came down the road with a jeep load of
ammunition. The jeep hit a mine in the road and I saw them blown up in the
air about fifteen feet. I ran over to them. The driver had been killed and
Lieutenant Donnelly was in bad shape and could not see. One of the
lieutenants and I carried him into the CP, gave him a shot of morphine and
tried to comfort him. Although he could not see he asked me, "Is that you,
Colonel Alexander?" I assured him it was and that we would soon have him
back with the medics, and I thought he would be OK. I did not learn that
he lived until, not long ago, I talked with his wife in Pennsylvania. She
said he had always suffered from disabilities but had led a rather normal
life and raised a family. He died in 1991.
The 325th came up on our left flank on the 10th of June, with
the 8th Regiment on our right. Late on the 10th our 1st and 2nd Battalions
were relieved and moved to reserve in an area near Piceauville. I was still
in command of the 1st Battalion on the 15th of June. Lieutenant Colonel
Walter Winton had taken my place as Executive Officer of the 505th. On
June 15th the 1st and 2nd Battalions launched an attack to the
west--objective: St. Sauveur le Vicomte-- to speed up cutting off the
peninsula and isolating Cherbourg with the 1st Battalion on the right and
the 2nd Battalion on the left. To our left was the 508th and on our right
the 9th Infantry Division. In leading off, the 1st Battalion had to pass
through elements of the 9th Division on our right. It was a green Regiment
that was bogged down in a hedgerow and was getting shot to pieces by
German mortar fire. Our experienced Battalion drove the Germans back, and
as I once said, we passed through the 9th like a dose of salts, and at the
end of the day we had progressed about halfway to the Douve River north of
Crosville, where we sat down for the night.
We had experienced only sporadic resistance mainly from a
stonewalled farmhouse and buildings. We had a few casualties including
Lieutenant Gerard Johnson who had suffered a round through his shoulder
and a new First Lieutenant replacement shot through the knee. We were
again ahead of the 2nd Battalion even though I had given LTC Vandervoort
my two tanks when he was held up by a rock-walled farmhouse complex. We
were again open on our right flank. On the 16th of June we launched our
attack at dawn and had stiff resistance from an 88mm gun position but by
1400 hours, we had reached the road paralleling the Douve River and were
again ahead of the 2nd Battalion on our left. I could hear them fighting
on the main road to the southeast. The 9th, on our right, was far behind.
I sat up in a defensive position on the river road defending from the
northeast and the southwest. We had no more than taken up our defense when
a German command car with four occupants drove right into us from the
north along the
river road.
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