Our men shot them to pieces. I don't
know how it happened but German artillery major survived the incident.
Some Frenchman on a bicycle saw the action, turned around and pedaled
madly back northeast on the river road. I'm sure he informed the Germans
of our position. Shortly thereafter I spotted German tanks on a road
junction about three quarters of a mile to the northeast on the river
road. I had my artillery observer bring down a concentration of fire. When
the smoke cleared the tanks had gone and I saw no further German action in
that area. The lack of firing in the 2nd Battalion area led me to believe
that they had also reached the river. Leaving a platoon-sized roadblock on
the river road, I gathered the Battalion and started them moving southwest
on the river road to where the main road crossed the Douve river. I went
ahead with my orderly and a radio operator. When I arrived at the bridge I
met Colonel Ekman and General Ridgeway. The last of the 2nd Battalion had
just crossed the half-blown bridge. Ekman ordered me to bring up the 1st
Battalion. I told him they were already on the way and the lead elements
began arriving as I spoke. I directed them to speed up the crossing behind
the 2nd Battalion.
Ridgeway informed me that he had 15 batteries of artillery to
back us in the establishment of the bridgehead. My 1st Battalion crossed
the bridge unopposed immediately behind the 2nd Battalion. We took up a
position on the high ground in the northeast part of St. Sauveur le
Vicomte, and the 2nd Battalion was positioned straight ahead. Soon the
508th was brought up and took up a position in the southwest part of the
town. A very firm bridgehead had been established. The following day, the
9th Division crossed the bridge and in two days reached the west coast of
the Normandy peninsula cutting off any movement by the Germans from
northeast to the southwest or vice versa, enabling General Collins and his
Corps to intensify their drive to the north northeast to capture
Cherbourg.
Late on the 16th the 1st Battalion occupied the high ground
in the northern part of St. Sauveur le Vicomte, I had set up my command
post in one of the nearby farmhouses. One of the Battalion Headquarters
men came to me and said he was going to cook me a delicious duck dinner
with potatoes and tomatoes from a garden and a duck from a pond. Later, my
staff and I sat down at a kitchen table prepared to eat our hot meal for
the first time in 10 days. The field telephone rang. It was a call from
Colonel Ekman. He said that General Ridgeway had called and wanted me to
report to Colonel Roy E. Lindquist, Commanding Officer of the 508th, as
soon as possible. He said that I would be the Regimental Executive Officer
of the 508th and that they needed me there. In a few minutes, the
telephone rang again and General Ridgeway confirmed the order. I said to
General Ridgeway that I was a 505 man--and he said, "you WERE!” So, I
jumped into a jeep, left my duck dinner to Major Bill Hagen, my
replacement, and reported to Colonel Lindquist. I received a rather cold
reception. The senior officers of the 508th had been together for about
one and a half years and I was an outsider.
The 508th, along with the other three regiments of the
division, were deployed in defensive positions facing the southwest and
held those positions along with other units while General Collins carried
out his assault and defeat of the German units defending Cherbourg. This
defensive position was held from June 18th to the morning of July 3rd with
not a great deal of action other than harassing fire from both sides. On
the morning of July 3rd, the Division and other units were unleashed on a
drive to the southwest to take La Haye du Puits. In the defensive period
from June 18th to the morning of July 3rd, not a great deal happened. We
received infrequent incoming mortar and artillery fire. However, as
Executive Officer, I had little to do and had Colonel Lindquist's approval
to frequently check out the Regiment's defensive positions. Most of the
time I would take my orderly, Virgil McGuire, with me, but about half the
time I went alone. One evening I was restless. It was a very dark night
with a cloudy sky and we were in a wooded area straddling a dirt road,
which ran into the enemy's positions. I decided to check some of our
positions, one in particular that protruded into the German position. I
quietly moved down the dirt road through the trees. All at once I realized
I was hearing German voices on both sides of me. Very quietly, I turned
around and sneaked back to where I had come from. I finally located our
roadblock. Both men were asleep but not for long. Another night I had been
out checking our deployment and it started to rain again. I returned to
our command post and my orderly, McGuire, had somewhere procured a pup
tent and two blankets. Alongside the tent McGuire had dug a trench as we
had been receiving occasional mortar fire in the bivouac area. There was
mud in the bottom of the slit trench so I moved into the pup tent with my
two blankets and was soon sound asleep. I awakened to the sound of mortar
fire and explosions but was too comfortable to move into the muddy slit
trench and went back to sleep. Again I awakened to the sound of nearby
explosions. One round landed very close, and with the next flash and
explosion, I could see four holes in the top of the pup tent. Yes, I got
up and took my two blankets and moved into the muddy slit trench. |
