After landing on June 7th we moved into an assembly area just to the rear of Utah Beach and dug in and spent the night there. On July 8th there wasn't much to do and so many of us went down to the beach and did some sightseeing. There was a lot of damaged equipment and many damaged vehicles there. Despite these losses the soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division who landed there continued with their move inland.
On our second night in Normandy, July 8th, as we were lying in our slit trenches, Bed Check Charlie in the form of a German fighter-bomber flew over our position. My first thought was: “Dear God, please don’t let anyone fire at him.” The chances of hitting him were remote and if left alone he would probably move on. This time God did not answer my prayers. A caliber .50 antiaircraft machine gun opened up on him and sent up a stream of tracer bullets. Charlie was able to locate the offending weapon from the stream of tracers. Sure enough, he went into a dive. Immediately I realized that my training in digging in was seriously deficient. I wished that I was much deeper into the soil of France than I was. In any event. Charley’s bomb struck home and hit some ammunition trucks. For some time the ammunition in those trucks was going off. Having decided that I was not dug in deeply enough, I made that trench much deeper. This was the last time that I was to be caught in a slit trench that was too shallow when I had time to dig in. This was a deficiency in our training inasmuch as we had never dug in then. Even in combat no non-commissioned officer checked our slit trenches.
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| Utah Beach, with its gentle rise from the sea inland, lent itself to an amphibious landing as opposed to Omaha Beach which had high bluffs overlooking the beach. |
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| On June 6th soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division cross Utah Beach and move inland. |
On our second night in Normandy, July 8th, as we were lying in our slit trenches, Bed Check Charlie in the form of a German fighter-bomber flew over our position. My first thought was: “Dear God, please don’t let anyone fire at him.” The chances of hitting him were remote and if left alone he would probably move on. This time God did not answer my prayers. A caliber .50 antiaircraft machine gun opened up on him and sent up a stream of tracer bullets. Charlie was able to locate the offending weapon from the stream of tracers. Sure enough, he went into a dive. Immediately I realized that my training in digging in was seriously deficient. I wished that I was much deeper into the soil of France than I was. In any event. Charley’s bomb struck home and hit some ammunition trucks. For some time the ammunition in those trucks was going off. Having decided that I was not dug in deeply enough, I made that trench much deeper. This was the last time that I was to be caught in a slit trench that was too shallow when I had time to dig in. This was a deficiency in our training inasmuch as we had never dug in then. Even in combat no non-commissioned officer checked our slit trenches.
On 9 June our
howitzers and other equipment were unloaded from SS John Morseby. As
some of the men from our battalion were moving ashore from a landing craft a
spent anti-aircraft round landed nearby wounding eleven of them. This event was
to have serious consequences for the personnel warrant officer who was with the
rear echelon at Whatcombe Farms.
Just before we left for Normandy the personnel warrant officer had collected money from some members of the battalion and was supposed to transmit it to the person indicated by the soldier. This officer played the racing dogs at a nearby btrack, He used some of the money collected from the soldiers in order to make his bets at the track. As mght be expected he lost and was unable to repay the losses. When his use of the fjunds was discovered he was court-martialed and sentenced to five years at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
On the evening of the 9th the battalion crossed the Douve River and went into position northeast of Carentan in direct support of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment which had the mission of seizing Carentan. Cannoneers dug in their howitzers, ammunition was unloaded, radio nets were established, wires were laid and FO parties and liaison sections joined the infantry.
Just before we left for Normandy the personnel warrant officer had collected money from some members of the battalion and was supposed to transmit it to the person indicated by the soldier. This officer played the racing dogs at a nearby btrack, He used some of the money collected from the soldiers in order to make his bets at the track. As mght be expected he lost and was unable to repay the losses. When his use of the fjunds was discovered he was court-martialed and sentenced to five years at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
On the evening of the 9th the battalion crossed the Douve River and went into position northeast of Carentan in direct support of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment which had the mission of seizing Carentan. Cannoneers dug in their howitzers, ammunition was unloaded, radio nets were established, wires were laid and FO parties and liaison sections joined the infantry.
We were at war.
One of our earliest
missions was firing in support of the 1st Battalion, 327th
Glider Infantry Regiment during its crossing of the Douve River on the night of
9 June. The first forward observers from BatteryB sent forward, Lieutenant
John Jordan, Corporal Paul Galant and Private First Class Howard Krivos, made
the crossing. As soon as the crossing was made engineers from the 49th
Engineer Battalion built a bridge across the river and the remainder of the
regiment crossed on it. Galant and Krivos were wounded on the next day and
evacuated. Another soldier from the detail section and I were sent up to
replace them. As we drove up close to the front in the jeep, some
riflemen of the 327th were crouching in ditches on both sides of the road.
“Wonderful,” thought I, “Here I am riding down the center of the road while
these experienced - two days - riflemen are in those ditches.” We found Johnny
Jordan and went to work with him.
On page 245 of
Rendezvous with Destiny: A History of the 101st Airborne Division, by Paul
Rappaport and Arthur Northwood, Jr., there is a picture of wounded soldiers
lying on stretchers on the deck of an LST. Galant is on the fourth stretcher
from the bottom with his helmet protecting a vital part of his anatomy. He was
taking no chances.
The 327th
was advancing on Carentan from the northeast and from the east. Other
regiments
of the division were moving from directions with the aim of surrounding the
town. The Germans put up stiff resistance on 10 and 11 June but withdrew from
the town on the night of the 11th before the town was encircled and
taken on the 12th. The quick seizure saved much damage to the town.
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| Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division enter Carentan. While there has been some damage to the city, it is not extensive. |
regiments
of the division were moving from directions with the aim of surrounding the
town. The Germans put up stiff resistance on 10 and 11 June but withdrew from
the town on the night of the 11th before the town was encircled and
taken on the 12th. The quick seizure saved much damage to the town.
On the 29th
we moved north to a position just south of Valgones where the division set up a
defensive line across the peninsular while other divisions engaged in the
capture of Cherbourg. We saw no action here and had seen our last combat in
Normandy.
Johnny Jordan was a piece of
work in those days. He was a real tiger. It seemed to me that he wanted to take
on the German Army all by himself. I told him, “Take it easy, Lieutenant, there
are plenty of others who would like to get a piece of the German Army. Save
some of it for them.” Later Johnny Jordan was severely wounded outside of
Bastogne. After evacuation he did not return to the battalion. And so, all the
members of the first FO party that Battery B sent into combat with the Infantry
were wounded.
The wounds of Galant
and Krivos were not of the million dollar variety and both were waiting for us
when we returned to Whatcombe Farm in the middle of July after Normandy. Howard
was wounded early on once again as an FO in Holland. I don’t recall how long he
was away from us as a result of this wound but somebody did something right.
Howard was assigned to the battalion Fire Direction Center. “O and 2” is not a
good count for an FO to be facing. He was a bright person and quickly learned
that FDC stuff.
Only a few incidents
in the Battle of Carentan stand out in my memory. The 377th Parachute Field Artillery jumped
into Normandy at about H-5. They jumped 12 pack 75 mm howitzers, each howitzer
in three loads. They were able to assemble one howitzer and that along with
some captured German artillery enabled them to get some rounds off. In the end
the captured artillery was not as effective as hoped. Many of the officers and
men of the battalion were attached to our battalion. One of those officers, a lieutenant,
was sent up as an FO and I was a member of his team. Things must have been
relatively quiet because the lieutenant was off searching a dead German while I
was attempting to obtain a drink of Calvados, about which I had heard much but knew nothing. I
found a farmer who agreed to give me some Calvados, about one-half a glass. I
took a healthy swallow of the stuff and immediately began gasping for air while
thinking that this was a hell of a way for a soldier to die. I thought that I
had been poisoned. I hadn’t been but I was off Calvados for life after that.
Another time we were
using a farmer’s house for an observation post (OP). Our food supply was not
plentiful just then and so we purchased dairy and other products from the
farmer. We had been on D rations for several days. D rations were solid
chocolate bars which contained lots of the food elements that could keep one
going for a few days. We bought some milk from the farmer and made chocolate
milk from the D rations and the milk. We also obtained fresh eggs which had not
graced our mess halls for two years. The highlight of this farmer’s food stock
was rabbits which he kept for sale and eating, much as some kept chickens. We
were asked to select the rabbits that we wanted to eat. The farmer then
slaughtered, dressed and cooked them.
On July 10th
we moved to Utah Beach, boarded LSTs
and in two days were back at Southampton
in the U.K. where we boarded trains for the trip to Whatcombe Farm, our home
station. There was never a happier band of soldiers. The train ride was
exhilarating. At many points along the way there were British civilians who
seemed to know that we were just returned from Normandy and cheered us. We
returned the cheers and displayed our German helmets, Nazi flags and other
booty. It was good to be a soldier who had survived.
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| This is LST 282 delivering vehicles to Utah Beach. It was on such a vessel that the we returned to Whatcombe Farms after our combat in Normandy. |
At Whatcombe Farms we
pulled maintenance on our equipment, cleaned up and took off on one week
furloughs.
I went to Edinburgh, stayed three days and then, along with 20 other Airborne soldiers, went to London.
I don't know why I went to Edinburgh. Perhaps it was because I had spent 48 hours there after I had graduated from jump school and thought that I was an old London hand. As soon as I arrived in Edinburgh I went to the local Paramont dance hall. I met a young ATS sergeant there , walked her home afterwards and asked to see her on the following night. In fact, I had a vision of staying in Edinburgh for the week and seeing her each evening. It wasn't to be. She told me that she was engaged and wasn't dating other men.
Twenty other Airborne soldiers and I decided that Edinburgh was a three night town and convinced the commander of a nearby troop carrier squadron to roll out a C47 for a private flight to London. Except for the blackout and the soot from the wood fires of the city I recall nothing of my four days in London. After that we all returned to Whatcombe Farms and prepared for whatever our masters had in store for us.
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| Princess Street in Edinburgh is one of the most attractive shopping Streets I have seen. This is, of course, is a picture taken long after the was had ended. |
Twenty other Airborne soldiers and I decided that Edinburgh was a three night town and convinced the commander of a nearby troop carrier squadron to roll out a C47 for a private flight to London. Except for the blackout and the soot from the wood fires of the city I recall nothing of my four days in London. After that we all returned to Whatcombe Farms and prepared for whatever our masters had in store for us.
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