weapon on the beachhead. The skies were filled with the criss-crossing of tracers but on the ground the
apple orchards and narrow lanes were filled with the high rate staccato fire of the burp gun and the
crack-whiz of the "88".
In a violent battle on 10 June, Company A moved with the 357th Infantry in an attack on
Amfreville, which continued for two days until its capture on the afternoon of 11th. Here advances were
measured in yards and each tiny field, grazed by machine gun fire and pocked by mortars, took its toll.
The regiment suffered heavy casualties and after repeated attacks and counterattacks on the next village
of Gourbesville, Company A was assigned the mission of separate attack on 13 June. The company
moved up behind a predawn barrage but at 0500 just outside the town heavy machine gun and mortar
fire caught the company moving through an orchard. Five were killed, three were wounded and the
company was forced to defend its position. Further attacks with elements of the 357th Infantry on the
14th were unsuccessful! And the action resulted in five additional, men killed and 14 others wounded in
Company A. Finally, on the 15th Gourbesville fell. At 0900 on 16 June Company A was released from
attachment.
The first replacements, a group of 99 men, joined the battalion and the individuals were assigned
to the various companies. Kitchen trucks arrived with the rear echelon detachments and the first mail
from home was received. The battalion had withstood its baptism of fire and was now set to fight or
work and often do both at the same time to clear the way for the 90th.
Mine and debris removal continued as the number one engineer problem and this work assumed
gigantic proportions when after days of shelling and bombing the town of Pont l' Abbe was taken. Tons
of rubble were pushed from the streets to open them for traffic. Mines and dud shells were collected and
detonated and then again the engineers were off for an infantry mission.
Another division had cut the Cotentin Peninsula and the drive on Cherbourg had begun. To
prevent the Germans from leaving or entering the peninsula the 357th Infantry, with Companies A and B
of the 315th Engineers (attached on 22 June) moved by motor to the general line Neuvilleen Beaumont
to Hamefax. Here the engineers installed road blocks and mines, manned outposts along the escape
routes and incidentally discovered a cleverly camouflaged "V bomb" launching site. Company B was
relieved on the 27th and Company A on the 29th. As these companies were released they moved with
Company C and H & S into a battalion assembly area near Groult to prepare for the next action -- an
attack to the southeast.
On 2 July the drive was launched and the battalion engaged in the normal mission of clearing
mines, debris and blocks from the roads and trails as the infantry pushed forward toward Pretot, St
Suzanne, St Jores, Lithaire and the Foret de Mont Castre. Progress was slow. Every foot of ground was
fiercely defended by fire or by mines or by both; and it was in a narrow sunken trail near Pretot that the
first major equipment casualty occurred.
A tank had hit a mine, was disabled and blocking traffic. Mine detectors had been used to search
the area and many tellermines were removed. Then the H & S Company D-7 dozer was brought in to
open a bypass around the tank. No one will ever know exactly what happened. The explosion was not
that of a single anti-tank mine or of even several anti-tank mines but was more like the detonation of a
large cratering charge. The mighty D-7 was thrown over on its side and its bottom torn out. A tread was
crazily wrapped around the superstructure and the driver tossed off into a field and seriously wounded.
The kraut was taking a heavy toll in equipment too.
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