1 August, the 90th Division passed from the VIII Corps, First Army to the XV Corps, Third
Army, and was alerted to move. The next day kitchens were returned to Service Battery. The division
began a move that “outblitzed” anything ever done by an infantry division heretofore, and as far as the
author knows, has yet to be surpassed. The Monnois, Lengronne, Gavray, le Loreur, La Haye-Pensel,
Montviron, and Avranches. General Patton and Maj. Gen. Haislip, Corps Commander, and Brig. Gen.
Devine inspected the column. Many officers in 90th Division Artillery found out that some things were
somewhat different in the Third Army.
The next day we moved 6 miles to the vicinity Chasseguey. No activity except that more enemy
planes were encountered than at any time since we entered combat. Battalion machine gunners, as well
as Captain Lee and the boys from Undo Able, had learned early in Normandy not to fire on enemy
planes at night unless first attacked by them. Undo Able was high on the list of people that we liked
most to have around. It was late afternoon when the battalion made its move to Chasseguey. During
this march the largest fleet of enemy planes witnessed to date, appeared. At first, a number of the men
thought them to be P-5l’s. There were too many to be enemy. Then they attacked. Undo Able and
other ack-ack outfits kept them away from our column but other installation’s got a fair working over
before friendly planes came and drove them away. Famous last words – keep going, those are P-51's.
4 August the XV Corps, 90th and 79th Divisions were ordered to move on Le Mans, 73 miles
away. The 90th was first ordered to seize Mayenne, 45 miles away, and Task Force Weaver was
originally the whole division, but the task force was reorganized to give the maximum of mobility with
tremendous fire-power. For General “Wild Bill” Weaver’s spearhead force, the 337 CT motorized, the
712th Tank Battalion and the 343rd Field Artillery Battalion were selected. This Task Force was further
subdivided into Task Force Barth, and the main body of TFW to give even greater mobility. The main
body of the TFW consisted of the 3rd battalion, 357th Infantry (Mason’s Maulers), the 343rd and most
of the 712th Tank Battalion.
Early morning of 5 August, the task force began to roll. Practically no resistance was met until
just out of Mayenne where the motorized 357 CT and a part of the 712th Tank Battalion, the task force
spearhead, ran into some trouble but soon had it under control. The decision was made to encircle the
strongly defended town; first crossing the Mayenne River in three places. The 343rd was rushed up
close enough so that medium range would clear the town. Going into position we passed a battalion of
tanks, a tanker was heard to quip, “What in hell kind of a war is this when even the artillery medics pass
up the tanks”. The stage for the attack was set, and the boys of Union took off. Union Red pushed
straight toward the town but were stopped by two “88’s” firing at them. Captain Ingram, our liaison
officer to the 1st Battalion, called for fire. One of our first rounds scored a direct hit on one of the
“88’s”. The ensuing explosions caused a heavy smoke to blanket the bridge. Major Hamilton seized
this opportunity and the Red Battalion rushed the bridge, capturing it intact, with aero-bombs wired to it
ready for its destruction. A short time later White and Blue Battalions having crossed the river by raft
and boat, flanked the town and the initial objective was secured.
6 August was spent in the same position, preparations were fired for the attack on Aron and
several air missions for Lt. Hicks and Lt. Rhein, on SP guns and tanks. The following day at 0200 a
preparation was fired so that the infantry could withdraw from Aron. The task force pulled back to
Mayenne and headed south leaving the enemy in and around Aron to the 1st Division. Farther south the
Red Battalion was having quite a scrap at Ste. Suzanne, and it was here that Captain J. A. Sheehan was
killed in action by enemy artillery. Captain Sheehan was working with Captain Ingram, who, with his
driver Cpl. Orville Lindstrom, was wounded at the same time.
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