by several small streams, and located between the towns of Seves and St. Germain Sur Seves. H-hour
was to be on the 22nd.
The afternoon of the twenty-first there was quite a bit of excitement through the battalion area. C
Battery received a large amount of artillery fire, 108 rounds in all. The peculiar thing was that 70
rounds were duds. Immediately we thought of the forced labor the Germans had, and came to the
conclusion that some clever sabotage had not only been done, but also had taken good effect. Another
part of the excitement was the story of the bomb attempt on Hitler's life, and the mass purge of all high-
ranking German army officers. Also heard that there had been quite a shakeup in the Japanese home
government, caused by repeated losses. Soon everyone was wondering who would throw in the towel
first.
At 0600 the next morning the attack started with our combat team making the main effort. Lt. Saul
Bauer and his crew from A Battery were with the 1st Battalion, Lts. Fishbein and Lisecki, were with the
2nd, and Lt. Coleman was with the 3rd. The day was one of pouring rain, and therefore observation was
poor. The action started off in good fashion with the better part of two battalions getting onto the island
after a long preparation delivered by all our artillery, but soon the Germans, who were well dug in
opened up with everything they had, wheeling their tanks and SP’s up to the front and inflicted heavy
casualties. After 2200 we lost all contact with the 2nd Battalion. That evening after it cleared up a bit
Captain Danovsky and Lt. Matthews, our impromptu “Artillery knockout team", went up in the plane
and were soon playing hob with the enemy mortars and artillery. That night we set many fires burning
in their gun positions, and things quieted down a little. Still no word from the 2nd Battalion, but we still
had hopes of hearing from them before the night was up. Then we realized that not all was well up
there. The 2nd Battalion was in real trouble and we could do nothing about it. Finally the next morning
we heard what had happened. The 2nd upon reaching the island were immediately set upon by
everything the Heinies could throw at them, cutting them off from all avenues of escape except one,
back over the stream that had just crossed. The casualties had been heavy, but a few did manage to get
back, long after dark. Even our liaison officer had been unable to get up to the 2nd because of the
terrific enemy curtain of fire that have been laid down between the back areas and the island.
After this type of attack had failed the troops were pulled back and new plans were in the making; big
ones for an all-out attack all the way to Periers, 10,000 yards away.
In preparation for this big attack the infantry were going to use a loudspeaker to see if the Heinies would
surrender, thus stopping much loss of blood and life. The role we had in this little affair was to provide
a smokescreen for those that wished to surrender. This was to prevent their own troops from "harassing"
them. After much trouble with knocked out wires etc., the infantry delivered their message and we laid
the smoke down. Immediately the German 120 mm mortars and artillery started dropping in on the
screen that we had set up. Though the place was hot there were a few that managed to get through. The
P. W.’s claimed that artillery had really raised hell with they’re eating, for we had destroyed their field
kitchens, denying them hot meals for several days.
On the twenty-fifth we witnessed the greatest all-out bombing that ever took place in our sector. There
were over 3000 planes in the raid, and as we all stood around watching the attack, the ground shook as if
a real earthquake was taking place. The target was the St. Lo-Periers highway, and territory on either
side of the road. At the beginning of the raid there was much flak that went up to meet the planes, but
towards the end of it, when the Thunderbolts and Mustangs started strafing, flak ceased filling the air
with its deadly blossoms. Later we learned that due to a few short bombs General McNair had been
killed, a loss that all regretted.
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