After snatching a few winks here and there the attack was resumed along with promise of good weather
for at dawn it was clear, which meant that our planes would be out to pound away at the enemy too. The
town of Leseey, right under the hill where every move could be seen by the ever watchful enemy, was
our objective for the day. The objective was taken shortly after noon after we had poured out a big
concentration around it.
One rather amusing incident at noon on the fourth. We were preparing a fire mission that was to include
all the different colored smokes in our possession for a little surprise celebration of the fourth when all
hell broke loose around us. Machine guns, rifles, pistols and all the sidearms known in our army opened
up. We all ducked into our foxholes, grabbing our weapons as we did for we did not know what to
expect. One minute the field was alive with men, the next minute there wasn't a soul in sight. Pretty
soon the phone rang and someone could be seen cautiously making his way to it, making sure that he did
not expose himself anymore than necessary. The call was to inform us that everyone could fire his side
arm at noon to celebrate the fourth, by order of the Commanding General. We all guessed that everyone
had been notified except us. What a relief to us, and amusing too, everybody had a different story to tell
in connection with the outbreak. One person swore it was a plane, another thought a combat patrol had
come upon us, and many other stories. That evening we fired smoke missions for the P-47s as they were
out on the prowl. Though they did some good bombing they still did not silence the 88s that were
coming this way. That job of silencing the 88s was a specialty of Lt. William Matthews and his
observer. He would go up in his liaison plane and the shooting would cease at once. Also managed to
knock out several guns in this manner. Our battalion executive Captain A. J. Danovsky liked to go up
just before dusk with Lt. Matthews and look for guns and enemy fire. Thus giving the FDC plenty of
targets to fire on. That day we fired well over 1900 rounds. Late that night we received word that Lt.
Cantini and two members of the crew had been made casualties while up forward. Normandy seemed to
be exacting a rather heavy toll of artillery forward parties.
July 5th was a clear day with an occasional thunderhead appearing. On this day we went over to support
the 357th Infantry, our own infantry had been pulled back into reserve, after making their initial
objectives, with heavy losses. In order to give good support we had to move in behind the main effort.
Lt. Cross, C battery forward observer and his crew hit a mine while going up to relieve Captain Lippard,
C Battery commander, and had to be evacuated. While all this was going on we were very active in
firing until we moved. Our battalion fired around 1900 rounds that day. More and more as the days
went by, we began to realize just what war was, and we can all say that we're glad to be in the artillery,
instead of the infantry.
July 6th brought around several new experiences for this battalion. The first pertained to the worn out
tube B battery had on one of the guns. They were immediately given a new tube. Another new
experience was the white bread received at supper, the first since the United Kingdom. The third, and
the most serious was that of firing not only interdiction during the dark hours, but also firing many
rounds to prevent loss of already highly paid for gains. We had been rather quiet all day having been
given a few interdiction targets, until shortly after dark. Around 2330 a liaison officer called up
screaming for artillery along one side of Hill 122. Type of target: enemy movement and counterattack.
We immediately alerted the batteries and a few moments steel was flying all over the desired area and
we forced Heinie back into his hole. That kept up until somewhere close to 0300. Later in discussing
what happened during the morning we came to the conclusion that this particular fight was about the
bloodiest we had ever been a part of in all of Normandy.
July 7th the Heinies not only tried a few attacks during the day, but also brought some of their tanks into
play; but they also dispersed. The colonel came back to the outfit today to resume his duties and also a
 |
 |
 |