position some fairly heavy German artillery came in and tore up a couple of tents and trucks, other than
that all was well.
December 1st, moved to Fresdorferhof, we are back in Germany once more. A large force of
American medium bombers over us this day around noon, and an A20 crashed about a mile from the
battalion position, luckily the crew bailed out safely and the pilot came down in B Battery location.
Unfortunately the plane crashed into an ack-ack gun position, killing one and burning two others. Side
glance; Battalion received its first lot of combat shoes.
The Battalion moved to Gissengen on the night of December 4th, because Jerry had observation
on a crossroad in the center of the road. Whether he had observation or not makes no difference for
soon rounds started coming in on the road, much to the consternation of the message center which was
located about 300 feet from the bursts. The next morning no sooner had A Battery finished registering
when twelve rounds came into the position. Again Lady Luck was with us and no one was injured it
was decided to move A Battery as one never knew whether the Heinie would bring in more effective fire
than that which they had. The gun battery moved about 1000 yards closer to the river. Our mission was
to take the town on the other side of the Saar River, Dillingen. The Saar, another river that had to be
overcome, another river that had to be bridged, so that we could get to the enemy on the other side.
Lt. Colonel Munson was decorated with the Croix de Guerre, thus adding another decoration to
his already impressive display.
On the morning of the 6th at 0415 the 358th Infantry initiated H-Hour by crossing the Saar in
assault boats to take Dillingen. But it was not as easy as that. Dillingen was a well camouflaged fortress
town. Pillboxes were disguised in various ways; garages, stores and buildings turned into traps to catch
the unwary. The street fighting was of a particularly vicious type and gains were measured in yards,
hundreds not thousands. The enemy were using their crossfire pill boxes to good advantage.
While placing a self-propelled 155 mm Long Tom, in a position where it could be used for direct
fire on the pill boxes, Colonel Munson was hit by shell fragments and had to be evacuated. This was his
third wound since landing in France. That day the self-propelled knocked out two pillboxes.
Enemy artillery fire continued to come into the battalion area throughout the night of the eighth.
Two rounds dropped in next to one of the guns in Baker Battery, killing Pvt. Packard and wounding Cpl.
Henry. The weather was still miserable, the slush turning the fields into mires and the pits in which the
guns were implaced were no longer capable of holding the guns. Firing platforms had to be made, and
heavy logs had to be placed under the guns to keep them from sinking. The cannoneers were
improvising shelters of various designs to keep dry. That night several hundred rounds were fired in a
spot already registered on, where counterattacks were reported taking place. For several weeks rumors
had been circulating around that a few men would be able to go home on the 30 day leave, plus travel
time. Cpl. Rumick and Cpl. Wallace were the lucky ones to go home. On the 10th, a German was
found hiding in a haystack near the S.P. position. He claimed to be a corporal but was wearing a
lieutenant's dress, and had a pair of field glasses on his person, apparently planted for observation
purposes. Major Salisbury left this battalion on the 13th for Div-Arty, to take up the job of S3. Captain
Reddington came to us as the new S3. He was formerly with 20th Corps Artillery. While attempting to
put a cable across the Saar, Cpl. McGee and Pvt. Green, both of Headquarters Battery were thrown from
the boat, and as the river was so completely covered by a cloud of smoke visibility was very limited, and
they were last seen going downstream, being dragged by the swift current. Two others who were in the
boat at the time managed to get to shore.
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