rivers and the 31st found us very deep in Germany, gnawing away at its innards. Up to this day the 90th
had taken a total of 41,000 prisoners since D-Day, June 6, 1944.
The A Battery ammo truck caught fire and the surrounding area sounded like a good battle, with
all sorts of shell bursts and small ammo going off. It was later believed that the truck had been hit by a
panzerfoust.
The new month started the same as when we left March, with three and four moves a day always
in pursuit of the fast retreating Wehrmacht. On the evening of April 2nd a German plane was shot down
in the adjusting town, the before it crashed it released its load in the rail yards hitting a carload of high
explosive and setting off all of it at once. The explosion was so bad, injuring many civilians and GIs in
the town that our own medics under the direction of Captain McConahey were asked for help in taking
care of the casualties.
The next day we received some friendly artillery fire in the town of Kaiseroda, but no one was
injured. We heard from some Italian P. W.’s that there were large stores of German bullion and art
treasures located in a salt mine in that town. Later we learned that the infantry had located the loot, and
also some high bank officials. The treasure had been put in the mines to escape the heavy air raids that
had been frequent of late.
Major Conn traded his gold leafs in for a set of silver leaves on April 5th. Moved to Bad
Liebesstien, where we ran across several German Military Hospitals crowded to capacity. The next day
we moved into an assembly area, letting the 87th Division takeover where we left off, at Liebrode,
where we did not even lay the guns. On the 7th we took off for Heiderbach. The trip was a smooth one
until we drew near Zella Mehlis, where the roads were thoroughly jammed with GI vehicles of every
description. Finally reached our destination. A pistol factory was located in Zella Mehlis, where the
officers went down and picked up several cases of guns that were distributed to the batteries for
souvenirs. We had to supply 25 trucks for the infantry, in order to bring them up to the line. The next
day we left Heiderbach for Schmiedefeld, passing through Suhl. Colonel Munson and his driver Cpl.
Van Riper and radio operator Cpl. Sheldon, returning from the 1st Battalion CP saw a German soldier
run across the road in front of them and head for the woods. Van fired on him and caused his surrender,
bringing back his “Burp” gun as proof.
The town of Neustadt.was still burning, in spots, as we went into position near there. The
infantry had only just cleared out showing how close behind them we were.
The 11th of April Colonel Munson left us for XII Corps and Colonel Conn is our new Battalion
Commander.
On April 12th we displaced four times and finally ended up in Plessant. The area around
Plessant had not been cleared, for no sooner had we gone through one of the worst downpours we had
experienced, a firefight broke the silence. A tank was seen going up into the vicinity from which the
small arms fire was coming, firing as it moved. The battalion was not there except for A Battery and the
CP truck. The firing battery was wheeled around for direct fire, and a temporary F.D.C. was set up, but
no firing was necessary. Heavy showers made the position a true mire out of it. Many of the trucks in
trying to get out of this position became bogged down and had to be pulled out. All credit goes to the
maintenance section of B Battery, 537th AAA for snaking out the mired vehicles. After going through
one of the worst downpours we had experienced, the remainder of the Battalion caught up with those
who had gone ahead, and ended up in Gebensdorf after dark.
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