were repeated in various sections of MAYENNE. It was a night of bedlam. The Germans continued to come into the town
only to be captured or knocked out. The platoon at the Regimental CP knocked out four vehicles and captured a number of
prisoners right in front of the CP. In the same manner, other groups on other roads piled up the score. Nothing got through.
The 1st Battalion alone captured almost one hundred prisoners and killed their proportionate share. (22)
The next morning the Division Commander visited the CP and divided the force into two sections, Task Force
Weaver and Task Force Barth. (23) One objective had been reached, many more were waiting there.
By General Orders No. 54, Headquarters, 90th Infantry Division, dated 5 September 1944, 1st Lieutenant Burrowes
G. Stevens, Jr., 0-25950, Infantry, United States Army, was cited for gallantry in action on 5 August 1944. An extract of the
citation reads as follows:
"He reduced the effectiveness of the enemy fire and charging it at a run prevented the enemy from completing the
demolition, secured the bridgehead intact enabling tanks and heavy material to cross." (24)
From a hole cut in the hedge above the MAYENNE RIVER a German machine gunner had been sitting, he could
look down on the few dozen yards of gray cobblestones which were the MAYENNE bridge. He was one of the many that had
been placed there for the purpose of defending the bridge and stopping the "Yanks". He had withstood the artillery, the
mortars, the hammering yammer of the tanks and machine guns. He had killed American soldiers, but when he was unable to
stop that first squad in it's mad dash across the bridge, he decided it was high time to pack up his gun and get out of there.
Perhaps he could visualize what would follow on the heels of that squad. A platoon, a company, a battalion, division, corps,
an army would cross on the march toward the destruction of the German Seventh Army at FALAISE.
So ended the battle for MAYENNE. The way had been opened and the Third Army was still "going like a bat out of
Hell", with only General Patton himself knowing in how many directions.
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