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Elements of the 11th Armored Division relieved us during the afternoon of the 4th. Following
relief the Battalion shuttled to WILWERDANGE where troops bedded down for the night. Next
afternoon the Battalion moved out to an assembly area in BLEIALF relieving elements of the 4th
Division. The night was extremely dark, it rained most of the time and the convoy got on the wrong
road for a while. Consequently by the time the last troops had reached BLEIAF it was almost 0500 and
everyone was cold, wet, and hungry. En route we passed through ST VITH – or rather, what was once
ST VITH. The entire area where the town once stood was leveled – mute tribute to our powerful Air
Corps. Shortly after we had closed in BLEIALF, Regiment ordered us to move up one company to
protect the Regimental right flank. Company I was alerted and moved up at 1400 to a position due north
of BRANDSCHEID. That night Company K moved up on the right and Company L moved to a reserve
position behind them.
From this position the Battalion jumped off about an hour before dawn on the 7th and promptly
[ran] into an extensive enemy mine field. It was at this point that the Company K commander, Lt. Boese
was mortally wounded. In addition to mines the assault had to go through rocket, artillery and mortar
fire. By afternoon the Battalion had cleared Helmert Woods and was relieved by Task Force Grubbs.
The Battalion then re-disposed for an attack on Hill 519, a fortified position which was holding up 2nd
Battalion’s advance. Following re-grouping on the 8th the Battalion secured the hill and then turned
south again towards the Prum river. The advance was slow and painful with the enemy employing
everything from tank fire to small arms. By dark of the 10th, both I and K had reached positions
overlooking the Prum river and the town of WATZERRATH. This town was assaulted by Company I
on the 11th against amazingly light resistance. Lt. Rugh, seeing that part of the town was on the far side
of the river, just continued on and consequently established the first 90th Division bridgehead over the
Prum. The 12th Infantry, 4th Division relieved us during the evening and we pulled back to pillboxes in
the vicinity of BRANDSHEID. From here the Battalion relieved the 3rd of 357 from their positions
south of HAPSCHEID and set up a defensive position. The troops remained in this position until the
15th when 2nd Battalion relieved us and the companies went into pillboxes and houses around
HAPSCHEID. The next two days were spent cleaning up, seeing movies and eating hot chow.
Then on the 18th of February the Battalion moved out with the town of MASTHORN as the
objective. This was secured by early morning of the 19th against enemy resistance that consisted mainly
of artillery and rocket fire. It was in this action that Captain Bryan took command of the Battalion as Lt.
Col. Spivey had pneumonia and had to be evacuated. Company G, 358 Infantry relieved us at dusk and
the Battalion returned to its former billets in HAPSCHEID.
Following an order received at 1245 February 21 the Battalion moved out at 1400 with the
mission of taking two towns 10 kilometers away before dark. By shuttling troops on organic
transportation all companies were able to arrive at an LD position by 1800. Company I then secured
HICKSHAUSEN by 1900, Company L, now under Capt. C. A. Burnett, had occupied HALENBACH
by 2000. This was done with 82 prisoners and two pillboxes being added to the Battalion’s score. From
here the Battalion really took off and moved to the Prum river which it reached on the morning of the
24th. During this 72 hour period the Companies cleared a total of eleven towns including ARZFELD,
KRAUTSCHEID and MAUEL, took over 400 prisoners, destroyed or captured three self propelled 88's,
one tank, one 150 mm howitzer complete with prime mover, two 105 mm howitzers complete with
horses, one ford staff car and a considerable number of trucks, motorcycles and wagons. Frequently the
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