marked by numerous moves we finally settled down in Tucquiegnieux at 2150. We had excellent
positions here – some observers at the gun pits could see for miles in each direction.
On the 8th of September, a German column which was trying to cut back to its own lines
proceeded down our route of supply and was finally met and destroyed in Mairy, a scant 500 yards from
our northernmost gun positions. It was quite a show, and not one German escaped death or capture. B-4,
which was situated on a hill engaged some enemy infantry sighted in clumps of bushes some 1500 yds.
away. Actual results are unknown, but 2 prisoners captured the next day stated that four wounded were
taken out of the area during the night.
We left those positions on September 9th, and proceeded a short distance to Trieux, where we
again set up. This town was the scene of heavy artillery barrages by our outfit, and they exacted a heavy
toll of the enemy. We captured another prisoner here. We moved the following day to a position just
south of Fontoy. Our artillery unit was still shelling the Germans.
The next day we moved through Fontoy, which drew close attention, as we noticed that signs
over stores and names of streets were beginning to show a prevalence of German. The people all spoke
it, and we all realized that we were drawing closer to Germany. We set up on a plateau overlooking
Fontoy, later in the day. The next day we moved to the vicinity of Volkrange, the scene of a battle the
night before.
On Sept. 13th we moved to the vicinity of Veymerange, a town just short of Thionville, which is
on the Moselle River. Our infantry occupied the town and we were set up in holding positions pending
orders from higher headquarters. We were subjected to enemy shelling – especially B2 and B3. We
turned in many shel-reps, (shelling reports) and the FA fired quite a bit of counter-battery fire. We grew
to realize why they call it “Sunny France” in these positions. It rained intermittently for over a week and
most of our positions became quagmires. We stayed in the area for two weeks, and even though the
weather was exceedingly poor for it, we did quite a bit of maintenance work.
Section 2’s truck was hit by shrapnel for the second time within a week, but was not put out of
action. We had two men transferred. Pfc. McKersie and Pvt. Laviolette to “D” Battery, and we acquired
four men, Pvts. Pettite, Collins, Conley, and Colburn. Lt. Snow received his promotion to 1st. Lt. on 22
Sept. and Pfc. Kerns received the Purple Heart Medal for wounds received in the explosion of B-1’s
truck on August 28th. We were fortunate enough to have motion pictures in the vicinity and we all had
the opportunity to see them.
On the 27th Sept. we moved from Veymerange, and it was welcomed by all. We arrived at
Vionville where we set up. Our position was about seven miles west of Metz, the German fortress our
division was preparing to take.
We were told that we might remain in these positions for several weeks, so we went to work to
make them as safe and comfortable as possible. The weather was turning colder and we received an
issue of extra blankets and overcoats.
On 4th Oct. 1944 the Battery C. P. was shelled with no resulting casualties or damages to
material. During our stay in the vicinity of Vionville we displaced once, moving 1500 yards nearer the
target area. On Oct. 12th we went into action to drive off an ME 109, the first Jerry we had seen in
several weeks. On Oct. 22nd the battery saw their first robot bomb (V-1) at close range. It flew over our
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