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Upstarts
battery size, and they were big enough to read as they passed. They were a handy
device for someone trying to find his way around; however any knowledgeable enemy
agent could get a lot of information from noting them.] We also put black electrician's
tape over the 90th Division insignia painted on our helmets. Our arrival was intended to
be a surprise party. [We did succeed in surprising the enemy. Documents from German
higher headquarters that were captured later stated that their intelligence had lost track of
the 90th Division, and that it was vital that they be informed instantly if anyone from any
of our units were identified, dead or alive.]
We arrived at the designated spot just as it started to get light. Not that daylight
made the ambience any more ordinary. There was a pearly, opalescent fog in the air,
thick enough that for several days I tried to adjust to the sight of telegraph wires starting
out bravely from a pole in the foreground and appearing to be cut off abruptly in the mist
before they could make it to the next pole.
We did get maps - too many to sort out with fingers numb from cold - and were
told where to go. It turned out we were relieving portions of another division - I think it
was the 26th "Yankee" Division - in place. Our party of zombies pulled up at the CP of
the battalion whose position we were to take, and I got a briefing from the S-3 while Jake
negotiated with their communications officer for him to leave his wire that was already
laid, so we could use it. In return, Jake was to give him a like amount of new wire, still on
reels.
The S-3 explained to me that there was no way to observe any targets, since the
fog had been in place for several days, so they had tried to figure where the enemy would
probably be, and fire there. In other words, they were firing the same kind of H & I
(harassing and interdiction) missions that we did at night, only they did it around the
clock. He emphasized the importance of our continuing to fire the same pattern, so the
enemy would not realize there had been a change. Then he gave me a complete schedule
of what they had been shooting, and ended up by putting his finger on the map and
saying, "And we fire at least one round every twenty minutes at this big intersection
where five roads come together." I looked closely, and sure enough, there was a junction
of five roads. I was to become more familiar with them later.
A quick bit of mental arithmetic showed me that he was expending some 72
rounds per day on that particular target, and that altogether they were shooting probably
500 rounds per day. Quite a lot to fire with no specific targets, but his point about
keeping it up so the enemy wouldn't notice any changes had merit, and I resolved to start
out that way and taper it off gradually until the situation changed.
The rest of the 915th arrived late in the day, emitting clouds of visible breath,
stamping and slapping hands to regain circulation. Everyone, including me, was
exhausted and snappish. Nonetheless, we got organized and ready to go, and I was about
to start sending a 24-hour schedule of fires to the batteries, when Gen Bixby arrived, an
anxious Bob Hughes close behind him.
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