•hours a day fire missions were frantically called in; the troop,
•promptly and accurately delivered the goods; sometimes laying
•"zone fire” on an entire town. During the eight days they were in
•battery at Kalterherberg E troop fired approximately 6400 rounds.
•A Corps artillery observer was loud in his praise of the speed and
•accuracy of the firing, and lauded their "time fire" as some of the
•best he had ever seen.
•
•But the praise that Easy like best to hear came from the enlisted
•men, the men that were sweating it out on the line. They
•stated that no matter what the hour or what the occasion might be
•Easy was ready and laid them right in there, thus forbidding the
•enemy troops access to the territory they were given to hold. E
•troop had accomplished its mission -- -- for eight sleepless days
•and nights they had kept faith with the men they were assigned to
•protect.
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•
•“F” Company [p 54]
•Headquarters
•C.O. Capt Schwarz
•EXO Lt Mortorff
•1st Platoon
•Lt McWilliams
•2nd Platoon
•Lt Norman
•3rd Platoon
•Lt Mortorff
•
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•
•Squadron History [p 55]
•In the initial phase of the Battle of France the Company was
•rarely all together, quite often two, or even all of the line platoons
•were in support of, or attached to, the Reconnaissance Troops.
•
•Our first mission was in support of C Troop, and the first few
•days offered a fair example of the whole French Campaign: Riding
•down the little dusty, crooked roads, small arms fire, deploy,
•tanks up front, etc., etc. . . .
•
•
•How well, the First Platoon remembers that 70 mile overnight
•run, at the end of which they saw their first Buzz-bomb, near
•Famares.
•
•Out of gas and forced to sit idly by and watch a long German
•horsedrawn column pass under their noses without firing on
•then. There was bitterness felt among the men for the inability to
•attack the enemy column. Later the people of the town held a
•dance for them in the wheat stubble. Too frequently, after our
•troops would leave a town, the "Krauts" would return to massacre
•the French civilians.
•
•In Hofen, Germany, many sleepless nights were spent in tanks
•and fox-holes while screening the Division, with plenty of incoming
•artillery, and enemy infantry and bazooka teams infiltrating
•within our lines.
•
•No one will ever forget the stand which the Squadron made at
•Untermaubuch, Germany. Though not actually on the line, we
•made an outstanding contribution to these cause by hauling
•ammunition, supplies, logs, evacuating casualties, and other
•Necessary items, all under artillery fire.
•-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------