Chapter III
Overseas
There the Battalion had the most hectic four days it had ever experienced. The personnel were examined and re-examined, inspected and re-inspected, and all equipment other than Government Issue was disposed of. Finally on 8 February 1944, the weary but "shaken down" members of the Battalion boarded a train and went to the New Jersey shore of the Hudson River.
While crossing the river in an old Pensylvania Railroad ferry to Pier 14 in Manhatten, a glimpse of the lower Hudson and of the skyline of New York City was caught. The ferry bumped softly against the end of the pier and the men, loaded with all their equipment, scrambled up and into the long dark shed. While standing in line, an old Army custom, waiting to be checked aboard, the unit met for the first time Red Cross girls serving coffee and doughnuts.
Destination Unknown
The crossing was relatively uneventful and quite smooth. Some of the men and officers were seasick, but after the first few days everyone settled down for the voyage. Aboard ship blackout was SOP. The food was apparently the standard British sea ration, and was prepared by ship's cooks, but it left much to be desired by the American palate.
Traveling in convoy, particularly along the erratic course of the northern wartime shipping lanes, required a much longer time than one would expect. After fifteen days of life on a ship, the approximately 6,000 troops on board were happy to debark when, at last, the Athlone Castle moved up the Mersey and was warped into the dock at Liverpool. At 1515 on the 25th of February, the gangplank was lowered, and the 81st Tank Battalion led the troops off the ship, along the dock to the railway station and, after again being served coffee and doughnuts by the Red Cross girls, entrained and traveled through the night to Ogborne St. Geoge.
Billets in England
After a good night's sleep on beds instead of ship's hammocks, it was much easier to set about organizing the new station. Ogborne St. George was a British installation, a sub-camp of Cheseldon Camp, and was located a few miles east of Swindon in Wiltshire. The buildings were primarily of brick and concrete construction, but several older buildings of wood frame construction had to be utilized to house everyone. There was a small theatre at the camp and Captain McPherson was able to arrange for nightly showings of the latest American movies.
February in the interior of England is not a lovely month and the unusually damp cold air caused many running noses. It was only a few days before the entire Battalion developed a case of the "ETO sniffles." The area itself was rather like a combination of American camps and the country was quite favorable for the use of tanks. The small villages throughout the area were promptly characterized as quaint but the city of Swindon was similar to any small city.
The principal task now was to draw vehicles and make them combat serviceable. The tanks, half-tracks, peeps, and trucks were issued early in March, and preparations made for their use. Through the remainder of March and the first half of April, a training program was instituted to maintain the high state of training, particularly the physical strengthening of the men's bodies, after several weeks of inactivity. New maps of the surrounding countryside were issued and the British system of map coordinates had to be learned. This proved to be a very simple and efficient system.
Preparing for the Invasion
Each company loaded what impediments it needed for housekeeping, along with some of its personnel, on trucks borrowed from Service Company and the movement started. As the trucks were unable to carry all of the personel, the remaining men rode a train to Truro, with the exception of a small detachment left at the camp. By the 16th of April CWO Isadore Napoliello and a few maintenance men from each company were the only members of the Battalion left at the Ogborne camp. They still had a very big job ahead of them to get the vehicles completely checked and serviceable.
In Cornwall it was to be the mission of the entire division, and many other troops, to set up small well camouflaged and dispersed camps to house the invasion troops just prior to their loading on vessels to cross the English Channel. Although it was a little warmer along the Cornish coast, the weather was still chilly. Pyramidal tents had been set up before the arrival of the tankers, but they had to be repitched. The tents were pitched along hedgerows, stone fences, and tree rows. Pierced planks had to be laid so that paths would not be worn in the fields to give evidence of occupancy. Slit trenches were dug for use in case of enemy air attacks. The earth that was removed had to be painted to match the rest of the scenery.
Colonel Anderson was placed in command of two "sausages" - a series of fourteen camps each, built along two main roads. Major McNamara commanded "C" sausage and Major Lord commanded "F". Each camp was built to accomodate about 200 transient troops in addition to the static personnel. Each company operated five of the camps, except "D" and Service companies. They each had four, as they had less men than the other companies. Food was prepared at each camp for the personnel within the camp. The tankers soon became very good cooks, as well as general housekeepers.
The days became warmer, so that life in the open became very pleasant. The housekeeping duties were fairly light with the camps empty. In the evenings passes were available to Truro and Redruth. The people of Chacewater opened their small clubroom so that the soldiers off duty in the evenings might have a place to go and get a "snack".
D-Day Arrives
When the radio announced 6 June 1944 as D-Day, the sausages were empty again, as they had been when the Battalion arrived. Within less than a week the camps were closed down and the Battalion, with a feeling of regret, moved overland by motor convoy to Tilshead in Wiltshire. By leaving Cornwall at 0400 on the 12th of June, the trip of 175 miles was made in one day. At 1550 the Battalion arrived at the West Downs camp at Tilshead. The few buildings that were available to the division were used by Division service troops, so that the artillery, infantry and tank battalions bivouaced in their shelter-halves in the field. A constant wind blew across the Salisbury Plains, where the Battalion camped, and at times it was most uncomfortable.
The maintenance detachment that had remained at Ogbourne St. George packed up their equipment and rejoined the Battalion. Several large tents were erected for the use of the Battalion maintenance platoon and the modifications on the vehicles continued. Every vehicle had extra racks for gasoline and water cans that had to be welded on, peeps needed machine gun mounts fastened, the tanks had to have their fenders removed, ration boxes were fastened on the half-tracks, radios were installed, tuned and tested. The equipment that had been waterproofed and packeaged had to be cleaned and properly stowed, and many other details attended to.
Ready for Combat
Through a system of rotation of battalions at the ranges, the 81st Battalion did not clear the Minehead area until 3 July. Back at the Tilshead camp, practice for combat continued. The men knew that they would be headed for France soon and were eager to be on their way. The Secretary of War, Mr. Henry D. Stimson, visited and addressed the Division on the evening of the 13th, and the knowledge that the Division would soon be on its way was confirmed.
Unit identification code words for use over the telephone and unit road signs were assigned. The 81st Tank Battalion was to be known as Voo Doo. This code word was used for the remainder of the stay in Europe, except on official documents and mail. The 15th A.I.B. was known as Von, C.C.B. as Votive and Division as Volvano.
General Oliver desired that his division should be composed of three fairly identical Combat Commands, and that each Combat Command be a complete self contained fighting force, each with its own artillery, infantry, tanks, and service personnel. The General also instituted a tactic called "married formation". In this formation the tanks and infantry would be integrated into a task force with a tanks crew and an infantry squad fighting side by side, each performing the function for which he had been trained.
A tactical exercise was planned, to be studied and then to be practiced in the field at the end of the month. Before the exercise could be held, however, the Division recieved its orders to proceed to the Dorchester Marshalling Area, and prepare for overseas shipment.
Embarkation
Loading proceeded very slowly and most of the afternoon was spent waiting in the assembly yards. As evening drew near, however, the vehicles were loading and by 1700 the Battalion was completely loaded on its ships. That night, the 24th of July, the voyage to the Continent started. The following day was spent on the decks of the ships, with no sight of land, until 2130 when the ships were 3 miles off Utah Beach, France. Landing operations were held of till daylight.
Chapter IV
Invasion
Peeps, trucks, half-tracks and tanks poured out of the ships, moved across the beaches littered with boats, vehicles, equipment and supplies, and onto the narrow, winding country roads of Normandy, France. Through this war-torn, battle scared area the Battalion drove; through St. Mere-Eglise, northwest on route N-13 through the destroyed towns of Montebourge and Valognes, southwest on route D-2 through the ruins of St. Saveur-le-Vicomte and bicouaced in the little hedge-bound fields just a few kilometers to the west of the village.
Scenes of Recent Fighting
From observations of other units which had been committed in combat, it was estimatd that the Battalion would see action against the enemy within the next four to six days. Therefore these few days were to be spent with the maximum emphasis on the final stages of training and preparation for combat. the tank-infantry teams that had been so hastily organized in England devoted considerable time to developing and practicing tactics to be used in routing the enemy from this hedgerow country.
The tanks were to lead the attack, with very close infantry support, spraying the hedges with machine gun fire and firing their tank cannons into the fence corners and other likely anti-tank or mortar positions. The infantry was then to move in and mop up the area, while the tanks secured the front and exposed flanks. It was believed that, using this plan of attack, the enemy would be either killed or forced to withdraw, with the least possible loss of friendly troops.
The Hedgerows of Normandy
A reconnaissance of the country revealed that nearly all of the fiels were surrounded with these hedges, which served the purposes of fences and were solid enough in most cases to stop a tank. In order to overcome these obstacles, hedgerow cutters, which the Ordnance fastened from German beach barricades, were fastened to the front of one tank of each platoon. The cutters were constructed to resemble large saw-teeth and proved to serve their purpose very well.
At this time very bitter fighting was in progress in the St. Lo area but, with the aid of large fleets of Allied bombers and fighter plaanes, the American troops were gradually forcing the collapse of the enemy defenses in this sector. The strategy called for an expoiting mission, led by armor, as soon as a break-through could be accomplished. The Third United States Army commanded by "Blood and Guts" Patton, which had until this time not become operational, was given the mission. Now that the Fifth Armored Division was on the European Continent, assigned to the Third Army and was ready and eager for a combat mission, it bacame the logical choice to do this exploiting job.
The Division was alerted on 1 August for movement on short notice, duffle bags and other unnecessary equipment and impediments were collected and stored under canvas in a field and guarded by members of the Division Band. Ten-in-one rations were issued for the first time and the company kitchens became non-operational. Fuel and ammunition trucks were double loaded, extra ammunition was stowed in the tanks, surplus personnel of the tank companies were put in a pool in Service Company and the Battalion was declared ready to take off on any mission that might be assigned.
Starting the Long March
The Allied forces had advanced so rapidly in the past few days that many German soldiers had not been captured, so the companies sent out patrols and soon began to bring in prisoners. The first German soldier to be taken prisoner by this Battalion came from the 177th Grenadier Regiment of the 91st Infantry Division. Other prisoners were taken from the 5th Parachute Division and the 243rd Infantry Division.
During the afternoon and evening of 5 August a section of the I & R Platoon of Headquarters Company was sent out to locate Service Company and guide it to the Battalion area. Late in the afternoon the section was ambushed by a small German outpost. Sergeant Schwartz, behind the machine gun on Lieutenant J.C. Bearden's peep, immediately opened fire and killed seven of the eight German soldiers. This was the first action on the part of the Battalion and one of the first of the Division. The recon section was then able to withdraw without suffering any casualties. Meanwhile, Service Company reached the bivouac area unaided.
That night the Luftwaffe bombed American positions several miles to the north of the Battalion area. It was a thrilling sight to watch the hostile planes drop their flares and see the long streams of tracer bullets fired at the planes, and then hear the sound of the bombs exploding as they hit the ground. A low flying plane strafed the road through the Battalion area and one round hit Corporal John K. Nunn of "C" Company, injuring him so that he had to be evacuated to the hospital. He was the first casualty of the Battalion.
Combat Commands
In order to make this Combat Command a more effective fighting force it was divided into two separate Task Forces, one under the command of the Tank Battalion Commander and the other under the command of the Infantry Battalion Commander. The Infantry Battalion gave two rifle companies to the Tank Battalion and the Tank Battalion gave one medium tank company to the Infantry Battalion. The components of each of the Task Forces, as they were to function throughout the combat operations, are shown in table form below.
Task Force Anderson Task Force Wintermute (Named for its C.O.) (Named for its C.O.) Hq. and Hq. Co., 81st Tank Bn. Hq. and Hq. Co., 15th A.I.Bn. "B" Co. 81st Tank Bn.} "A" Co. 81st Tank Bn.} "B" Co. 15th A.I.Bn. } "A" Co. 15th A.I. Bn.} married married "C" Co. 81st Tank Bn.} Service Co. 15th A.I.B. "C" Co. 15th A.I.Bn. } married Service Co. 81st Tank Bn."D" Company was retained under the direct control of Comat Command "B". The 105mm howitzer tanks were taken from the tank companies and attaached to the assault gun platoon in Headquarters Company to form a six-gun firing battery.
As can be seen from this table, TFA was about double the strength of TFW.
An infantry company and a tank company working in close support of each other were called "married companies". In this Combat Command it was the rule to have married formations whenever action was in the offing. Each tank had one squad, or a part of a squad, of infantry with it. Sometimes the infantrymen actually rode on the tanks, but more frequently traveled in their own half-tracks, a half-track following each tank. The infantry quite frequently had to dismount in order to clean out small pockets of enemy infantry and bazooka men that might have caused a serious problem to the tankers. The tankers and doughboys lived and worked together so that the smoothest of operating teams might be developed. This combination had been conceived by General Oliver but due to the short training time available in the United Kingdom was not properly tested in the field prior to combat operation.
On the Road to LeMans
"A" Company left its assembly area on 6 August with the initial mission of blocking the roads southwest of Laval, and TFA, with "B" Company leading, proceeded toward the same town with the mission of blocking the roads to the southeast. Both task forces were to move abreast on parallel routes, TFA on the left flank and TFW on the right flank, The road was such that both forces were required to use the same road on several occassions.
"A" Company, while driving through the town of Cosse-le-Vivian, received its first hostile fire. The platoon was leading, and halted the column. Lieutenant Robert Lant sent the second section of his platoon into the town, with the married infantry going in on foot. With the second section inside the town, the sounds of small arms fire could still be heard, so Lieutenant Lant brought in the remainder of the platoon. Since this was the first engagement for the platoon a great deal of ammunition was fired. At the beginning of the fight Pfc. Leroy Titsworth shot and killed the first of many German soldiers to be killed by "A" company.
The fight was soon over, with the German soldiers being either killed or forced into hiding. It was not possible to mop up the remnants of the enemy force, as the mission of cutting off Laval was not yet completed, but the remaining Germans were left disorganized and could easily be picked up by troops coming up behind. During the action the remainder of the Company by-passed the town and continued toward the east. The first platoon soon caught up with the Company, and when darkness fell the Task Force bivouaced for the night at Villers Charlemagne.
TFA advanced through the day without meeting any hostile troops, until late in the afternoon. Just as Lieutenant Leonard Keene, who was at the point for "B" Company approached a bridge across the Mayenne River, south of Laval, he saw two German cars driving along the road just ahead of him. His tank immediately opened fire and knocked out the cars. Close examination a litlle later showed that the vehicles were loaded with demolition to be used in blowing up the bridge that had just been crossed.
In a short time a group of French civilians gathered and were given the rifles, food and clothing that were found in the German cars. This soon became accepted policy in France. Most of the civilians were only too glad to join the FFI in hunting down scttered German soldiers and turning them over to the liberating forces. Then, too, they hadn't had any new shoes or clothing for several years, and were happy to get the Wehrmacht equipment.
When dusk came TFA bivouaced at an airport near Meslay-du-Maine. The third platoon of "B" Company spotted an enemy armored tank reconnaissance car at the crossroads on N-159 and N-23, and immediately took it under fire and destroyed it. While the Company road-blocks were still being put in place, a small enemy force tried to run through the positions going southeast from Laval.
Sergeant Krafka saw the force coming and got ready to shoot. He waited until he could clearly see the enemy vehicles by the light of the burning recon car, and the he ordered his gunner to open fire. Sergeant Minturn opened fire, too, and notified the rest of the Company that the hostile force was trying to get through. 1st Sergeant Wenberg organized the dismounted men and rounded up the German soldiers as they fled from their destroyed and burning vehicles.
One tank managed to slip by this platoon of Lieutenant John Jonasch's and ran down the road. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Robert McNab's first platoon further down the road was shooting up a motorcycle and a Volkswagen, which came from the opposite direction, when the German tank approached. The platoon took care of the fleeing tank, along with the motorcycle and Volkswagen.
When the shooting ended and the road-blocks reorganized, the Company commander, Captain Weldon W. Wilson, saw that none of his men had been hurt and that none of the Company's equipment had been lost. It was a different story for the Germans, though. They lost four Mark IV tanks, two Volkswagens, one motorcycle, had eleven men captured and more than twenty killed.
"D" Company also was kept busy during the day. A platoon of light tanks was attached to each task force, and the remaining platoon provided train defense for all of the CCB trains. The light tanks were used principally for "bird-dogging" down side roads that might be used as an enemy approach lane. Lieutenant Jacob Werner's third platoon had its first fight in Poille, while operating with TFW. The first tank went all of the way through the town without a shot being fired, but when the rest of the task force came up to the town the Germans cut loose. It was a fast battle and soon over. The tankers fired at all likely hostile positions in the town and, with their armored protection, easily dealt with the situation. At the end of the action Captain Kraft, who commanded the infantry in TFW, credited Sergeant Mario Rotti and his tank crew with killing twenty-seven Germans and blowing up a German ammunition truck.
The next morning, 7 August, found the tanks on the move again. It was another clear, warm day, after a starless night. The two task forces converged at Meslay-du-Maine and then "A" Company led the way southeast to Sable. There this mighty spearhead turned to the east and pushed on toward LeMans.
Welcome to "Liberators"
At the small town of Maigne a force of German fanatics armed with rifles and machine guns fired at the column from the doorways and windows of the buildings. The town was deserted by the civilians, most of whom were out in the fields or hidden in their cellars. Orders were radioed from colonel Cole to Captain William A. Boyson in the Battalion Command half-track to have the Battalion push on, assuming all reasonable losses. Lieutenant Colonel Anderson then gave his company commanders the order to run through the town with all guns firing.
Capt. Donal Hearl ordered his "A" Company tanks forward. As the column wound its way through the town the Germans started sniping, so the tanks, with their cannons and machine guns, and the half-tracks, with their machine guns and rifles, returned a very heavy volume of fire. In a few minutes the town was blazing furiously.
"A" Company passed through the town without loss and the remainder of the Battalion probed its way through the mounting debris, still firing into all likely hiding places. When an enemy machine gun was spotted in a church steeple, "C" Company's gunners immediately blew the steeple apart. At dusk, when Service Company entered the town, only smouldering ruins remained to indicate another French town touched by the finger of war. The task forces of CCB had completely destroyed it.
During the fight Private Al Sherbing, who kept a watchful eye on the radios in the Battalion Headquarters was wounded. The medical peep, while evacuating Sherbing, was hit by sniper fire and the driver killed, the first death of the Battalion. Although the peep displayed a large Red Cross flag, the sniper kept firing. Sherbing was hit again and died shortly thereafter.
Later in the night Lieutenant Benjamin Potts from "D" Company drove through Maigne in a peep. As he turned a corner in the town a German soldier fired at him from the doorway of a burned out house. Immediately another shot rang out across the street. The sniper's quick shot missed Lieutenant Potts, but the FFI soldier, who had fired from across the street, didn't miss the German. France's underground movement still maintained a careful watch. General Eisenhower in an announcement shortly before D Day had ordered the FFI to wear Tricolor brassards on the left arm and declared that the FFI was a military organization under his command. Many times in the drive across France the speed was maintained through the patriotic efforts of the FFI.
A short refueling stop was made two miles west of Noyen at 0300. Fuel trucks from Service Company made the rounds of all of the combat vehicles, dropping off the neccessary number of five-gallon gasoline cans. Vehicles were quickly refueled and checked. The empty cans were picked up by Service Company and at 0600 the march continued. On this day, the 8th of August, "C" Company took the lead, pushing on through La Suze and Arnage.
At Arnage CCA crossed in front of the column from CCB's right flank to the left flank, in order to cut off the approaches to Le Mans from the west and north. For three hours CCA went by. When the road was clear again, Lieutenant Colonel Anderson left his C.P. at Arnage and ordered "C" Company into Le Mans, while "B" company blocked the roads to the southeast. "A" Company, which had followed TFA, passed through "B" and "C" Companies and established roadblocks east of the city on highway N-157. At 1800 Lieutenant Howard Miller led his platoon of "C" Company tankers up N-23 into the city.
At the Gnome-Rhone aircraft factory and airfield located at the southern edge of this important rail termanal city, a few Germans tried to hold off the column, but Lieutenant Paul Dreisbach's mortar men knew how to deal with them. Huge bomb craters provided covered firing positions for the enemy. Infantry would not have a chance if it tried to dig out the Germans, and the big craters made it too difficult to try to use the tanks. This was the time to use the mortars from Headquarters Company. A heavy barrage was laid down using a mixture of WP and Heavy HE ammo. When the Germans tried to run the tankers machine gunned them and the infantry picked them off with their rifles.
Thirty minutes after the fight started the column was on the move again. By 2000 the city had been liberated. The 79th Infantry Division mopped up the city, but the southern suburbs yielded about 200 PW's to "C" Company. By midnight Service Company had evacuated the prisoners to the rear. All of the roadblocks were well established. At noon the following day, after a quiet but very dark night, the task forces assembled east of the city and prepared to continue the drive to Paris.
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