Super-gasoline readied for new giant bombers
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The Pittsburgh Press (August 14, 1944)
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
On the Western Front, France – (by wireless)
The afternoon was tense, and full of caution and dire little might-have-beens.
I was wandering up a dirt lane where the infantrymen were squatting alongside in a ditch, waiting their turn to advance. They always squat like that when they’re close to the front.
Suddenly German shells started banging around us. I jumped into a ditch between a couple of soldiers and squatted. Shells were clipping the hedge tops right over our heads and crashing into the next pasture.
Then suddenly one exploded, not with a crash, but with a ring as though you’d struck a high-toned bell. The debris of burned wadding and dirt came showering down over us. My head rang, and my right ear couldn’t hear anything.
The shell had struck behind us, 20 feet away. We had been saved by the earthen bank of the hedgerow. It was the next day before my ear returned to normal.
A minute later a soldier crouching next in line, a couple of feet away, turned to me and asked, “Are you a war correspondent?”
I said I was, and he said, “I want to shake your hand.” And he reached around the bush and we shook hands.
That’s all either of us said. It didn’t occur to me until later that it was a sort of unusual experience. And I was so addled by the close explosions that I forgot to put down his name.
A blessed five minutes
A few minutes later a friend of mine, Lt. Col. Oma Bates of Gloster, Mississippi, came past and said he was hunting our new battalion command post. It was supposed to be in a farmhouse about a hundred yards from us, so I got up and went with him.
We couldn’t find it at first. We lost about five minutes, walking around in orchards looking for it. That was a blessed five minutes. For when we got within 50 yards of the house it got a direct shell hit which killed one officer and wounded several men.
The Germans now rained shells around our little area. You couldn’t walk 10 feet without hitting the ground. They came past our heads so quickly you didn’t take time to fall forward – I found the quickest way down was to flop back and sideways.
In a little while the seat of my pants was plastered thick with wet red clay, and my hands were scratched from hitting rocks and briars to break quick falls.
Nobody ever fastens the chinstrap on his helmet in the frontlines, for the blasts from nearby bursts have been known to catch helmets and break people’s necks. Consequently, when you squat quickly you descend faster than your helmet and you leave it in mid-air above you. Of course, in a fraction of a second it follows you down and hits you on the head, and settles sideways over your ear and down over your eyes. It makes you feel silly.
Once more shells drove me into a roadside ditch. I squatted there, just a bewildered guy in brown, part of a thin line of other bewildered guys as far up and down the ditch as you could see.
It was really frightening. Our own shells were whanging overhead and hitting just beyond. The German shells tore through the orchards around us. There was machine-gunning all around, and bullets zipped through the trees above us.
I could tell by their shoulder patches that the soldiers near me were from a division to our right, and I wondered what they were doing there. Then I heard one of them say:
This is a fine foul-up for you! I knew that lieutenant was getting lost. Hell, we’re service troops, and here we are right in the front lines.
Grim as the moment was, I had to laugh to myself at their pitiful plight.
I left a command post in a farmhouse and started to another about 10 minutes away. When I got there, they said the one I had just left had been hit while I was on the way.
A solid armor-piercing shell had gone right through a window and a man I knew had his leg cut off. That evening the other officers took a big steel slug over to the hospital so he would have a souvenir.
Depends on your number
When I got to another battalion command post, later in the day, they were just ready to move. A sergeant had been forward about half a mile in a jeep and picked out a farmhouse. He said it was the cleanest, nicest one he had been in for a long time.
So, we piled into several jeeps and drove up there. It had been only 20 minutes since the sergeant had left. But when we got to the new house, it wasn’t there.
A shell had hit it. in the last 20 minutes and set it afire, and it had burned to the ground. So we drove up the road a little farther and picked out another one. We had been there about half an hour when a shell struck in an orchard 50 yards in front of us.
In a few minutes our litter bearers came past, carrying a captain. He was the surgeon of our adjoining battalion, and he had been looking in the orchard for a likely place to move his first-aid station. A shell hit right beside him.
That’s the way war is on an afternoon that is tense and full of might-have-beens for some of us, and awful realities for others.
It just depends on what your number is. I don’t believe in that number business at all, but in war you sort of let your belief hover around it, for it’s about all you have left.
Pegler: The Carey letter
By Westbrook Pegler
New York –
The national propaganda bureau of the CIO has sent out for circulation among the American fighters a copy of a long letter, written by James B. Carey, the Secretary-Treasurer of CIO, to his brother Joe, a member of the Navy’s Seabees, serving in the South Pacific.
This is a propaganda letter attempting to defend the war record of the union movement, although that record includes more than ten thousand strikes and, at present, is responsible for a shortage of big tires for artillery, bombers and heavy vehicles in the invasion of France.
It contains a great plug for Mr. Carey, himself, who is highly ambitious and often advertises his personal chastity and family felicity, as though the nation owed him a medal for that. And it gets in a fine tribute to Mrs. R. as “that great and gracious lady” by the tortuous process of associating her name with a loathsome rumor concerning the Marines of Guadalcanal and then exonerating her in tone of indignant chivalry.
No such rumor had appreciable circulation at home but the CIO proceeds to circulate it all over the Armed Forces of the United States for the sole purpose of building up an opportunity to deny that the “great and gracious lady” ever said any such thing. I receive just about all the propaganda there is going these days and I never read this one until I saw it in Carey’s letter.
Knowing their ways, my guess is that the Communists themselves invented the dirty slander, then attributed it to Mrs. R. and then followed through with this fine, vehement passage of Carey’s intended to persuade the Marines that someone is an anti-Roosevelt circulated a hideous lie about the Marines, just to make them sore at the “great and gracious lady.”
My idea here is to cause counterpropaganda to be sent out to the troops everywhere that Carey’s letter and other mimeographs of the same kind can do. If Carey’s letter goes up on a bulletin board or from hand to hand, its antidote can reach the same readers and let them know the facts which Carey concealed. Even without such a propaganda organization as the CIO maintains, the millions of individuals who read the newspapers could get the truth to the troops by sending them clippings, such as this.
The soldier who has been away two or three years, may not detect the tricks in Carey’s statement to his brother Joe, whom he does not hesitate to use for a stooge in the promotion of his own political ambitions, safe here at home.
For example, Carey writes Joe a lot of really splendid statistics about our war work production and then says, “85 percent of the equipment was produced by workers covered by collective bargaining contracts with unions.”
The trick here ill that the unions deserved no credit for that production. It was produced by American working men and women, millions of whom were forced to join the unions against their will.
So the weapons which they would have produced were not made. The truth is that the unions actually have decreased production which would have been much greater but for their slowdown rules. Some unions have limits on each person’s daily production so low that they finish their work an hour or 90 minutes before quitting time and loaf until the bell rings.
For every copy of Carey’s letter and of other writs like it, the troops deserve an opportunity to read that the unions are Roosevelt’s political auxiliaries and that all these restrictions are imposed with his consent and by his aid. In return, the unions are collecting thousands of millions of dollars subject to no accounting and are spending as much as they care to for his fourth term.
Mr. Carey tells his brother, Joe, that sinister characters are trying to create among the troops a bitterness against labor at home. This is another familiar trick and the troops might fall for it, if it is not explained that all professional unioneers falsely use “labor” as a synonym for unions.
There certainly is great bitterness against unions among the troops, and on the home front as well, but no bitterness against labor. On the contrary, labor, itself, is growing bitter against the unions. That is why Carey and the CIO are trying to take the heat off by sending out such propaganda. They are afraid of what the troops and labor will do to the union fakers after the war.
Völkischer Beobachter (August 15, 1944)
Nördlich von Alençon –
Zangenangriff und Widerstand
vb. Berlin, 14. August –
Das Augenmerk des Beobachters richtet sich bereits seit Tagen auf die nordamerikanischen Panzerdivisionen, die auf der Fahrt nach Osten in der Gegend von Le Mans nach Norden gedreht sind. Die Gründe für die plötzliche Unterbrechung des nach Osten gegen die mittlere Seines gerichteten Druckes waren ganz deutlich. Der General Bradley mußte sich auf die Dauer beunruhigt fühlen dadurch, daß das „Durchfahrtstor“ östlich von Avranches, durch das aller Nachschub für seine Armee geht, sich nicht nur nicht verbreiterte, sondern sogar verengte. Indem er sich nun von Le Mans aus nach Norden wandte, hoffte er, die unbequeme und undurchsichtige Lage bei Avranches beseitigen zu können. Er hoffte aber noch mehr: die deutschen Truppen, die östlich Avranches standen, tief in die Flanke oder vielleicht sogar in den Rücken zu treffen. Von südlich Caen aus sollten ihm Engländer und Kanadier entgegenkommen. Zwei Arme einer Zange sollten sich um die deutschen Divisionen in der westlichen Normandie legen.
Die ursprüngliche Angriffsrichtung über Le Mans hinaus nach Osten macht sichtbar, daß dem General Eisenhower zunächst eine noch weiter greifende Bewegung der amerikanischen Panzertruppen vorgeschwebt hat. Augenscheinlich sollten die Verbände des Generals Bradley bis zur Seine vorstoßen und dann den Fluss entlang bis in den Rücken von Le Havre gehen, während die Deutschen noch weiter westlich standen. Die Gegner haben sehr schnell auf eine solch weitausgreifende Operation verzichten müssen. Sie hätte aus der Tiefe genährt werden müssen, aber dazu war doch zu schwach, was den vordringenden Panzerspitzen nachkam. Die bretonischen Häfen gerieten nicht in die Hand der Amerikaner, und die enge Schleuse bei Avranches ließ immer nur eine beschränkte Menge von Truppen oder Material nach Süden durch. Ein großer Teil des Nachschubs mußte durch die Luft vor sich gehen, und man weiß, wie schwierig und wie zeitraubend ein solcher Weg ist. Schließlich auch muß die Lage bei Avranches dem General Eisenhower als so drängend erschienen sein, daß er das Ablaufen einer weitausholenden Bewegung im Süden nicht mehr erwarten konnte. Er wählte also den kürzeren und engeren Weg, den mit dem Ziel der taktischen, nicht der operativen Umfassung.
Doch auch auf diesem Wege ist der General Bradley auf heftigen Widerstand gestoßen. Bei Alençon sind ihm deutsche Kräfte entgegengetreten, die ihn aufgehalten und zu erbitterten Kämpfen genötigt haben. Soweit hatte sich die Lage entwickelt, wie sie der Wehrmachtbericht vom Montag schildert. Inzwischen hat die deutsche Führung durch den entschlossenen Widerstand der Verbände bei Alençon Zeit gewonnen, Dispositionen für die Lage zwischen Vire und Avranches zu treffen. Darüber wird man in den nächsten Tagen zweifellos noch Genaueres hören. Schon jetzt aber läßt sich sagen, daß die Zangenbewegung des Gegners ihr Ziel nicht erreicht hat, und zwar vor allem wegen der hartnäckigen Abwehr in der Gegend von Caen und Falaise und im Raum nördlich von Alençon.
Literatur am laufenden Band
Schrifttumsfabriken, Inspirationswarenhäuser und literarische Gespenster in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika
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Innsbrucker Nachrichten (August 15, 1944)
Neuer Großangriff des Feindes bei Caen
Saint-Malo gegen erneute Angriffe behauptet – Feindlandung im Raum Toulon–Cannes – Schwere Panzerverluste der Bolschewisten
Aus dem Führer-Hauptquartier, 15. August –
Das Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gibt bekannt:
Südöstlich und südlich Caen ist der Feind nunmehr erneut mit starker Artillerie- und Panzerunterstützung zum Großangriff angetreten, um den im Raum nördlich Carouges stehenden amerikanischen Verbänden, die durch unseren Gegenangriff gestern in die Abwehr gedrängt wurden, entgegenzustoßen. Nach erbitterten Kämpfen gelang es dem Feind, an einigen Abschnitten in unsere Front einzudringen. Gegenangriffe brachten ihn zum Stehen. 40 feindliche Panzer wurden abgeschossen. Im Kampfraum von Brest wurden örtliche Angriffe des Gegners abgewiesen und erneute Bereitstellungen durch zusammengefasstes Artilleriefeuer zerschlagen.
Die Besatzungen von Saint-Malo und Dinard behaupteten ihre Stützpunkte gegen den erneut mit überlegenen Kräften angreifenden Feind. Das Fort de la Varde ging nach heldenhaftem Widerstand seiner zusammengeschmolzenen Besatzung in den Abendstunden verloren.
Nachdem der Feind in den letzten Tagen seine Luftangriffe gegen Verteidigungsanlagen und Verkehrsverbindungen im südfranzösischen Küstenraum wesentlich verstärkt hatte, landete er in den frühen Morgenstunden des heutigen Tages im Raum Toulon–Cannes. Unsere Küstenverteidigung steht im Kampf mit den feindlichen Landungstruppen.
Marineflakbatterien und Sicherungsfahrzeuge schossen über west- und südfranzösischen Küstengewässern 30 feindliche Flugzeuge ab.
Im französischen Hinterland wurden 26 Terroristen im Kampf niedergemacht.
Das Vergeltungsfeuer auf London dauert an.
In Italien verlief der Tag bei geringer örtlicher Kampftätigkeit ohne besondere Ereignisse.
Im Karpatenvorland kam es gestern nur zu örtlichen Kampfhandlungen. Im Verlauf der noch anhaltenden Kämpfe westlich Baranow wurden gestern allein im Bereich eines Armeekorps 51 feindliche Panzer abgeschossen.
Südöstlich Warka griffen die Bolschewisten mit mehreren Schützendivisionen an. Auch hier sind die Kämpfe noch in vollem Gange.
In Litauen warfen unsere Grenadiere, unterstützt von Panzern und Sturmgeschützen, bei Raseinen die Bolschewisten aus einer Einbruchsstelle der letzten Tage. 63 feindliche Panzer und 18 Geschütze wurden vernichtet.
In Estland scheiterten wiederholte Angriffe der Sowjets bei Modohn. Im Einbruchsraum südwestlich des Pleskauer Sees konnten die Bolschewisten trotz sehr starken Kräfteeinsatzes gegen unsere zäh und verbissen kämpfenden Truppen nur geringfügig Boden gewinnen.
Schlachtfliegerverbände unterstützten die Abwehrkämpfe und fügten dem Feind hohe Menschen- und Materialverluste zu.
Durch die Angriffe feindlicher Bomberverbände entstanden gestern Schäden in Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Trier und Kaiserslautern. Die Bevölkerung hatte Verluste. Der Dom von Trier wurde schwer getroffen.
In der Nacht warfen feindliche Flugzeuge Bomben auf Berlin und im rheinisch-westfälischen Gebiet. Über dem Reichsgebiet und den besetzten Westgebieten verlor der Feind gestern 22 Flugzeuge.
Zum heutigen OKW-Bericht wird ergänzend mitgeteilt:
In den Kämpfen im Raum von Raseinen haben sich die unter Führung des Generals der Artillerie Wuthmann stehenden Truppen in Angriff und Abwehr erneut hervorragend bewährt. Die Verbände des IX. Armeekorps hatten sich bereits in den schweren Abwehrkämpfen seit dem 22. Juni durch ungewöhnliche Ausdauer und besondere Tapferkeit hervorgetan. Die Erfolge von Führung und Truppe wurden gekrönt durch die sechstägige Schlacht von Raseinen, in der unter Aufbietung aller greifbaren Kräfte zwei vollaufgefüllte, modern ausgestattete feindliche Gardepanzerkorps und mindestens ein Schützenkorps unter Vernichtung von 365 Feindpanzern zerschlagen wurden, durch den heldenhaften Widerstand der Truppen dieses Korps wurde unter entscheidender Beteiligung der 7. Panzerdivision unter Generalmajor Mauß der angestrebte Durchbruch in den Raum nördlich Tilsit verhindert und die Voraussetzung für eine weitere erfolgreiche Verteidigung der ostpreußischen Grenze geschaffen.
Supreme HQ Allied Expeditionary Force (August 15, 1944)
Communiqué No. 129
Advances were made yesterday on both sides of the FALAISE–ARGENTAN gap.
Allied troops attacking towards FALAISE from the north quickly gained their first objectives and, having crossed the river LAISON, are now firmly established within 7,000 yards of the town.
On the other side of the gap, the thrust northward from LE MANS and ALENÇON has reached the vicinity of ARGENTAN. Pockets of resistance left behind in this advance are being mopped up near ALENÇON.
Inside the NORMANDY pocket, advances were made.
Between the LAIZE and the ORNE, an advance of some 5,000 yards brought our forward elements to the vicinity of the village of BONNOEIL. In the ORNE valley, THURY-HARCOURT was cleared of enemy.
North of CONDÉ, the village of PROUSSY was taken and our troops are approaching SAINT-DENIS-DE-MÉRÉ.
Further west, Allied troops advanced to within a mile of VASSY, and southeast of VIRE an advance of a mile has brought us to a point about one mile from TINCHEBRAY.
Other units advancing south of VIRE are moving along the GATHEMO-TINCHEBRAY road against moderate resistance. Troops pushing eastward from MORTAIN have reached GER.
Along the southern boundary of the pocket, our columns moving from the BARENTON area are approaching DOMFRONT and units which reached RANES are encountering increasing resistance.
In BRITTANY, fighting is still in progress at SAINT-MALO, where the situation remains unchanged, and at DINARD, where we have made advances towards the port. At BREST and LORIENT, there is nothing new to report.
Throughout the third consecutive day of clear weather, massive formations of all types of Allied aircraft hammered at German forces in the NORMANDY pocket and attacked airfields, bridges and communications targets from western GERMANY to BORDEAUX, virtually without opposition.
Seven enemy strongpoints massing tanks, guns, and troops north of FALAISE were attacked by more than 700 escorted heavy bombers in a concentrated bombardment preceding an advance of our ground forces. Three other strongpoints south of MÉZIDON were hit by medium bombers in a precision operation only 3,000 yards in advance of our troops.
Six highway bridges over the TOUQUES river north and south of LISIEUX were attacked by more than 250 medium bombers which also pounded bridges and railway junctions at NOGENT-LE-ROI, LES FOULONS, EPONE-MÉZIÈRES, FREVENT, SAINT-MARTIN and PONTOISE.
Escorted heavy bombers struck shipping and harbor installations at BREST in two attacks, and others ranged from eastern FRANCE to the BORDEAUX area, hitting three airfields near DIJON and the ANGOULÊME and SAINTES railway yards with good results.
The day-by-day fighter-bomber and fighter onslaught against enemy communications entered its second week with widespread attacks on road and rail targets in areas on both sides of the SEINE. At least 750 railway cars and hundreds of motor vehicles were destroyed and damaged in the areas of FALAISE, LAIGLE, DOMFRONT, ÉVREUX, CHARTRES, SAINT-ANDRE and east of the SEINE.
Light bombers harried enemy movements during the night, causing large fires and explosions at several points near FALAISE and south of PARIS. Twenty-nine enemy aircraft were destroyed. Twenty-four of ours are missing. A heavy battery on the island of ALDERNEY has been subjected to naval bombardment.
U.S. Navy Department (August 15, 1944)
CINCPAC Press Release No. 508
For Immediate Release
August 15, 1944
Paramushiru Island was attacked by 11th AAF Liberators on August 11 (West Longitude Date). Shipping near the island and the airstrip at Suribachi were bombed. Of 15 to 20 enemy fighters which attempted interception, three were shot down, five were probably shot down, and two were damaged. On August 12, Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four bombed defense installations at Araido Island, and sunk a nearby patrol vessel by strafing. On the same day, a single Ventura bombed Shumushu. Several enemy fighters attempted to intercept our force but did not press home their attacks, although damaging three Venturas. One enemy fighter was damaged.
Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands was attacked by 7th AAF Liberators on August 13. More than 35 tons were dropped on the airfield and adjacent installations. Anti-aircraft fire was meager but an aggressive group of enemy fighters intercepted our force and one Liberator was lost.
Pagan Island in the northern Marianas was hit by Mitchell bombers of the 7th AAF on August 13, hitting gun positions and runways. Moderate anti-aircraft fire was encountered.
Rota Island was bombed and strafed on the same day.
Nauru Island was bombed by Ventura search planes of Group 1, Fleet Air Wing Two, on August 13, and Marine Dauntless dive bombers and Corsair fighters hit remaining enemy positions in the Marshalls on the same day.
The Wilmington Morning Star (August 15, 1944)
GREAT VICTORY WON IN FRANCE
Triumphant Allied armies trap 100,000 to 200,000 of best German soldiers
Enemy fighting battle to death; hail of bombs, shells seals 12-mile gap in northwest
SHAEF, London, England (AP) –
Triumphant Allied armies welded a trap of steel and artillery fire about the flower of the German 7th Army today in the greatest victory of Allied arms in France, and from 100,000 to 200,000 enemy troops turned for a battle to the death.
Backing away from a hail of bombs and artillery shells sealing a 12-mile gap at the eastern end of their Normandy “Coffin Corridor,” the Germans checked their rush and some forces swung around west in an attempt to plug their leaking lines.
Thus, they invited destruction – a consummation which would mean a gigantic victory for the Allies in the battle for northwestern France, open the road to Paris, and clear the way for the final battles for northeastern and southern France.
For this stroke, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in a dramatic order of the day, summoned his armies to drive ahead with every ounce of energy. For here, he said, was a “definite opportunity for a major Allied victory” after which Paris would fall with but little effort.
The southern jaw of the great Allied pincer was being closed by the U.S. 3rd Army – which the Germans said was being led by Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr. – battering up to within eight and a half miles of Falaise.
Canadian troops smashed to within 3½ miles of Falaise on the north in a rolling offensive that jumped off Monday after clouds of Allied bombers obliterated a German anti-tank screen before the city.
Between these two forces, long toms from north and south raked every road leading eastward to the Seine and Paris, and waves of bombers added to the hurricane of fire.
Before this gap vanished Germans had been seen streaming eastward in hay wagons, bicycles and every other farm vehicle they could commander toward the uncertain sanctuary of the Seine.
There seemed no explanation of their decision to turn and fight other than that retreat no longer was possible.
Those who escaped the bottleneck were seen racing northeast toward the Seine along a route which Allied mastery of the air has turned into a path of death and destruction.
Reports from the Canadian front indicated some of the escaped units were armored.
But Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, now disclosed to be the overall commander of all U.S. forces in France – the greatest ever massed for battle under the American flag – declared he was confident the bulk of the 7th Army could not escape.
That could be anything from 100,000 to 200,000 soldiers, as many or more than the Allies have captured since Invasion Day.
New Allied blows seen in Mediterranean area
By the Associated Press
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Italian front quiet; British 8th Army gets mountain town
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WPB’s boss lifts ban upon goods
Production allowed; many civilian articles may be manufactured under new order
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Editorial: Situation in France
As this is written, Germany’s once-proud-and-powerful 7th Army is on the verge of destruction in a brilliantly planned and executed Allied trap in France.
Yesterday an Allied staff officer declared, “It will be a military miracle if the Germans should get out anywhere near whole. This is the end of a German army.” To this was added the prediction by Gen. Eisenhower that the coming week will be one of the most momentous in the history of the war – a fruitful week for us and a fateful week for the enemy.
But don’t let this swift successful turn of events boost our thoughts of the tall of Germany within the immediate future. Remember, there are still three Nazi armies remaining in France which are not engaged. Some divisions from these have been shifted into the present battle and are lost in the Allied pocket,
According to Merrill Mueller, representing the combined American Networks in France, some of the enemy divisions east of the Seine are lower units of poorer quality, but the fact remains that these three armies have plenty of power and drive.
Of the situation, Mr. Mueller also has this to say:
Only a political collapse within Germany – another attempt on Hitler to succeed – could possibly deliver this war to an armistice within the next week. There is a slight chance that a political collapse may show its first manifestations on either the Russian or the Allied battle fronts with the German Army’s effort to rid itself by revolt of its new Nazi commanders. But even so, our terms still are unconditional surrender and clear roads to Berlin.
Gen. Eisenhower has been in almost constant conference with all his battle commanders for the past three days. He is working at a pressure reminiscent of the closing days of the Tunisian and Sicilian campaigns.
These are the closing days of the campaign in northwestern France and the next phases are the campaigns in northeastern and southern France.
The Pittsburgh Press (August 15, 1944)
Roving Reporter
By Ernie Pyle
On the Western Front, France – (by wireless)
One afternoon I went with our battalion medics to pick up wounded men who had been carried back to some shattered houses just behind our lines, and to gather some others right off the battlefield.
The battalion surgeon was Capt. Lucien Strawn, from Morgantown, West Virginia. He drives his jeep himself and goes right into the lines with his aid men.
We drove forward about a mile in out two jeeps, so loaded with litter bearers they were even riding on the hood. Finally, we had to stop and wait until a bulldozer filled a new shell crater in the middle of the road. We had gone about a hundred yards beyond the crater when we ran into some infantry. They stopped us and said: “Be careful where you’re going. The Germans are only 200 yards up the road.”
Capt. Strawn said he couldn’t get to the wounded men that way, so he turned around to try another way. A side road led off at an angle from a shattered village we had just passed through. He decided to try to get up that road.
But when we got there the road had a house blown across it, and it was blocked. We went forward a little on foot and found two deep bomb craters, also impassable.
So, Capt. Strawn walked back to the bulldozer, and asked the driver if he would go ahead of us and clear the road. The first thing the driver asked was, “How close to the front is it?”
The doctor said, “Well, at least it isn’t any closer than you are right now.” So the dozer driver agreed to clear the road ahead of us.
While we were waiting a soldier came over and showed us two eggs he had just found in the backyard of a jumbled house. There wasn’t an untouched house left standing in the town, and some of the houses were still smoking inside.
Also, while we were waiting, two shock cases came staggering down the road toward us. They were not wounded but were completely broken the kind that stabs into your heart.
They were shaking all over, and had to hold onto each other like little girls when they walked. The doctor stopped them. They could barely talk, barely understand. He told them to wait down at the next corner until we came back, and then they could ride.
When they turned away from the jeep, they turned slowly and unsteadily, a step at a time, like men who were awfully drunk. Their mouths hung open and their eyes stared, and they still held onto each other. They were just like idiots. They had found more war than the human spirit can endure.
At the far edge of the town, we came to a partly wrecked farmhouse that had two Germans in it – one was wounded and the other was just staying with him: We ran our jeeps into the yard and the litter bearers went on across the field to where the aid men had been told some of our wounded were lying behind a hedge.
The doctor sent the able German soldier along with our litter bearers to help carry. He was very willing to help. I stayed at the house with the doctor while he looked at the wounded German, lying in the midst of the scattered debris of what had been a kitchen floor.
The German didn’t seem to be badly wounded, but he was sure full of misery. He looked middle-aged, and he was pale, partly bald, had a big nose and his face was yellow. He kept moaning and twisting. The doctor said he thought morphine was making him sick.
The doctor took his scissors and began cutting his clothes open to see if he was wounded anywhere except in the arm. He wasn’t. But he had been sick at his stomach and then rolled over. He was sure a superman sad sack.
Pretty soon the litter bearers came back. They had two wounded Germans and one American on their litters. Also they had two walking cases – one hearty fellow with a slight leg wound, and one youngster whose hands were trembling from nervous tension.
The doctor asked him what was the matter and he said nothing was, except that he couldn’t stop shaking. He said he felt that his nerves were all right, but he just couldn’t keep his hands from trembling.
Just a shade of disappointment passed over the boy’s face, but he was game.
“That’s what I told the lieutenant,” he said. “I think I’m all right to go back.”
I could tell the doctor liked his attitude. There was nothing yellow about the kid.
The doctor said:
I’ll tell you. You get on this jeep and go back to the aid station. We will give you some sleeping stuff, and you can just lie around there on the ground for a day or two and you’ll be all right.
And with that compromise, the kid – relieved at even a two-day respite – got into the jeep with the wounded men and went back down the road.