Span River in Hail of Artillery

(Reprinted from Aberdeen (S.D.)
American-News)

By Hal Boyle
WITH AMERICAN TROOPS in Normandy, July 7 (Delayed) (AP) - The crossing by the 30th Infantry Division of the sluggish Vire river near St. Jean De Daye perhaps the best and most heroic job by American combat engineers in France - began three months ago in England.

Behind the successful fording of this 100-foot river lies an unusual story, illustrating the thoroughness and raw courage of these hardworking and little appreciated soldiers which enable them to accomplish their laborious battlefront construction miracles.

In Napoleon's day, armies may have "marched on their bellies," but the modern army travels by the sweat of its engineers.  Two engineers who helped plan and execute the job described how bridges were flung across the Vire river at dawn under hellish "88" fire so that infantry and armor could storm across and attack and take St. Jean De Daye.

They were Capt. Armand Hewett, Ann Arbor, Mich., 105th Corn. Eng., and Capt. Palmer A. Hewlett, Portland, Ore.

"This river gave us a fine chance to show what we could do," said Hewett. "It didn't take us long to span the river when work actually started-we had four bridges over in slightly more than six hours but we started preparing three months ago back in England. We studied 'photo-recon' maps of the area until we knew every obstacle, every tree and every terrain feature in the area."

The engineers selected the best potential bridge sites and began unloading supplies.  When word came that an attack was to be launched after dawn, the had everything ready launched after dawn, they had everything ready in the assembling area, within easy reach of the front.

Promptly at 3:30 American artillery opened a thunderous barrage. For a full hour, Yankee guns played a serenade of death.  At 4:30 long lines of doughboys emerged from cover and tramped through morning showers to the water's edge. Already waiting to ferry them across were rain-coated combat engineers, toiling with steamy breath and soft curses in knee deep mud, under the slowly lightening sky.

"We took the first three waves over in rubber assault boats' said Hewett. 'We had two engineers in each boat and 11 infantrymen. They had to row, too. The river was between 75 and 100 feet wide and nine to 14 feet deep-too deep for them to try to wade or swim with their heavy equipment."

This part of the program worked smoothly and the doughboys leaped from boats on the other side to bayonet the surprised, shell-dazed Nazis. Then they smashed forward against stiffening opposition.

Even so, they had it easier than the combat engineers back on the American side of the Vire who were caught under the enemy's "88" barrage. They stubbornly set about the task of swinging an infantry foot-bridge over the river so they quickly could pour reinforcements across.

"Our boys called for material to build an infantry support bridge at 7:30 and it was there in 20 minutes," Hewlett said, "it was finished at 8:26 and we had trucks rolling to the other side.

"Then they wanted us to repair an old stone bridge which had been hit by our bombs earlier in the campaign. We first had to haul off a truck and three corpses which had been there f or days-it was too hot for anyone to try to get them out before. They asked for it at 7:03, but small-arms fire from the Germans pinned us flat until 8:20. We worked as fast as we could and at 8:50 it was open for tanks, bulldozers or any other heavy stuff.

"The '88' fire was so heavy that my driver and I were unable to get back for a while. We built another treadway bridge in the vicinity of the stone bridge, starting at 9:10 and completing it about I I o'clock.

"Under the cover of darkness, we dragged down the bridge equipment to within 400 yards of the river," Hewett continued. "After the infantry moved in and knocked out the snipers, we carried the bridge down in sections, hooked them, then pushed them across.

"Our boys were under almost continuous artillery fire. Some were killed, some wounded, but they carried on even when fire from those '88's' and mortars was the hottest.

"We completed the foot-bridge by 5: 10 and got a number of troops across before it was knocked out at 5:27 by a direct hit. It was almost completely destroyed, so we built another on the spot.

"By 5:56-29 minutes later-we had our second foot-bridge over. And at 6:10-just 14 minutes after we finished-this bridge, too, was knocked out.

'That was enough to break the hearts of our boys, but they went right back to work. They were as mad as bell by now, and it took them only 25 minutes to put a third one over. It was in position at 6:35 and open for traffic-and it still is. I guess the third time was charm''

St. Lo Break-Through, Vire River Crossing
Make South Carolinians Proud of Their Men in 30th.

Reprint from Charleston (S. C. ) Courier
by Earl Mazo

With the 30th Infantry Division, France, Aug, 20 (Delayed)

South Carolina is justified in being mighty proud of the World War II record of its 30th "Old Hickory" infantry division.

Since joining the Battle for France at Carentan shortly after the initial landings in June, the 30th, which was activated at Fort Jackson, has been in constant contact with the Germans.  Besides participating in several major offensive actions - including the Vire canel crossings and the break-through above St. Lo in July - it has held and thrown back at least three general German attacks, keeping intact the American lines in three vital sectors.

Even though the division's personnel now are from all over America, Carolinians like Lt. Col. Sam T. McDowell, of Rock Hill, are in major and minor jobs throughout the organization.

Lt. Col. McDowell, a Clemson graduate in 1931, is said to lead a charmed life.  One day a man in his unit invited him over to his foxhole to help split a box fro home.  The Col, tired from a few days of hard fighting, said thanks, but he'd pass up the goodies.  Later, as those in the foxhole were enjoying that box from home, a German 88 shell whizzed in and killed or wounded every man there.

A lot of fantastic tales are making the rounds about the Rock Hill colonel and his men.  As fighters they have proved themselves too many times to count.  Once the colonel was with Captain Wayne R. Culp, of Inman, leading a night patrol behind the German lines. As they neared a road intersection a German sentry shouted "Halt". The Americans did, in the nearest ditch, and Colonel McDowell found himself the "point" of his patrol and he had only a pistol to fight with. Somehow-the colonel can't explain how - a Garand rifle appeared in his hands. And all the Germans in that area were wiped out.

The sergeant hero of the Vire canal crossing was one of Colonel McDowell's boys. This sergeant, one of McDowell's leading non-coms, took three patrols across that canal to establish beachheads on the other side. Once his rubber boat was overturned, and he dove to the bottom to rescue precious radio equipment-while the bullets flew all around. This sergeant was shot during the third crossing, and as he lay wounded he shouted orders to his men to leave him where he was because German machine guns were zeroed in and would shoot down whoever came after him. When they found that sergeant's body days later the Germans had placed over 170 mines and booby traps around it.

In one encounter, Colonel McDowell picked up a telephone just as the receiver was knocked from his hand by an enemy shell.

In World War 1, the "Old Hickory", then a South and North Carolina and Tennessee division, made one of the major breaks in the Hindenberg Line and its men won 12
of the 78 congressional medals awarded in the war.

Its record to date in this war is, perhaps, even more colorful.  Immediately on landing, the division was moved into the hottest spot in the beachhead to back up paratroopers.  Later, when the Germans threatened to drive through at one point to split the American beach head, it was the 30th that held and held firmly. More recently, dough-boys of this division made the initial indentations in a powerful German line above St. Lo. The American break-through here was the real beginning of the end for the Germans for it was through this gap that American amore first dashed - and it has kept on dashing through Normandy, Brittany and France. 

Recently, the 30th's commanding officer pointed out to his men that the Germans they had been fighting were "the cream of the Wehrmacht". The 30th had met, and whipped, elite SS, Panzer and Adolf Hitler divisions.

And one of the principal reasons was the type of spirit shown by one regimental commander who, in the thick of one German counterattack while his own command post was being overrun, grabbed a gun to fight as a doughboy and said, "We'll never move to the rear-not a single man-not a single vehicle."

The drama of the moment wasn't apparent to the men in the line. It was their lives and the lives of the Germans pushing towards them behind Panzer and Tiger tanks.

It wasn't exactly drama that made Franklin Denius a hero either. Franklin, a corporal who left the Citadel last year to join the army and came to the 30th as a replacement a few weeks ago, said he just "figured it was the right thing, to do" when, without artillery observation experience, he went far ahead of his own doughboy lines to observe for artillery. Denius was with an observation party pushing up when several bursts of German fire killed or wounded the officer in charge and everyone else in the party. Denius, unhurt, simply kept going forward, established a post for observation, directed artillery for a couple of hours - and was awarded the Silver Star.

All South Carolinians in the "Old Hickory" don't wear medals, however, because many of their jobs, although vital to the operation of the division, don't call for medal-winning work. Lieutenant Colonel John W. Dandridge, a Citadel graduate in 1931, is on the divisional staff; Master Sergeant Earl Leggett, of Charleston, is top non-com in supply; Major John Green, a Clemson graduate in 1937, and Captain Albert Burgess, of Anderson, direct the signal activities.

While the 30th is a hard-fighting division, it has taken good advantage of the few hours of diversion granted in the last couple of months.

One afternoon, Edward G. Robinson, the movie bad-man, visited one of the units, put on his act, then asked to see a German prisoner of war. Since evacuation of PWs to the rear is conducted quickly, there were none available at the moment, so a tough, German-speaking master sergeant decided to play the part. Everyone was in on the gag except Robinson, and when the sergeant, dressed as a German, came in and "Heiled", Robinson cursed under his breath, then started plying him with questions. The "German" clicked his heels, again heiled and walked out accompanied by two M. P's. And Robinson said. "Those Jerries are all alike ... those arrogant rats."

10 Doughs Pave Way For Armor

By HAL BOYLE - Associated Press War Correspondent

AN AMERICAN INFANTRY POST IN HOLLAND, Sept.. 20 

American troops of the 30th Infantry Division who captured the famed Belgian fort of Eben Emael without firing a shot used one of its underground tunnels to surprise and capture the sleeping German garrison at a key lock in the Albert Canal.

As a result of this spectacular feat by 10 ingenious Americans, the garrison was prevented from carrying out its mission to blow up the lock if necessary and loose a 21-foot flood. This would have inundated nearby Maastricht, a town of 60,000 which is the capital of the Dutch province of Limburg, and made it all but impossible for American armor to cross the canal.

"The big trouble in our men's path was the large bluff on the western side of the canal, which is some 200 feet above water," said Lt. Claude F. Curtis Jr., San Antonio, Tex., liaison officer who told the story.

Row Up River

The vital lock was situated at a juncture of the canal and the Meuse River, several miles below Maastricht, and in addition to the Nazi garrison on the lock itself there was a German company of 92 Men Stationed on a V-shaped wedge of lard between the river and the canal.

But the Americans, successfully passed through the tunnel.  "They then rowed 500 yards upstream to the site of the lock," Curtis said.  "The bank was indented and sloping there and they had no trouble scaling it.  They surprised and captured the sleeping German officer and four men on top of the lock, which controls the flow of the Meuse River into the Albert Canal.

"Our two officers and eight men held the lock until they were reinforced later that night by a full company of our troops who made their way down the bluff and across the canal."

Sorry Two Got Away

When the German company posted between the canal and the river began to investigate these mysterious noises they ran into sudden and overwhelming fire in a brief and bloody battle.

"Our boys killed six of them and capture 84," recalled Lt Col Stewart Hall of Newark, N. J., who seemed mildly ashamed because two  enemy soldiers of the original force of 92 managed to get away.  "They didn't have the faintest idea the Americans were across the canal."

This crossing helped to put American units in position to attack the Germans' Siegfried Line.

30th Takes Great Fort

By G. K. Hodenfield
Stars and Stripes Staff Writer.

PT. EBEN EMAEL, Belgium, Sept. 10 (Delayed).

Germany's self-styled impregnable bastion, Ft. Eben Emael, whose capture from the Allies astounded the military world in 1940, fell without a shot to infantrymen commanded by Lt. Col. Paul W. McCollum, of High Point, N.C. 120th Infantry of the 30th Division.

When Ft. Eben Emael fell, it was more than just the taking of a German strongpoint by American infantrymen. To the Germans it was a symbol, loss of which meant much more than just the loss of a place to dig in.

The Nazis captured Ft. Eben Emael by following a plan drawn up many weeks before. And when the fort was in German hands, the Nazis said arrogantly. "There you are. That is the best the Allies have to offer. This was an impregnable fort, and we have taken it, who can stop the German Army?"

Long before the Germans marched in Poland, long before any declaration of war, the Germans were preparing for Ft. Eben Emael. An exact replica was built inside Germany, and for weeks "suicide" squads stormed the replica. They knew where every gun was placed, they knew every strongpoint. And when they went after the fort, they did it with high explosives, flamethrowers, paratroops and wave after wave of aircraft.

They knew what they had to do, and they did it.

When the Germans took Eben Emael, and swept on to conquer most of Europe, military experts sat up and took notice. They read and re-read reports. They studied photographs. They filed away in their minds a lot of little things they might need to know some day.  When the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy, they used the tactics of Ft. Eben Emael. Assault engineers who cleared the obstacles were trained on the 1940 tactics of the German Army.

As the Allies drew closer to Germany, these experts remembered the lessons of Ft. Eben Emael.  But they might just as well have forgotten all about it. When the Yanks started their drive to take the fort, the Germans took a powder. They cleared out. They left this fort, this symbol, unprotected and unmanned.

Sitting around the main door of the fort tonight were three soldiers: Pvt. Jack Shelton, of Levanworth, Wash.; Pfc Joe S. Tencza, of Wallington, N.J., and Pfc Winford Fish, of Leachville, Ark. To them the fall of Ft. Eben Emael wasn't especially significant. It was just another objective that had to be taken and was taken.

30th One of Most Often Tried Divisions in Army

From the 1940 era of pseudo military training - those days when machineguns were made of wood, when tanks were placarded trucks, and when many in our army wore 1918 uniforms - to the present campaigns in Germany, Holland and Belgium, where Nazi retreats go on, the 30th 'Division, containing a part of the Georgia National Guard has at grown from a papier-mâché strength to one of the finest and most often tried divisions in the United States Army. 

The Division, though formed partially in Georgia, is not an all-Georgia division. Every state in the union is represented by its members, and though military censorship will not permit printing the exact figure, it is permissible to say hundreds of Georgians still are serving in the 30th. 

The commanding general of "Old Hickory" is Major General Leland S. Hobbs. 
The 30th started fighting on the Normandy beachhead June 15 and since then its story is almost a history of the western campaigns for the Allied armies/

"Old Hickory" spearheaded the breakthrough at St Lo, July 25.  This ended the "Battle of the Hedgerows" and allowed American armor to fan out over France.  The division drove the Germans past the Vire River and a few days later in a spectacular attack forced a crossing.  These battles before St Lo were infantry slugging matches.

After the "green light" at St Lo, the 30th relieved the famed First Division in the Mortain-St. Barthelmy sector.  Four German panzer divisions attacked the 30th during the second week of August in the most powerful blitz of the campaign.  Infantry riflemen, bazookas, artillery, tanks and tank destroyers, cooks, messengers, U. S. attack bombers and rocket firing RAF typhoons, together finally threw the Germans back after three days of see-saw action.  The 30th had held off four German divisions.

Bulldozer Clears Path Through Minefield to Aid Doughboys in Rescue of Their Trapped Comrades.

By Carlyle Holt

WITH AN INFANTRY UNIT UNITED STATES NINTH ARMY, GERMANY, Nov. 20

In a sweeping and mighty onslaught of combined armies, it is easy to forget the individual. This is the story of one unit of infantry trapped in a German minefield.

This unit of infantry from the 30th division was advancing toward the town of Mariadorf at dusk Friday evening when it encountered a box-minefield. The unit was hurrying to take Mariadorf before darkness was complete. Suddenly mines began to explode; the unit went on and more mines exploded as the unlucky soldiers stepped on them. Soon the mines were exploding too often to continue the advance and the unit attempted to withdraw. But the men were too far into the minefield. As they fell back, more mines caused more casualties. Dusk had faded to darkness, the unit was trapped and unable to move in any direction.

The Germans discovered their predicament and pasted the area with mortar and artillery shells. All night the unit stayed in the midst of the minefields, men digging themselves in as best they could All night other men tried to -let to them to bring out the wounded. Engineers tried to break the path with light bulldozers, mines blew the tracks off and crippled the bulldozers. In the pitch dark, mechanics put tracks on again only to have the mines blow the tracks off again and again.

Toward morning engineers brought up a giant bulldozer which was able to plow a path through the mines.  In the meantime during the night five infantrymen, by putting their hands on one another's shoulders and walking in one another's footsteps, managed to feel a pathway through the mines to the unit.  However, tow of the "lock-steppers" were wounded by mine explosions while on the dark trek.

Not until the bulldozer was able to shovel a clear path through the field were most of the wounded taken out.  They lay among the mines in the open on a cold rainy night, with only the first aid their companions were able to give them under mortar and shell fire.

But the morning after the day fight, remnants of the unit advanced to their objective, Mariadorf.  

Capt. Charles F. Engewald, Catholic chaplain of the infantry unit, of 67 Willow St., West Roxbury, spent the night and most of the day at the clearing station as wounded men were brought out.  He tells the story of these men's courage.  Most of the wounded suffered shrapnel fractures or blast amputations of the lower extremities.  

One man who had lost a foot, said, "I had a corn on that foot for seven years.  I won't have to worry about it any more."  

Another sighed, "Well, I guess if I lost a foot and laid out there all night freezing to death, I will not die if I lived to get here."