GREAT 30TH IMPRESSIVE AT RHINE

Vol. 1, No. 2

Possneck, Germany - June, 1945

Page One

WITH THE 30th DIVISION IN BRUNSWICK. April 12-In a rickety farmhouse that stands out like a sore thumb on the main highway from Hamlin leading to the western end of Brunswick, the first battalion of the 117th Regiment was sweating out the lest hour before the advance into the city.

Captain John Kent of Dayton, Ohio, company commander, went over his maps a hundred times while the infantry men and tank crews paced outside the house restlessly. Everyone was awaiting the return of the squad that went 800 yards ahead to reconnoiter the enemy perimeter.

The squad, led by a sergeant wounded in two previous engagements, was to scout three buildings protected by woods to ascertain the enemy strength. Men had to cross open fields to reach the objective and it was four in the afternoon when they left-with the attack scheduled for six-thirty that evening

Hobbs Meets Germans

The main topic of conversation outside the farmhouse beside the relative merits of the Russian and Belgian women was the negotiations last night at the Fuse Canal, near Brunswick between the Major General of the 30th Division and the commander of the German garrison. General Hobbs and his staff met the Germans in the blockhouse of the canal at 7 o'clock

At the meeting, which lasted twenty minutes, the German commander agreed to surrender if given time to withdraw his troops and fight soldier against soldier.  General Hobbs said no, only unconditional surrender would do. Where upon, the German replied that the responsibility for the civilian population rested with General Hobbs. The general returned to his lines and ordered today's Brunswick attack.

The first battalion, which spear headed the attack across the Rhine and was to lead the assault into Brunswick, groused about the object stupidity of the Germans insisting upon a token defense before they surrendered in droves at 5:30, when rattling machine-gun fire across the fields galvanized everyone into readiness.

A gunner, who had been shaving for the second time in the afternoon, leaped to his gun his face covered with lather. Their guns ready, the soldiers peered over the walls and through the farmhouse windows, scanning the fields.

Scrambling across the fields across a wall of German fire was a member of the patrol, and the going was tortuous He was unable to run because if he stood upright he would be cut down. His battalion feared returning fire, lest the soldier suddenly rise and make a dash for the farm.

For what appeared an interminable minute, we watched the GI slither across a field until he got to within a hundred yards. Then he got up and bolted for a fence. He made it, with bullets singing around him, and was lifted over the fence by a dozen helping hands

He was Private Odell Kutto, of Surrency, Georgia. Stretched out on a couch, he told Captain Kent that the remainder of the patrol was pinned down by the Germans and had to dig in and wait for help.  He said the enemy was dug in with machine-guns near woods and in ditches outside the houses

Indian Takes Shoes Off

As soon as he finished telling details of the enemy's deployment, another shout went up end the soldiers led in Private Johnson Wolfe, a Seminole, and Oklahoma, a full blooded Chotaw Indian who arrived with his shoes tied around his neck. "I could run faster that way", he explained. Wolfe, who was also a member of the patrol, said the others needed help.

Captain Kent had all the information he needed. It was 6:20, and he left the farmhouse to start things moving for the advance across the fields to the dirt road entering western Brunswick.  While so engaged, Brigadier General William K. Harrison, Jr., Assistant Divisional Commander, arrived and placed his jeep in the leading elements going into attack.

This reporter got alongside Corporal Joseph Naples, forty-eight, from Stockholm Street, Brooklyn probably the only Brooklynite who prefers the Botanical Gardens to the Dodgers.  Promptly at 6:30, the first tank loaded with infantry rolled across the field. 

Other tanks pounded behind and the infantry was strung out on either side. We spotted another member of the patrol trying to make his way to us, but a burst of machine gun fire from the enemy brought him down less than a hundred yards away.  He was the leader of the patrol, and this was the third wound he had sustained in Europe.

Tanks kept going in a south westerly direction toward the woods, which they shelled heavily and then deployed directly against the west and Brunswick.  House after house was ripped by tank fire and infantryman raced in to take care of snipers. of whom there appeared to be the usual large number

In the midst of the fighting foot soldier. was General Harrison, tommy-gun in hand and revolve holster flap open.  At the first fringe of houses white rags broke out and one woman emerged with bullets flying all around to ask whether it was all right for her to milk a cow.  She went back in the house when the cow dropped with the full concentration of enemy machinegun fire.

As has happened in every city since the Rhine crossing, the principal opposition was from snipers and then the tough, dreary task of cleaning out each house along the street got under way. Prisoners began coming out of their homes after they fired a round or two when the tanks blasted at strong points.

When darkness fell, the battalion had penetrated half a mile inside Brunswick, with plenty of snipers to be mopped up beyond and the railroad yards.  The old German habit of dropping a low heavy shells haphazardly in the general direction of the occupying forces is making things a little uncomfortable at the moment.  Every one is searching out a comfortable hole to bed down for the night, before we go for the rest of the city in the morning.

The Congressional Medal of Honor, has been awarded posthumously to Sgt. Jack J. Pendleton, of Yakima, Wash., who sacrificed his life to permit his comrades so move undetected around the flank and destroy and destroy the strong point holding up the advance of his company.

Although seriously wounded, Pendleton, a member of Co. I, 120th Regt., crawled to within ten yards of the MG thereby diverting fire from his comrades.

WITH 30th INF. DIV. EAST OF RHINE, Mar. 27 - The headlines big black ones - said. 'Ninth Army Knifes East'. Correspondents back of SHAEF wrote about the 'Ninth Army juggernaut plowing irresistibly through the Wehrmacht".

Riding ten miles east of the Rhine along rutty, dusty roads past columns of tired, dusty infantrymen, past tanks hiding in the woods, you finally reached the front - the juggernaut itself.

Unshaven, hollow-eyed doughs were digging in along the road, or watching Thunderbolts dive down on targets ahead, or just trying to rest.

1/Lt. Edward Cope, of Denver, acting exec of I Co. of the 117th, looked up from his map and said, "We moved up this morning, to this point on the high ground, see ?"  Damned if I know what's on our left flank, but we're supposed to go on to this other high ground here, as soon as the Second Battalion can clean out their sector on our right."

Holes Surpass Engineers'

Back a little down the road, a pair of machine gunners, Pfc John Greenawalt, of Philadelphia, and Pfc Marvin A. Fuller, of Husliford, Wis., from Co. K were covering a hole with railroad ties.  'We dig holes the engineers never thought of,' Feller said 'And we live longer that way', added Greenawalt.

To the left, a German machine gun and a couple of American rifles opened up.  Pfc Harold Mangan of Savannah. Ga., ducked behind a tree and tried to see whet was going on.  'There's supposed to be a Kraut patrol over there', he explained.

Back a little and out of the woods from the left - where the sound of firing had come - Sgt. Ralph Todd, of Preston, Md., shepherded in three Kraut prisoners, two middle-aged men and a kid, the first two slightly wounded.

'They killed five more', he announced without a shade of emotion

Still farther back a handful of men looked out of their hole, spat, and slumped back wearily.

This was the front. This was the juggernaut.

The Thirtieth troops found German resistance apparently completely disintegrated at a point eight mile from the Rhine, and jumped on tanks shortly after noon and 'took off'.

Every element of a break-through such as characterized the armored infantry gallops after the Row river crossing and in dashes through France-was indicated. Field officers of the Thirtieth said the division had gone clear through organized German defense lines and 'broken into the open.

The Thirtieth's surge carried if to the head of all other advances in the Twenty-first Army Group.

The United States Seventy-ninth Division on the Thirtieth's Bank made almost as good progress, but encountered some spotty German armored pockets which held it up slightly behind the Thirtieth.

These two veteran outfit. spearheaded the Ninth Army's burst across the Rhine, and the Thirtieth had a bridge over the historic river just 11 hours and 15 minutes after it launched its attack.

Distinguished Record

The Thirtieth, which kicked off an hour ahead of the Seventy-ninth, had a bridge completed at 1:15 p. m. Saturday Its One Hundred and Twentieth quickly smashed six miles across the Rhine, the One Hundred and Seventeenth Regiment went three miles beyond the river and the One Hundred and Nineteenth two and one-half miles in.

Resistance in front of the 30th dwindled (unknown) nothing as the morning progressed and cooks, bakers and all sorts of odds and ends which characterize rear areas flowed info the prisoner cages.

Believe Nazi Unit Destroyed

With more than 9,000 prisoners taken up to noon, officers of the 30th reckoned the German 180th Division, which faced them, was destroyed.

The forward surge carried the bridges, which the 9th Army threw over the Rhine in record time, out of artillery range.  The engineers was a so little bothered today that some sat in pontoons, fishing in the Rhine while fighters circled over barrage balloons on the lookout for German planes which never showed up.

Regimental command posts were moving so last they were almost impossible to find.

"There is no doubt about it, we have a breakthrough" declared Major Robert Hewitt, of New York. "We achieved surprise in that the Germans did not expect a large crossing south of Wesel."

Hit Soft Spot, Says Officer

At the regimental command post of the 120th Regiment the assistant operations officer, Lt. Ralph Simon, of Vincennes, Ind.. said: "We hit a soft spot and went right on through."

The division's operation, through, was something more than that. It may be studied in war colleges in the future.

Attacking these regiments abreast after a terrific artillery barrage. the 30th hit everywhere at once along 6 to 7 miles of the river. First one spot gave way before the 120th where the going was rough in the center during the early hours.

The 117th, under its regimental commander, tiny, energetic Col. Walter Johnson, of Missoula, Mont., who wears a .45 slung on his leg like a Western gunman, caught up with the Bank regiments and spurted ahead.

About 7 miles from the river all artillery and mortar fire almost ceased. There was no organized line and the infantry hopped on tanks and drove to exploit the breakthrough.

Along the river every town was crushed under the weight of barrages of artillery and there was a scattering of German dead in some towns.

Few Makeshift Trenches

Two to 5 miles inland, houses here and there were intact and farther on they were more numerous. Along the river there were a few makeshift trenches but nothing which could be described as a formidable defense.

The only sign of a front was from a hidden tank which took pot shots here and there but to which the troops hurrying forward paid no attention. They left it for "rear echelons" to deal with.

The 29th Tactical Air Command swarmed all over the area with Thunderbolts and reported Germans milling around in great confession ahead of the 79th and 30th divisions. The pilots claimed the destruction or damaging of 99 German tanks and armored cars in the battle area.

Not a Tank Lost

Major J. J. Eberhardt. of San Antonio, 120th's supply officer, said the 30th Division had not yet lost a single tank in enemy action. Nor had the Germans been able to launch a single counterattack against the 30th - which they always do if organized.

One of the finest American divisions, the Thirtieth has met and defeated the best the Germans had to offer.

It missed the Normandy beachhead landing, but it held the vital Mortain elbow in Normandy when the Germans tried in vain to cut the Avranches gap. And, with the Second Armored division, it spearheaded the push the Siegfried line near Aachen.

But perhaps the Thirtieth's finest performance came in the Ardennes at Stavelot when the division under Major General Leland S. Hobbs was rushed down from the Ninth Army front and collided head-on with Hitler's personal First SS Division.  The Thirtieth ripped the Nazi division to pieces and helped hold the gap at the most critical period.
The Thirtieth was hauled back later and made the Roer river crossing across the worst piece of river, but led other attacking divisions to the objective. It had earned the reputation of "crossers" even before entering battle because its One Hundred and Seventeenth Regiment used to stage model crossings at Fort Benning, Ga.

 On the Rhine with the 30th Division. March 24 (AP) -The American Army's work horse division which the Germans nicknamed "Roosevelt's SS" more than made up for missing the Normandy landing by spearheading the Ninth Army's drive across the Rhine

One of the finest divisions in the American army, the 30th has taken more than its share of tough fighting on the Western Front but always sort of felt put out that the First Divisions and the 29th Division could point out that they came on the beaches on D-Day.

But neither the First nor the 29th were around for fighting in the Rhine crossing so now it's all even.

In months of fighting the 30th has proven to be a commanding officer's dream outfit.  Without flurry fuss and talk that characterizes (unknown) divisions, the 30th met the best the Germans had to offer and set them rocking back on their heels.

John E. Sturgeon was riding along a German rood in a jeep crowded with soldiers when a column of newly liberated Americans approached.

"Anybody there from Pennsylvania?" Sturgeon asked.

"Yeah I'm from there," one said. "Hey, Johnny !"

The liberated prisoner was Elmer Sturgeon, just released, from five months of German captivity. It was the brothers' first meeting in four years.

At the Roer River, Germany, Feb. 23 -(AP)  The United States First and Ninth armies surged across the Roer River in the darkness before dawn today in a "Russian-style" attack preceded by the most concentrated American artillery barrage yet laid down on the Western Front.

Yankee ingenuity, solved the problem of the flooded Roer and before daylight broke over this smoke strewn valley, the doughboys were bursting through weakly-held Nazi defenses east of the river.

The German strong-points were pulverized by a mighty artillery barrage involving approximately 2,000 guns and dose to a quarter of a million shells.

The attack most closely resembled the Russian type warfare than any previously undertaken on the Western Front. The jabbing, ripping artillery barrage was followed by infantry swarming across the river in assault boats and on footbridges. One of the keys to crossing the swiftly running river, flooded by the enemy's opening the great Schwammenauel Dam, was provided by American engineers. The night before last, engineer patrols sneaked across and planted steel cables from bank to bank, then submerged them in the muddy water where they escaped detection yesterday.

When the artillery barrage opened this morning at 2:45 a. m for the initial 45-minute preparation, engineers hauled the cables taut and used them to support foot bridges which were erected in a matter of a few minutes.

By the the lime for the jump-off, most of the assault waves already were on the east bank of the river.

The Germans, apparently expecting that an attack was in the offing 12 hours before the assault began threw in the greatest number of jet planes yet used against the Ninth Army.  Twin-engined jets dropped like comets through masse of American fighters, dropped their bombs and were gone in a matter of seconds before the fighters or flak guns could touch them. They sped straight along the front at terrific speed making no attempt to avoid the flak, which burst sometimes half a mile behind them.

Although their speed allowed them to operate in skies dominated by the Allied Air Forces, it also hampered their accuracy and the bombs fell over a wide area.

In a desperate attempt to knock out footbridges which were one of the largest contributing factors to their undoing, the Germans rolled up self-propelled guns and tried to direct their fire on the crossings These did not last long as scores of artillery-spotting cub planes which hung like butterflies all over the front, spotted them and directed artillery fire on them.

Under the strain of the attack some American telephone lines to forward battalions cracked and linemen went out to keep the links between the doughboys and the artillery going.

Engineers swept into the fight and put up bigger bridges working under clouds of smoke which made them feel their way and come out of the fog every few minutes to avoid becoming ill.

"This is our toughest bridging since the original landings", Lt. Col. Carroll H. Dunn, Moline, Ill., 30th Division Engineer and commander of the 105th Engineer Combat Bn., said. "We put in one foot bridge five times this morning and then finally had to abandon it and move to a place where the current was not so bad."

Progress was good all along the front, however, and in places well ahead of schedule.

"If the weather holds good with the sun out, there is a good chance we can get two days ahead of schedule in the next 36 hours," said Lt. Col. Harold Hassenfelt, Oconto, Wis., 30th Division operations officer.

This is one of the most futile years I've spent in two years of war reporting.  I've been hunting for reaction to V-E Day. There isn't any on this Ninth Army front.

Our radios have been blaring out news of celebrations in London, New York, end elsewhere. Surely it seemed there should be some signs of such a celebration here - on the front itself.

But a lone soldier lying lazily in the sun described it all.

"It doesn't mean a damn thing " he said when assured he would not be quoted by name. He said he wanted anonymity "because my wife would kill me - after all, it's a big day back home."

He then enlarged upon his sentiments in slow, sleepy sentences.

"We've known it was coming. We've known it wouldn't affect what would happen to us immediately. Hell, we celebrated more when we pulled out of the line 10 days ago, because we knew it was over as far as we were concerned then. Man, we've left too many guys behind us to feel like hell-raising today."

But still, Sgt. Robert K. Harrison, former Knoxville, Tenn., Journal police reporter, and now of the 30th Infantry Division and I kept looking for reaction.

Even the military police were puzzled by it all. Pfc. Harold Roberts, a 30th Division M. P. from Ft. Thomas, Ky., scratched his head and slowly pondered the utter lack of hilarity.

He thought a moment longer then said:  "As a matter of fact, it seems like everybody's just a little more sober than usual today. May be they're like us - just glad it's over end trying to figure out what it means."