LUXEMBOURG

Duty on the Loire river was too good to last. As soon as the prisoners were stockaded the 83rd Division was ordered to Luxembourg, with the mission of keeping the Germans east of the Saar-Moselle rivers. The command post of the 329th Infantry was established in the village of Junglister.

The move from Angiers to Luxembourg, a distance of about 200 miles, was uneventful except for one incident. For security reasons the regiment usually moved at night and without lights. On this march the 1st Battalion missed a turning, and instead of continuing on the highway got itself on a race track, where it went round and round until Major Bagley, seeing the same company pass him twice, stopped the column and got them on the right road. We had passed Paris, the most noticeable thing about it being the large number of apparently able-bodied men drinking aperitifs on the sidewalk cafes, while we were fighting the war for them.

When the regiment took over its sector in Luxembourg, the Germans still occupied positions on the west banks of the Saar and Moselle rivers, and did active patrolling on our side of the rivers. Backing them up were the big guns of the Siegfried Line. The principal outposts of the Germans in the 329th's sector were in Echternach and Gravenmacher, two small villages on the west bank of the rivers. After some preliminary reconnaissance and patrol actions the 3rd Battalion captured Echternach and the 2nd Battalion Gravenmacher, driving the Germans across the rivers and posting a company in each town to keep them there.

The situation with regard to the big guns of the Siegfried Line was peculiar. They could fire on anything on the hillsides sloping down to the rivers, but could not depress enough to fire on Echternach or Gravenmacher. When anybody started out of Junglister in a jeep he had it going about sixty-five when he appeared in the open, because there was always a gunner in the Siegfried Line watching the road. His gun was already aimed at a spot on the road so all he had to do was to pull the lanyard. Usually the jeeps were fast enough to get below the field of fire, but one day we lost a jeep load because it followed another jeep, and the shell intended for the first jeep hit the second.

We remained in Luxembourg for two and a half months. This time was not wasted. The regiment was badly in need of basic combat training. A rotation plan was set up. Two battalions at a time were kept on the line, and one battalion did combat training. This training was as near actual combat as it could be made. Using silhouette figures to represent the enemy, many things were done that could not have been done in the States because of safety regulations. These were overhead artillery fire, flank machine gun fire with ball ammunition, and overhead tank fire. The companies became particularly adept at assault fire. In this type of fire men in the line alternately fire and take a few steps forward. This causes the line to move forward jerkily, half of the men firing and half advancing. This method is particularly applicable to the time after our artillery lifts off the enemy line and before our troops reach it. This time is the most hazardous, because the enemy will cower in his foxhole or trench until he feels the artillery lift, and then rise up and mow down the attackers at close range. In assault fire, after the artillery lifts, the bullets from half the attackers at a time cracking around the defenders' ears keep all but the most reckless down in their holes. Some of our light machine-gunners discovered that by putting the carrying strap over their shoulder they could hold the machine gun horizontally, and with the assistant gunner to feed in the belt could lay down very effective assault fire. This training paid off in our subsequent operations. We had almost no casualties from our own fire during this period but occasionally a big gun in the Siegfried Line would open up on the training area, (they could hear our firing) and we took a few casualties from shell fragments.

The regiment's most damaging casualties in Luxembourg were two of its best and most experienced officers, killed by our own mines. It is a strange belief by soldiers that they can't be killed by their own weapons. Captain David Loeser, Operations Officer of the 3rd Battalion, and Captain John Markowitz, Company Commander of Company "K", were two of these. They went on reconnaissance through a gap in their lines, came back by another route, tripped a personnel mine set by their own troops, and both were killed.

While at Luxembourg we became slightly acquainted with such rear area entertainment facilities as the U.S.O. and the Red Cross. The U.S.O. didn't venture up as far as our positions but they put on shows at Luxembourg City, which a few infantrymen could see by getting a pass. The Red Cross doughnut girls were more venturesome and under cover of darkness visited our forward lines. They appeared to be more concerned about the possibility of having their doughnut truck hit than they were about their personal safety.

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