Hellcat News, (Godfrey, Ill.), Vol. 43, No. 4, Ed. 1, December 1989 Page: 11 of 46
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moved down the streets shoot-
ing everything. We cleared the
town encountering only light
opposition, much to my relief.
The roads southeast of town
were mined and a bridge blown.
So, we rested until afternoon
while the engineers cleared the
mines and threw a bridge over.
We received occasional artillery
fire. This gave me a chance to
look over the men, since most
were new replacements.
In the afternoon we continu-
ed the attack to the southeast
along the main road in a
column of platoons. There were
swamps and woods on either
side of the road. The AT
Platoon had been out on patrol
to make sure there wasn't too
much ahead. We crossed two
swollen streams where the
Krauts had blown the bridges.
We must have been close on
their heels because they were
throwing everything away in
their haste to withdraw.
We halted at the edge of a
woods and I went out with five
men on a patrol to watch the
main highway ahead of us and
the big intersection that it
made with the road we were
on. I reported back every 15
minutes with my radio. Off to
our left, a friendly task force
was clearing a town, and to
our front, an enemy artillery
barrage was covering the inter-
section.
At dusk we could see a friend-
ly unit on our right moving into
position to attack the town to
our front. A platoon of tanks
came up behind my patrol with
the remainder of the 1st Pla-
toon on their backs. Genelli
told me that the 1st Platoon
was to make a mounted attack
on the town ahead. I climbed
on, made sure the platoon was
ready, and told the tanker to
take off right for the town. We
ran into town meeting only
scattered fire and a mortar bar-
rage. Upon reaching the town,
we jumped off and secured the
first few houses. The rest of the
battalion moved in after us. A
regiment of the 28th Infantry
Division was really cleaning
out the town on our right flank,
so there wasn't much for us to
do. We sat there in the dusk
along the stone wall of a
church. The mortars grew in
intensity. Brogni, a man in my
mortar squad asked what to do.
I told him to just sit tight, after
all, where else could you sit
along a wall in the cool of the
evening and talk with your
friends - while mortar shells
were landing all around you.
The 1st Platoon was placed
in a cellar, and I put out some
guards for the night and got
some rest. I was up at 0400 to
receive orders for the next day.
The town we were in was
Niederhereheim, France. In the
morning we mounted the backs
of the tanks and sped south to
the town of Niederentzen. The
Krauts had just left and blown
out the bridge over the canal.
We couldn't press the attack in
that direction. We then moved
farther south against the town
of Oberentzen and made con-
tact with a French Morrocan
outfit coming up from the
south. The bridge was blown
here too. We set up a defense
for the night and got some rest.
7 February 1945 -
8 March 1945
Our half-tracks picked us up
on the morning of the 7th and
we moved to the town of Voegt-
linshofen in the foot hills of
the Vosges Mountains. Road-
blocks and patrols were sent to
route out any pockets of Ger-
mans.
I started to work on the re-
organization of the platoon, but
not having any replacements,
didn't get too far. at least the
platoon got straightened out so
that everybody knew where
they were. I got some much
needed rest and I slept in a bed
for a couple of nights!
On the morning of 10 Feb-
ruary, we commenced to move
northward. The Colmar Pocket
had been eliminated, and the
Krauts were on the other side
of the Rhine River. We traveled
all night long. The convoy man-
aged to get lost a few times. We
arrived back in the town of
Eywiller. The "little manure
pile" hadn't changed much. We
spent our time getting our equip-
ment cleaned up and getting
some rest. I had to go out with
the other platoon leaders and
lay out a defensive position in
case of a German breakthrough.
On 13 February, the battalion
moved north to Zimming,
France, where we occupied the
former German Barracks on
the outskirts of town. All of
CCR was located in the bar-
racks. The 1st Platoon got a
whole house to ourselves and
away from the CP. This im-
pressed me. Replacements were
received and I was busy train-
ing the new platoon so that it
December 1989
HELLCAT NEWS
Page 11
could function as a team. The
12th Armored was placed in
ETO Reserve, which was about
as good as we could expect. A
Company was brought back to
strength. I was made a Tech
Sergeant as Platoon Sergeant
of the 1st Platoon. We received
a Platoon Leader, Lt. Warren,
with whom I got along with
very well. He and I were the
youngest men in the platoon.
Most of my men were married
and had children. Gardner was
made a Staff Sergeant.
One day while showing the
new men some tanks to familiar-
ize their operating with them, I
met Don MacConnell, a fellow
that I had gone to high school
with. It wasn't long before he
was coming down to my CP
every night and we would go to
the movies together. Things
were good at Zimming. Passes
were issued to Nancy, France.
Kulikowski and I went over
and promptly fell asleep while
listening to the music at the
Red Cross. A few of the men
got passes to Paris. We ran
problems every day with the
tankers. We must have attack-
ed the town twenty times. My
men were soon cursing me for
pushing them so hard. At least
it was getting to be a top-notch
platoon!
The three "old soldiers" of A
Company were now Platoon
Sergeants. Semprini, Ruma,
and myself. It was some combin-
ation, but we pushed the kids
through their problems. I had
a navigator now named Cross,
the only one younger in the
platoon than I. On some of the
problems he would get pretty
scared and he used to follow
me like a shadow.
I learned the 26th Infantry
Division was on line not far
from where we were, so I man-
aged to get a peep and Gardner
and I went up to Sarrelautern
to see Lunt. We drove the peep
right up to the front lines, as
far as vehicles could go. When
we got there, no one would take
me up to the front which was
only 300 yards away so I could
see Bob. We received some
artillery fire. The next week,
Lt. Warren, Don, Flip and I, all
drove up. This time a runner
took me up to see Bob. The rest
stayed back since they didn't
want to be killed on their day
off. I had a nice long talk with
Bob in a wrecked house while
Membership
Chairman Report
October 1989 I have requested
announcement of our 44th re-
union at Charlotte, NC in 1990
from the following publications
- The American Legion Mag-
azine (They have informed me,
that it will be in Feb. 1990
issue). VFW Magazine, Nation-
al AMVETS, Disabaled Ameri-
can Veterans, The Army Times,
Assn. of the U.S. Army, Retired
Officers Assn., The Stars and
Stripes, Reserve Officers Assn.,
U.S. Army MILPERCEN
(DAPC-PAS-A), Military, Mili-
tary and Diplomats World, Im-
pact: American Military Herit-
age Society, Reunion Roundup,
and ShowMe Missouri Legion-
aire. In each of the above pub-
lications I have listed my name,
address, and phone number for
details and information to make
contact with eligible members
that are unaware of our Associ-
ation. I assure you that I will
follow up with a personal letter
and information to encourage
each contact from these publica-
tions to become a member.
New members should be a
first priority item for our con-
tinued success and holding all
past members.
I promise to do my best to
accomplish this purpose, but it
will take a team effort on each
of you members with dedication
and appreciation of our Associa-
tion to accomplish this mission.
I would appreciate your sug-
gestions to me of your ideas to
assist me in my duties as Mem-
bership Chairman.
Sincerely,
Bob L. Mead
1st Vice-President and
Membership Chairman
Charlotte, NC
AUGUST 29-SEPT 2, 1990
1990 HELLCAT REUNION
It's great to be a Hellcat!
the fighting was going on out-
side. We managed to get back
with no mishaps.
This life couldn't go on for-
ever. There was talk of the
spring offensive which would
knock Germany out of the war.
(Again the 17th goes into the
line after receiving replace-
ments, getting some rest and
more training. Always train-
ing.)
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Twelfth Armored Division Association (U.S.). Hellcat News, (Godfrey, Ill.), Vol. 43, No. 4, Ed. 1, December 1989, newspaper, December 1989; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth410295/m1/11/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum.