INTERVIEW

T/SGT. EDWARD E. RIPPLEMEIER
Acting Platoon Leader, Rcn Platoon
Headquarters Company, 49th AIB

TO: Pfc Kenneth L. Kinser

AT: Venlo, Holland, 1030 hours, 14 March 1945.

CCB started from Rheinberg in 3 task forces. My job was to tail Task Force #2 until they hit Ossenberg. Our job was to clean out the right. My platoon was proceeding Task Force #3 and tailing Task Force #2 to Ossenberg. We were to take a right and follow the river, however, we met too much resistance to follow this. The plans were changed.

The machine gun platoon was used to clean up the factory. My platoon sent patrols out to clean up the woods and the houses. We got knocked around a good bit at Rheinberg.

We didn't meet much resistance at Lintfort until we got on the left flank of Lintfort and met a lot of artillery fire there. We came around the right flank and went into Rheinberg. The situation wasn't bad except that the Germans seemed to be concentrated there. They seemed to know where we were going and just sat there and waited for us.

The equipment we use is tops. I couldn't do without my rifles in my patrols. For short patrols we like the grease gun (M-3). It is very good. We keep a good supply of hand grenades on hand at all times. We use the concussion grenade principally for houses and pillboxes. The fragmentation grenades are good for the machine gun nests.

The Germans were dug in very well, everyplace and it was tough to get them out. We don't under estimate them but there was just more there than we expected.

We ran into a lot of paratroopers. They would fight until they ran out of ammunition and then surrender.

I was taking care of some of the prisoners and taking them back to the rear. One German Captain made a statement about the number of tanks we had. He and his troops were greatly impressed by the quantity of tanks we could put into a fight.

The Heinies looked pretty well beaten, not much like super-men. We took a lot of young prisoners and a number of older men.

They were pretty good on their mortars. They would get zero'd in on the road and then wait for us. As we came down the road, they would fire one behind us and then one in front and expected us to stop. They would then start laying them in where they expected us to stop. My idea is to keep going when they start firing mortars and to go as fast as I can.

We believe that if every man knows the situation in advance, you will get a lot more out of the men. We always have a good orientation and discussion before going out on any mission.

We were pretty busy taking care of the prisoners at times and I didn't get to see too much of the action.

The Germans had a lot of artillery and mortars that held us up all along the way. We weren't bothered much by the small arms fire as our rifle companies took good care of them. We had to work almost every building to keep cleaning out the snipers. They were firing all along the way. They seemed to fire from one house and then move into the next house down the road as we advanced.

One of the prisoners tried to make a break, but we shot him in the hip and stopped him. He set up quite a whimper. Our boys had a lot more guts than the Heinies. The Heinies would cry and holler a lot more over a minor injury than our boys would over something serious.

At times we seemed to get a lot of flanking fire from the other side of the Rhine.

We captured Poles and Russians that had been force to fight. They said they didn't want to fight but either had to fight or be shot by the Germans.