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Amern St. Georg
1st Lt. Cal J. Evaldi, CO, Company C, 7th Armored Infantry Bn,
1100 hours, 17 March 1945, Wankum, Germany to Capt. Vasta.
2nd Lt. Rodman H. Bean
S/Sgt. Robert D. French, Rifle Squad Leader, 2d Platoon
Company C, while attached to Task Force Goodrich, acted as the advance point for the task force and traveled about one mile ahead of the column. Contact with the task force was maintained by radio. The first objective was the town of Amern St. Georg.
At about 1400 hours, 1 March 1945, the attack on Amern St. Georg took place. The first platoon went through the town routing out the civilians and a few German soldiers. They rounded up about 80 prisoners and encountered no opposition at all. At about 1800 hours they moved out of Amern St. Georg to a point just outside of Lobberich where they dug-in. Here they received small-arms fire and got one casualty. Our artillery fell constantly on the town for a period of 12 hours. Company C remained in its position until about 0600 hours when a platoon of tanks from the 18th Tank Bn started to enter the town, firing all its weapons. The first platoon of Company C was to follow the tanks. The tankers got about 100 yards into the town when they encountered a road-block. They turned around and came back out while the engineers blew the road-block. Then the tanks returned with the infantry dismounted but encountered no enemy resistance. Apparently all German soldiers had withdrawn and they took no prisoners. They moved completely through the town dismounted, meeting nothing but civilians.
They reorganized and prepared to move out at 1100 hours. They moved out, going through Wankum, and continued on the road to Wachtendonk encountering no resistance. As they approached the outskirts of Wachtendonk, they were stopped by a small canal. Lt. Bean promptly waded across the canal alone to determine if it was fordable. Before he reached the opposite bank he drew fire from a machine gun and immediately sought cover beside some rubble on the enemy side. When this machine gun opened up, the infantry dismounted from the half-tracks and the mortar squad set up its guns beside the parked vehicles while the rest of the men waded down the canal about 100 yards in order to get behind the machine gun and flank it from a small wooded area. Then the 37 mm and 50 cal mm guns on the half-tracks opened up. Before the men reached the machine gun, four Germans abandoned it and ran across a field in the direction of the town but were all killed by fire from the 37 mm guns.
The tanks started to go into the town ahead of the troops but were met by bazooka fire and one tank hit a mine and was knocked out. The plans were changed and the infantry entered the town dismounted. There were just two streets in the town and the first platoon took the one to the right and the second platoon took the one to the left. The CO of the first platoon, Lt. O'Brien, was killed by a burp gun after the platoon had advanced about three-fourths of the way through the town. The first platoon encountered small-arms fire, stopped, withdrew and reorganized. The second platoon was also stopped by a machine gun which was later knocked out by Pfc. Robert Lawhead, a bazookman, who, with S/Sgt. Lewis Millen along to assist and to carry 15 hand grenades, daringly went down the middle of the street firing at every formidable looking object and finally knocking out the machine gun with his bazooka. The second platoon also stopped and dug-in for the night.
The company then established a bridgehead which was really more of a security of the attack and remained there until 1000 hours the next morning (3 March 1945), when they were relieved by the 49th AIB. The CO of Company B was also killed during this action.
Dorsten
Interview
Unit: Company C, 7th Armd Inf Bn, (Task Force Poinier), CCA.
Source: T/Sgt Emmett Segrue, Plt Ldr, and T/Sgt Orman Spears, Plt Ldr.
Interviewer: Captain Joseph Vasta
Place and Date of Interview: 13 May 45, Altenau, Germany
Dorsten
On the night of 28 March we stopped in the vicinity of 448378. The first elements started moving out on foot at 0500 hours. At road junction in the vicinity of 450383 there was a selfpropelled 88mm gun. During the night the enemy infantry that was dug in around it withdrew, taking the 88 with them. The first platoon moved up to the railroad without any opposition and held there. The second platoon came up, riding on the tanks and moved thru the first platoon. The mission of the second platoon was to go up to the church in the town and hold. The leading tank was hit by an SP 88mm in the vicinity of 463397. The men dismounted there, went in on foot and didn't hit any more opposition all the way up to the church. A little artillery and mortar fire was coming in from the east of the railroad yards. Then the third and first platoons mounted and followed. We reorganized in the vicinity of the church and left Dorsten about 1700 hours.
Unna
The night of 10 April was spent in Kesseburen. We moved out mounted on the road between Kesseburen and Unna and rode to the high ground and then dismounted. We walked to the vicinity of 978257. The first platoon set up its mortars to assist Company A. The ground was too open and the enemy had machine guns and flak guns set up to their front. The company withdrew down the road to the railroad tracks and followed the railroad tracks to the underpass, where they took the road leading into Unna. During this time we were receiving some artillery and mortar fire. When the mortars started falling around the men, all the tanks in the vicinity opened up on the left (west) flanks even though they didn't know where the fire was coming from. However, they succeeded in stopping the enemy fire.
The anti-tank platoon was working as foot troops. When the unit reached the vicinity of 974264, the anti-tank platoon was sent to the left (south) flanks to clean out the machine guns in the woods. While the anti-tank platoon was working on the machine guns, the rest of the company continued on along to the intersection at 973264 where they turned south and at the next intersection, turned west. As they were rounding the corner, they drew fire from the enemy which had been been chased out of the woods by the anti-tank platoon. The first platoon which had come down the road (south) at intersection in the vicinity of 971265 and had made contact with the leading elements of the third platoon and found out about the situation. The company commander sent one squad to form an ambush and found on a line on the road where the second and third platoon had come down. When the enemy began coming out of the woods and approached to within about 15 yards of their position, the squad opened up and simply mowed the enemy down.
As a reinforced squad (mentioned above) was coming up to join with the second and third platoons at about 1130 hours, they noticed a German counterattack coming up the road in the vicinity of 969263. The purpose of this counterattack was to come up and cut off the rear of the battalion. The squad layed in ambush and when the enemy got into the open (they were jammed up), the squad open up with BAR, Mgs & rifles. When the enemy got by the squad there were only eight left out of the 100. The platoon sergeant then called the anti-tank platoon and informed them of the eight men coming up. Only one man was left when the enemy got by the anti-tank platoon.
The second and third platoons moved on into the square. In the vicinity of the square, the enemy began firing panzerfausts at out troops. These were fired above the heads of the men and the ricochets, shrapnel, etc. hitting the men and riddling them with schrapnel. After this, we started cleaning out the town block by block. No more opposition was met. About 1700 hours, the town was pretty well cleared out and we remained there for the night.
Emmett Segrue,
T/Sgt., Plt. Ldr.
Orman Spear
T/Sgt., Plt. Ldr.
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