INTERVIEW

Capt. Walter C. Handley, CO, Company C, 80th Tank Battalion,
1400 hours, 17 March 1945, Vinkrath, Germany, to Lt. Kitts.

During the three-day period immediately proceeding the crossing of the Roer River on the 28th of February, C Company was attached to the 405th Field Artillery Bn. south of Maasbracht and were in firing positions at 716838. The tank company was surveyed in by the 405th and all missions fired by C Company were observed fire, harassing missions fired into the area of Heide Woods (766858) which were later cleared by the 58th AIB.

C Company was the leading tank company of the 80th Tank Bn. operating under CCR as Task Force No. 1 under the command of Major Austin E. Walker. Task Force No. 1 crossed the Roer River early morning of the 28th of February and remained in Wegberg for 36 hours after arriving there. They left Wegberg at 0430 hours 2 March and followed CCA into Lobberich, by the following route: Merberk – Silverbeck – Waldniel – Amern St. Georg – Dilkrath – Boisheim – Lobberich, arriving there at 1500 hours the same day. In Lobberich they marched northeast toward Gretrath, their initial objective. The task force encountered mines between Lobberich and Grefrath when the lead tank struck a mine and broke a track. Engineers were called up and they removed between 35 and 50 Riegel mines. The enemy was not encountered in Grefrath and the column closed in that town at 1800 hours 2 March.

The task force remained in Grefrath the night of the 2d and left at 0600 hours 3 March, advancing to the east by the following route: Mulhausen – Kempen – Vosch (086115) – St. Hubert (106104) – Crossroads (134112) – Vinnbruck. The bridge at 14012 had been blown and upon approaching it, Company C was met by mortar and artillery fire.

At this moment three P-47's presented themselves, although not on request and firing rocket projectiles fired on the ridge north of Vinnbruck between that town and Tonisberg. One large puff of smoke rising in the target area indicated a direct hit in Capt. Handley's opinion on an ammunition dump. Meanwhile the tank dozer from C Company was brought up to fill in the road where the bridge had been blown. When the filling in was completed and one tank had crossed, orders were received by CCR relieving them and C Company returned to Wall (062103) in the CCR concentration area.