INTERVIEW

Pfc John Newmyer, Troop Historian, Troop E, 88th Reconnaissance Squadron, 1430 hours 13 March 1945, Buschen, Germany, to Tec 4 Robert Newman.

There were two days of action against the enemy by the 88th Rcn. Squdrn. on 6 and 7 March 1945. At this time the squadron was under the operational control of the 35th Infantry Division. Troop A, D, C, E and Company F of the 88th Rcn. Squdrn. and one company of the 18th Tank Battalion were to give support to the 35th Infantry Division.

The mission of the squadron was to move to Linfort then northeast to the Rhine, and wipe out and destroy all opposition in the pocket of resistance Orsoy - Budberg - Rheinburg and the Rhine River.

On the first day the squadron encountered little enemy activity but toward evening ran into anti-tank fire and was stopped. They returned direct fire and managed to knock out one gun before darkness fell. Troop E fired most of its missions from Budberg. The squadron met the most resistance on the road running from Budberg to the Rhine. Each of the reconnaissance troops were subjected to some kind of fire - machine gun, mortar or artillery fire. The troops usually drew this fire every time each troop moved. This fire came from both sides of the Rhine but positive origin was not determined.

On the march the troop were used as foot infantry and followed by the tanks and vehicles. Elements of the 88th just out of Orsoy came upon what appeared to be enemy vehicles but turned out to be elements of the 5th Armored Division that had moved into the territory by mistake. The troops were also used for mopping up purposes and about 30 prisoners were taken. Those prisoners offered very little resistance although they were usually quite young and arrogant. As Troop C neared the Rhine, it took 20 more prisoners.

During this action there was an outstanding instance of bravery and clear thinking. On this particular occasion two men deliberately waited for three Jerries to completely set up a machine gun and then captured it just before the Jerries began to use it. On the afternoon of 7 March, Pfc Jamieson Terrell and T/5 Leslie Kenney of Trp C were manning an outpost behind a hedgerow in a small woods just northeast of Rheinberg (vic 219298). At about 1600 hours they noticed the three Jerries setting up the machine gun about 175 yards away. Terrell and Kenney proceeded to walk along the hedgerow until they were directly behind the spot where the gun was being set up. They debated the situation for about two minutes and decided to rush the gun, firing as they advanced upon it. Everything went as planned except that T/5 Kenney's gun failed to fire but they took the three German prisoner nevertheless.

The squadron only suffered six casualties for the two-day period and these were only slight injuries. This was an unusually low figure for an outfit of 700 men.

Discounting the undetermined results of the missions fired to the east banks of the Rhine, 60 of the enemy were killed and 13 wounded. One German anti-tank gun was captured complete, three anti-tank guns were knocked out, two half-tracks were knocked out and one truck was demolished.

Upon the completion of its mission, the squadron was on a line along the west bank of the Rhine extending for 5,000 yards. They were not promptly relieved as it was impossible for the 291st Infantry Regiment to take over all that frontage as they didn't have enough men to handle it.

The 8th Armored Division was pleased with the results of the action by this squadron.