EXPERIENCES OF 2D LT LAVAR V. ASH, Forward Observer #2, 'Battle of Nennig'.

My crew was composed of the following men:Sgt Carl V. Lawrence,Instrument Sergeant and loader of the 75mm, Cpl Edward McKernan, tank gunner, Tec 5 William J. Palumbo, driver, and Pfc Duard Lawrence, bow gunner. Shortly before noon, 21 January our firing batteries moved into position around Sendorf, Germany. At that time I moved with my tank and crew from Hunting, France, to a town called Petete Hetaunest where I was attached to Company 'A' of the 18th Tank Battalion. The days from 21 to 24 January were spent studying the terrain on which we were to operate and also getting acquainted with the men and officers of 'A' Company, 18th Tank Battalion.

At 250400 January, 'A' Company moved from its bivouac area to an assembly area in Sierck, France preceded by "C" Company which was to make the attack and to occupy the high ground north and east of Berg and Nennig. The plan of action was such that we were to wait at Sierck until 'C' Company had reached the first objective and occupy that high ground. 'B' Company which was relieved was to move through the second objective and occupy the high ground east of the town of Krueswiler, which was located about 5000 meters north of Nennig. However, 'C' Company was held up by an anti-tank ditch and anti-tank fire at Nennig. One tank did go up to the objective but withdrew. Later that night 'C' Company was withdrawn and placed in reserve.

We therefore remained in the town of Sierck all day and all night of the 25th. That night 'A' Company's commander, Captain Brenigan, and I went to the 18th Tank Battalion CP to get the plan of action for the 26th. It was as follows: 'A' Company was to move through Nennig and Berg which by this time had been cleared of the Germans by our 7th Armored Infantry Battalion and occupy the first objective and then push on to the second objective and take the third objective. At 260600 January, 'A' Company moved from Sierck and was to jump off at 0715 at Nennig. From the time we arrived at Nennig until we had reached the first objective we were under German mortar fire, probably their 120mm mortar. The first objective was taken with little trouble and no loss of personnel. The tanks would pull to the top of the hill and fire into the woods north of the hill and pull back. I likewise employed my tank the same way attempting to get observation at the same time. Meanwhile, the 7th had moved up and was taking prisoners all around us, who had been forced in to their foxholes by the tank fire. I would estimate that thirty Germans were killed and about twenty were taken prisoner.

The tanks then moved over the hill and across the road going east into Sinz and made an attempt to make the second objective. We were held up there about 200-250 yards north and east of the first objective by what seemed like everything the Germans had. We were under artillery and small arms fire and two tanks were hit by bazooka fire, coming from the heavier woods in front of us. I placed artillery fire on the woods north and east of me and later placed some fire on our front and right flank to stop a counter-attack. When the counter-attack was stopped we attempted to move forward but were stopped by an anti-tank ditch. At this time our air observer reported seven tanks approaching from Sinz, and the company commander employed his tanks to meet the thrust, but nothing developed. By this time (1600 hours) the tank company was running low on fuel and ammunition; so we were withdrawn to the first objective: All the time we were there until we were relieved, we were subjected to heavy mortar and artillery fire. The doughboys with us were taking the beating while they were digging in for the night.

At 1830 'B' Company pulled up to relieve us, and we withdrew to Sierck, refueled, loaded ammunition and stayed here. My crew fired 250 rounds from 130 cal machine gun, 13 rounds from the 75mm, and the bow gunner fired 1750 rounds from his .30 cal machine gun. The bow gunner killed one German for certain. The plan of attack for the 27th was as follows: 'B' Company was to move east and try to outflank the AT ditch, take the second objective and hold; then 'A' Company was to move through and take the third objective. We moved to the first objective at 1100 hours. 'B' Company had jumped off at 0810 and had moved east about 500 yards and had encountered heavy resistance from AT weapons and tanks. They found deep gullies that prevented them from moving to the second objective. When this was reported, the plan of attach was changed. 'B' Company was ordered to outflank them on the south and attack the German rear and left flank. We pushed through some heavy woods to accomplish this mission. Several of 'A' Company's tanks ran over mines and were disabled. However, the mission was accomplished, and two of the enemy tanks were destroyed by 'A' Company.

By this time 'B' Company had moved to a hill 300 yards west of Sinz and was shelling the town. Lt Druary, FFO #3 was directing our artillery fire on the town; so when I arrived, there wasn't much I could do but fight as a tank. My crew fired on the town and destroyed several buildings and set them on fire. We fired in all windows in sight with the .30 cal machine gun. We noticed some Germans withdrawing from the town; so we fired on them. By this time we could not use artillery on the town as the 94th Infantry Division was advancing on it from the south and east. They moved in under our covering tank fire, and secured the first three buildings and captured approximately one hundred prisoners. There were also plenty of dead Jerries lying around. By this time it was about 1530 and "B" Company being low on fuel and ammunition, withdrew. 'A' Company had only four tanks left and my tank.

Several tanks were stuck in a tank ditch, and others were knocked out by mines and AT fire. Our orders were still to move through the town; so I followed my company commander into the town. We were getting fire from an 88 on the hill east of the town; so I called for artillery fire on it. I could get no answer from the Battalion but saw the fire land; so I assumed my radio receiver was out. We were also encountering heavy resistance from the town itself; so we pulled around to the side of the town to shell it. By this time 'D' Company of the light tank battalion was committed, and we pulled back to the outskirts of town and covered them. They lost one tank in the town and didn't [pull through it as CC 'A' was taken out of the action. At 1930 we withdrew to the first objective where I received orders to report back to the 398th CP. We pulled back through a terrific ten minute mortar barrage plus artillery on the town of Nennig.

Some interesting things I saw during our two-day stay were: (1) The rescue of Lt Kling, 2d platoon commander. His tank was knocked out in the first day's action by a bazooka. He was wounded badly in the left elbow, and his gunner and loader were injured. They jumped from the tank onto the ground, and the driver pulled out and left them unprotected. Though the Germans started to machine gun them, Lt Cox pulled down with two other tanks from the third platoon, formed a wedge around them with two tanks while the crew of the third placed the injured on the back deck and evacuated them. Lt Cox killed the bazooka team and wiped out two mortar positions. (2) Lt Druary and Lt Harmer cross-fired on a church steeple being used as an OP and knocked it down. (3) Most of the German prisoners were boys from 15 to 17 years of age or old men from 35 to 46. The thing that made me angry was when Germans machine gunned our medics who were carrying a litter with a wounded man on it.

When we 'sweated it out' the most was when an artillery shell hit under our front end. We backed up fifty yards, and one hit under our back end. We didn't know where to move next. Our total ammunition fired was 875 rounds cal .30, 33 rounds 75mm, thirty-five probable killed or wounded and three houses and one pill box destroyed. 'A' Company had to destroy two tanks in this action because they were not in condition to be evacuated.