8 April (con't)

we were putting out. The Krauts were evidently quite impressed, for the only resistance we encountered was a few scattered rounds of mortar fire. Once in the town, however we received fairly heavy artillery fire, but most of it landed on the outskirts of town, while we were for the most part in the center. Casualties for the operation were light. Sgt. Raymond Fisher, Pvt. Georae Buckley, Medic Milan Bagel, and Pfc. William Cook were slightly wounded. We aet up a defense of the town and stayed there for the night. During the night the first platoon was turned out to route out about seven more prisoners, who had been left behind and gotten drunk. They were asleep in the cellar for the most part, although one of them had gone out to try and capture a tank single handed, thus bringing on his downfall.

9 April

Co. A took over the attack and the men were withdrawn from their outposts and into

town. We mounted up about noon, and proceeded to Hemmerode, in support of Task Force Van Houten, where we spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for further orders. This movement was made under artillery fire, and during the halt, artillery continued to rain on us. Here Lt. Bell was evacuated. He had taken over the Company when morale had been weakened, and although not an experienced line officer, be had lead the company in such a way that confidence and morale was restored and remained high. We felt his loss keenly at this time. The artillery fell intermittently all during the afternoon, but let up towards evening, and hot chow was served. During the afternoon the Division Artillery was brought up and emplaced around us, and we found that artillery makes a great deal of noise from the sending end too.

10 April

We were alerted early in the morning to take over the attack, and after a cup of hot coffee, by way of a breakfast, we moved out on foot, passing through Co. C, and forming up at the line of departure while a vast fleet of tanks rolled up ready to support us with direct fire. Our mission was to clear the left side of the railroad tracks up to the outskirts of Unna, while the 95th Infantry advanced on our right clearing the right side of the tracks.

The attack commenced with an artillery and tank barrage, and we moved out on a two platoon front with the second on the right and the third on the left, with the first and fourth in support. Col. Roseborough assumed command of the company during this operation.

We held up on a north south road while the tanks were brought up and gave overhead support. We drew enemy fire from a 105 rifle set up in the town of Vob, and there were several air bursts but no casualties were inflicted. We jumped off about noon. The third platoon arrived at their first objective and cleared out a bunch of houses called Mulhausen, but no enemy were encountered except a few scared civilians. We held up again while the artillery fired into town, picking off enemy gun positions. After a lengthy barrage we moved out again, with the second platoon along the tracs and the third platoon along the road.

The second platoon encountered no resistance, until they came dose to Vob, where they drew fire from several Krauts dug in under a culvert. The first and second squads moved into a building, while the rest of the platoon stayed out to shoot it out with the Krauts for the rest of the afternoon.

The third platoon was fired upon from the left of the road, and the third squad, which was in the lead, crawled up to a point where they could fire at the Krauts emplaced around the 105. Alter they had wounded a couple and put the rest in a surrendering frame of mind they made a dash for the two buildings to the left of the road and set up a defense. Pfcs Walker and Stewart went out on a short patrol and observed a large number of SS men dug in along the railroad spur to their front and in the field to their left. They returned with two prisoners. Shortly

after that, as tanks were coming up to support both platoons, the Krauts attacked. The call went back for artillery, and with the tanks coming up and the artillery coming in right on the nose, the attack was beaten off without casualties. An attempt was then made by a couple of suicide minded SS men to sneak up on the positions and heave hand grenades, but the third platoon spotted them and knocked them off before they had a chance to throw their grenades.

At dusk the first and fourth platoons, supported by a platoon of tanks from Co. B of the 36th Tanks, charged across the field in which some SS men were holed up, killing several and forcing the rest to retreat across the railroad spur. This action cleared the left flank and front of the third platoon's precarious position. The third platoon had been almost surrounded up till this time, and were beginning to get a little worried with nightfall. Six prisoners were captured in the attack and the first and fourth platoons then moved in with the third and set up a defense for the night.

As a matter of interest, this attack was said by one of the observers from the 95th Division staff to be one of the best coordinated attacks by tanks and infantry that he had ever seen.

11 April

Early in the morning, as we were making a breakfast of last night's hot chow, the order came out to fire every available weapon into Unna as a base of fire for CCA, which was moving in on our left flank to take the town. This done, we entered the outskirts of the town to clear out a few blocks, but finding nothing but a few dead SS men scattered around, we withdrew to our original positions. Here we found the tracks and hot chow waiting, a welcome sight indeed. We spent the afternoon washing, shaving, and cleaning our weapons. Several of us put on a rodeo, much to the amusement of all concerned, except to the puzzled and rebellious horses they were trying to ride.

Later in the afternoon we pulled back to a little town called 5iddinghauaen, and were placed in Corps reserve. For once we weren't called out to spearhead some attack, which was what usually happened when we were placed in Corps Reserve, and spent a peaceful night. Here the T/O was augmented by two more buck sergeants, as Joe Campanella and Winfield Rich sewed on their new stripes.

By way of a little added information on the

preceding operations, the units facing us on the push from Werl to Unna were the 60th Panzer GrenadierRegt. and the 156th Regiment of the 116th Panzer Division. The total prisoner take for the battalion was 660.

12, 14 April

We welcomed Capt. Griggs, our new Company Commander. At 1300 we left Siddinghausen freed at last from the Ruhr pocket. Since Paderborn, while the rest of the Armored Division were racing for Berlin, we had been holed up there, and were in fact becoming known as the 'Eightball in the Ruhr Pocket'. We traveled all day and all night, arriving at a large town south of Brunswick, called Wolfenbuttel. Upon arrival we found billets, cleaned up, and caught up on some of the rest we had been missing. Our duties were largely occupational, and aside from a few mounted patrols and a guard on the prison cage that was rapidly filling to overflowing, we did little but sleep, eat and rest.

15 April

We left Wolfenbuttel in the afternoon and traveled south to Westernhausen, passing the flattened town of Halberstadt on the way. We arrived at about 1900,

and waited around while the orders came down to start looking for billets. We were in the midst of uncleared territory and had a large sector to outpost. The third platoon was sent to a little town called 8ornecke, about three kilometers north, to establish outposts. The other three platoons were billeted in the town for the night. In a few days we had every platoon out on outpost somewhere, and were sending out patrols. There was a large number of enemy in the area, and trip flares and booby traps were set around the outposts. These trip flares would go off several times each night at least, and although it is believed that the enormous jack-rabbits that abounded in the area were responsible for a great many of these alarms, but the lead was flying thick and fast all the same.

16 April

During the day the tension let up a great deal, for our greatest worry was not daylight attacks, but combat patrols at night. The fourth platoon was broken up and scattered around as reinforcements for the various outposts. This set up a tighter defense system, but we still felt that we were woefully undermanned for the area we had to cover, and there were many gaps. The outposts were frequently attacked by patrols, and some short but bitter fights took place before they would withdraw. One of our patrols going out to contact the third platoon in a peep were ambushed and fired upon, but they stepped on the gas and drove like hell

for the third platoon outpost and escaped.

We suffered several casualties on this date. Although nobody was killed, T/5 Robert Pinkard, Pvt. Robert Holt, and Pvt. "Red" LePage were wounded.

17, 20 April

We continued in the task of defending Westerhausen and area, encountering nightly patrol action but suffering no casualties. We killed several Krauts, however, and wounded and captured many others. Our artillery fired in defensive support, and on one occasion we drew return fire from either mortars or 88s. Co. A attacked some woods on our right flank and cleared them, relieving us of that flank to some extent, and the tension relaxed a little.

21 April

We were alerted early in the morning for the coming attack on Blankenburg. The first and second platoons moved out from Westerhausen, Germany, leaving the fourth platoon to defend the town, and moved forward to high ground overlooking the town encountering no opposition, and dug in.

The third platoon meanwhile, moved out to take a high wooded hill on the right flank. The second squad was sent out to take the hill, while the rest