This was the start of the famous 'one a second barrage'. Thereafter, at irregular intervals the Heinies would cut loose; and if a man ventured from the building he was a target of 88's and mortars. These are the reasons why we named the place 'Hell's Fire Corner'. During one of the heaviest barrages, Sgt. Toms left cover of the house to evacuate a wounded officer from a tank destroyer. All this time Olson remained up in plain sight, on the road operating his radio. Brewster was on the second floor of the OP and decided the cellar was the ideal place to be, so he started down. Your author guesses that an 88 mm. armor piercing projectile had the same idea because it followed him down the cellar steps. Never could catch him, though! Brewster guessed it had a head of its own.

Shaughnessy and 'Skinhead' were up in the attic observing and found a Heinie self-propelled gun which no one else had noticed previously. The SP gun was apparently disabled because men were seen to be working on it. Our two enterprising 'artillerymen' called down artillery fire and stopped that. When our tanks arrived on the scene they finished off the mobile vehicle, but only after an exciting tank action, for which we had ringside seats. Before we knew it, it was growing dusk, so we left the field for those who preferred it, and returned to Rheinberg.

Leaving the first section, we come back to pick up the narrative of the second section at the brick kiln. After leading the first section to Rheinberg, the second section under Sgt. DeDonato reported to Capt. Potter, who was following the platoon. At this time Capt. Potter set up his communications center and the section was given the job of going forward with two mine detectors to determine if the fork of the road described as 'Hell's Fire Corner' was mined. While en-route to perform this mission a near miss from a high velocity gun splattered the occupants of Sgt. DeDonato's peep with shrapnel.

While travelling at a speed close to 40 miles per hour Wilbur was hit in the leg and face with glass from the windshield and shrapnel from the exploding shell. Although wounded, he brought the vehicle to a stop, not once relinquishing control. He was evacuated immediately by Sgt. DeDonato and Sgt. Ripplemeier who went back to find out what had become of the section. "Pete" Cline took over driving Wilbur's peep after he was evacuated. The men in his section referred to Wilbur as the best darn driver in the whole Division. Old men in the outfit who remember motorcycle days swore that a better rider never straddled a 'bike'. Sgt. Joe, the 'Ginnie', and Pvt. Charles 'Pee Wee' Graham both were hit by shrapnel at the same time.

Later in the engagement the Mortar Platoon was running short of ammo, so 'Cotton' Frazee driving the recon H/T, Wally, and Norris with Lt. Young as car commander rolled up through 'Hell's Fire Corner' to deliver the ammo for the mortars. Not knowing the exact position of-the platoon, Lt. Young pulled up on what he thought was the safe side of a building. The crew had no sooner dismounted when a Heinie SP 75 mm. gun cut loose and scored three near hits and one direct hit on the back rack of the half-track. This rack contained all the platoon's reserve clothing and equipment. It was here that Lt. Young went charging out into big field after a sniper who was generally disrupting the serenity of the immediate locale. The joke was that Lt. Young had for a weapon a .45 cal. pistol and was not even sure where the Jerry was.

It was here also that Cottontop Frazee was seen for the first time in his life (that we know of) to be in a great hurry. His destination was a shell crater and his incentive the German mortars banging away. Har-r-vey (Roll the R's-he's Scotch) Norris' only printable comment was 'Oh, my cigarettes; some one-hundred and fifty packages of good American weeds ruined in the foul blasting of our rear rack'. Noteworthy was the fact that 160 rounds of mortar ammo in the rear of the half-track did not blow up, damage being limited to shrapnel holes in the projectiles.

One more patrol was the windup at Ossenberg. The first section went on a patrol from Rheinberg in the general direction of the Rhine River. The mission was completed without casualties.

THE
RUHR POCKET

Our narrative begins on the 27th March 1945, with an historical event. For the first time since the formation of a Geographical Germany, the Rhine River was crossed by a conquering army. We, as a part of that army rolled across on a cold foggy morning. A morning typical of that river. The Task force crossed on a pontoon built by the 17th Engineers. In all seriousness, even though we didn't make an assault crossing of the river, a great feeling of pride in achievement was universally felt by all, (most of whom were asleep at the time).

The most that is to be said of the Ruhr Pocket and all associated with it, is described as a nightmare of never ending movement. Our forces met stubborn resistance at Dorsten where the whole platoon was used for radio liaison work. It was during this action that Sgt. DeDonato took to flying - - the expedient being a peep and a large shell crater in the middle of the road. Ask Esco - - he pulled '-em out.

At Neuhaus the first section had a forward OP right on the front. Ellis had a tire shot out by a 20mm. cannon, and Toms finally gave vent to pent-up wrath at the whole race of Germans in general 'Cheap fun goin' around ruining my good tires!'. Bobby got in and drove the peep out from under their very noses - - his take-off can best be compared to that of a P-38. Charlie Kiser was slightly wounded by a shell fragment which ended up in a H/T seat. Esco, who was nonchalantly munching on a 'K' ration, sat on it - - he got the hot seat - - it was still very hot. When told that this piece of shrapnel was the one that 'got' Charlie, anxiety was felt by all until he was seen walking about - - then everyone promptly forgot about it. Things like that are, at the time, best forgotten.

On the approach march to Unna and Werl, the first section somehow found itself a long ways in advance of the most advanced units. Capt. Look was with us directing operations.

Later that day, Sgt. Ripplemeier with Sgt. Toms, Sgt. DeDonato, and the first section captured two small towns and their 'garrisons'. The Krauts simply did not see the sense of this war, anyhow. Hitler was 'nicht gut' and the war was all one big mistake in the first place. Joe assured them that it was a mistake indeed, a mistake that they were ever born.

A seemingly endless number of days later found us outside the city of Werl - sweating out enemy heavy artillery fire; and cooking ham and eggs, of which there seemed to be an inexhaustible supply. It was at this time that Lt. Young was wounded while signaling a column of tanks, attempting to make them button up and move from an intersection where they were drawing artillery fire. His only remark was, 'Well, the Huns finally caught up with me.'; and to the Colonel, 'Do you suppose there will be any nurses interested in a baldheaded old wreck like me?" To which the Colonel answered, 'In a couple of weeks you'll be out of bed and they will be chasing you all over the place'.

DERENBERG

Derenberg was the start of the last roundup for the platoon. One patrol was conducted in junction with the 88th Cavalry. It was a reconnaissance, in force, of enemy positions. The German outpost line was reached, fired upon, and then the mission was complete. No casualties were sustained by the patrol. Sgt. DeDonato kept liaison with the 83rd Infantry Division on our right, and had a few chance meetings with snipers. Luckily no one was hurt, and some extra ammo was expended. Headquarters Section, by necessity, was inactive, but got a lot of exercise chewing fingernails while sweating this out. Incidentally, that is about all there was to eat those days. It was while the Company was located here that T/Sgt. Ripplemeier received his Lieutenant's commission. He did and was doing a fine job. He says that the platoon's work and spirit earned him his bars. We think his leadership, displayed on every occasion, was the responsible factor.

The platoon moved into Blankenburg and was consequently swamped with the most PW's it ever had to handle. The work was basically PWE operations and the Military Police work on hand. All the radio peeps were dispatched to keep liaison with the 7th AIB of CCA. The biggest question asked about the entire Blankenburg engagement was 'Where in hell are all these guys coming from?' Germans came down from the hills in half-track convoys to surrender. After two days of this business the battalion moved to the vicinity of Elbingerode.

As soon as the mountain between Blankenburg and Elbingerode was surrounded, patrols were sent out to locate and record all enemy equipment in the locality. While on one of these patrols Sgt. Toms learned that it was possible to roll a peep over. (He dood it too! - four wheels in the air.) This accident happened while in the process of capturing a whole company of German soldiers. With this company that also had full combat equipment, was the battalion staff, Colonel and all. It also came to light that some SS men, in fact to hear them tell it, all SS men hated Hitler. 'We never wanted a war in the first place', they protested. Of course we believed them.

After approximately a two week stay in the vicinity of Elbingerode, our area was moved to accommodate the expanding Russian area. Moving day was beautiful, balmy with lots of sunshine. The platoon acted as route markers, assisting the Divisional M P's. The march was uneventful and soon we arrived in Uslar. We were leading a very comfortable near-garrison life; disturbed only by recurrent guard duty. It was while living this type of life that the final surrender occurred. V-E Day came as an anti-climax, as we were in our own minds out of the war nearly a week prior to that time.