9. Luxembourg & Holland
Luxembourg
January, 1945
The Ninth Army was located far to the North in Holland so we were off on another long, cold road march. It was about 250 miles north of where we were and took us almost three days to arrive there. The icy roads were still a hazard and it took a major effort just to stay on the road. We passed through northeastern France, Luxembourg and Belgium before arriving in Holland. The weather moderated some during the trip but there was still a lot of snow and ice around.
Our northern march took several days because the First Army was between the Third army and the Ninth Army so we had to pass through them to get to where we were assigned. I suppose the Ninth needed another armored division to get ready for crossing the Rhine after the Ardennes campaign was over. Gen. Montgomery loved to get as many American divisions under him as he could talk Gen. Eisenhower into releasing.
Belgium
February, 1945
We passed through many of the towns that were in the middle of the fighting during the Battle of the Bulge a short time before. It was hard to tell where we were most of the time because a lot of the road signs were missing or we didn't see them as we passed since we moved a lot at night. We went through Luxembourg City I know because I remember how pretty a town it was. It had a large bridge over a gorge, which surprised me because you would think that it would have been blown up. We also passed through St. Hubert and many of the other small towns in Belgium, which were sites of many battles. Most of the towns were completely devastated.
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Feb. 4, 1945 - President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin begins an 8-day conference at Yalta to hammer out postwar plans.
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As usual, the mess crew did another great job under the circumstances in providing us with hot coffee, sandwiches and other food that they could transport to us on the march. They would show up at all hours of the day or night with something to eat and drink. Sometimes we would stop for five or ten minutes for a break and here they would come. The biggest problem was to try to get everyone served before we moved out again. They even handed out food and drink on the march a few times and we sure appreciated it.
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