Evening star., 1944-06-10
Nv ERNIE PYLE.
Representing the Combined Allied Press
Distributed by the Associated Press.

Distributed by the Associated Press.
ON THE CONTINENT TAI
BEACHHEAD, June Delayed -
1t will be several days before mill
tary security permits us to describe
in much detail the landings just
made in the long awaited Allied in
vasion of Europe.
Indeed, it will be some time before
we have a really clear picture of
what has happened or what is hap
pening at the moment. You must
realize the terrible confusion of war
fare and the frantic, nightmarish
thunder and smoke and bedlam of
battle to realize this.
So we will take up this short in
terval by telling you how things led
up to the invasion from a CORE
spondent's viewpoint. Actually this
column is being written on ship in
convoy crossing the English Channel
so it will be ready to send back to
England by dispatch boat as" soon
as we hit the beach.
$50 u. S. Writers in Britain.
When we secretly left London a
few days ago there were more than
$50 American correspondents gath
cred in Britain for this impending
moment in history.
But only % of those $50 were
to take part in what was termed the
assault phase. was one of those 49,
Some Of the rest will come over
later, some will cover other. angles,
some will never come at all.
We assault correspondents were
under military jurisdiction for the
past month while waiting. We had
complete freedom in London but
occasionally the Army would sud-
denly order us in patches to take
trips around England. Also, during
those last few weeks we were called
frequently for mass conferences and
briefed by several commanding gen.
erals. We had completed all our
field equipment, got our inocula-
tions up to date, finished our official
accrediting to Supreme Allied Head
quarters and even sent off our bed
rolls 10 days before the final call
ana will rejoin them some time on
this side, We hope.
Many Have Seen Action.
OF % correspondents in the as
Sault group, about tWo-thirds had
already seen action in various war
theaters. Real old-timers sort of
gravitated together. People such as
Bin Stoneman, Don Whitehead
Jack Thompson, Clark Lee, Tex
IO'Reilly and myself.
We conjectured on when we would
get the final call, conjectured on
what assignments we would draw.
Tor few OF us knew what unit we
would go with. And in more pen
slve moments We also conjectured
on our chances of coming through
the thing alive. We felt our chances
were not very good. And we were
not happy about it.
Men like Don Whitehead and
Clark Lee, who had been through
the mill SO long and so boldly, be-
gan to get nerves And, frankly.
I was the worst of the lot and con-
tinued to be. I began having ter
rible periods of depressions and
often would dream hideous dreams
about it. All the time fear lay
blackly deep upon our conscious
ness. 1t bore down on your heart
like an all-consuming weight. Peo-
ploe would talk to you and you
wouldn't hear what they were say
ing.
HOur-and- Half Notice.
The Army said they would try to
give us "a hours notice of departure.
Actually the call came at 8 o'clock
one morning and We were ordered
to be at certain place with full
fleld kit at 1920. We threw our
stun together: some went away and
LETT hotel rooms still running up
bills. Many had dates that night,
but did not dare phone to call them
off.
AS We arrived one by one at the
appointed place we looked both
knowingly and sheepishly at each
other and the Army continued to
tell us this was just another exer-
else, but we knew inside ourselves
that this was it.
Bill Stoneman. who had been
wounded once, never shows the
slightest concern about these things.
Whether he feels anything or not
do not know. Bill has humorous,
sardonic manner and while we were