Evening star., 1944-08-13
BY Thomas r. Henry,
Star War Correspondent.

Star War Correspondent.
WITH AMERICAN TROOPS IN
FRANCE (by MaiD.-The last white
petals OF early June were fiuttering like
swarms of moths in the apple orchards
OF Normandy when American troops
dropped from the dark skies and rushed
over frothy beaches onto the stage Of
the great offensive planned to smash
from the west the shell of Nazi defenses
around Europe.
Southwark and westward from the
tidal marshes through which the bat
talions waded stretched an awesomely
lovely land-a country of lowered gray
stone chateaus, centuries old, over the
waters Of whose moats stately swans
cut black convolutions through floating
fields Of green algae.
1t was q country which had been at
peace for nearly fve centuries. Only
minor ARRAYS during the French Rev.
olution had brought the echo of guns
to Normandy since the Hundred Years
War. 1t was deeply religious land.
Christ hung from the cross at nearly
every crossroad. Land of fairy forests
and sacred springs, the country OF
Tristan und Isolde.
Within few days there was fighting
around the village Church of the An
gelus.
OF greatest. significance were the
hedges. They were unique, for In Nor
mandy every field was surrounded COM
pletely by shoulder high thick hedge,
growing on top Of an ancient grass
covered earth wall 4 or feet in height.
Below the walls were usually deep
bitches which were to save a great
deal of the labor OF digging foxholes.
Among the hedges ran a crisscross sat-
tern Of sunken roads and lanes. These
hedges were of thorn bushes, frothy
with white blossoms. They soon were
to be pink with wild roses. Such a
terrain was ideal for the defenders.
Every hedge-topped earthwall was a
parapet from the shelter of which rifle
men and machine gunners, in relative
safety, could pour halls of lead into ad-
vancing troops.
Tanks could not 60 over the obstruc-
tions. Not until ways were devised for
them to shove their own way through
the earthwalls were the tractored mov-
ing fortresses Of much value in the Nor
mandy campaign. Under the walls rife
squads could tunnel dugouts in which
they were relatively secure, both from
sir-dropped bombs and artillery she'll
ing.
The invaders, puzzled at first, soon
realized that the country must be taken
field by field, orchard by orchard, hedge
row by hedgerow. Progress would be
slow and costly advances must be by
companies and platoons creeping along
hedgerows, flushing out snipers, empty
ing dugouts with hand grenades. Every
hedge must be taken or there would be
disastrous flanking movements. 1t was
to be the nearest approach to Indian
warfare known for century where
ones life depended on quick wits, quick
reactions and deadly accuracy of aim.
Like Indian Warfare
This was the type of campaign which
we, used to ingenuity resourcefulness
and adaptability, were called on to fur
nish to the uttermost. Never before
have they been more quickly forthcom-
Ing. City-bred boys became almost
overnight Daniel Boones and Davie
Crocketts Day by day they looked more
like Indians. Helmets were covered
with leaves or featherlike rags of
camouhage netting until they looked
like war bonnets Many shaved their
heads, leaving only scalp lock. The
soldiers even painted their faces. They
made themselves complete suits of the
ereen-checked silk of the parachutes
used by paratroopers the first hours of
the invasion and abandoned in the
felds. The object of the soldier, of
course, was to make himself indistin-
guishable from the foliage and invisible
to snipers.
The enemy was quick to realize the
defensive value OF the terrain. He dis
persed his troops, for the most part of
rather inferior order at first, in pla-
toons and companies over wide stretches
OF country. He posted camoutlaged
sharp shooters in tree platforms amidst
Ivy and mistletoe. Night and day the
nerves were racked by the canvas-tear-