Evening star., 1944-06-08
7 service expected to clear the beach

service expected to clear the beach
head.
Some of the beaches to the right
and left Of our objectives had little
Or no resistance, so when our boats
were unable to land with supplies
they were diverted to other beaches
Pillboxes Disguised as Rocks.
Capt. John D. Small, Chevy Chase
Md, here on special naval mis-
sion, went in on the first boat wave
and returned to the transport, say
ing:
1T is rough. Terrible. Awful.
PIlboxes were untouched. The
Nazis have a lot of fire power there
Pill boxes were disguised as rocks
The Germans controlled water mines
from shore"
1t. q. g. Ross E. Schumann, %,
Chicago, said his PIT boat staged
duels with machine gun nests along
the beaches, knocking out several
with 3-inch guns. His ship also
blew a military car of the road
inland.
1t. Schumann. who is participat-
ing in his third invasion, said naval
5-inch shells bounced off enemy pill
boxes built in the cliff, doing little
damage to the heavy concrete fac
ings.
He said Rangers captured their
beach quickly, but failed to scale the
cliffS and silence the 155-mm. bat
terry.
The Rangers had borrowed hy-
draulic ladders from the London
Fire Department to help scale the
cliffs. These ladders had 30-caliber
machine guns lashed to the top
rungs.
1t. Schumann said the American
flame throwers did excellent work
against the fortified houses, in some
cases turning areas occupied by the
enemy into flaming hell. These
houses had enabled the NaziS. how
ever, to kill numbers of soldiers ad-
Vancing across the beaches.
Worse Than Sicilian Assault.
One of the first heroes back was
1t. q. g. Charles E. Lavender. "a
OF New Zion, s. c.. commander OF
the first boat wave, who reported; via
radio the first landing of United
States troops. He said the gunfire
was heavy and the sea rough. His
boat saved two soldiers from cao-
sized ducks"
Coxswain James Wimberly. 81. of
Spartanburg, S. c., who took the
first wave of troops to one of the
most hotly contested beaches, said
the French landing was tougher
than the murderous Sicilian assault.
He said the fortified houses were
the worst obstacles met by his land
ing party.
Seaman Second Glass; Andrew
Politi, "A, of New York City, brought
back boat half-swamped from the
beachhead. His boat had rescued
two half drowned tankmen.
Boat 13 returned with three dead
soldiers.
Seaman (second Class Joseph E.
Powell. 10, of Connersville, Ind, his
teeth chattering from the cold water.
said he didn't know what had hit
his boat. Soldiers who were not
wounded made their way to the
beaches, leaving their equipment, in
Guiding bangalore torpedoes, in the
boat.
In the midst OF the excitement a
man fell overheard from our ship.
but was quickly rescued by a landing
boat manned by frozen, tired kids.
The water became so rough that
the boats bringing the wounded back
were unable to get them aboard.
Reports came in that mines had
sunk some of our landing craft,
sending the men to death and
wrecking guns and other needed
equipment. We managed to take on
six dead and four wounded men.
At HIS am. our warships opened
furious bombardment, trying to
relieve the hard-pressed troops
ashore. Soma had mired in soft
sand and were helpless.
1t was a grim picture near the
beaches. We couldn't land and
many boats spun in aimless circles.
waiting hopefully for gunfire to
clear the beachheads. Rising tides