Evening star., 1944-09-14

angles.
Four Houses Burn.
Over to the right one of our tanks
75's erupted and another house-a
rather pretentious-lo looking house of
red brick-burst into fame. A radio
somewhere in the woods began to
talk about concealed "88" that had
been sheltering in the shadow Pres
emily. four houses were burning to
complete the fiery ring that now
trimmed our narrow horizon.
For perhaps IS minutes they
burned briskly while guns at the
edge Of the woods were silent and
the air was filled with the rumble
OF columns coming up from the
wreck of the Siegfried Line to join
battle. The world ahead of us
seemed to be filled with fire. the
world behind us was cluttered with
armor.
The lull was broken with a terri
Tying blast of machinegun fire from
the left. The Panther tank might
have been disabled so that its big
gun could no longer get the eleva-
ton but its smaller -cahber weapons
had not been hurt. Almost simulta-
neously a shell ripped through the
trees from the direction of the town.
Dousboys dropped fiat and all but
one tank-the one on the left near
est the road-dropped back into the
screen of brushwood. Over the ra-
dio you could hear orders to the
driver and gunner Of this lone out
post OF Americas drive into Ger
many. Where were all the bullets
and shells coming from, and why
weren't they doing something about
it? They did do something about it.
Long since. we had abandoned
our jeep and gone forward on foot
and and this moment we were in
probably the most advantageous
spot ever given to a civilian to look
at war.
Tank Goes Into Action.
In q matter OF split seconds the
tank on the left began a numbering
waltz. One tread stood still while
the other tore the turf to bits and
as its :elephantine dance progressed
bringing the huge iron body forward
from its camoufiage of lone apple
tree, the turrer swung ponderously
to the left. 81
The long tube of the "75" came
suddenly to a standstill, the gun
went of and squirt of flame rose
so feet in the still clear air over the
side road alongside the red brick
house. The disabled tank was no
longer merely disabled; it was now
completely finished.
That, from where we sat. looked
like enough for one tank gunner in
one day but more came in 80 Sec
onds. The tank continued to dance
as the turret, with sundry groans
and grumbles, came straight again.
To an old artilleryman 1t seemed
that the gun had hardly come back
to the battery before it fired again.
This time streak of flame came
from alongside a building at the
edge of the town and a lad, steadv-
ing his field glasses on the edge of
a radio car. gasped
Its a self-propelled gum" he
said, "or else it's Tiger tank. It's
the biggest thing I ever saw and boy.
Is it done"
Well, even If one forgets the sig
nficance of this battle. which is
likely to end the importance of the
Siegfried Line in this area, one
cannot overlook such shooting as
this. For purposes of the record,
the gunner of that tank was Sergt.
Benjamin Barney, Meaker, Colo.
and his technique was the finest
thlng we have seen in this war.
Performance Praised.
His observer was Sergt. Joe Car
aig, Port Arthur Tex, who spotted
the Tiger as it showed its nose on
the edge of town. But as indiyid-
uals, it would be the opinion of this
observer that they have produced
the most spectacular performance
any tank gun has displayed since
D-day.
We mentioned this to Mai. Nc
Cahan, who seemed pleased but un-
impressed. -
'Of course, Barney's a good gun
ner," he said. He has to be if he Is
going to stay alive. In business
like this you get only one shot and
1t had better be the first one"
After the destruction of the TIGER
IN the village. Sergt. Barney's tank
began to clip the grass tops with
tracer bullets into the woods on the
right. The radio echoed q call to
the artillery. Fire. unnoticed In the
general turmoil, was coming out OF
this area and keeping the infantry
on the road.
The artillery answered with a
blast that literally shook the ground
under ones feet. Behind us q
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