Evening star., 1944-07-28
BY IRA WOLFERT,

WITH THE UNITED STATES
INFANTRY, WEST OF ST. LO.
July Is Delayed The disision on
this sector went to work this morn
ing for what the censors may permit
us to describe as considerable ac-
tivity, and the major general in
command went to work, too.
I asked If I might hang around
with him in the course OF the day
I'D be much obliged II you would
said the general.
This general has a courtly way of
saying everything and doing every
thing. His many years In the Army.
and after spending so many out of
the last 81 days on the front line,
have not hardened his manners. He
still is as soft and courtly and as
really fine and nice as a middle
aged college professor. An attack Is
on here and I cannot reveal the
generals name until the Germans
have taken enough prisoners and
searched enough of our dead to
identify the American division fight-
ing here.
Important Findings.
What this division finds out Is
very important all the way back up
the line, through the corps and the
Army and on even to London and
Washington. I dare say that Presi-
dent Roosevelt himself got some ver-
sion of what this general said today
In situation like that, the gen.
eral explained, it's question OF
weighing very exactly the meaning
Of what Is going on, where the fel-
lows shoot rifles at one another at
close range and so forth. The fel-
lows shooting rifles say, Il walked
to here. There are light mortars
here and a machine gun and nine
fresh dead and one stinker from
away back maybe to yesterdays
bombing and II wounded and 4
prisoners
Then a second Looie with the
rifles gives the map co-ordinat tes
back to the company commander,
who figures out where the platoons
have got to and how many Of them
are still left alive. This is important
because 1t shows two things How
strong the Germans are and how
much drive is left in our outfit.
Word Passed Aleng.
Then the battalion figures out
where all its companies are and
what they are up against and 1t
passes the word on to the regiment
commander and he in turn passes
it on to the division commander.
when the attack starts" the
general said, Il don't have much
to do. Must of my work, planning
and so forth, Is over Everybody
knows his assignment and if all goes
we'll l just sit with all have fiat
against the seat of chair and try
to figure things out"
The point is, the general went
on, where to sit. There is a time
lag of minutes between sergeants
of squads and the lieutenants of
their platoons. And there is a long
er time lag in getting the informa-
tion from the heutenants to the
captains Of their companies, and
by the time 1t gets up to the divi-
sion commander the time lag is
+ running into hours. The trick is to
follow up fast and move your bat
teries and battalions before the
general sitting in the hedges across
the way can make an answer.
Can Move Too Far.
There is such thing as getting
too far forward" explained the
general further. "One of our regi-
ments little while ago had to pass
a very bad patch of mud and water.
1t crossed into two battalion
strength, with a third battalion in
reserve. The regimental commander
wanted to get as far forward as
possible to learn when to commit
his reserves, so he went up with
one of the battalions.
This battalion got shot up very
badly on the way through the water
and there wasn't too much left of it
when 1t got to the other side. There
was not enough to hold a counter
attack, SO the colonel called the
whole thing of and withdrew with
what he thought were the remnants
|of the regiment. However, as it
turned out, the second battalion had
made the crossing almost intact.
"I fhA
OF the regiment a new assignment
the next day.
That means the colonel was fred.
Chooses Next Stop.
The general chose last night the
place where he would stay today.
1t was about mile and a half from
the German lines and he could inter-
cept from there what the com.