The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1944-12-29
Battlefield
Continued From Page

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was time 10 do only one thing
attack them.
II grabbed hold Of one of my
captains and SAID: son, get 10
hell up there near Cincy village
with what tanks you've got and
start kicking hell out of them.
Wen be along soon TO back
you up
That was the way il started,
and il hasn't let up for four days
and four nights-but the morale
of my boys has picked up 200
per cent because they know
they're doing fine. It's like they
were making a breakthrough
again themselves.
That first night we were
moving up with infantry ahead
Of us when we ran into a Ger
man column headon. Our dough-
boys just pulled off the road and
our tanks let go at 40 yards and
butChered up the Germans.
1--WE knocked out rs vehicles
and there were dead Krauts ly-
ing all over the place"
AT RIVERS EDGE
The closest German vehicles
to the Meuse were three tanks
which Allied armor caught and
destroyed just east of the river
town of Dinant.
"At CelleS," the commander
continued, 1--WE surrounded a big
bunch Of KrautS and fought them
all night and all the next day
the damnedcst Christmas week I
ever spent. We hit them with
everything - artillery, fighter
bombers, tanks and doughboys.
THE just wouldn't surrender.
We really had the drawstring
around them, too, and were 60
ing after them hammer and
tongs from three directions.
That was when their relieving
column of eight tanks and in
fantry came up behind us. And
that wa swhere those British Ty-
phoons came in, too.
eve could have turned around
and dealt with those tanks all
right, but some of the Germans
in the moose in front of us
might have slipped out. But the
Typhoons got rid of seven of
the tanks and their infantry
scattered for home.
CORNER REMNANTS
Later we cornered what was
left of the Germans around
Celles in a woods east of the
town. They still wouldn't quit,
so we wiped them out. Now
there are dead Krauts all over
the ground - thrown all over
the woods for miles"
Some of the fiercest fighting
ragged in the streets Of the village
Of Human, four miles southwest
Of the Marche Road junction,
where seven Panther tanks kept
firing even after they were plas-
tered by five heavy American
artillery Serenades.
Il got two of my tank destroy
ers working on one Panther
said the commander. HE was
sneaking back down the street
away from one when my other
sneaked up behind him. He let
the Panther get within six feet
of him before he let 60. That
shell blew the rear end of the
Panther up in the air and knock
ed off the turret.
"Some more Krauts holed up
in an old chateau and we
couldn't blow them out with
anything. They wouldn't bulge,
so I sent back for flamethrow-
ers. AS soon as they came up the
Germans came out with their
hands up. It broke the heart of
my flamethrowers.
an one village one of my
captains who had only IL tanks
with him at the time stopped ID
Panthers and knocked out seven
of them. That was Capt. Henry
Chatfield Ga Harvard law school
graduate who lives at Third and
Plum streets in CincinnatD. He
lost only one gun and the turret
off one tank. I am going to
recommend medal for that
boy"
The tank commander told of
one humorous incident that &C.
Cured during the battle:
Last night some of my boys
were dog tired and went to sleep
on the ground floor of build
ing without searching 1t. In the
morning one woke up early and
got curious. He climbed TO the
second floor and there were
seven Germans asleep. They're
prisoners now - but 1t makes
me feel bad because my boys
were so careless. It's good one Of
them was an early riser.
They're really worn out -
~.