The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1945-02-15

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through the hedge. to do a lot Of
shooting and hold up the Ameri.
cans as long as they can.
Our men now sneak along the
front side of the hedgerow, throwing
grenades over onto the other side
and spraying the hedges with their
guns. The fighting is very close
only a few yards apart-but it Is
seldom actual h~and-to-hand stuff.
Sometimes the remaining Ger.
mans come out Of their holes with
their hands up. Sometimes they try
to run for it and are moved down.
Sometimes they won't come out at
all, and a hand grenade, thrown
into their hole, finishes them of.
And so we've taken another hedge
row and are ready to start on the
one beyond.
This hedgerow business is a series
Of little skirmishes like that clear
across the front, thousands and thou.
sands Of little skirmishes. No single
one Of them is very big. But add
them all up over the days and weeks
and you've got a man-sized war,
with thousands on both sides being
killed.
No Set Pattern
II you were to come over here
and pick out some hedge-enclosed
field at random. the fighting there
probably wouldn't be following the
general pattern at all. For each
n is a little separate war, fought
under different circumstances.
For instance, you'll come to a
woods instead Of an open field. The
Germans will be dug in all over the
woods, in little groups. and it's
really tough to get them out. Often
in cases like that we will just 60
around the woods and keep going,
and let later units take care of those
surrounded and doomed fellows.
Or we'll 60 through the woods and
clean it out, and another company.
coming through a couple of hours
later, will find it full Of Germans
again. In a war like this one every.
thing is in such confusion, I don't
see how either side ever gets any,
where.
Sometimes you don't know
where the enemy is and don't
know where your own troops
are. As somebody said the other
day, no battalion commander
can give you the exact loca-
ton Of his various units five
minutes after they've jumped
off.
We will bypass whole pockets Of
Germans, and they will be there
fighting our following waves when
u attacking companies are a
couple Of miles on beyond. Gradual
ly the front gets all mixed up. There
will be Germans behind you and at
the side. They'll be shooting at
you from behind and from your
flank.
Sometimes a unit will get so far
out ahead OF those on either side
that it has to swing around and
fight to its al Sometimes we fire
on our own troops, thinking we are
In German territory. You can't see
anything, and you can't even tell
from the sounds. for each side uses
some Of the others captured weap.
ons.
The tanks and the infantry had to
work in the closest cooperation in
breaking through the German ring
that tried to pin US down in the
beachhead area. Neither could have
done it alone.
The troops r Of two minds about
having tanks around them. If you're
a foot soldier you hate to be near a
tank. for it always draws fire. On
the other hand. if the going gets
tough you pray for a tank to come
up and start blasting with its guns.
In our breakthrough each in.
fantry unit had tanks attached to
it. 1t was the tanks and the infantry
that broke through that ring and
punched a hole for the armored diyi.
sions to 60 through.
One afternoon we drove in our
jeep into a country like that. The
little rural villages Of gray stone
we've demolished - heartbreakine
| heaps of still smoking r,1bhle