Evening star., 1945-05-12
Capturing Of PiIsen
Easy for Pickett,
Kin Of Charge Hero
By HAL BOYLE,
Associated Press War Correspondent

PILSEN, Czechoslovakia. - The
taking of Czechoslovakia's second
largest city after a 20-mile morning
march was just a pushover job for
the great-grandnephew Of the Pick
ett who made the famous charge at
Gettysburg.
"It was the easiest fight ever
have been in," said 27-year-old Maj.
George B. Pickett, Brooklyn, N. Y,
one Of the heroes of Bastogne.
He led task force of 81 tanks,
one bulldozer and 1000 men which
captured Pilsen and took 5000 pris-
oners at cost of only four wounded
men.
only three of my men had ever
been IN action BEFORE" added Maj.
Pickett, who commands a unit of
armored infantrymen in the 10th
Armored Division.
The Alabama born officer who
was awarded the Bronze Star at
the battle of Bastogne and has been
twice wounded in action, was him.
self ambushed by eight German in
fantrymen while going into the city.
Four Are Killed.
"A lieutenant with me shot three
of them, my radio operator killed
another and the other four ran
away" he said.
Close calls on the battlefield are
no novelty to his family, four gen.
erationS Of which have served in
the Army. His great-grandfather
Col. Albert James Pickett, COM
manded a regiment under 1t. Gen.
A. P. Hill in the Civil War and was
brother of Maj. Gen. George
Pickett who commanded the classic
but unsuccessful charge at Gettys-
burg.
when I was at West Point as a
plebe had to give the charge over
and over again on a broom handle" -"
grinned the major, who also remem-
bers that "for raising hell every
week or two I used to get called
up on the carpet" by 1t. Col. Omar
N. Bradley, now commanding the
18th Army Group.
Maj. Pickett, who was given the
task of spearheading the column
driving into Pilsen, took off with
cavalry from Streiby, 20 miles west
Of the city about 4:30 am, and less
than II hours later had wiped out
all resistance.
10 Planes Captured.
II sent two platoons to capture
an airfeld and they got 10 Ger
man planes and 600 prisoners" he
said. Then they captured 500
more in a fight on the way into
town-that was 1,100 prisoners for
Is tankmen and SO Doughboys.
I'm the town itself there wasn't
any battle until after our general
had accepted the town from the
Czech officials at the city hall. After
that we started running into pockets
of SIS men and Gestapo snipers all
through the city.
Czech patriots were a big help
to us by seizing the main entrances
to the city. There were about 200
of them armed with guns they had
taken away from the Germans. I
set up a command post in the city
hall, and the Czechs would report
to us the location of each German
We then would shoot
out enough men to surround and
kill or capture them (the Germans).
Without the help of those Czechs
it wouldn't have been so easy.
There was a lot of stuff bounc-
ing around, particularly machine
gun and small arms fire. but it
didn't seem to hit us. We didn't
have a single man killed"
Skodka Works Saved.
Maj. Pickett and his executive Of
ficer, Maj. John w. Girton, Brazil,
Ind, saved the bomb-damaged
Skoda works, one of the largest
and arms factories in
Europe, from being blown up by
900 German SIS troops after the
Czechs tipped Maj. Pickett of to
the plot.
I'VE rushed out tank platoon
and intercepted them," he said "As
they were in passenger cars there
wasn't a lot they could do about
it."
Maj. Pickett and his men were
so busy fighting they did not have
chance to pick good quarters for
themselves.
1--WE cleaned out Pilsen and ended
up with the worst place in town
to stay in," he said. LAS fast as
we cleaned out a good area those
other troops that followed us in
would grab the best places"
But he had a reward other troops
would have been glad to trade their
hunks for. He and Maj. Girton
toasted the conquest of Pilsen with
a couple of hefty jiggers from a
bottle of bonded bourbon which Mai.
Girton had been saving since Feb