The Wyandotte news-herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1943-1963, 1945-04-30
CONTINUED from Page n

oSAOoo Woo obiOtAy q 1Abii oil. QCIdll.
Before the jump-off time ever
came around-long before-the men
of the 18th were working like salt
mine slaves on the necessary prep
arations for the assault.
In the hazy mist of early dawn
nearly a month ago an engineer
crawled down the muddy slopes Of
the Roer in the town Of Rolsdorf.
He stripped to the skin and slith-
cred into the chill water. In his
hands he clutched a stadia rod-a
stake marked in feet and tenth of
feet. His mission was to plant that
rod in the middle of the swirling
stream. One extra splash, one extra
gurgle would have brought the
Kraut MGs chattering about his
head like swarm of angry bees.
But that didn't happen. This en-
gineer, If you please, was also a
damned good scout. The rod was
planted.
THE FAR BANK
During the day, observers in the
town kept constant watch on the
stake, gauging the rise and fall of
the river. AT night, other engineers
crawled out to the stadia to feel
the notches. Thus, a 24-hour check
was kept by the men on the 18th
on the depth of the river.
Experiments were conducted al
most every night, with engineers
and infantry patrols trying to pad
die across the river in assault boats
and testing the angry current,
finding out how close to prede-
termined point on the far shore
they could land the boat. Many of
the pick-and-shovel men didn't
come back. Small-arms fire got
some. The river got most.
The Roer didn't get Engineer Cpl.
Maurice Murphy, of New York City,
or Pfc. Shorty" Anthofer, of DIED.
ham, Iowa.
I'VE took six 'doggies' of a 18th
Infantry Regiment patrol across"
said Murphy. 1.-The boat swamped
half way over. The rest started
swimming for the near shore. Ant
hofer and I struck out for the far
shore. A machine-gun started after
us. They missed. We crawled up the
bank. Three Krauts doomed out Of
the darkness and hollered Kane
rad We brought EN- back alive in
an assault boat the next night" he
said.
Murphy holds a Purple Heart
with four clusters.
But this type of thing was just
kid-stuff to the engineers.
More important, but far less
glamorous, tasks remained to be
done before preparations for the
assault crossing could be called
complete.
ODSEhtED hOADS
There is damn little for the his
torians to chronicle in road-work.
Just plain, back breaking, monoto-
nous pick and shovel work. But
without it-and the engineers to do
1.-THE river crossing would have
been one of those tragic things
which military communicates men,
ton as ''our troops withdrew &C
cording to plan"
Although the infantry-the famed
18th and 18th Infantry Regiments
of the Golden Arrowhead already
taken the river town of Rolsdort
and Lendersdorf which was the
first necessary step, the road net
on the 9th Division sector was a
muddy. shot-up, crater-packed
mess.
There was no north and south
lateral roads running parallel to
the front. The secondary roads ra-
dating around and through the two
riverside towns in our hands were
almost impossible to heavy traffic
and were also under direct enemy
observation. Kraut artillerymen
made the most of it. The main road
running through Rolsdorf was ap-
propriately named 88 Boulevard by
engineers who spent many a weary
day and night digging through it.
Although the weather had become
crisp and dry just prior to the
jump-off, the effects of the winter
thaw and the overflow from the
bullying Roer had left the area a
soggy morass. Northumberland. It
came out of the ears of the hairy
engineers.
To the 18th fell the unenviable
task Of putting those roads into fit
condition TO move the equipment
for the crossing to the rnarshalling
areas along the river front near
the selected sites.
This was a twenty-four- hour
day job and the early sun and the
pale, despairing moon alike watched
the pick-axe commandos fill craters
with rocks and rubble, run 'dozers
over bad spots, clear mines from
shoulders, create new routes thru
| furrowed fields, direct one-way
traffic and do all the million-and
one other dirty sinking jobs which
engineers always have to do.
While all this road work was go
ing on-a continual process-units
Of the battalion were trying to clear
the river slopes Of barbed wire and
underwater mines - mines left by
the KrautS and inundated by the
rising waters.
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