The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-01-04
MP Finds Enemy Fire Less Trying
 Than a Pretty Girl In a Jeep Combat Military Police Team Up to Meet Situations Calling for Courage Under Fire Diplomacy and Tact
Wy MRA Service


 "a Germany, Jan. a-T'hat old iibe
 ''Inis place must be safe-the MP
 are here" isn't used by front-lins
 troops Of this outfit nowadays II
 tome or does make such a Sneerinr
 remark about the combat military
 police you can automatically pee
 him as Q novice because he simply
 hasn't been around long enough to
 know what he's talking about.
 A quick survey of the 2Sth'l
 MP platoon will reveal to Skep-
 ties that combat MPs are moi
 just trafic cops or killioys who
 place "on limits" signs at the
 edges of towns. They're actually
 fighting soldiers and they can
 show you records to prove it.
 Some of them can show you Pur- pie Hearts that weren't won back
 in the rear areas
 When the first doughboys of this division fought their way into the outskirts of Percy, France, and deployed along the streets to search out snipers, seven MPs were waiting for them inside the town. The MPs had moved into Percy to control trafilc only to find that the trafnc hadn't caught up with them yet So they helped the infantrymen round up the remaining snipers be- fore settling down to policing traf- fic.
 KNOCK OUT GUN
 Near F1orenville. Belgium, three MPs were assigned to work with a task force. Their jeep was third in the column, the first being a light tank. AS they were moving down . road Jerry anti-tank gun let loose and knocked out the light tank. The MPs jumped from their Jeep and ran into the brush at the edge of the road. The situation was relayed back to our artillery, which quickly knocked out the anti tank gun.
 At GathemO, France, Pvt. Harry Rowe, Pardoe, Pa. was at 8 traffic control post about 300 yards behind the main line of re- sistance. He had been on duty only few minutes and hadn't had time to dig slit trench. Sud- denly the ferries opened up with s6 nm. fire. The first shell burst about g yards away. Rowe dashed to the shell hole and jumped in. Another shell hit about 30 yards to his left. He sprinted to that hole and hit the bottom. Asked later why he shuttled from hole to hole he C0tA tYfUn aIfNeaxye q shells never hit twice in the same place."
 Testimony to the fact that MPs must be rugged to handle their jobs is the fact that all but six men in the divisions MP platoon were on their feet directing traffic for more than two days straight--a total of g hours This happened when the division was making a movement of about 100 miles during the Ger man retreat toward the Seine.
 However, MPs are hand-picked not only for their physical fitness but also for their ability to han dle ticklish situations with firm tact. Tn addition to enforcing of limits" regulations in liber- ated or captured towns there have been numerous occasions when they have had to settle altercations among civilians. One such case was in Belgian town, where an MP saw two civilians arguing. One called the other Nazi collabortor and the other protested so vigorously that the two men soon were fighting in | the middle of the street. The MP broke 1t up.
 REQUIRES TACT
 During the 28th Divisions Lib- eration Day parade through Paris a tremendous problem was keep ing the hysterically happy Pa !isians from blocking the parade route down the Champs Elysees. When you have to pull pretty girl out of jeep. carry her to the | curb and set her down-that re- quires tact one MP said
 Combat MPs are taught to shift for themselves, because it often is necessary for a traffic control | team to spend several days at an Isolated road junction far from mess lines and bivouac areas. Often these three or four man teams are stationed within 300 yards of the front lines where they're constantly in danger of shell bursts and snipers. They carry their own K or c rations. which they supplement when pos- sible with produce from neigh boring farms.
 Maj William Fellman II, of Pa, 23th Division Provost Marshal, has reason to believe that his military police platoon is made up of some of the best soldiers in the division. When this organization entered combat the platoon was consider ably over strength and many MPB were reassigned back to front line infantry units. A rifle company commander who had seen some Of the reassigned MPs In action against the enemy told Major Fellman, If you have any more MPs that you can't keep. please give them to me. I could have a crack rife company with just 50 of those boys and no one else"