Evening star., 1945-03-18
|GrueIing Sprint of Week Melted Victory
At Remuqen, Task Force Leader Reveals

rear and support you with addi-
tional troops. Dig in well and es-
tablish road blocks. Mine well on
east side of river Well, we had
already been doing that.
"It began to get dark and I started
screaming for more doughs The
tanks had knocked out couple of
ack-ack guns, but there sill was
a lot sniper fire. We didn't know
how much there was in Erpel. /
expected a hell of fight there.
Plan Defense.
I'VE went in cellar and Deevers
(Maj. Murray Deevers, Hagerville,
Ark and I made plans to defend
the bridgehead. We decided to es-
tablish road block at Kasbach and
at the north edge of Erpel. The
high ground was Immediately be-
hind the bridge around the little
town Of 4Orsberg. I asked Mai.
Deevers If he could get tank de-
stroyers up there. I remember his
exact words-'Il get them up there
if we have to pull them up by hand,
he said
well. it was II 80 before 1t. Mott
reported the tanks could come
across. The floor had been fixed so
we could take our Mas over. I
told him to guide them across the
bridge. 1t was so black you couldn't
see your hand in front of your face.
Nobody dared show a light. First I
told him to blow up the railroad
track in two places north and south
of the bridgehead. I was scared of
everything at the time.
when I heard the blasts that was
to be the signal for the tanks to
start. Well. we waited and waited
and didn't hear any explosions, SO,
at 1915 am, we Cancelled that and
started the tanks over anyway"
Sergt William Goodson, Rushville,
Ind, took the first one over and 1t.
Charles w. Miller, 40O1 Garrison
street, Washington, D. c., the Sec
ond. The engineers had strung
white tape across the bridge to
guide us, but one man had to walk
in front Of them, too.
Traffic Is Problem.
"At 1910 we had nine tanks
across. At 1888 they were in posi-
ton on both sides of the bridge
head, guarding the roadblocks. At
$3.50 am. we got some more in
fantry across. 1t. Miller had hol-
Tered a couple of times for some
more tank destroyers and a second
time for more doughs to take the
prisoners. The Germans were hang
ing around wanting to surrender,
but we have found 1t isn't healthy
to get out of tank in situation
like that. I told him to stay there
until the last tank was shot up.
He came back with Roger, and I
didn't hear any more from him.
"Our biggest problem now was
traffic. At 4:35 am. a tank de-
stroyer got stuck in hole on the
bridge. 1t took us two hours to get
it out. Traffic was piling up In
Remagen, and we were using lot of
our men to wake up the drivers and
get them moving. AS said, every
body was dead on his feet. You
can't realize the effort 1t took just to
keep awake"
Soon after daylight Col. Engeman
turned his job over to Gen. Hoge,
found cellar In which he could
escape the rain Of shells and sat
down to relax. ~
II looked In on him q minute
later and he'd gone sound asleep
in q chair with a cigarette in his
mouth" Capt. Roberts said. 1T
wasn't even lit"
1t. Charles w. Miller, mentioned
in Col. Engeman's account on.
Remagen, has been In the armored
forces since his induction ir July,
1912. He received his commission
as second lieutenant IN February,
1s43. A native of Dayton. Ohio, he
attended Central High School and
was statistician with Boss e.
Phelps, real estate firm, and the
British Military Mission before en-
tering the service.
His wife, Mrs. Grace Miller, lives
with her parents, Mr.. and Mrs.
James T. Joyce, 400l Garrison street
NV.