10 October 1944

At dawn I Company got a heavy counterattack from the north and east, and the better part of two platoons (48 men) was lost in it. At 1300, I Company attacked to regain its position across the road. A route was cleared for tanks to come through from the west, and with their assistance the position was recaptured. During the day the, battalion suffered 10 casualties.

F Company then came up to tie in with what was left of I Company. L Company held its position just across the road at Molk, and K Company took all the houses north of the CR 027335, thus consolidating for the battalion all of this area.

11 October 1944

In the morning the battalion received, orders to push again, this time with the entire force to go to Vossenack. The attack was supposed to be combined with the 1st Battalion, which would attack on a flanking movement around to the south. The 2nd Battalion was to continue its protection of the north flank of the regimental position. L Company assembled in the woods just west of the road, as did K Company. In the latter company's assembly position, a shell hit the commend group and the entire company had to be reorganized before the attack could begin.

L company led the attack, which began late in the morning, while K followed behind L, and I held the road north of Germeter. Under heavy mortar fire the battalion pushed across the road and entered the woods on the east. In a column formation the battalion forward company reached the far edge of the woods north of Vossenack, with a patrol going into the town itself. The patrol met no enemy because it slipped into the town, but it saw large numbers of the enemy there. At this time, (late in the afternoon) , Stumpf heard that a counterattack was threatening from the north. He was given orders to tie in his position, and to contact E Company, which, had followed up I Company to take over the road position north of Germeter. For the night, therefore, the 3rd battalion was stretched from approximately 030338 through the woods to the east to 043334.

12 October 1944

In the morning it was planned that a combined attack would be made on Vossenack. The tanks were to come from the west, along the main road, the 1st Battalion to strike from the west and the south, while the 3rd would hit the town from the north. Stumpf kept waiting for the signal, and he was told to hold his smoke, which was the preparation planned before the attack. At 1600 he was told instead to shorten his lines, and was therefore ordered to withdraw, although no explanation was given (radio communication being considered too dangerous). As the 3rd Battalion retraced its route to take over the positions it formerly held in the vicinity of Germeter, it received further orders instructing it to attack to the West. Not knowing the extent of the counterattack by the enemy on the north of the position, Stumpf at first could not understand the orders. However, he moved his companies back, and by dark had them some 300 yards west of the Germeter road.

13 October 1944

In the morning the attack west was launched. K Company moved along on a narrow front just north of the road to reach the hill (vicinity of 015335). L Company came along to the right (north) rear of K, and not more than 100 yards north of the route taken by K, ran into an ambush and had a tough fight. Almost two of the platoons (which were already far below strength) were wiped out by the enemy. Stumpf then turned K Company around and had it attack back to the east against the enemy at the ambushed position. Apparently the enemy had swung in from the northwest to the vicinity of 021337 (CR 435), and while G Company had gone around this area to get to its position on the north and K Company had by-passed it on the south, L ran right in to the enemy salient. At about 1100, L Company was thus pinned down, with K beginning to attack back towards the enemy.

Meanwhile, I Company, which had remained with K across the Germeter road to the northeast, got an attack. K Company fought back through heavy resistance to contact L. Heavy mortar fire was brought down on the enemy salient protruding into the regimental position,. The enemy was faced on three sides by forces of the 3rd and 1st battalions. L was on the east, (now about 40 men, including the mortar men who were given carbines), and in contact with G Company to the north. Around to the south and west was K Company, and B Company of the 1st Battalion (who had two platoons of C Company which were badly shot up).

14 to 26 October 1944

The attack in the morning was made by B Company, which went north and east to contact G. This pinched out both K and L companies, which in the afternoon returned the reserve in the vicinity of the original point of departure (995350) . I Company was put into position on the hill at 013340.

From this day until 20 October, the companies rotated in this position. Then K Company relieved E Company on the 20th, and two days later L relieved F Company. On the 23rd, I relieved G, thus putting the 3rd Battalion along the northern flank of the regimental position.

On 26 October relief began, and the units moved out.

Note on casualties:
In the operation around Germeter, I Company had left 57 men, (that is 50% of riflemen), with a total of 90 in all. K had a total of 130, while L was down to 110, as total figures. The battalion had an equivalent of five rifle platoons in all, each being down to 20 to 30 men.

Top of Page

Sitemap