by the 47th Infantry Regiment (9th Inf. Div.)
13 Sept - 26 Oct 1944
In the meantime, the balance of the Battalion had deployed as shown. While in the process, an enemy half-track, traveling SE along the road from the vicinity of (985359), came within sight of the MG's and a tank, none of which were in a position to fire, but immediately turned and fled in the opposite direction. The balance of the night was spent without further contact with the enemy.
The 3rd Battalion, after turning East at RJ (919303), moved without incident to within approximately 100 yards of RJ (948305). Here T/Sgt. Charles A. Karnak, leading a platoon deployed on the left of the road, observed two Germans standing at the entrance to a pillbox. Before they saw him, he called to them to surrender. They did so, and almost immediately afterward 15 more Germans filed out of the emplacement and gave up without a fight. The concrete structure contained four rooms, was sited so as to command the road and was so thoroughly camouflaged as to be unnoticed until one came within a few yards of it.
Hardly had the preceding action taken place, when a 75mm anti-tank gun located just East of RJ (948305), and placed so as to deliver fire on the road up which the battalion was moving, fired a round at one of the attached tanks, missing it completely. The tank commander informed the CO, of Company "K" to hold up the advance of the platoons on either side of the road so as to enable him to fire on the anti-tank gun without causing casualties amongst our own troops. After four or five rounds were fired into the enemy position, the left platoon advanced and found that the crew had abandoned the gun. The breech-block was removed and the same platoon proceeded to search the surrounding area, rounding up about 12 or 15 prisoners who surrendered without offering any resistance. In all, this action lasted about an hour and a half.
Upon turning right at RJ (948305), the platoon on the right of the road came upon an abandoned 40mm anti-tank gun, from which they also removed the breech block.
An all-round battalion defense was established just North of RJ (977324) with heavy MG's on the flanks, 81mm mortars just North of the road and two TD's in positions shown in diagram. A road block, consisting of two TD's, two 57mm anti-tank guns and a squad of riflemen, was established at RJ (978320) to the South.
At approximately 0400 on 15 Sept., one of the TD'S at RJ (978320) contacted a TD in the Battalion area, stating that the road block was under attack from an estimated battalion of enemy infantry and requesting that they be given permission to withdraw. Capt D. W. Murphy, C.O. of Co. "M", was notified of the situation and he instructed the men at the road block to remain in position. He then ordered some men from the mortar section to take up positions as shown in diagram, and after leaving instructions that the company was to be alerted by 0500 should nothing occur in the meantime, he reported to Battalion Headquarters.
Meanwhile, the enemy force, after a brief engagement at the road block, skirted the position, and coming back onto the road, formed into a column of three's and proceeded North toward the battalion area.
The enemy column was first seen by S/Sgt. James La Barr when it turned a bend in the road about 150 yards in front of his position. Being unable to observe the entire column in the dim light of dawn, and considering the possibility that they were PWs, he sighted his carbine on the enemy officer in the lead and waited until they drew nearer. The officer first caught sight of La Barr when he was within ten yards of his position and immediately reached for his machine pistol. At this hostile movement, S/Sgt La Barr fired and killed the officer with a bullet between the eyes. Another man, Pvt. Wireman, killed the man next to the officer with a .45 pistol.
The enemy mortar men withdrew and the riflemen continued forward, but since everyone was now on the alert, they were met by considerable fire which forced them off the road and into the woods on the left. PFC (now Corporal) Luther Roush leaped up on a TD and fired the 50 Caliber MG into the enemy column. He was struck in the shoulder by a bullet and knocked from the TD but climbed back up and continued firing. Mortars were fired on the rapidly dispersing enemy and the TD's fired their MG's down the road to the West as the Germans tried to cross it.
One company was sent down the East side of the road in pursuit of the enemy fleeing through the woods and succeeded in capturing about 25 of them. A Mess Sergeant, in coming up the road, was surprised to run into the tail-end of a group of Germans. We captured six of them, and even though his jeep became bogged in the mud while turning around in the road, he mangled to free it and hold on to his prisoners too.
Soon after moving into the woods the enemy set up a few machine guns and began firing into our positions. While under the hostile fire, an anti-tank gun crew cooly turned their pun around, facing it to the West so as to be prepared to fire if needed.
This action was not cleared up until about 0900 and prisoners continued to be brought in throughout the day until almost 100 were taken.
The 2nd Battalion had been ordered to proceed northeast to RJ (989392) and had started the movement when they were instructed to return to their former area because of the attack on the 3rd Battalion. They had just reached their positions when a four man enemy patrol entered Company "E"'s area from the South. One of them was killed and the other three captured. At about 0930, the machine gun section fired on what appeared to be the point of an enemy column at (980354) and the Germans disappeared into the surrounding woods.
At about 1000 hrs, two enemy tanks and several other vehicles were heard moving along the road South West of (985359). One tank, a Mark V, was first seen at (979357) and at the same time, approximately three squads of enemy infantry, with bayonets fixed, attacked the left platoon of Company "E".
The tank fired on a heavy machine gun section attached to Company "E", wounding a platoon sergeant, then over-ran the position and crushed one gun into the ground. As it approached the company CP located in a house at (977355), the company commander, Lt. Custer Welch, rushed out to one of our tanks standing nearby to have it fire on the enemy tank. Finding none of the crew present except the radio operator, who was unable to operate the big gun, he ran to another tank about 100 yards to the southeast, at (978354). This one hit the enemy tank with the first round, setting it aflame, then fired seven more rounds into it. Lt. Welch, in returning to the CP, was wounded.
