European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 19, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse Moving for the kill on his Kelly raked the advancing German infantry with the hot time in turn when the germans launched their big push in the a lot of gis who had planned a Paris Holiday found they didst need to go travelling for by de Cunningham yank staff correspondent with forces in Eastern this battered belgian with its Nar rubble heaped streets and col looking houses and barns is a far cry from the spaciousness of the champs Elysee and the War forgetting warmth of Paris Swank night clubs and bars too damned far for the men of this infantry regiment who held off on their 48hour passes so they could spend part of their Christ Inas holidays in a marshal Karl von Rundstedt counteroffensive screwed up that leaving infantry Joes with nothing More than Paris rain checks redeemable once the Jerry drive has been rolled but the Guys i this regiment have one in screwed up a few of von Rundstedt holi Day they didst Issue him any rain according to German prisoners taken since the counteroffensive von Rundstedt had promised they would have Aachen and Antwerp for their Christmas stockings and would spend new years eve in the Jerries were head ing for new years eve in Paris by Way of Bel that where they met up with the who had similar plans for ushering in the meeting took place on a Hilly Road that leads Down into this belgian b company of the 1st battalion started out at 1500 to look Over the which was reported to be lightly held by the that was a slight when the americans got within half a mile of the they were promptly tied Down by Jerry Fla wagons that came out to Greet lacking artillery and tank destroyer support and armed Only with Light machine flak grenades and b company was in no spot to Start trading regimental Headquarters was notified of the situation and urgently requested to Send something to get the German Ftak wagons off b company just about that some body hit on the idea of sending in a previously captured Jerry mounting a As a Pinch hitter till our own ads and artillery a hurry Call was sent out for five volunteers to Man the German the first Guy to stick his neck out was rus sell Snow of a regimental who was a clerk in the los Angeles Board of education office before the army got volunteered to drive the Hal track although he had never handled one two members of the regiments 57mm antitank Harold Kelly of and Harry Koprowski of to work the Thomas Holliday of and Buland Hoover of two bar volunteered to cover the Driver and the 77 after Kelly and Koprowski had been Given a Brief orientation on How to operate the had never fired one drove the half track onto the Frost hardened rutted and they went off to relieve the pressure on company for three hours the yanks operated their one vehicle armoured patrol up and Down the Hilly Road that led into the German occupied seven Jerry mounting 20mm and several heavy machine guns were deployed around the Edge of the Well hidden by thick underbrush and heavy ground fog that reduced visibility to 100 or 200 most of the time who was at the sights of the was firing practically aiming in the direction the 20mm and machine gun tracers were com ing the men on the half track saw a column of German infantrymen com ing Down the Road toward positions taken up by b moving in for the Kelly raked their ranks with his forcing them to abandon the another time the bar spotted a Jerry machine gun nest through the fog and silenced it just before a blast of a 20mm hit the Brace of Kellys he got several pieces of flak in his lower lip and at that Point the started doubling in he mane Vered his vehicle into position against the tracers com ing from the enemy 20mm or machine then moved Back to take Kellys place on the a Coaming German Hal track got into snows sights on the Crossroads just outside of the Village and went up in and there were two probables on the machine gun but Snow be certain because of bad with his ammunition almost gone and Kelly in need of medical Snow turned the captured nazi Verkle around and headed Back to the up to re sume his regular duties As a regimental while Snow and Kelly were running ence for elements of b company moved up for a closer look at the a lieutenant Lead ing a squad on a wide swing around a German Strong Point was hit by sniper leaving his out fit without either an officer or Curtis s2 Section Leader of had joined up with the patrol when he separated from his own outfit in the Battle con so the Corporal stepped into the lieu tenants Aydelotte usual duties Are not with a line company he ordinarily goes Only on patrols or follows after an attack to Roll German stiffs for identification and he went along on this Job to bring Back any Jerry but instead he was thrown into a spot where he had to double As a line ordering a machine gunner to cover Aydelott and a Bazooka Man skirted a House on the Edge of the Village and flanked a flak Wagon parked a i with a Bazooka opened up on the Jerry setting it while Aydelott sprayed it with a Tommy none of the five Man nazi Crew Aydelotte helmet was shot Offin the Advance but he was he got another helmet from a sergeant who had been shot in the the sergeant didst think hed need it very Ater determining the real strategy of the Ger Man occupying Willard har battalion commander from san ordered an attack on the town that the battalion kicked off at 2000 after a 10minute artillery with two ads for it had started to and a thick veil of White covered the huge fir Trees that lined the Hill Road leading into b advancing on the right Side of the yelled Over to g company on its left the last ones in town Are get the Lead outta you c company made Contact taking on a column of 100 German infantrymen who were sup ported by 19 several tanks and a big the first wave was pinned Down by a murderous fire from Jerry Advance machine gun but when the second wave came they overran the enemy position and wiped out both guns and Frank Dietrich of emptied his Tommy gun on a machine unscrew and when the last Jerry started to break and Dietrich threw the Tommy gun at the Shock of being hit by the gun slowed up the fleeing German just enough for another c company Man to finish him off with a meanwhile b company had attacked the flak wagons with bazookas and hand mixed in with spin freezing Texas Cowboy yells and self exhortations to get those it was not phony As one b company Man proved by the Way he finished off a Jerry Fla Wagon gun Ner who the Kraut was injured but he still leaned Over his firing at the advancing suddenly one Bat to maddened i made a direct break for the Yelling you German son of a he jumped up on the vehicle and stabbed the German with a knife until he fell Over another company b a staff had sneaked up on a ready to throw a grenade when he was hit on the left Arm and Side by Small arms unable to pull the he had another i pull it for then turned and hurled the grenade into the the battalion got into the first building on the outskirts of the town that set up a up there and dug the germans launched a five hour counterattack supported by Fla wagons and a this but Only after the tank had hit the up three during Daylight the yanks and Jerries fought it out at Long with nothing particularly startling except for the experience of Edgar Headquarters company yank the army weekly 1945 operations sergeant from and Theodore a while a German tank was shelling the two jeep pads of sol Diers i american Captain and eight enlisted men pulled up in out and started walking around the other Side of the build ing toward the German Watson hollered to them that they were going too far but they ignored his that aroused the medics he demanded to know what outfit they were tithe said the and he continued on his who had just come out of the caught the tone of the got suspicious and shouted what outfit in the 99th replied the Captain in a slightly guttural voice As he kept on the accented answer convinced he hollered and when the eight american uniformed strangers started Lauritsen opened up with his the Captain shot in the but his companions grabbed him and hurried him toward a Steep embankment which led Down into the the other americans in the attracted by the thought Lauritsen had gone flak Happy and was shooting they were All set to Drill Lauritsen himself until they realized what had by that time the eight fugitives had escaped into the presumably making their Way Back to German but the payoff on the entire spy Deal was the deception the same German Captain pulled on an american Captain Back at regimental just before he was spotted by Lauritsen and the two loaded with the eight wearing mud spattered american Mackinaw and carrying stopped in front of the the German Captain yelled to the american officer standing in from the have you seen any of our tanks around Here today the unsuspecting american How Many about four or How is it to you cant get Down the Bridge is by the How Are things going around Here there All screwed i got a Good piece of news for the German i just came up from corps where i heard Patton had driven a spearhead through the Jerry lines he captured krauts and enemy the american by the do you have a cigarette the american officer pulling out a pack and offering it to his the English speaking Ger Man in the american uniform called Back As he started his jeep in the direction of the front followed by the second the american officer still insists his visitor spoke perfect English without an used american idioms and slurred his suffixes like a born new he claims almost anybody would have been taken in by the How some of his fellow who know the captains bucolic Are inclined to Chalk it up As another Case of a City Slicker taking a Small town regardless of any information the phony americans May have carried Back to the German it didst do the nazis who were Here much that night the 3d battalion came up the Valley and joined with elements of the 1st battalion to Clear the destroying one Mark in tank and seven Fla wagons in the the regiment was also credited with the first town in this sector possibly along the entire be re taken from the germans by assault since von Rundstedt counteroffensive the Joes in the regiment figure that some Solace for the 48hour passes they didst get to Paris not Mark in tanks Are poor substitutes for stringed blondes at the Folies and Fla wagons and dead germans will never take the place of Champagne and a Winter Sun has been shining the last couple of Days and the Snow on the hillsides has but this Village is still a far cry from the Gayety and warmth of its rubble heaped streets Are no its col looking houses and barns no even the Sun do 9
