European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 2, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Man explained in describing their unfitness for use when strict silence is in a few the men managed to get bed sheets and other White cloths from nearby but most out fits operated without any camouflage at All when their issued capes proved the Standard i gloves also proved unsatisfactory Winter 83d men when they froze up and prevented the free movement of the nor were they very wearing out in a few Days under the Tough usage they got in the Forest when their gloves wore Many of the men used spare pairs of socks As most of the infantrymen wore impregnated hoods from their impregnated to keep the Snow from dropping Down their others found that a i Towel makes an excellent or even a set of ear muffs when wrapped around the head under the still another improvisation was the use of sleeping bags for com Bat to be sure of having their bags with them at All some of the men Cut leg holes in them and Drew them up like a pair of com Bat during the they made a warm uniform at they served the original Pur pose As sleeping web equipment was a it froze solidly on cold nights and had to be beaten against a tree in the morning in order to make it pliable enough for another headache was the water freezing in our said Otho a platoon guide from the canteens swelled up because of the and it was hard to get them out of the canteen most of the Guys took their canteens to bed with them and kept them under the blankets so they  Frozen weapons were one of the most danger Ous effects of the Winter warfare in the ardennes automatic weapons were the chief Al though some trouble was experienced with my rifles and Small arms had to be cleaned twice because of the and none of the larger guns could be left unused for any length of time without freezing the mis were Okay if we kept them clean Riv nirl a our Albert a platoon sergeant from mass you had to be careful not to leave any Oil in them or they would freeze up and get pretty but could usually work it out Quick by pulling the Bolt Back and Forth a few sometimes the carbines got stiff and  feed but you could always work that during the fighting at Petit Joseph Hampton found himself in a spot where he had no time to fool around with the above just As his outfit started into Hampton found that ice had formed in the chamber of his no time to Hampton thought and acted he urinated into the providing sufficient heat to thaw it not five minutes he killed a German with his now Well functioning Hampton company commander vouches for that the bars gave us the most Runge they froze up easily when not in ice formed in the chamber and stopped the Bullet from going All the Way besides retarding the movement of the we thawed them out by cupping our hands Over the chamber or holding a heat ration near it until it let most of the automatic weapons were Okay after you worked them a few times and we never did have any trouble with grease some other outfits reported that the lubricants in their Light machine guns and antitank guns heat tablets were ignited to thaw out the machine guns which  be but blow torches were needed before the antitank guns were put Back into firing communication men of the 83d had headaches in the ardennes breath Vapours wet the inside of their radio mouthpieces and then cutting off transmission of their most of the the mikes were thawed out with cupped hands or by placing them inside and Frank Gaus of solved the problem by inserting a piece of cellophane inside the mouthpiece to prevent the moisture from accumulating other communications difficulties were experienced when radio batteries froze up and went signal corps wire maintenance Crews were kept on 24hour duty by numerous turnout lines which resulted when tanks and other vehicles Slid off the icy roads and ripped out Send ing written messages from the front to the rear was often impossible because of intense cold which made writing Arthur Hall company runner from reported occasions where platoon leaders had to use the radio instead of written code messages be cause their fingers were too numb to use a the 83d medics were also hampered greatly by wartime not Only did Snow drifts make their litter bearing jobs doubly Dif but the severe cold caused their morphine Syrette and blood plasma to the medics remedied f the first condition by keeping the Syrette under their thawing them out with body when stoves were not available to melt the Frozen plasma they stuck it under the Hood of a jeep whose motor was slip Pery roads and Snow drifted Fields often stymied Hal tracks and which were pressed into service to haul supplies and evacuate the some units improvised crude toboggans made of strips of tin taken from shells hat tired roofs with two your planks As according to one company Marion Cooper of the army m29 weasel or Doodle Bug is the most effective Snow every Rifle com Pany should have its own Doodle Bug capt Cooper they Are the Only vehicles we had that could Buck these roads and snowdrifts with out getting bogged Down and causing loss of valuable time More lives of seriously wounded even mess sergeants had their troubles with Winter mess Joseph Ornge of left his Pancake Batter sitting for an hour one morning while he went off to Load a Chow jeep headed for the front when he came his Batter was Frozen he had to thaw it out with hot sgt Ornge used shelter halves and blankets to wrap around Marmite cans which carried hot food to the men up that was the Only Way to keep food and Coffee warm Dur ing the drive up from the battalion mess the 83d men found Only one compensating fac Tor amid All the misery of the that was when they occasionally plodded across Snow covered German mine Fields without Accident be cause the mines failed to melted Snow seeped Down around the firing pins of some of the mines and then froze them up when the temperature fell at thus preventing them from chemicals in other mines turned to Mush and failed to go that was the Only Good thing the 83d men could find about Winter Reg kit