When the battalion was in position at Madersdorf and Thenried, Battery A moved to Neukirchen
near the Czech border for the day of 29 April to afford artillery support to a combat patrol going into
Czechoslovakia.
While in position at Grub, Battery C shot time-fire directly into the woods in front of their
position area on the night of 27 April, and the next morning captured 198 prisoners. 311 prisoners were
captured by our battalion during the month of April.
Our position area, occupied for three days 1000 yards north of Furth, was just south of the
Czechoslovakian border, and many men took this opportunity to walk over the border into
Czechoslovakia for the first time. From this position, we laid our howitzers on the route of approach of
the German 11th Panzer Division as it marched into our lines from Domazlice, Czechoslovakia by the
way of Vseruby, to surrender to the 2nd Battalion, 357th Infantry. The surrender of the 11th Panzer
Division delayed our assembly movement for the next phase of the Division’s operations. When our
battalion did move south on the morning of 5 May 1945, its movement was hampered by having to share
the road with straggling vehicles of the 11th Panzer Division, which was moving into an assembly area
near Kotzting.
From our assembly area in the small towns of Woldersdorf, Barndorf, and Tradersdorf east of
Kotzting, we moved 54 miles on the afternoon of 5 May 1945 to Paseko, Czechoslovakia by way of
Kotzting, Wettzel, Viechtach, Regen, and Zwiesel, Germany and Mestys Zelenzna Ruda. At last we
were in Czechoslovakia.
The last combat march of the battalion over the narrow, rough, muddy mountain trails between
Poseko and Kasperski Hory, Czechoslovakia, was (perhaps) a fitting climax to the end of the war for the
345th. That march was made over the most difficult road conditions that we encountered throughout the
whole war. Starting from Peseko at 061830 May the first vehicle arrived in Kasperske Hory, only 17
miles away at 062200; and after much hard work and loss of sleep the last vehicle arrived there a
071000. At Kasperske Hory we received the unofficial information that Germany had unconditionally
surrendered effective 090001 May.
Our next move was to Drazowitz, where the local fire pumps were borrowed to wash all
vehicles. Here the townspeople invited us to participate in their liberation ceremony and gave a dance
on May 9th in honor of the battalion and “D” Battery, 537th AAA Bn, our attached anti-aircraft battery.
On 10 May we moved to Resanice, Czechoslovakia, and on the way overtook and passed a small
convoy of our Russian allies, our first contact with them.
We remained in this fraternizing country until 14 May 1945. Then we moved to Neunburg vorm
Wald, Germany by way of Horazdovice, Stribrne, Hory, Klatovy, and Domazlice (Czechoslovakia) and
Waldmunchen and Schonthal (Germany) to become occupation troops for the Neunburg Kreis.
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