RHINELAND AND ARDENNES

The company was in Briey, on 15 September, when the Rhineland Campaign started. Bivouaced in a veritable quagmire, the men worked in mud up to their ankles, slept in pup tents erected over the slimy ooze, ate in the open while the rain poured down incessantly. Mud. And mud. And more mud. Still the rains came. The mud grew muddier. Deeper. Stickier. Dirtier. Trucks mired to their hub caps, often struck hidden obstacles in the black goo and hung up on inundated stumps. Men tugged, pulled, pushed, hauled, heaved, and kept the trucks rolling. They toiled in mud up to their knees. But maintenance and repair was a must which could not be ignored or stopped for a single minute. The drive of the Division depended on vehicles running and artillery firing. Ordnance kept them supplied in spite of hell, high water and mud.

A captured German blowtorch which Cpl. George Nease was operating blew up in his face. The flaming gasoline sprayed him, setting his clothes on fire, and burned furiously about the helpless soldier. He screamed in agony. Sgt Monken dropped his work at a nearby bench and rushed to him, throwing him quickly to the ground, rolling him over and over, extinguishing the fire. But Cpl. Nease’s burns were so severe he was evacuated to the States and given a Medical Discharge. To Sgt Monken’s prompt action he owed his life.

On the 23rd of September, the company marked up a half year of overseas service. There was no time to celebrate. The work, hampered by the rains and the mud, was pilling up. Ordnance men worked far into the night in a desperate effort to keep ‘em rolling.

The company was forced to move to a new bivouac area on the 20th. The mud had become impassable, and any work accomplishment impossible. Into Giraumont Ordnance rolled and bivouaced in an iron mine being operated by the French.

Here hot showers were available and part of the company was able to sleep indoors. The friendly French mine workers acted as guides to the interior, taking many of the men deep into the bowels of the twin-shaft mine to inspect the 1atest in mining equipment.

It was in the vicinity of Briey that the company suffered its first battle casualties. A truck carrying the automotive inspection team was enroute to the 2nd Battalion, 358th Infantry, with a half dozen men. The road was clear of debris and without traffic. The afternoon was unusually still. Suddenly, above the noise of the pulling motor the dreaded sound of the swishing whistle was heard. There was no time to dodge or to seek safety. The German 100 mm shell scored a direct hit. The front end of the truck was demolished. Shrapnel and splinters of glass sprayed everywhere.

Miraculously the two men in the front seat remained unscathed! In the rear of the truck, shaken up and startled, Ordnance men took stock of themselves. Tec 3 Parr and Tec 4 Loutsenhiser had very slight facial scratches from the shrapnel. Beyond that – nothing! It was a completely freak accident, scoring a direct on‑the‑nose bull’s‑eye on a single truck roaring alone over a deserted highway!

It was for results accomplished during this period that Brigadier General Ernest A. Bixby sent the following commendation to the company some months later:

HEADQUARTERS

90TH DIVIS1ON ARTILLERY

APO 90, U. S. A.

7 March 1945

SUBJECT: Commendation.

TO: Commanding Officer, 790th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company, APO 90, U.S. Army. (Thru Channels).

During the period September and October 1944 when the 90th Division was in position before fortress Metz there was a chronic shortage of artillery ammunition. In order to give proper artillery support to the division, in its various efforts we called upon your organization to secure for us captured weapons and ammunition. The results of the effort and risk of the men officers of your organization are clearly written among the outstanding successes of the division.

The officers and men of your artillery section searched over many miles of France locating weapons that could be conditioned for use. The untiring efforts and outstanding technical ability quickly made available almost an entire battalion of captured material and we are cognizant of the risks involved in their testing of these weapons.

The work of your ammunition section in locating and hauling ammunition; of experimenting and testing, made available to us some 50,000 rounds which were fired from the captured material.

The often unheralded efforts of such energetic and capable officers and men extending their efforts far beyond the call of ordinary duty is the foundation of the success of our division.

S/ Ernest A. Bixby, Brigadier General U.S. Army, Commanding.

As the weather grew colder, the going got rougher, the infantry tougher and Ordnance stayed right on its heels. The entire Company Personnel Section was moved to division rear to function as a part of Headquarters Special Troops the “entire Company Personnel Section” consisted of Sgt. Powell, five boxes of records and a portable typewriter.

The company moved on, crossing the Moselle River the morning of the 18th of November. Shop was set up in an abandoned jerri-can factory on the outskirts of Thionville. This area had excellent shop space with such rare conveniences as cement floors, lights and shelter from the weather.

The Recovery Section was assigned the task of cleaning up the heavily mined areas in the division sector East of the Moselle. A collecting point was established at Basse Yutz and a large quantity of enemy equipment was assembled there. This included about a dozen enemy cannon, some of them heavy self-propelled weapons, a large number of half tracks, light vehicles and a quantity of small arms. A truckload of serviceable American ammunition and two truckloads of German ammunition was recovered and returned to the ASP for reissue. Much of this work was done in such heavily mined areas that a large group of vehicles and cannon were demolished beyond all repair rather than risk removing them to the collecting point.

The company bivouacked in Bouzonville on the night of December 14th. The area was under intermittent artillery fire. Heavy shells from the Heinie guns in the distant hills landed near the camping site and everywhere in the village. It was about 2200 hours when the shelling grew more intense. Great 380 mm shells weighing approximately 1600 pounds began dropping in from six to seven minutes apart.

All personnel repaired to the air raid shelter in the building which the company occupied. This was formerly a German school building and was now being shared with a platoon of the 30th Field Hospital which had moved in on the 13th of December. Throughout the night enemy shelling continued sporadically.

At 0230 hours the world blew apart. A direct hit on the rear of the building shattered and crumbled it. All was confusion. Everything was rubble and bits of plaster and rust and smoke and cries for help. Pfc. Hedgepeth was killed outright. He was the first battle death in the company’s ETO experiences. Thank God he was also the last!

While the shelling continued, men working under the frantic leadership of 1st Sgt Jack Cook dug T/Sgt Dalton out from under four feet of debris. He suffered only slight injuries. Several of the company officers were trapped on the first floor and had to be dug out. Lt. Edenfield also suffered light injuries. The rest of the night was “sweated out’’ without any further hits being registered but the crash and roar and thunderous burst of the heavy shells did not cease.

Then it was Christmas. Christmas. Peace on earth Good will to all men. It was a strange Christmas here, in a foreign land, surrounded on every side by bitter hatred and death. Yet under the inspired efforts of Chaplain Clemens and a beautifully decorated Xmas tree by Lt. Howard an impressive service was held. Turkey dinner highlighted the holidays. Ice cream was an extra added attraction. For a brief moment weary men forgot their work, forgot hate, forgot killing, and relaxed in holiday enjoyment.

The holidays were over. The war came back in sharp relief. Winter was with them now with its bitter winds, its ice arid howling snow storms. Because of the weather, the work of the Recovery and Automotive Sections was heavier than usual.

In January, two officer promotions came through for the company; Major Sinclair was appointed Lt. Colonel and Lieutenant Howard was appointed a 1st Lieutenant.

It was at this time that the company made a night trek its personnel will never forget. It wasn’t a long trip. Forty‑two miles. Only forty‑two miles – from Elzange, France to Beckerich, Luxembourg. Only forty‑two miles – and it required ten hours to complete it!

The, move to Beckerich was made under the most difficult conditions. Blackout driving on icy roads. A blinding snowstorm whipped down on the black almost invisible road. The convoy inched along. Windshields were quickly coated with ice and snow, and had to he cleaned off constantly by hand. Trucks went into constant skids, often sliding from the road itself. The strain was terrific, and drivers had to switch every couple of hours to relieve the fatigue and strain which set in. Inch by inch, yard by yard, skidding, slipping, sliding, mile after mile, hour after hour, through black of night and through biting cold, the convoy crept forward to Beckerich,

An exceptional amount of recovery and evacuation work was accomplished after moving into Luxembourg and Belgium as this was the territory over‑run by the Germans in their breakthrough, and a tremendous amount of Ordnance equipment had been abandoned. All sections worked long hours under the adverse conditions caused by lack of a shop sheltered from the snow and cold. In the areas in this section most of the buildings had been destroyed by the fierce fighting that had taken place here.

In February the snows began to melt. The heavy traffic moving constantly along softened the ground and the snows turned to water and the clay‑earth turned to a sticky quagmire. So torn up did the roads become that Supply section trucks were forced to make runs of 160 miles round trip to the Ordnance Depots. The Engineers were working continuously on the roads to alleviate the condition.

S/Sgt Clipp, Wrecker Crew Chief, was discharged from the Army to accept a direct commission as 2nd Lt. in recognition of his outstanding efficiency and devotion to duty. He was reassigned to the company to head the Recovery Section.

In March, the company crossed the border into Germany, bivouacking first in Hollnich. From then on it was one series of moves … to Giesdorf on the 7th, Birresborn on the 9th, Mullenbach on the 10th, Allenz on the 13, Lingerhalm on the 18th, Seibersbach on the 20th … Sprendlinger on the 21st …

The 21st of March ended the Rhineland Campaign. In this period, too, was the brief Ardennes Campaign lasting from the 16th of December to the 25th of January. The 790th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company received official recognition for its part in both campaigns. And in less than a week, the company was to cross the famous Rhine River...