AMERICANS IN ST. SAUVEUR, CUT CHERBOURG LINE; SECRET ROBOT PLANES HIT ENGLAND IN FORCE (6/17/44)

Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 6/17/44 | Drew Middleton, Harold Denny, Raymond Daniell, George F. Horne, Tillman Durdin, Richard W. Johnston

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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[henkster]

Thank you very much for posting the Ernie Pyle stories. While a student at Indiana University, I walked past Pyle Hall (home of the School of Journalism) pretty much every day. I always had a fond place in my heart for Ernie Pyle.

[alfa6]

Sorry for the late reply but had to go out and take care of business this AM.

There was a bit of a lively discussion regards the “battlecruiser” type for the Territory class Cruiser.

The Alaska and her sister Guam as you mentioned were designed to counter the supposed Japanese commerce raider of similar size.

As built the Alaskas were a bit to small for the “battlecruiser” designation and the rudder and engine layout hampered the ability of the Alaska’s in maneuvering, especially in close quarters.

But you are right in that who else but the United States could devote the resources to build a couple of very large cruisers that basically were not needed and not have it affect our war production to any big degree.

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[lonevoice]

Thank you very much!

Not that it matters, but I'm a "she", not a "he" :-)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Of course it matters, and I apologize for my presumptuousness.

I thought you might have some luck with the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. It was first known as the D-Day Museum, so they probably have extensive resources on that campaign.

http://www.nationalww2museum.org/

I found a ph. # for research on the contact page. They are interested in first-hand accounts from veterans. I don’t know how they feel about helping people compile those accounts.

[henkster]

lonevoice

If you are working from AAR's it's probably the best resource you can get. Particularly if you can also get your hands on the daily situation maps for 29th Division or for V Corps. You might also want to get the AAR's for 747th Tank Battalion, which appears to have been attached to the 29th.

As for an exact spot with GPS like precision, I cannot help. But the incident you describe may well have been during the 29th's fight for Villiers-Fossard on June 16-17. This is documented in the U.S. Army Official History Volume "Cross Channel Attack" on pages 382-384. What your relative described is very much like the combat situation on those pages, although what happened there could well have happened anywhere in the hedgerows during these weeks of June.

Fortunately, the Center For Military History of the United States Army has "Cross Channel Attack" downloadable online at the link below:

http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/007/7-4-1/index.html

Go ahead and check it out. I have the Atlas for the European Theater which accompanies the official histories. I've scanned the relevant portions of V Corps maps for June 9-13 and June 14-18. These maps are too large for my scanner, so I hope I got what you were looking for.

I hope this helps.

[fso301]

I believe the Brit's pulled out of archives, digitized and made available on the web aerial reconnaissance photos of the area. If nothing else, a painstaking search may be fruitful.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-206100/WW2-aerial-pictures-online.html

[lonevoice]

I found a ph. # for research on the contact page. They are interested in first-hand accounts from veterans. I don’t know how they feel about helping people compile those accounts.

Thanks, I'll find out how they feel about it. Much appreciated.

[lonevoice]

Your mention of the 747th Tank Battalion being attached to the 29th helped me put something together that might prove very useful. Googling on the 747th, I find that the 121st Engineer Combat Battalion was also attached to early joint maneuvers between the 29th, the 747th, and engineers of the 121st in the push to discover how tanks could be deployed in the hedgerows.

The mention of the 121st rang a bell, so I just re-read one of the earlier drafts of this narrative (left to me by my father nearly 50 years ago). In that draft, the team of engineers trying to plant explosives for the tanks identifies themselves as being combat engineers with the 121st. Pay dirt!

This information just helped me locate: http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/hedgerowbreakout.aspx. It describes the earliest experiments of the 747th and 121st, where the engineers suggested burying the explosives in the innards of the hedgerow, which is exactly how this manuscript describes the activity of the engineers when my dad's squad came upon them.

The above link also says that "Digging holes large and deep enough for the explosives in earthen embankments covered with vines and filled with roots proved too laborious. During an attack, digging holes and emplacing charges would simply take too long. Since an attack could proceed only as fast as charges were emplaced and detonated, slow moving American attacks would allow the Germans to coordinate their hedgerow defense better. Engineers and infantrymen would also be dangerously exposed to German mortar fire while planting demolitions. Though technically feasible, burying explosives by hand was a procedure both too difficult and tactically unwise."

For certain, that is what the manuscript describes, the engineers were hand burying explosives into the hedgerow. This was one of the earliest experiments that proved too dangerous to the engineers and the infantrymen.

Now to start studying your maps to learn if it's feasible to get anywhere close to the location of the event described. I'm almost useless with maps, but I have a lot of personal motivation to figure it out this time.

Thank you for your most helpful assistance!

[First_Salute]

Interesting day.

Iceland declares independence (pg. 3).

Also on pg. 3, mention of the first landing strips at Normandy. I had 2 friends who were at those strips. One friend was a P-38 mechanic (in peacetime, he’d been a aircraft mechanic for TWA, which was not yet called “TWA”). The other friend was a P-47 mechanic who later became a prototypes project machinist on IBM contracts (I observed one day in 1980, when his shop then produced the first model of the now-ubiquitous CD disc case would look like ... BTW, the partner machinist on that project, had been a German parachute regiment member and was captured by the British during the last days of the war).

Germany shoots Allied officers of “The Great Escape” (pg. 12).

A member of the CACW (”Chinese-American Composite Wing”) (article pg. 13) was Tu Kai-Mu, who flew B-25’s and later became a Major General for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Air Force: http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20140407000011

[lonevoice]

Gosh, thank you so much. With all these new places to learn from, I may yet find what I’m looking for.

[First_Salute]

TWA - I meant to say, that it was not yet “Trans World Airlines” aka “Trans World Airways.” In Dayton, Mr. Stump was the station chief there, for Trans Western, and remained there for several decades, into the 1970’s. We referred to TWA as “Teenie Weenie Airways.” American Airlines was “the airline” ... under C. R. Smith.

The good ol’ days, when you could just walk right up to the cockpit and have a discussion. Pilots could, and did, still wear leather boots; and some carried pistols.

The stewardesses were attractive and smart and capable. Some were hand-picked by C. R. Smith, because they were ... attractive and smart and capable.

If you had been a command pilot and still multi-engine rated, you could sit up in the cockpit area for some time; and occasionally, you might know some of the crew, and they, you. Sometimes, you met an old WW-II acquaintance. Often, several passengers were WW-II fliers.

These people were possessed of courage, daring, and guts; and they were not afraid to speak nor stand up and defend our blessed liberty under God.

[henkster]

Sounds like you do a pretty good job of research anyway. Glad to help.

My brother wants us to go on a tour of Europe to all the places our Uncle Fred went. We are going to try to do that one of these days.

[First_Salute]

pg. 15 - the “mystery bomb” that fell on Sweden, June 13, 1944, was a V2. Germany made thousands of the V2; at least 600 were used up in testing and training. Most V2 rockets failed to reach targets effectively; several failed re-entry from space (50 plus kilometers, they climbed).

V2 rocket engines at Mittlewerk (Nordhausen):

http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/mit012.jpg

http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/mit011.jpg

The 2nd pic (”mit011.jpg”) ... I believe, is a still from director George Stevens’ personal color film collection.

Mittlewerk: http://www.v2rocket.com/start/chapters/mittel.html

[lonevoice]

That’s great! What a wonderful opportunity for you and your brother to share, to honor your Uncle’s service together.

[colorado tanker]

You might also do some google work on the Rhino Tank or Culin Cutter. Blowing holes in hedgerows proved too time consuming and dangerous. The invention is generally attributed to a Sergeant Curtis Culin who thought of the idea of welding steel cutters to the front of tanks to cut through the bocage. In an ironic payback, the first cutters were made out of German steel beach obstacles.

Here is a Wiki article about them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhino_tank

[lonevoice]

Thank you, colorado tanker. I did read about the Rhino Tanks, and the irony of using the beach obstacles to fabricate them is a unique bit of history. Yes, blowing tank-sized holes in hedgerows sure was too time consuming and dangerous, as the incident described in the manuscript certainly attests. Three tanks destroyed and almost an entire infantry platoon killed made this experimental maneuver too costly to be repeated.

[CougarGA7]

Near as I can tell on the night of the 15th, they were on a hill near the stream junction where the D88 and D195 roads meet today (its the only stream junction I can find on the map that is near La Barre-de Semilly but it sure isn't much of a hill). Apparently they had been cut off from the rest of the unit securing the high ground right there and digging in. That's the best I can do with this AAR I was able to find on the 29th.

AftActRpt-29ID-44-07

It is a real bad copy but I hope it is useful.

Coug.

[lonevoice]

Oh, my!! This is the most detailed recounting, and by date and geographical location, that I’ve seen anywhere for the Infantry Company (L) that I’ve been trying to track. It’s much more than useful, I assure you!

I’ve mostly been relying on a 29th ID roster compiled from morning calls that shows each entry by name of each soldier as he appeared in morning calls. (The writer of the manuscript I’m organizing has 11 entries in the morning calls, so I’m able to determine the dates he was rotated in from replacement depots, the dates he was seriously wounded in action, the dates of hospitalization entries and discharges). The morning calls have been puzzle pieces to try to fit together with battlefield incidents described in the manuscript, along with the writer’s discharge papers regarding commendations.

Your help has just filled in a *whole bunch* of missing pieces for me. I’m now able to locate where he was when his squad captured a fortress two days before our forces took Brest. That has eluded me as much as trying to figure out where he was during the hedgerow incident that you’ve responded to (a question your assistance has now answered for me, too!).

I can now also locate where he was in late March-early April when some sections of the manuscript speak of guarding POWs.

Holy catz, FRiend, this is so much more than I’ve had to work from that I’m entirely verklempt. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.

[CougarGA7]

Great. I’m glad to have helped. I don’t know anyone over the the Maryland Historical Society, but I’ll e-mail a colleague of mine over at the War College and see if he knows were I can find a cleaner copy.