QUOTE
Len Hicks was one of the older members of F/506th and he wrote his war memoirs before he died. Thanks to Bill True, also of F Co., we have excerpts of what Len had to say about the famous fight at the 105mm gun battery. This reminds us that elements of other 2d Bn companies were also involved in the fight to take out those guns. Len wrote:
"We passed through the edge of one or maybe two small towns. Very little fire until we had passed the 2d or 3rd, right beside some barn-like buildings and a high hedge. The krauts really showed what an '88' could do. Some of the (2nd) Bn officers did some scouting of this situation, because this emplacement was not on aerial photos and neither was it on the sand table.
Capt. Winters told me to take a detail down and clear it out, so we could go on to our objective. There were more E Co. troopers in this group, about 12 to 14. They were right by me when Capt. Winters was briefing them.-I told Capt. Winters I would like to have some of that action. His reply "Would anyone else like to go?"
I walked over and asked for volunteers. Sgt Julian Houck was the only one interested.
(During the battle) We were laying very near each other, when he suggested he would throw a grenade over to #4 emplacement. I told him to be very careful-we did not have much cover, in case they wanted to throw some back.
I'm sorry to say that "Rusty" was killed instantly by a burst of burp gun fire. He was hit across the top part of the shoulders, all internal bleeding-the little amount of external blood could have been wiped-off with a cigarette paper. He did not suffer. I can say Thank God, for "Rusty" was one of the good ones. I do not know if it was Rusty's grenade or my shot that got that guy. About 2-3 minutes later, Lt. Compton crawled up to check on us. After a few minutes, he suggested that I try to work my way over toward this 4th gun. The only way I could see was the trench between the two guns. For the first few feet, I could walk bent-over then the trench became too shallow. I had just started to get down, when I was hit in the right shin bone. I stopped. Lt. Compton asked "What's wrong?" "I think I slowed one down a little" was my reply. Luckily, I could walk back to a spot near him.
He brought out his jump knife (very sharp)-ripped my pants leg up to near the crotch, and proceeded to be the best aid man who ever worked on me-later I did have others. He used all my bandages and some of his-most of my calf muscles were blown away and I had started to bleed. He wanted me to lay down there, but I told him I only had two rounds left and would not be much help.
When I crawled past Capt. Winters he asked about how serious it was, and could I get out, because we were all out of ammo. By the time I crawled to the end of this trench, everyone had passed me. The trench here was about 4' deep, and no matter how I tried, I just could not make it. I sat back against the wall and waited for whatever came around the corner. It would be rough. I was damn good snap shooting with a rifle. I heard someone running and figured this it it. I have thanked God many times, because I am not an excited person. It was "Red" Kimberling from HQ Co.2nd Bn. He had been up in front of me. No one knew this and had not notified him to pull back. He had run out of ammo. He helped me out of the trench and then carried me back to a fence and rolled me under. Here was another trooper giving us some cover fire. There was an open field to cross-they figured to use my arms to tow me and let my butt absorb the shock. These guys may never have won any medals for running, but they were going so fast that my butt never touched the ground until we stopped. They were not even winded!
I think the final count on the number of krauts that made up the crews for these guns was 52-53. I think there were 15 of us. When the tanks came, they went down to these emplacements for a check up. We had done a pretty good job.
As a result of this account Bando goes on to state in his forum that:"We passed through the edge of one or maybe two small towns. Very little fire until we had passed the 2d or 3rd, right beside some barn-like buildings and a high hedge. The krauts really showed what an '88' could do. Some of the (2nd) Bn officers did some scouting of this situation, because this emplacement was not on aerial photos and neither was it on the sand table.
Capt. Winters told me to take a detail down and clear it out, so we could go on to our objective. There were more E Co. troopers in this group, about 12 to 14. They were right by me when Capt. Winters was briefing them.-I told Capt. Winters I would like to have some of that action. His reply "Would anyone else like to go?"
I walked over and asked for volunteers. Sgt Julian Houck was the only one interested.
(During the battle) We were laying very near each other, when he suggested he would throw a grenade over to #4 emplacement. I told him to be very careful-we did not have much cover, in case they wanted to throw some back.
I'm sorry to say that "Rusty" was killed instantly by a burst of burp gun fire. He was hit across the top part of the shoulders, all internal bleeding-the little amount of external blood could have been wiped-off with a cigarette paper. He did not suffer. I can say Thank God, for "Rusty" was one of the good ones. I do not know if it was Rusty's grenade or my shot that got that guy. About 2-3 minutes later, Lt. Compton crawled up to check on us. After a few minutes, he suggested that I try to work my way over toward this 4th gun. The only way I could see was the trench between the two guns. For the first few feet, I could walk bent-over then the trench became too shallow. I had just started to get down, when I was hit in the right shin bone. I stopped. Lt. Compton asked "What's wrong?" "I think I slowed one down a little" was my reply. Luckily, I could walk back to a spot near him.
He brought out his jump knife (very sharp)-ripped my pants leg up to near the crotch, and proceeded to be the best aid man who ever worked on me-later I did have others. He used all my bandages and some of his-most of my calf muscles were blown away and I had started to bleed. He wanted me to lay down there, but I told him I only had two rounds left and would not be much help.
When I crawled past Capt. Winters he asked about how serious it was, and could I get out, because we were all out of ammo. By the time I crawled to the end of this trench, everyone had passed me. The trench here was about 4' deep, and no matter how I tried, I just could not make it. I sat back against the wall and waited for whatever came around the corner. It would be rough. I was damn good snap shooting with a rifle. I heard someone running and figured this it it. I have thanked God many times, because I am not an excited person. It was "Red" Kimberling from HQ Co.2nd Bn. He had been up in front of me. No one knew this and had not notified him to pull back. He had run out of ammo. He helped me out of the trench and then carried me back to a fence and rolled me under. Here was another trooper giving us some cover fire. There was an open field to cross-they figured to use my arms to tow me and let my butt absorb the shock. These guys may never have won any medals for running, but they were going so fast that my butt never touched the ground until we stopped. They were not even winded!
I think the final count on the number of krauts that made up the crews for these guns was 52-53. I think there were 15 of us. When the tanks came, they went down to these emplacements for a check up. We had done a pretty good job.
QUOTE
Don't forget that in addition to 12 Easy Co. troopers, there was the W.O. who was KIA, the 2 from F Co. (Hicks and Houck), the 2 from Service Co., (John D. Hall and Gerald Loraine) also Red Kimberling from 2/506 HQ Co., who was so far forward in the fight, that nobody was in position to inform him of the withdrawal. Red has to be one trooper who fell thru the cracks. Think about it: if even one trooper had retreated past him when the ammo ran out, he woud've realized a withdrawal was in progress before he himself ran out of bullets. Then Lt. Speirs arrived before the 4th gun was taken, bringing along Art DiMarzio, Ray Taylor, and probably a few additional Dog Co. troopers. You can bet there were still more present who we still haven't learned about-the list keeps growing.
The list keeps growing? Interesting as there seems to be an implication that original 12 or 13 were not responsible for spearheading the assault. I am not entirely sure of that (but naturally open to anything new and substantiated), but I can see where others joined up later in the assault (Speirs and others); it did last nearly 4 hours.
Larry, perhaps you have some details on this from your recent discussions. It looks as if I have some updating to do on my site.
