Chapter 42

Rome to France

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North out of Rome
I recall an incident you might find of interest. We pulled out to try to catch up
with the enemy who were retreating up the “Boot”. The column was led by nine
tanks. Behind them come the Infantry, loaded on trucks so they could keep up. We
were the lead Artillery Battery behind the Infantry. I was in the lead of "C" in the
radio car. All of a sudden we come to a stop.

Word come down that they had hit a roadblock and the lead tank was knocked out.
"C" Battery was to get in position to fire and an officer was to get forward to
direct fire. Captain Curtis hollered for his Exec to get the Battery off the road
and into firing position. He jumped in with us and said, “Let’s go.” (That cheered
me). Word had gone ahead to let us through so we passed up everything. Just as
we got to the last of the tanks I noticed vehicles with stars on them. I wasn’t
interested but I did notice they were empty. We got on up behind the second tank
and could see the knocked-out one burning at a turn around the point of the hill.
Somebody waved us down to get out and get under cover (I was ready to!). I
already had my mike with a long cord on it. Somebody called for Curtis and it was
General Walker, our Division Commander. The ditch behind a high bank on one side
was full of people. I didn’t see a place I could get. About that time the General
saw me and, as I was Curtis’ operator, he said make room by me for that man. I
didn’t bother to salute, I just got right in. The General told me to check to see if
"C" was ready to fire. They were, so he had me tell them to stand by for further
orders. I had operated for up to one-star, but that was my first and only job for a
two-star.

General Walker told Curtis of a plan change and for us to stand by. They brought
up an Infantry patrol to go over the hill and find out what we were up against. The
patrol come by us led by a Lieutenant with a tommygun. Just as they topped the hill
they met a German patrol (coming to see what we were doing). Our Infantry
Lieutenant emptied his tommygun at the German Lieutenant and he emptied his “rat
pistol” back at our Lieutenant. I will swear to this—neither one hit the other. I
think we were in more danger because the German’s bullets were hitting the
pavement right in front of us. They pulled back the patrol and brought up the
other eight tanks. They lined them up, abreast, just under the top of the hill.
They got ready, opened their motors wide open and went over the hill in an eight-
tank front. The noise and dirt churning was something. It routed the Germans and
they took off (to my relief).

We returned to the Battery and our guns hadn’t been hooked back up. People were
all around, most of them in robes. It seems "C" had set up on Vatican land and was
in trouble. Our officers were catching it from all sides. We were not to move.
About that time, General Walker come back and took responsibility and got us out.

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Vatican land was all over Italy and to get on it was a no-no. But our Executive
Officer had no way of knowing it was Vatican land.

Anyway, we took off trying to catch up again.

I don’t know if I had described the German “rat pistol”. That is what we called it.
It was on the order of our tommyguns. It was only 38 caliber but fired a lot
faster. In fact, one pull of the trigger and it fired ten to fifteen times before it
would stop. By then the muzzle would be so high it wouldn’t hit a thing.

Booby-traps
The Germans were bad to booby-trap anything they had to leave. Combat veterans
were wary and they seldom caught any of them. But new boys in spite of being
warned would sometimes get caught. One favorite trick was to leave a good-looking
wristwatch or expensive ring on a body in plain sight. A wire or thread would be
attached to the other end of a grenade. When you touched the article it would go
off. Sometimes the grenade would be underneath the body or just in the armpit.
They buried mines, sometimes two to a hole. When you moved the top mine, both
would go off. Antipersonnel mines were common. A trip wire would set them off.
They were small but you can see where they would usually do the damage.

Mines did a lot of damage and we dreaded them. They would booby-trap Artillery
shells too. You would have to move them because of the danger. Mines damaged an
awful lot of our vehicles. They would stop tanks. They would always knock the
tracks off a tank. They scattered mines everywhere people were apt to walk or
drive.

We called their hand grenades “potato mashers” because of the way they were
made.

They come at you end over end. They could throw the grenade a good ways by the
handle. They were detonated by a string through the handle. When we moved into
a new area, grenades would sometimes be scattered all around. They would have to
be carefully moved. You never knew but what the safe one you picked up might not
be hooked up to several more,

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As I said, a big land mine would stop a tank. The people inside might not be hurt
except from concussion. They would blow big trucks into two parts if hit right. A
jeep and everything in it would often be completely demolished. I said they often
put two mines to a hole. I have known of as many as five, one underneath the other.

Engineers usually had the job of removing mines (I never wanted to be an engineer).
They usually just moved them to one side of a road and come back later for them.
Of course, you drove carefully down that road. You didn’t want to lose control and
run into where the mines were stacked.

One of the most asinine things I knew of happening with mines was after we got
into France. We were along a road that the sides were lined with mines that had
been removed. There hadn’t been time to disarm them. A new Division fresh from
the States was moving through our area. They let them stop for a rest and a guy
moved over and set down on one. It blew up about five guys. I know they wouldn’t
have brought them into combat without some training on mines. I guess he just
didn’t want to sit on the damp ground. Anyway, he didn’t have to worry about the
war anymore.

Too, I will bet that nobody else in that whole Division ever set down on a mine again.

Hope you can figure out some of my illustrations!!

Another incident happened that I recall. We were split into smaller units, chasing
the retreating enemy all over. We were sent forward with some tanks. We were a
battalion of Infantry with only "C" Battery for Artillery support. We had got so
far ahead that they pulled us up until some more troops caught up. We pulled into a
small valley and dispersed. We had been on the go night and day. I was worn out.
Tuten was with me. He took over the radio and let me crawl under the car and go to
sleep. I had about three hours of good sleep before I woke up. I started to crawl
out. Tuten stopped me and told me to come out on his side. I was still about half
asleep but it dawned on me that he was staying down low. I inquired as to what was
going on. It seems a sniper was trying to keep us out of the radio car. Guess he
had orders to foul up communications. I asked Tuten why he didn’t wake me. He
said I would have probably been under cover asleep and a lot safer and he didn’t
need me. We later located three new holes in our top. Somebody from the
Infantry got rid of that sniper and we moved to what we figured was a safer
location.

About that time all hell broke loose. A squadron of fighter planes come over the
hills and strafed us. That time Tuten dove under the radio car. Unfortunately we
had pulled over a bed of thistles without knowing it. There was a lot F.O. head

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bumping and strong language coming out from under our vehicle. The planes were
really after the tanks and did very little damage. But when Tuten found out it was
our planes he really got mad. Really it wasn’t their fault. Nobody had notified them
and we were a long ways behind the lines.

I was lucky in this. I got a week of R & R and got to come back to Rome. In the
week there I really prowled the city. I saw a lot of history.

A boy from "C" was with me. As he was a good Catholic I went to the Vatican with
him. We went to St. Peters and I learned a lot about the whole thing from him. He
was from Indiana and his name was Bayless Knodel (of all things). In fact, I almost
caused him to get in a fight one time. I told some of the boys that I heard Knodel
laugh about what a funny name Amil Kohutek had. I was joking, of course, but
Kohutek didn’t think it was a bit funny. He was going to whip Knodel for making fun
of his name. I had to apologize to both of them and tell them I lied. They finally
decided it was funny and we still remained friends.

Kohutek was always getting into some kind of trouble. I didn’t see this incident but
was told by another party who was along. Kohutek was on F.O. duty and was
carrying the battery pack from a radio, which weighted about thirty pounds. The
Infantry was advancing up a long slope and just as they hit the top they met the
Germans coming on an attack. Somebody gave the order to retreat down the hill
and dig in. Kohutek was running down hill when two medics picked up a stretcher
right in front of him. He went tail over teacup. It is a wonder it didn’t hurt him
bad but he just got up, cussed, and went on down the hill.

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Knodel’s job in the Battery in combat was to stay in the C.P. and help the officers
figure firing data, range, elevation, powder charges, degrees right or left, map
coordinates, and etc. for the guns. It was an important job and he was good at it.
He could do it on his own if it was necessary.

Kohutek was one of the most dedicated and conscientious men I ever knew.
Whatever they gave him, he did his best. But he wasn’t really good at any one thing.
You remember him I am sure? I have known him to be a jeep driver, truck driver,
radio, or telephone operator or hauling ammo. Just about any place we were short
of men. He even worked as a cannoneer on the guns. He spent a lot of time as a
crewman for forward observers, too.

A Guard Assignment
An incident I have a vivid memory of when we were cleaning up behind the lines got
rough for me. I was sent as Sergeant of the Guard with three corporals and twelve
Privates some thirty miles away from everybody. We were to guard a big
warehouse full of military supplies to keep civilians from looting it. That was no
problem. We just got inside, locked all the doors, and kept somebody patrolling the
building. Right after they left us, I took a bad sore throat. I had high fever and
couldn’t even swallow water. It turned out I had a severe case of strep throat.
Tuten was one of my corporals. In fact, we were the only two out of "C" Battery.
My sleeping bag wasn’t keeping me warm. Tuten had one of the down filled bags the
F.O.’s used. He put me in his bag and got extra blankets for me. He stayed up all
night bathing my face and looking after me. That was just another time he or
Stack helped save my neck.

We had no way of contacting anybody until the officer in charge come by the next
morning. They wrapped me up, put me in his jeep and took me back to C. The
Medico who I told you had been wounded, had been released from the hospital and
returned to us. I will always remember what he did. I am sure it wasn’t by the
book. He powdered a bunch of aspirin on a sheet of paper and rolled into a tube.
He had me open my mouth and blew it down my throat. It was such a relief, even
short-lived, that I dozed off in the ambulance on the way to a rear hospital. They
put me on I.V.’s to stop dehydration. I heard the doctor tell the nurse if I couldn’t
swallow by night they would start feeding me by I.V.’s. They had enough shots and
etc. in me by then that I was some better. I decided I didn’t want that, so I went
to swallowing. After a few days I was much better. "C" Battery was moving
forward and some way Captain Curtis got me released and sent his jeep back for
me. I sure appreciated that, as I probably would have been transferred to another
outfit. I come back to the Battery and took it easy for a few days and completely

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recovered. I had a strep infection a few times after that but I knew what was
coming and got treatment. It never got that bad again.

In the hospital
An incident happened while I was in the hospital you might find of interest. On a
cot next to me was an Infantry Sergeant that had been wounded but was
recovering. After I got where I could talk, we got acquainted and got to be pretty
good friends. He was a platoon scout when he was wounded. One day, in marched a
bunch of “high brass”. They stopped between our cots and I started to raise up but
they said, “at ease”. Some doctors and nurses had gathered around the “brass” and
asked them if the Sergeant could stand up and they said yes. It seems this old boy
had taken a B.A.R. and stood off a whole company of Germans while his platoon
retreated to another position. He was credited with saving them all. I laid there
and watched them pin the C.M.H. on him.

After they left he told me, “I didn’t know the rest of the S.O.B.’s were leaving or I
would have gone with them.” I don’t know if he meant it or not but sometimes
somebody was a hero accidentally. I was too flabbergasted at the time. I do
remember that part of the citation read that by saving his platoon where they
could dig in another position and holed that he kept that whole section of the line
from being lost.

The hospital was canvas cots in tents with dirt floors.

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Rome to France
We didn’t go too much farther up the boat after Rome. The farther up we went we
run into a better class of people. They were entirely different from the civilians in
the south, especially from Naples down to Sicily. I saw some of the prettiest,
deep-blue lakes along the way in the mountains. Then we were pulled back to get
ready for the invasion of southern France.

We drew equipment and replacements again as at Anzio. We used tarps, logs, and
etc. to build a dummy gun park before we loaded out. As before, I don’t’ know who
they thought they were fooling. We loaded on the LST’s again. One would carry a
Battery with all men and equipment.

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On that trip I slept below deck. I had learned my lesson about sleeping on deck on
the trip to Anzio. In the convoy were destroyers, cruisers, and one battleship for
protection. We made the trip without incident except for a scare or two of an air
attack. One never materialized.

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