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August 6, A good nights sleep. Guess a little to good as German planes were over dropping flares and bombed some at division H.Q. Shook things up here but I didn’t wake up. The report came in this morning that the German’s trucked in a bunch of troops to hold a town which was behind our lines several miles. The didn’t know we had moved so far forward. Before they knew it they were in the middle of 357 Inf. Lines and were captured before they got out of the trucks. We moved 39 miles yesterday, but as we are now in reserve are far behind the front.
We have just found out that the owner where we are now camped is pro-nazi and has a sign in a tree so he won’t be bombed. We also hear he is the mayor of the town and made them take the American flag down this morning.
A few days back we picked up a pup, and she is having a big time with us. We call her cognac. Of course everyone looks out for her. Moved at 6 p.m. seven miles this time and stayed long enough for supper then moved 11 miles more. We are quartered in a large chateau now. Foggy so no chance for air attack.
August 7, Moved out at eleven, stopped in a small town by the name of
Ernee. We were showered freely with flowers. We gave out all the
cigarettes, candy, and soap we had. Everyone having a holiday. Had an
officer riding with us who could talk some French. Found out the krauts
had slept there last night. They are one of the many small groups left.
About two miles out of Ernee we were stopped and learned a company of
Germans had been contacted. That held us up about three hours. We were
just ready to move out when 13 planes came over strafing the hedge
rows. And the town we had just left. The strafed just one hedge row
from us.
August 8, Moved about ten miles into a large chateau.
Also found a boobie trap hanging from a tree limb so have taped it off
with white so no one will get into it. Started raining about chow time
but moved up about 8 miles. Several pockets of German soldiers are
rounded up every day, their equipment liters the roads as we go along.
Stopped raining as we pulled into our new area and settled down for the
night.
August 9, Had a hot breakfast of bacon, peach jam and bread. Repaired a
tire in Co’s Jeep and got 35 cans of gas which pretty well filled up.
Collected about 30 Germans during the night and they were on there way
to the POW camp now. A kitten curled up on my bed and slept most of the
night with me. He had a fight with cognac this morning.
Moving again. Got shot at by a sniper but as he missed we didn’t go
hunt him down. Saw a German tank that had run into a shell hole and
stalled. The engineers built a road around it. The MP’s picked up a 2
1/1 ton German Truck. They are going to use it for a patty wagon. We
checked it over today and it seems to be in fair shape. We had chow
tonight from our own private supply. We had chili, peas, etc. and a
gallon of peaches to top it off. We asked three officers to join us.
Lt’s Smith, Pattock, and Girton. They thought they really had a feed.
Went to bed about 11 o’clock.
We are in a thick woods and 5 Germans were captured just as we were
stopping. Plenty of chance for more. During the night a man on the tank
got trigger happy and strafed the grass and trees all around us before
he could be stopped. The tank was camped right next to us. No one was
hit but it was close. All was quiet till about three o’clock when we
were awakened by machinegun fire and a rifle now and then. We were
ready with guns handy but nothing happened.
Next morning we had breakfast of our own rations again. And afterward a
French officer joined us. We all helped equip him in a suitable uniform
and arms. Many of the French are fighting with us now. We also gave him
a good breakfast and he was very grateful for our help. The French are
pretty well organized now and help us out a lot. The French will shoot
a German on sight so are a lot of help to us. We went through LeMans
yesterday, a beautiful old city and a beautiful old Church left
untouched by bombs.
August 11, Was wakened about 4 a.m. by gun fire and found that Corp HQ
was moving in with us. The guards had discovered a German and as he
didn’t want to be captured they shot him enough so they could capture
him. About 7 we packed up and moved out. Went about 15 miles then we
stopped for about four hours and for dinner. After that we moved on for
about five more miles making 20 for the day.
The 2nd Fr. Army is ahead of us now and seem to be doing pretty well.
After supper I cleaned up then went up to a well after water. One of
our men was waiting for me when I got back. He had broken the frame on
his glasses and wanted me to see if I could fix it. I got out my
soldering iron and put them back together for him. By then another men
was having trouble with his grease gun so I got it fixed for him.
According to what we can learn from the German prisoners they don’t
think they can hold out much over three weeks or a month. They have
moved back so fast that they don’t have any communication now.
August 12, Moved up 20 miles today. Finished a ring for Hendron during
my odd moments, made it from a British Shilling. One of our jeeps ran
into a jeep from 357 MP’s and messed up the front end. We fixed him up
so he could run it and then sent him back to Service Co. to get it
repaired. Moved out of Rene about 2:30 saw a lot of destruction. Moved
up to Alancon where we saw several tanks stopped and also a lot of fire
being thrown at the vicinity. It was still pretty hot there but was
soon cleared after we got there. So we moved in and set up for the
night. We joined the British forces today.
Be sure and check back again next week for the next installment.
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