19430215 Adding Squad
Members and Evening Action on Road South of Bir Al Halfa
About four miles South of Bir Al
Halfa we found a spot where there was a Wadi (dry streambed) running
roughly parallel to the road and about 70 yards to the West. By
driving down inside it, this afforded concealment for our vehicles
(two jeeps, a Kublewagen, with towed motorcycle, and Crowenshield
riding the other motorcycle.
Once we came to a halt, I set up a
security watch using Karas, Greeley, and Despaux. We did not detect
any pursuers, so Dubois and Crowenshield immediately set about using
the best parts from the towed motorcycle to bring the other one into
optimum running condition. They wanted to make the best use of what
daylight was left.
Crowenshield went through the contents
of both motorcycles and took inventory of the following items we
gained from our encounter in Bir Al Halfa: Two German Uniforms,
including caps and goggles. Two German uniform overcoats, still
wrapped up and unused. One pair of German boots, one pair of Zeiss
binoculars, and one German flare pistol, with two flares, one “Rot”
& one “Grun” (Red and Green).
Once he was finished with the
motorcycles PVT Dubois conducted a complete assessment and spot
repair of the other vehicles, checking for any damage that may have
been sustained. CPL Meister joined him in this assessment, and did
an ammo check on our weapons. He reported back to me that we had
fired about 30 rounds from each of the belt-fed machine guns, leaving
a 70 round belt in the .50 Cal in the first Jeep, and an unused belt
of 100 in the can. We used about two clips apiece out of our M1
rifles, and one bazooka round had been fired, in addition to one
“enhanced” hand grenade expended.
Although Mckee had taken fire in the
2nd Jeep, there was no evidence of damage. In fact, PVT
Dubois and Meister reported all of the vehicles unscathed and in good
operating order, including the one motorcycle and sidecar, now with
some spare parts.
Mckee, Meister, and I (Lewis) spent the
next several hours resting as the rest of the squad took turns taking
watch. We three had wounds to recover from, particularly McKee.
I was awakened well into the evening,
perhaps 10:00 PM. There were people approaching on foot from two
different directions. Meister and I situated the squad around the
vehicle and listened as they approached. The night was very dark,
but eventually we were able to make out the shape of the approaching
figures. Two were approaching from one direction, from the
Northeast, and the other from the Southwest. I couldn’t tell which
of us recognized the helmets first, but someone called out, “Hey,
they are Americans ! ”, followed shortly by, “We are Americans,
too !”
Two were from the 168th
Infantry, Private Dan Smith from Seattle, rifleman, and Private Marco
Capone from New York city, BAR gunner. The other, who was alone, was
from the 6th Armored Infantry, Bernard Johnson from
Milwaukee, rifle grenadier. They had been caught up in the Germans
attack and separated from their respective units. With these
additions to the squad, I had an effective force to be able to
disrupt enemy convoys.
The squad now measured up like this:
SGT Lewis, squad leader, carrying an M1
rifle, and a 1911, .45 caliber pistol
CPL Meister, team leader, carrying a
Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR)
PVT Crowinshield, radio operator and
riflemen, with M1 Garand and French M-35 pistol
PVT Greeley, rifleman and scout, with
M1 Garand, and P-38 pistol
PVT Karas, rifleman and scout, with M1
Garand
PVT McKee, rifleman, with M1 Garand and
carrying medical aid bag
PVT Despaux, rifleman, but favors
carrying the Thompson SMG.
PVT Dubois, rifleman, with M1 Garand
and carrying the bazooka
PVT Johnson, rifle grenadier with 03-A3
rifle
PVT Smith, rifleman, with M1 Garand
PVT Capone, BAR gunner, with Browning
Automatic Rifle (BAR)
We had ample water, gasoline, and
ammunition, including nine rifle grenades, a case of hand grenades,
and plenty of rockets (35) for our bazooka. Rations were in short
supply. I thought the best course was to set about capturing some
rations from a passing German convoy as a priority, and CPL Meister
devised a plan of which I heartily approved.
Meister and Crowenshield found that the
two German uniforms complete with soft caps fit each of them
adequately so they could pass reasonably well in the dark as German
Soldiers. They set the fully operational German motorcycle with
sidecar in the middle of the road with Crowenshield maintaining his
position on the operators seat, with his M1 rifle on the north side,
concealed from northbound traffic by the motorcycle and his own body.
Meister was able to devise some kind of makeshift fastener to fix
his BAR to the German sidecar M.G. mount. He remained dismounted
from the sidecar, with the idea that he would stop Northbound German
convoys, try to ascertain what they were carrying, speaking German,
and posing as a Kraut checkpoint on the supply route to the front.
The rest of us, in pairs of two (except
for McKee who stayed with our vehicles in the Wadi), would be
positioned prone strung along in a line parallel to the road 30 feet
from the road 50 feet apart. We would lie still, watching Meister
and act to ambush the convoy based upon a pre-arranged signal from
him.
We were after food as a priority, so
Meister said he would position himself in the road about 100 feet
South from the stationary motorcycle, and stop each enemy convoy. He
said he would wave on any convoy of vehicles he thought unlikely to
carry much food, or otherwise would be a risky target without
adequate payoff (such as a troop replacement convoy, or armored
vehicles). I ordered that we would remain stationary in this case
If a convoy looked small enough for us
to be able to handle, and likely to have rations aboard, Meister
would stop the lead truck, then walk back to the motorcycle, arms
straight down at his sides. We were to spring into action when he
reached the sidecar, or if we could not see him (I was last in line
on the Southernmost point of our line), when we heard gunfire.
My instructions to the squad were not
to be trigger happy, and what we wanted to do was capture any
transport trucks which might be carrying food, intact. Priority was
to neutralize any gun trucks or escort element armed with machine
guns first, and then dispose of any truck drivers as soon as
possible, using physical force to get them out of the trucks, rather
than shooting the trucks full of holes. We had the darkness of night
in our favor, and hopefully the element of surprise. The way the
action went off was like this:
We were all in position, when the first
convoy approached at about 2200 hrs on 14 FEB 43. Meister brought
them to a halt, and we could see that our spacing of our groups of
two was not matched to the interval between the six German trucks.
It would be very difficult and unlikely we could take out all the
drivers simultaneously without a couple of them being able to react,
and either drive off, or at the least give alarm.
We later found out from Meister that
the leader of this convoy of trucks stated to him it was loaded with
ammunition destined for the front. Not what we were looking for, so
Meister waved them on. Crowenshield pulled the motorcycle out of the
way and let them pass. We stayed prone and unmoving until the last
truck was out of sight.
I made good use of this first
experience and repositioned the squad so that we were in pairs of
two, situated so we would be at the right interval for when Meister
halted the next convoy for each pair to assault the cab of each of
the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th vehicles in
line. Meister and Crowenshield were responsible to keep the lead
vehicle from moving.
The second convoy came at about 0200
hrs on 15 FEB 43. Meister halted it like the first, and I could see
that we had our spacing just about right. We watched Meister, and
after some conversation with the lead vehicles driver (we found out
later from Meister that this was a convoy with some food, but was
primarily carrying replacements for front line combat losses),
Meister waved this convoy on through as well. We saw that one of the
vehicles was towing an 88 mm crew-served gun. It was too bad we had
to let that one through. However, one of my squad members relayed to
me afterwards that they saw the back flap on one of the canvas
covered trucks thrown back and a Soldier toss a cigarette butt off.
Glad we passed on that convoy. There could have been three or four
dozen, or more enemy on those trucks. That was a firefight I didn’t
want to get into with my squad of 11. If we were to have to break
off, we would be without food and behind enemy lines, with them
alerted. Also, we were on the opposite side of the road from where
our vehicles were down in the Wadi. I didn’t fancy leaving McKee
with an enemy force larger then us between us and him.
It was at about 0400 hrs that a convoy
of five vehicles approached. The lead vehicle had only one
headlight, and I feared it would be some kind of security element
vehicle. As it turned out, the lead vehicle was a German halftrack,
the kind with 12 troop seats behind the driver and assistant drivers
seat. The other four vehicles were standard German canvas covered
trucks equivalent to our two and a half ton trucks. Two Soldiers
were in each truck cab. Meister talked to the driver of the
halftrack, and then turned and walked back to the motorcycle, arms at
his sides. Upon arrival he turned and opened fire.
The squad was position. Despaux and
Karas were parallel to the halftrack. Dubois and Johnson parallel to
the 1st truck. Capone and Smith parallel to the 2nd
truck. Greeley and myself (Lewis) parallel to the 3rd truck. The
squad was fortunate that the 3rd truck had pulled up a little closer
to the 2nd truck, and the 4th truck had pulled
up closer to the 3rd. This meant that I could approach
the 4th truck as easily as the 3rd truck in
line.
PVT Dubois sprang into action as soon
as he realized Gus was opening fire. He ran up to the 1st
truck, pulled open the door, and pulled the driver out of the cab
before the German had time to react.
I (SGT Lewis) went for the 4th
(last) truck in line. It wasn’t easy, but I threw the driver out
of the cab and onto the ground at about the same time as Dubois
pulled his out.
PVT Greeley did the same to the driver
of the 3rd truck, but bashed the guys head hard enough on
the steering wheel to bend the wheel, and stun the German before
pulling him out of the cab.
PVT Smith and PVT Capone took a
different approach. Smith opened the door of the cab of the 2nd
truck , and Capone put a burst of rounds from his BAR into the driver
at close range. This killed the driver instantly and left the
assistant driver in a state of shock.
Meister fired his BAR at the halftrack.
I think he hit the driver first because the driver had pissed him
off with a condescending attitude. Crowenshield had a real flair for
the dramatic, and fired the German flare pistol right through the
windshield of the halftrack. The reaction of the German passengers
was immediate and urgent. They dismounted out of both sides as the
flare ignited and started to burn the interior of the vehicle. I
think only one or two retained presence of mind to grab their weapons
first. Gus poured his BAR fire into the group that dismounted out of
the drivers side first, then switched to the group that went out the
passenger side, after he had splattered one Kraut with his BAR.
PVT Johnson strode up to the 1st
truck, behind Dubois, and fired one round into the German driver
lying on the ground, and then two rounds into the assistant driver
using my 1911 pistol that I had handed off to him before the action
started.
PVT Karas poured a burst from the
Thompson SMG he was carrying into the four Germans who were on the
drivers side of the halftrack, and this, combined with the BAR fire
from Gus dropped two. The other Germans just put their hands up.
The bleeding assistant driver in the
first truck gave up to Dubois and Johnson. The assistant driver in
the 2nd truck gave up to Smith and Capone. The assistant
drivers in trucks 3 and 4 exited out the passenger side doors, and
disappeared into the night, leaving their rifles and helmets in the
cabs.
Crowenshield switched to his rifle and
added a couple rounds into the group of Germans at the halftrack,
then started up the motorcycle intending to pursue the fleeing
Germans.
Meister didn’t stop firing, however,
and poured another burst into the Germans on the passenger side of
the halftrack, dropping the one with a submachine gun, and causing
the others to put up their hands.
Karas had the group at the driver side
covered, and Despaux wasted no time in getting all the German
prisoners, eight in all, two of which were wounded, into a group,
faced away from the road, under the muzzle of Karas’ Thompson, and
Despaux’s M1.
We checked out the trucks, found they
were all still in good operating order. We had enough drivers to
move all four trucks off the road and into the Wadi, next to our
other vehicles.
CPL Meister questioned our prisoners,
with Karas and Despaux covering them, while the rest of us checked
out the contents of the trucks. PVT Johnson took possession of the
submachine gun one of the Germans casualties had dropped, and found
it to be an Italian Beretta Model 38/42 in 9mm with an unfired full
magazine of 40 rounds.
PVT Karas handed the Thompson back to
PVT Despaux who seems to have a liking for it, and reclaimed his M1
Garand.
The contents of each truck was as is
described below:
Truck #1 : 4 cases of dry rations (3
days food for each of us); 1 case of medical bandages
Truck #2 : empty
Truck #3 : 4 Jerry cans of water,
marked with white “X”s; two finely made latched cases, one case
containing a silver utensil service, and the other case a dinner
service for eight.
Truck #4 : 16 cases of 1500 rounds each
of 8mm Mauser rifle cartridges; 4 cases of opened topped canteens; 4
cases of mess kits; 1 case of medical compression bandages; 1 junior
medical kit; 1 case of German Schnapps, and 1 small box of cigars.
I was elated that we had taken these
trucks intact and in good running order, without any of our own being
wounded. Only one of the trucks had taken any damage from gunfire
(Truck #2). Of greater concern was the halftrack, which was burning
away with live rounds cooking off and detonating, likely attracting
attention. The German prisoners were on the far side of the road
from the Wadi, being questioned by Meister. Karas and Despaux had
kept the prisoners backs to the road so they could not see when we
moved the trucks behind them, beyond the motorcycles position and
into the Wadi.
At least two Germans had disappeared
into the night, and were unaccounted for, although sans rifles and
helmets. We treated the wounded Germans with their own medical
bandages and compression dressing which we had captured. I had to
decide what we would do with them, and what would be our next move.
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