Morning 14 February 1943
Personal Diary of SGT Lee
Lewis
We arrived back in the Company area
about 0500 hours with the captured Kublewagen driven by CPL Meister
sandwiched in between the two jeeps. Greeley had taken the
opportunity to search through the German killed, and retained the
Nazi officers P38 pistol and holster with two magazines of
ammunition. He also found 12 Deutschmarks.
The moment we arrived back in camp in
the captured Kublewagen the S2 guys swooped down on us. They
immediately took the four German rifles, belt-fed machine gun, and
submachine gun from us. They also went through the German killed and
took all the books and papers, as well as the map from the map case
and all the other contents. Greeley kept the P-38 pistol
out-of-sight and held onto that, and I got the empty black leather
map case. One of the S2 Lieutenants said something to Meister about
where to take the captured Kublewagen, and Meister drove off without
even getting out of the drivers seat, and PVT Dubois went with him.
I briefed the S2 guys on what we had
seen and how we had captured the vehicle, and they were in a state of
high animation. They kept saying over and over that there should not
have been Germans in that area, and how could they have gotten there.
They said the German officer was a Lieutenant and part of a German
armor recon outfit. That's what the pink around the epaulette with a
diamond meant. LT Snyderwine showed up, and told me I should get
over to the Battalion aid station immediately and get my wound
properly attended to, and afterwards I could give him my report. I
turned the squad over to PVT Greeley and headed over to the aid
station. The doctor at the aid station looked at my wound and
remarked he was surprised I could come in under my own power. He
proceeded to treat my wound and I felt much better after being
treated. It would be awhile before I would be back to my normal
capacity though.
I wanted to rest pretty badly, but
needed to brief LT Snyderwine first, and make sure the squad was
taken care of. I briefed LT Snyderwine on our recent mission and
then went to look for CPL Gus Meister. He was in getting treated for
his wounds at the Bn aid station. Gus told me he had left PVT Dubois
working on the Kublewagen putting it in “tip-top” shape, and
making a couple modifications. I asked Meister what the point of
that was, and he told me that he had made a “deal” with the guys
at the ammo supply point that they would keep the Kublewagen “under
wraps” for us to be able to use when we could get away with it. I
don't how that is going to work out, but the way I felt with my wound
I would take any opportunity I could to ride instead of walk.
Meister talked about repainting the Kublewagen olive green and
putting U.S. Marking on it, but I said “no”. We could just put
an American flag on a whip antennae when it came time to use it.
I went to get the squad together, and
we were having breakfast when LT Snyderwine found us. I tried to
pretend not to see him, but he walked right up to me and started in
with another mission for us and said we had to get moving as soon as
we could get our gear together.
I was both glad and suspicious when
Snyderwine said we were going to a “quiet place” where Gus and I
could recover from our wounds while still serving the needs of the
platoon.
LT Snyderwine said we were to take the
two jeeps and occupy and hold a small town to the South on our supply
route called Bir Al Halfa. He said there were no Germans there, and
it was a “quiet place”. One of the squad members pointed out
that there weren't supposed to be any Germans on our last patrol
either, and got a glare from Snyderwine.
Snyderwine said we could take the two
jeeps to carry the squad, and were to move out as soon as we could.
He didn't say how long we should hold the town, but that he would
relieve us when he could. He said since it was right on our supply
route about 20 miles away it would be no problem for us to find it,
and he was certain there were no Germans there, but they could
possibly show up like they did at the airstrip, and we needed to be
prepared to hold the town. At only 20 miles away that would mean hot
maremited chow brought in regular with the supply convoys, and we
would be away from the Company area with all its details. It suited
us, especially Gus and I if we could get a few days easy duty
resting.
Snyderwine asked us what I thought we
needed for equipment. Gus gave me a wink, and proceeded double
teaming Lieutenant Snyderwine to get what we wanted. Because we had
only a squad to secure a town of several hundred local inhabitants
with a main route going through it, I was able to get a .30 cal, AND
a .50 cal machine gun, mounted one each on the jeeps. A bazooka
(because we had encountered a panzer officer, they could not say no
to that), and 36 rockets. Crowenshield somehow convinced the LT that
we needed a jeep radio and a 292 antennae (something to do with
increasing the range). I got extra hand grenades, smoke, and
illumination grenades, as well as trip flares. Meister was able to
get an extra sound phone, and camouflage netting. In exasperation
Snyderwine gave in. However, he draw the line when I asked for a
mortar. I was plenty satisfied with what we got nonetheless.
I told the squad to draw all the gear
and assemble every last item the squad had to bring with us. This
included our duffles, weapons, everything. Snyderwine was anxious
for us to move out, and I figured the sooner we did, the sooner I
could get to a quiet spot to rest.
Not knowing how long we would be out
there, I made sure we got 12 jerry cans of gas, and 12 jerry cans of
drinking water. I don't trust the local wells, and one never knows
how much water will be in them anyway. I also secured six rolls of
concertina wire, and six spools of barbed wire, some metal pickets,
two spools of trip wire, and a case of trip flares. I made sure
every squad member had their standard two days worth of rations, two
full canteens, and standard ammunition load. I took the opportunity
to get four more waist belts loaded with BAR magazines and ammunition
(for Meister), and designated Karas to carry one of them, and put the
rest in the lead jeep with Gus. I got ten 250 round cans of belted
.30 cal ammo for the belt fed Browning as a consolation when they
only had two 100 round cans of .50 cal ammo for me.
It was a good thing I did to, because
when it came time to move out, Dubois showed up with the Kublewagen,
and it had a .30 cal pintle installed on it. As it turned out Dubois
and Crowenshield had done some trading, and gotten another .30 cal
Browning, and a pintle installed on the Kublewagen. I told them to
keep that second .30 cal out of sight under canvas until we got out
of camp. Gus and I insured the load was spread between the three
vehicles. Each of the vehicles had two strands of concertina
strapped on the outside, with one cammoflage net bundled and strapped
on the hood, and one jerry can filled with gas mounted on the
chassis. Half the jerry cans in each vehicle were filled with
gasoline and the others, marked with a white “X”, were filled
with drinking water. Meister drove the lead jeep with the .50 cal
mounted, with Karas in the passenger seat with the Thompson, and
spare BAR belts. The back had eight jerry cans, a case of hand
grenades, 12 bazooka rockets, some smoke grenades, and duffles.
PVT Dubois drove the Kublewagen in the middle, flying the American
flag on a whip antennae and his 03 rifle in a leather scabbard
strapped to the side. I was in the passenger seat with a .30 cal
browning and one can of ammo under canvas at my feet, and my M1 rifle
in my arms. Crowenshield was in back working the spare radio we had
gotten, with the bazooka laying beside him, four .30 cal ammo cans
with belted ammo, one can of M1 ammo in clips, four jerry cans, 12
bazooka rockets, barbed wire, rifle grenades for Dubois, and some
duffles. The rear jeep was driven by PVT McKee with his M1 rifle in
a scabbard, PVT Greeley in the passenger seat with his M1 rifle. The
other .30 cal browning was mounted on the pintle with a can of ammo.
In back were four more cans of belted .30 cal ammo, two cans of M1
ammo in rifle clips, 12 bazooka rockets, two spools barbed wire, some
illumination grenades, a case of trip flares, and the remaining
duffles. We never could have managed the load without the captured
Kublewagen. As it was we must have made a strange sight pulling out
of camp. As long as Snyderwine or the First Sergeant didn't see us,
we would be OK.
We headed down to Bir Al Halfa, passing
a U.S. supply convoy of trucks enroute. We got a few stares and some
verbal razzing for the Kublewagen as we passed, which disturbed my
dozing, and I gave the buzzards a gesture when they did. I was in an
irritable mood.
We arrived at Bir Al Halfa and Gus
never slowed down and led us right through town, off to the left, and
up a hill about a mile outside town which had a commanding view of
the entire area. Crowenshield said we were at least 250 feet up, and
it would be ideal for radio communication. There was a small shack
up on the hill, and I had to admit, it made a great observation post.
We could see anything approaching for 20 miles as long as the
weather was clear.
Crowenshield set up the 292 antennae,
and proceeded to make radio contact. Meister took the rest of the
squad back down to Bir Al Halfa to establish defensive positions,
camouflage the vehicles, pick out positions for barriers, and
determine escape routes. Karas talked to the locals in French and
learned that our forces, with tanks had come through here recently,
and that our supply convoys to command group “C” came through
regularly. In fact, the convoy we had passed soon came rumbling
through. McKee devised plans and positions for emplacing explosive
in key avenues of approach.
It was about 9:30 AM when we started to
see signs of trouble. First it was loss of contact with command
group C, then Crowenshield changed the crystals in the radio and
picked up a German signal which Meister was able to translate into
meaning the Germans were moving on an objective. We heard more and
more radio chatter, then German planes to our North, back in the
vicinity of our Company area, then the sound of straffing.
Crowenshield was able to get a message back to headquarters, and we
were ordered to: “Do what we could, and not let the Krauts
triangulate on our radio”.
We saw approaching enemy forces from
the Southeast. Enemy planes passed over our position, and we
remained concealed. As the enemy ground troops got closer, my hopes
that they would be a light recon element were dashed. This was an
overrun attack with armor spread out across a wide front. We could
not hope to prevail in a fight, nor even to slow them down with our
meager squad.
Karas found out from the local elder
that there were people in the town who would not give us up if we
hid. I sent Meister and the rest of the squad, less Crowenshield and
I into the town with orders to find a good place to hole-up and avoid
being detected by the oncoming Germans. I emphasized that we needed
to lie low, and let them pass us by. I figured after the forward
assault troops rolled through we would stand a better chance against
the follow-on elements. Hopefully we would be able avoid capture,
and be able to rejoin the main part of our American forces later.
Our first duty was to stay alive. I recalled our last radioed orders
were, “Do what you can”.
Crowenshield took down the antennae,
and he and I hid in the shack on top of the hill. The rest of the
squad hid in the town itself, with the aid of the locals not pointing
them out. When the Germans rolled through, we counted more than 40
tanks, plus other support vehicles. They never slowed down, and just
continued in the direction we had come from just a few hours before.
Crowenshield did his best to get a signal out to headquarters as to
what we had seen, but the radio was so jammed with chatter, he
doubted anybody could have distinguished his signal from all the
others.
When the Germans had passed, we emerged
from our respective hiding places. It was obvious to us all that we
were cut-off, without support, and Behind Enemy Lines.
-SGT Lewis 14 FEB 1943, near Bir Al
Halfa
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