By A. P. Wiley, Jr.

The experiences of a Combat Infantryman in Europe during World War II

      My military life began in January, 1938 when I entered Adamson High School in Dallas, Texas. I signed up for R.O.T.C. (Reserve Officers Training Corps) in my first semester and continued in the R.O.T.C. program for four years until my graduation from high school. My first two years were uneventful but I did learn close order drill and how to handle a Springfield rifle. We had classes in Squad tactics based around infantry training in general. During the summer of my second year, I attended Camp Dallas, a tent city of R.O.T.C. Cadets from Dallas and Fort Worth located about three miles east of Mineral Wells, Texas next to Camp Wolters, Texas, a large regular army post that specialized in combat infantry training. The summer camp lasted for thirty days and really gave us a good reception to army life. We were permitted to use some of the firing ranges at Camp Wolters and actually fired rifles and machine guns. I was quite impressed with this summer camp and attended Camp Dallas the next two years. The three Summer Camps I attended really helped me to adjust to life in the regular army when I entered active military service in April, 1943. As things turned out my first assignment in the army was at Camp Wolters, Texas. 

      Back to my high school days and the R.O.T.C. training I received. At the middle of my second year I was promoted to the rank of Sgt. and assigned as a squad leader. This advancement increased my desire to move up in rank to a position of command. At the middle of my third year I was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lt. At the middle of my fourth year I was promoted to the rank of Captain and became Company Commander of "E" Company.

      I graduated from high school in January of 1942 some six weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. At this time I decided to take a post graduate course at Adamson High School taking only two courses, Solid Geometry and Trigonometry and continuing my R.O.T.C. program. At this point in time I was promoted to the rank of Lt. Col.

      After my one semester of post-graduate work I enrolled at Texas A & M College in June of 1942. Texas A & M was an all male military school so I continued my R.O.T.C. training until April, 1943 when I entered active duty in the U.S. Army at the age of eighteen. My R.O.T.C. training in high school and at Texas A & M helped me considerably after I entered active duty because anyone with previous military training moved to the front and we were used to help train incoming soldiers. As previously mentioned my first assignment was at Camp Wolters, Texas for ten days then some five hundred of us were transported to Camp Roberts, California, located some fifteen miles north of Paso Robles, California to begin seventeen weeks of basic infantry training leading to being assigned to a Combat Infantry Division in Europe or the South Pacific. My five years of R.O.T.C. training started to pay off as soon as I was assigned to be "acting" squad leader in the 4th Platoon of "D" Company, 88th Infantry Training Battalion. One of the real advantages of being an "acting" squad leader meant that you did not have to perform K.P. duty ( Kitchen Police).

      The weather at Camp Roberts during the summer of 1943 ranged from daytime temperatures of 100 to 105 degrees and night time temperature of 52 degrees to 60 degrees. The training was intense and hard and aimed at preparing for armed combat as an infantry soldier. Physical training was stressed everyday and when I finished my seventeen weeks, I was in the best possible condition. This one thing had great value later on when the stress and strain of infantry combat could be handled easily. We learned to fire every type of infantry weapon that was available at that time including a rifle, pistol, machine gun, 81mm mortar, bazooka, rifle grenade and hand grenade. We were trained to plant mines, set booby traps and how to use explosives. We were exposed to several different types of gas that might be use against us and how to cope with this potential deadly weapon. We were trained to use field radio equipment and other types of field communications and we learned to live in the field under very adverse conditions and how to protect your self from enemy small arms and artillery fire. All in all we were about as well trained as was possible at that point in time.

      The final two and a half weeks were spent in the field living in pup tents or fox holes and living off combat rations. Rain, cold or heat had to be dealt with on a day by day basis. The two weeks in the field was capped off by a twenty five mile hike back to camp. We started at 2 AM and walked 50 minutes and rested 10 minutes until we reached our barracks and the fact that everyone in my platoon made the hike proves that our physical condition was tops.

      Upon completion of my seventeen weeks training, I was selected to go to N.C.O. (Non Commissioned Officers) School for Four weeks and at that time I was promoted to corporal and assigned to the permanent training cadre at Camp Roberts. The other men of my platoon were granted a fourteen day furlough and upon returning to Camp Roberts were shipped overseas to the South Pacific. Getting to go to N.C.O. school was one of the best things that happened to me because as things turned out I ended up in Europe. I did not want to fight in the South Pacific so luck played a big part in keeping me out of that area.

      I remained on the training cadre at Camp Roberts until June 1944. In the meantime I was promoted to Sgt. shortly after the landing in Normandy, France (June 6, 1944) some fifty of the training cadre, including myself were replaced by N.C.O.s from Alaska and we started our journey to combat in the E.T.O. (European Theater of Operations).

     We left Camp Roberts by train on a Saturday morning for Los Angeles, California and spent Saturday night and until 1 PM Sunday in Los Angeles. Our "troop sleeper" (a boxcar with seats) departed at 1 PM via Yuma, Arizona, across New Mexico to El Paso, Texas. From there we turned northeast through Kansas City, Missouri and on to Chicago, Illinois where we were able to spend eighteen hours in the "Windy" city sightseeing. We continued on to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and finally to Ft. George Meade, Maryland. The rail trip took five days and four nights and by then we were caught up on train riding.

     We spent seven days at Ft. George Meade and four of those days were on a pass to Washington, D.C. Our next movement was by train to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, a trip of some four hours.

     We were at Camp Kilmer five or six days. Then on a Saturday morning we departed by train to Hoboken, New Jersey where we boarded a ferryboat across the Hudson River to a pier in New York City. The ferry docked next to H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth. We boarded the Queen Elizabeth and about 5 PM we departed. We did not know our destination but the best speculation was that we were headed for Liverpool, England. There were 15,000 troops aboard with a British crew of 3,000. The trip across the North Atlantic took five and half days due to the fact that we changed course every seven minutes twenty four hours a day. We had no escort of any kind and we did not encounter any problems except for two or three submarine alerts but no submarines were sighted. Our speculation as to where we would land was wrong because about noon of the 5th day we pulled into the harbor at Greenock, on the far northwest coast of Scotland. We were not able to get to a dock so we off loaded to ferry boats that took us to a dock where we boarded a train for an eight-hour trip to a tent city near Chester, England.

     We were told that we would be in England for six weeks for additional training. However, we were there only seven days then we departed by train to Southampton, England for an overnight trip across the English Channel on the U.S.S. Marine Wolf. About 8 AM we off loaded to a L.C.V.P. (Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel) for a short trip to a floating dock at Omaha Beach Normandy, France. It was quite evident from the debris and sunken ships that the battle at Omaha Beach had been quite violent and expensive in human life. We moved inland on foot near the town of Isigny, a trip of some five or six miles, to an open field where we were told to "dig in and stay put". During our walk from Omaha Beach we passed by a temporary U. S. Army Cemetery and believe me there were hundreds and hundreds of white wooden crosses. This was our first taste of what was to come later and a wave of silence passed down the column with the realization that a lot of American soldiers had died in a short amount of time. At this time I calculated that it had been about five weeks since we left Camp Roberts. Not a long period of time considering we traveled by foot, train and ship.

     We remained in our positions for three or four days then they started calling out names and in a short time I am on an Army truck headed for the 30th Infantry Division just outside St. Lo, France. St. Lo was a town that had been leveled by bombs and artillery and a suggestion was made that the only way to rebuild St. Lo would be to make a new map of France and leave it off. In a day or two I was assigned to "M" Co., 120th Inf. Regt. and my combat infantry days were about to begin. "M" Co. was a heavy weapons company consisting of two heavy machine gun platoons and one 81MM mortar platoon. I was assigned to the 2nd Platoon (heavy machine guns) and the Platoon Sgt., T/Sgt. Charles "Red" Fredricks told me that he did not have an opening for a Sgt. and he suggested that I stay with him and "do what everybody else does". I thought at the time this was poor way to welcome a new man but as I learned later there is no way at all to explain what you are about to experience as a combat infantryman.

     My combat experiences began immediately as the 30th Division was in the process of helping to close the gap at Falaise, France and cut off the German 15th Army's retreat back to Germany. We reached our objectives without too much opposition but we were ordered to hold our position. We could have advanced and cut the last major road leading out of Normandy, but Field Marshall Montgomery wanted his troops to close the gap. As things turned out his troops were not able to close the gap for another day and night thus permitting some fifty to sixty thousand German troops to withdraw even though they lost all of their equipment including, trucks, tanks and artillery.

     After the British finally closed the gap we were ordered to move in a northeasterly direction across France and to force a crossing of the Seine River northwest of Paris at Mantes. With one exception the move to the Seine River was quite easy with little or no opposition.

     The one exception was at a small French town of St. Adre-de-l'Eure. On August 21st as we approached the town form the south, the leading elements of the 3rd Battalion encountered heavy small arms and machine gun fire. At that time the 2nd platoon was attached to "K" Co. and "K" Co. was ordered to move south and then east in a flanking movement. As we approached the southeastern edge of the town we encountered some machine gun fire. We promptly returned the fire and the firefight was on. We had two Sherman tanks with us and they opened fire with their 75MM guns and we began to move forward into the town. All of sudden we came under heavy artillery fire that seemed to be coming from our left or from the direction we had just come from. The artillery fire was deadly accurate and in less than two minutes "K" Co. had thirteen men killed and wounded and our platoon suffered two men killed and three wounded. One of the men killed was Sgt. Eckoff, Squad leader of the 2nd squad, so I instantly became a Squad Leader. At the time we had no idea what really happened, however by night fall we learned that the regimental Cannon Company observer who was with the 2nd Battalion thought we were Germans and called for the artillery fire that was so deadly accurate. This explained our confusion as to why the artillery fire was coming from our left side. Needless to say we were quite bitter that a stupid mistake had caused so many of our men to die for nothing. We later heard that this Lt. (name unknown) was relieved from duty and sent home.

     The "friendly" artillery fire delayed our attack for about 30 minutes but we got underway again and by dark we were in the town and had linked up with the 2nd Battalion coming in from the west. We dug in and prepared to move out at dawn to clean the area of any other Germans. Actually the main German force was made up of Polish soldiers that had been drafted into the German Army and forced to fight or be shot by the German Officers. The Polish soldiers were eager to surrender and as a matter of fact we found quite a few of them up in trees just waiting to be captured. By noon we were on the road again and moved into the town of Evreux with no opposition. We stopped for one day outside Evreux and were able to bathe in a nearby creek and we really enjoyed this brief stop.

     The next morning we moved up to the Seine River at the town of Mantes and crossed the river on a Bailey bridge built by the Combat Engineers. After we crossed the Seine we immediately turned south and followed the east side of the river towards Paris. We encountered very little resistance until we reached the town of Meulan where we came under artillery fire just after dark and the 2nd Platoon had three men wounded. We were told to dig in and wait for daylight but as a matter of fact I did not dig in because we were moving along a road next to a cemetery so we just moved into the cemetery and spent the night inside a marble tomb about eight feet square. Actually we felt real safe from any kind of fire because the walls and roof were made of marble about six inches thick.

     The next morning we turned east again and moved out on foot. We had been moving about an hour when we encountered small arms fire that increased as we continued to move. By the middle of the afternoon we were heavily engaged in a firefight that lasted until well after dark. It had been raining all day and we were soaked from the rain and muddy from crawling along ditches and across fields. We expected the Germans to counterattack sometime early the next morning so we were awake all night in our foxholes that had collected about two inches of water. It was truly a miserable night.

     The next morning we were prepared for another big firefight but luck was with us and the Germans had pulled out during the night. The luck also carried over into the weather and the day dawned sunny and clear. About 8AM on August 31st we moved through the town of Muencourt on foot and as we topped a small rise in the ground we were able to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris. We were now moving to the northeast towards Belgium and we were on the left flank of the U.S. 1st Army and on our left was the British 2nd Army. We did not know it at the time but we were part of a political ploy to let a French Armored Division that was part of the Allied Forces in Europe capture Paris. We could have been in the middle of Paris within one day because the Germans had pulled out the night before. As things turned out we were approaching the Belgium border about five days after seeing the Eiffel Tower before the French Army troops were able to secure Paris. We were moving on foot most of the time through the towns of Courdimanche, Osny, Ennery, Chambly, Moragles and Cramoisy with little or no resistance. We did not go through many big towns on our route to Belgium but the people seemed to appreciate the fact that we had liberated them from the Germans. They gave us apples, tomatoes, wine, cider and on rare occasions some real cognac. We continued our advance in a northeasterly direction on foot and occasionally by truck through the towns of Laincourt, Estress, Gournay, Conchy, Raismes, St. Armand to Tournai, Belgium. The last fifty or so miles were covered on our 2 1/2 ton trucks because we were meeting little or no resistance. On or about September 4th a short distance past Tournai we stopped and set up road blocks on the main highway to Bruxelles.

     We maintained the roadblocks for two days then we were ordered to drive due east through Wasmes, Tourpes, Blicquy, Chievres, Tubize, Braine l'Alleud, Waterloo, Wavre, Jodoigne, Landen, Heers, Heks, Tongeren, Eben-Emael to the Albert Canal and Meuse River. We later learned that the reason we were ordered to go south of Bruxelles was so that Montgomery's 2nd Army could

liberate the capital of Belgium. By this time the supply of gasoline was so short we were forced to move out by foot and we covered seventy-five miles in the next three days. We had no opposition until the afternoon of September 10th when we reached Ft. Eben-Emael. Needless to say we were exhausted from the long hike but most of our platoon with two exceptions covered the seventy-five miles.

     As we approached Ft. Eben-Emael (a Belgium fortress that faced Germany and built inside a large hill) we came under artillery fire from 88s and the man about fifteen yards in front of me (P.F.C. Earnest Jennings of San Antonio, Texas) had his leg blown off from an 88 shell that landed right next to him. The only thing that saved me from being hit was the fact that when we heard the shell coming in I hit the ground in a low place that let the shrapnel fly over me. Jennings received immediate help from Bill "Doc" McNamara, our Platoon medic, and was evacuated to the Battalion aid station within thirty-minutes, however, he died that night from shock. Cpl. Paul Young, the only other Texan other than myself, was also wounded in the knee but survived. Paul was about ten yards in front of Jennings when the shell exploded. I picked up the machine gun that Jennings was carrying and continued to move forward. We were exposed to 88 shells on and off for the next hour or so but most of the fire went over our heads. We moved up close to the west bank of the Meuse River and dug in after dark.

     We remained in our positions all the next day. This gave me an opportunity to explore the inside of Ft. Eben-Emael. The inside consisted of concrete lined tunnels that led to gun positions as well as sleeping and eating facilities. Once you moved into the main tunnel (large enough for rail cars) there were a great number of smaller tunnels that led up and down and all over the fortress. It was the safest place I have ever seen to sit out a war. We explored some of the tunnels and "Doc" McNamara came upon a room full of German battle flags (approximately 7' x 14'). "Doc" gave me a flag and we headed back to our foxholes. I carried my flag with me for about a week and finally was able to mail the flag home and to my surprise it did make the trip from Holland to Dallas, Texas and that flag is still in my possession and is one of my most prized souvenirs from World War II in Europe.

     After our one-day of rest at Ft. Eben-Emael we moved out on September 12 and crossed the Meuse River into Holland. The river crossing was made with very little opposition and we were on our way again on foot through the towns of Mheer, Banholt, Reijmerstok, Mecheien, Nijswiller, Simperveld, Heerlen to the border of Germany at Rimberg. We began to feel that we were going to be in for some rough fighting once we got close to the Wurm River (the border between Holland and Germany) and we did come under ever increasing artillery fire when we were about five miles from the river. The weather had started to deteriorate to drizzle, rain and fog and the temperature began to fall into the 40 degree range and in one way this helped our continued movement forward because the German Artillery observers were unable to detect our line of march. By staying away from main roads and road intersections we were able to avoid concentrated artillery fire.

     We stopped and dug in some two miles from the river and it was a very wise move to dig a good foxhole with a top partially covered by fence posts, limbs of trees and dirt. We were able to rest for a couple of days and get some clean clothes at this time. We had army field jackets and a G.I. raincoat and this was all we really needed. We were issued new combat boots to replace our G.I shoes and canvas leggings and this was a great improvement.

     I think it would be good time to explain the makeup of a heavy machine gun platoon. We had a Lieutenant as Platoon Leader; a Platoon Sgt. (T/Sgt.); two section Sgt.s (S/Sgt.) and each section had two squads commanded by a squad leader (Sgt.) and each squad had a gunner, assistant gunner and if at full strength five ammunition bearers carrying two boxes of 30 cal. ammunition with 250 rounds per box. Actually about 80% of the time we would have only three ammunition bearers so usually the squad leader would carry one box of ammunition. This would give each squad 1,750 rounds per machine gun. In a tough fire fight we could use up most of our hand carried ammunition in less than one hour, however, we had additional ammunition on a trailer pulled by a jeep and depending on the situation and terrain this was available to us by sending the ammo bearers a mile or so to the rear.