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.Although we had beenunder artillery fire before, we were still not used to it.I don t think you ever got used to it.The first few rounds landed in open fields well to our front.The next barrage landed in thewoods behind us, where our battalion was concentrated.This caused a little temporarydisorganization, not to mention a few casualties.One of the shells had landed near Brown.Although there was not a scratch on him, theconcussion had thrown him in the air and knocked him unconscious.His runner carriedhim to a barn in the farmyard on our right.The sudden artillery barrage disorganized hisplatoon, so Lt.Jim Bob Simmons brought his rifle platoon through Brown s, cleared therow of houses, and crossed the Rhine Marne Canal, all under heavy fire.While we were waiting to figure out what had happened and what to do next, I went tothe barn to check on the lieutenant.His pulse was strong and he regained consciousnessafter a little cold water was thrown on him.His runner and I got some Frenchmen to carryhim back to the medics.Wondering about the delay, I went to look for Capt.Jim Farrell, my companycommander, to find out more about our situation.I found him leaning against a railroadembankment on our side of the Rhine Marne Canal, nonchalantly nibbling a chocolatebar. Captain, what s holding us up? I don t know.Simmons got across the canal and was headed for the river when he gotorders to pull back on this side. A few minutes later, Capt.Jim Morgan, commander of Company G, arrived to tell uswe were moving a little farther south to try another crossing there after dark.We stilldidn t know what was keeping us from crossing the Moselle.It was about 6:00 p.m.when we started moving cross-country about a mile to our southtoward a small town called Vandiéres.Company G s Lieutenant Bob Strutz had taken hisrifle platoon to a little town on the edge of the canal area to reconnoiter and build a bridgeacross the canal where the Germans had blown out the original structure.Bob leaned hisrifle against a tree in order to help his men move two barges they needed to build thebridge.That s when a small Kraut patrol showed up.A German hollered, Halt! In truewestern style, Bob whirled around, drew the.38 Colt he always carried on his right hip,and fired at the Kraut.The bullet missed.The stunned Kraut returned fire but it was wide of the mark.He withdrew quickly.The other Germans also managed a few shots, but theymust have been stunned by Strutz s willingness to draw a pistol and stand there firing,because the whole patrol withdrew.The whole episode took just a handful of seconds.When it was over, Bob had a neat little hole in his raincoat where the first bullet went rightbetween his legs.The rest of the battalion reached the Rhine Marne Canal about 2:00 a.m.on September6, 1944.The canal was about fifty feet wide at this point.The barges they had tiedtogether made a nice foot bridge, and with Company E in the lead, we walked acrosssingle file and reorganized on the opposite bank in a column of twos.It took about twohours for the entire battalion to cross.I had no idea what we were supposed to do once wewere over that canal.The battalion moved south along the edge of the canal for about a thousand yards untilwe came to the river s edge.There was my first close-up view of a little creek they calleda river.Usually, the Moselle was about six to eight feet deep and had an average width of150 feet.Because of recent heavy rains and opened dams upstream, the current was veryswift, about five to six knots.To make matters worse, the Moselle s flat flood plain variedin width from four hundred to one thousand yards.We knew the Germans were observingeverything from the high hills on the eastern bank.2 We didn t know it at the time, butbecause of the delay in getting supplies to the Third Army on the front lines, the Germanshad been able to stock up on supplies of their own, as well as reinforcements and artillery.We turned left and followed the bank of the winding Moselle, heading north.The rainhad ceased, the night was bright and clear, and the only noise was the sound ofinfantrymen walking.We continued for about a thousand yards.When I looked to myright, I could see the river was only about a hundred yards wide in this sector.Our columnwas stretched in a horse-shoe manner, bending to the south, then to the north, alongsidethe river.One of the gunners behind me was griping about having to carry this damnedheavy mortar base plate all over this godforsaken country. As he was grumbling and Iwas chuckling under my breath we all heard the word Halt! yelled out from across theriver.We instinctively hit the ground and not a moment too soon.The Krauts opened upan intense machine gun fire that swept the spot where we had just been standing
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