World War II in the Words of My Uncle: June 7-10, 1944 "D+1" (Post #57)

The posts of the battles in the European Theater of Operations in World War II will mainly be through the eyes of those who served with my uncle, Charles David Knight, in the 15th FAB.

THE COMMANDERS

Lt. Col. Robert Cassibry
15th Battalion Commander

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The 15th Field Artillery Battalion
in World War Two
By: Colonel Ed Hrdlicka

He was the A Battery Commander of 15th FAB

After a month of preparation, the 15th moved to Barry, South Wales for final staging in anticipation of the coming invasion. Here the Infantry-Artillery combat teams were made up. The 15th FA Battalion formed a combat team with the 9th Infantry Regiment. It was here that we were addressed by the First Army Commander, Lt General Omar Bradley and inspected by various General Officers.

The forward echelon of the 15th moved by rail to board the US Army Transport George Goethals on June 2nd, 1944, in Swansea harbor. The unit material and remainder of personnel were loaded on the (Liberty ship) Charles Sumner. With the 2nd Infantry Division assigned to follow the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions landings in France, the 9th Combat team (9th Infantry-15th FA Battalion) received the mission of the initial 2nd Division landing.

On June 7th 1944, D+1, at 15.30 hours, the 15th Battalion commander, Lt Col. Cassibry, and reconnaissance party, which included all the firing battery commanders, (A Battery – Captain Ed Hrdlicka; B Battery – Captain Emil Meis; C Battery – Captain Herbert Hartung) landed on the French coast at St. Laurent-sur-Mer (Beach: Omaha, Easy Red.) With great success, the Battalion moved into action with extremely low casualties and began the Trevieres offensive. I lost, killed in action, only one soldier on D+1.

2nd Infantry, Easy Red Sector, Omaha Beach
D+1, June 7, 1944

From the 15th Field Artillery Battalion Yearbook

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STAFF SERGEANT HANFORD MAURICE RICE DIARY

WITH INFORMATION OBTAINED BY SON KRAIG RICE

The remarks in Red and Blue are the words written by Staff Sergeant Hanford Maurice Rice from his diary. He was a soldier of 1st Battalion of the U.S. 9th Infantry Regiment whose unit fought alongside my Uncle Charlie’s 15^th Field Artillery Battalion. Staff Sergeant Hanford missed the Battle of the Bulge because he was injured and sent home to the USA.

I thank Kraig Rice giving me permission to use his father’s diary on my blog.

OMAHA BEACH (7 JUNE 1944)

"D plus 1, June 7, 1944: in the teeth of vicious, accurate enemy shellfire which blanketed the shoreline, the Indian Head boys hit the beach at St. Laurent-sur-Mer. Preassigned assembly areas, when eventually located in the confusion of battle, were packed with snipers. Before moving in, one regiment was forced to blast out a company of Germans.

Vehicles, infantry supporting weapons and communications equipment remained aboard craft off the beach. Three days were to pass before these vital supplies began rolling inland. Communications were established with salvaged wire found on the beach and abandoned enemy equipment. The only vehicle in the division was a jeep loaned by another unit to Division Commander Major General Walter M. Robertson.

By midnight, the CP (command post) had been established and assembly areas largely cleared of the enemy. The silence of darkness was shattered by heavy anti-aircraft fire when German planes zoomed overhead. The division staff already had planned the attack on the first objective, Trevieres, a communications center 16 kilometers inland. Field orders were scrawled in longhand on German stationery.

Snipers remaining in the area were killed the next day and, at one time, a fusillade of sniper bullets spattered into the division CP. One sniper was shot down from a tree some 50 yards away from division headquarters.

Near midnight, June 8, the last infantry regiment began to unload and a staff officer reported to headquarters that the unit was ready to move to an area previously selected. He was told that the area, far in advance, had not been cleared according to plan- that it now was occupied.

"By whom?" he asked.

"By the 353rd Infantry Division", was the reply.

"Never heard of them, sir. Who are they?" "Germans"

The Battle for Trevieres (Omaha Beach on D plus 1 (7 June 1944) near St. Laurent-sur-Mer. Attacking across the Aure Riveron 10 June 1944, the division liberated Trévières)

TREVIERES OFFENSIVE (June 7-10, 1944)

"Although lacking supporting weapons and communications, one regiment attacked the strongly defended town of Trevieres June 9. Knowing that the infantry possessed only the minimum of necessary transportation, the artillery pumped in shell after shell. Battle plans called for the regiment's second battalion to approach from the north, while the third battalion was to cross the Aure River and flank the objective from the west. A second regiment was to attack on the east. Trevieres was defended by an infantry battalion which had been ordered to fight to the last man.

After the jump-off, one platoon got inside the city. Heavy sniper and automatic weapons fire held up the other attackers. The third battalion waded the waist-deep river, stormed the defenses to the south, then smacked the enemy from the west flank of the town. So tenacious was the German grip that the objective was not entirely outflanked and secured until the next day.

Only a limited number of hand grenades was available. Not until the closing stages of the battle were machine guns brought up from the beach area. To replenish the meager supply of ammunition, a French two-wheel cart was commandeered. But the ammunition still had to be hand-carried across the river. Wounded were hand-carried on the return trip across the stream.

One officer and six men were pinned inside a house four hours during the first day of the fierce assault. They were armed only with pistols and carbines while Germans were within grenade-throwing range on three sides.

Liberation of Trevieres marked the fall of the first major obstacle as the expansion of the V Corps bridge-head struggled forward."

STAFF SERGEANT HANFORD MAURICE RICE DIARY

June 7, 1944: "Landed in France. Went into action. Guarded regular (Command Post) CP. Scared to death. Bodies on the beach everywhere."

June 8, 1944: "1st and 2nd battalions went sniper hunting. Lt. Graham and Sgt. Clark killed by an S mine. Lt. Woodbury wounded. Still guarding regular CP. Rejoined my company at night. Jerry airplanes came over. It was a swell show."

The German S-mine, also known as the "Bouncing Betty" on the Western Front and "frog-mine" on the Eastern Front, is the best-known version of a class of mines known as bounding mines. When triggered, these mines are launched into the air and then detonated at about 1 meter from the ground. Wikipedia