July 11-12, 1944 "Hill 192" (Post #59)

Glynn G Raby, Jr lives in Tennessee

STAFF SERGEANT HANFORD MAURICE RICE DIARY 

July 7, 1944 (Friday): "Hill (192 is) another problem and it sure is hot. We move out to eighty-eight corner on the roadblock."

July 8, 1944 (Saturday): "One hill separates us from St. Lo."

July 9, 1944 (Sunday): "Sweating out 88s (enemy artillery)."

July 10, 1944 (Monday): "Sweating out 88s (enemy artillery). (William F.) Parker was hit with shrapnel."

July 11, 1944 (Tuesday): "Holding the roadblock. 400-pound T.N.T. crater charge."

July 12, 1944 (Wednesday): "23rd and 38th regiments attacking Hill 192. It was a real battle. Our 9th regiment is still holding the roadblock." 

The Battle for HILL 192 OFFENSIVE  

(July 11-12, 1944)

"Hill 192 was a grassy slope occupied by the enemy. It had to be taken because it was holding up the advance on the town of St. Lo. The battle for Hill 192, a vital strong point on the way to St. Lo, was next. One rifle company succeeded in reaching the crest June 16 only to be driven back in the face of a withering counter-attack. The division's 2nd Engineers Combat Battalion hurriedly was rushed up to fight as infantrymen.

From then until July 11, when the Indian Head boys roared to success on the heels of a tremendous artillery and aerial bombardment, the division got ready for more of the same.

Thickly covered with heavy foliage, the hill commanded a six-mile area. When "Second to None" wrested the precious territory from the Nazis, the breakthrough at St. Lo, vital communications center just six miles away, was set to follow two weeks later.

The enemy had been fortifying Hill 192 for months. It was studded with foxholes, machine gun nests and expertly camouflaged observation points. Hedgerows sprouted along its gradual slope. Behind these, Germans huddled in dugouts.

Every crossing and road in the vicinity had been zeroed in by enemy artillery placed on the rear slope. German camouflage suits blended softly with the foliage so well that one Nazi sniper remained in a tree only 150 yards from American lines an entire day before he was located and killed.

Here, T/Sgt. Frank Kviatek gained fame for his skill at picking off snipers. A veteran of 27 years in the army, Kviatek used a bolt action Springfield with telescopic sight to account for 21 Germans, mostly snipers. His goal was 25 for each of two brothers killed in Italy. Later wounded, he returned to combat to boost his total to 36.

Opposing forces were so close together at this stage of the struggle that infantrymen propelled hand grenades with slingshots made from abandoned inner tubes.

In one raid preparatory to the drive over the hill, 1st Lt. Ralph Winstead, 38th Infantry, led a combat patrol that blasted its way through enemy hedgerow positions and killed or seriously wounded at least 11 Nazis. With clock-like precision, the patrol poured through three holes cut out of the hedgerow by engineers before returning to their lines. Every member of the 16-man raiding party received either the Silver or Bronze Star (for bravery under fire). Only one man was seriously wounded.

After failing to take the hill in June, the 2nd Infantry Division tried again in July. Departing from the north and east of Hill 192, the 2nd Infantry Division’ 23rd and 38th Regiments attacked and secured the objective. Their positions are shown on the last day of the battle for Hill 192.  (http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/the-heroes-of-hill-192/)

The taking of Hill 192 finally was achieved through coordinated efforts of infantry, artillery, tanks, and engineers. The Air Force also helped by softening up the heights with dive-bombings. Simultaneously with the main assault, the 9th Regiment on the left flank executed a diversionary attack to mask the action that was to take place on a division front'

Shortly before daybreak, July 11, eight battalions of division and corps artillery laid down a heavy concentration which shifted to a rolling barrage as the attack knifed forward. Artillery shells screamed and shook the earth until the objective was secured that afternoon. Many Germans who surrendered had been dazed by the intensity of the shell fire. They admitted it was worse than fighting on the Russian front.

Meanwhile, engineers blasted holes in the hedgerows through which tanks rumbled to spray the next hedgerow with cannon and machine-gun fire. This kept the Nazis down until infantry, following behind the tanks, could pick off or capture them. Tank dozers, their mammoth scoops poised in front, filled in sunken roads or ploughed over machine gun nests.

One dozer operator, Pvt. John R. Brewer, 741st Tank Battalion, saw three Germans behind a hedgerow blazing away at the advancing troops with their burp guns. He smashed the hedge over the trio, burying them alive.

It was the engineers' job, once they had blown openings in the hedgerows, to guide the tanks to good firing positions. Telephones were attached to the rear of each tank but they failed to operate. Pvt. Alton N. Jones, 2nd Engineer Battalion, was one of many engineers who sought to remedy the situation. Exposing himself to enemy fire, Jones crawled atop one tank and gave directions by tapping on the hull.

Although tanks and artillery were of inestimable value, it was the dough-boys who captured Hill 192- advancing yard by yard up the slopes, digging the Germans out of the shelters as they came to them.

Second Lt. Mac L. Basham, 38th Infantry, reported he routed one Nazi from his hole and then made the Kraut accompany him to other shelters to order out his comrades. After taking seven prisoners this way, the Lieutenant turned them in, secured the aid of two enlisted men and together they drove five more from dugouts.

By late afternoon, "The Hill" belonged to the men of the 2nd. The division, its immediate mission accomplished, faced south to await the great breakthrough."

The Germans had suffered mightily during the July 11 assault. One cannot discount the effects of the preliminary bombardment or the barrages that preceded each phase of the attack. A surviving German paratrooper later wrote: “When one hears for hours the whining, whistling, and bursting of shells and the moaning of the wounded, one does not feel too well. Altogether it was hell.”

The American artillery had dropped more than 20,000 shells on the hill. Still, the Germans emerged to man their posts and fought tenaciously. The 3rd Battalion, 9th Parachute Regiment on the western slope and the 1st Battalion, 5th Parachute Regiment on the eastern slope bore the brunt of the attack and were decimated—losses that could scarcely be replaced. It was reported that the commander of the 9th Parachute Regiment wept when he learned of his losses. In the course of the battle, the two defending battalions were reinforced by the 12th Parachute Gun Brigade and the 3rd Parachute Reconnaissance Company. As the men of the Indianhead Division gained ground the Germans tossed in the 3rd Parachute Engineer Battalion as a last resort, but all for naught.

For the Americans, it had been a strenuous but extremely successful operation. Casualties had been fewer than anticipated: 69 killed, 328 wounded, and eight missing. Prior to this day, the division had suffered many times that number in two previous attempts to take the hill, not to mention those lost on the many raids and reconnaissance patrols that had scoured the forward slopes.

The above last three paragraphs were from http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/key-to-the-normandy-breakout-the-hill-over-st-lo/

THE NEXT POST WILL HAVE 

MY UNCLE CHARLIE'S FIRST 

LETTER SINCE JUNE 1st. 

I GUARANTEE IT! 

YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS IT!