Back to the War
Before continuing on with my uncle's letters and activities, I believe it is important my readers understand what is happening along the other parts of the Siegfried Line. I will use a portion of Stephen E. Ambrose book entitled Citizen Soldiers ~ The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany ~ June 7, 1944 - May 7, 1945, published by Simon & Schuster, New York. 1997.
Chapter 6 - first 5 paragraphs - pages 157-158 (hard copy)
"Northwest Europe in November and December was a miserable place. A mixture of sleet, snow, rain, cold, fog, short days and long nights cried out for winter camp, for shelter and indoor occupations. Rivers were at flood stage. The already poor roads were churned into quagmires by military vehicles; veterans speak of the mud as knee-deep and insist it is true.
In the center of the American line, in the Ardennes, portions of the First Army did go into something like winter camp. It was a lightly held, quiet area, where divisions just coming into the line could be placed to give them some front-line experience. Eisenhower and Bradley figured the terrain made it the least likely area the Germans might counterattack. All was quiet there.
But North and South of the Ardennes, First and Third Armies were on the offensive, the weather be damned. There was no strategy involved. The rain and mud made rapid movement impossible and there was insufficient gasoline to supply deep thrusts into the enemy rear. Once the generals made the decision to continue the offensive, the war in the fall of 1944 became once again what it had been in the hedgerows of Normandy, a junior officer and NCO (non-commissioned officer) battle of attrition.
A steady flow of replacements coming from England allowed the generals to build companies up to full strength after a few days on the line, even when casualties had run as high as 90 percent. Eisenhower was prepared for this. In early November, he sent out a teletype to all headquarters:
'COMBAT UNITS ARE AUTHORIZED TO BASE DAILY REPLACEMENT REQUISITIONS ON ANTICIPATED LOSSES FORTY EIGHT HOURS IN ADVANCE TO EXPEDITE DELIVERY OF REPLACEMENTS PD TO AVOID BUILDING UP OVERSTRENGTH ESTIMATES SHOULD BE MADE WITH CARE PD SIGNED EISENHOWER'"
(Leinbaugh and Campbell, The Men of Company K, 89.)
General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower visited the Second
Division on November 8, and presented Silver Star awards
at a ceremony at the forward Command Post in St. Vith.
The Diary of Staff Sergeant Hanford Maurice Rice
November 8, 1944 (Wednesday) “It started snowing. Our dug outs are not finished. We are getting cigarettes every day. Sent perfume to Vicky (my wife). I wrote everybody.”
November 9, 1944 (Thursday) “It snowed all night and our shelters half fell in. No mail. Buzz bombs are coming over. I wrote Vicky.”
Somewhere in Germany
November 8, 1944
Dear Mother
At last we have some - snow. For days now I have been looking for it. In many of my recent letters I have written I felt it would soon be here. To-day was nice and warm, the wind did not blow, believe it or not the sun was shining. At first, I thought it might be a new secret weapon but no it was the sun. It began to cloud up late this afternoon which made it feel like rain, then about half an hour before dark it started snowing real fine, it has kept up all evening so the ground is pretty white now. Gee, I wish this thing had ended before winter and cold weather sat in but there's no hope now.
(next morning) Here it is early in the morning the ground and trees are covered with a wet snow, it's still snowing, very fine. Sure quite a lot for the first storm. The Pine boughs are bending with the heavy weight of snow which makes me think thousands of miles across the way to home and the little snowbound State of Maine in winter time. We have more snow now then we saw all last winter in Ireland. Guess rain took the place of snow there.
Last night one fellow from Connecticut was so sick he felt as if he would die. He had been sick most of the day but late at night he was pretty bad off, by the way he's a little dago (An Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese speaking person.) I remembered one fellow having some baking soda so fixed him up half a canteen of hot soda water. I think it was a little poison from something he ate but in just a few minutes it was up, guess he felt his toes was coming up too. He rolled up in a couple blankets, in a couple of hours told me it did the work as he was feeling good. That's what I am going to use for a cold the next time I get one.
Had a wash day but don't know when it will dry. Ha ha never rub just soak in hot water and rinse out. I'll show you how to do it the fast way when I get home.
If it didn't take so long getting things over here I'd have you send me a pair of sheepskin shoes or belt boots to wear inside overshoes. Guess I have a long winter ahead in which to wear them. If I'd only thought it would have made a swell Christmas present and something I could have used but guess it's too late now. Size eights or half wouldn't have made a very large package so you surely could have mailed them. Also they wouldn't have weighed five pounds. (He is making a hint, I think)
I can hear some bombers overhead. One thing I would like to know, how do they take it?
Mail just came in (what there was of it). Gee, there's sure some mail being held up someplace. How is my mail reaching home? The North Atlantic gets pretty stormy this time of year so maybe it won't travel so far now. How well I know and sure was glad to get off it a year ago last October 18. (Came to Northern Ireland.)
I have written quite a few letters in the pass couple weeks and now have run out of news. I'll close for now say hello to Dad and Eugene.
Love
Son Charles
Private
Walter Prsybyla
of the US 2nd Infantry Division
writing
Christmas cards for friends and family.
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