Heroes: the Army
"...Early the following morning we could see five Panther tanks between us and Gereonsweiler silhouetted against the sky with Germans walking around and talking. They weren't more than 75-125 yards from us..."
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Letter to General L. L. Williams, Ret.
by Aitchison, Wally, 405-B
Dear John,
I have been meaning to write you for some time. I have enjoyed the "Tales of the Roer River" that have been sent to me via 'The Ozark Notes". I still have memories of those horrible wonderful days of terror, mud and cold feet. We all certainly paid our dues at that time. It almost seems that all the good guys "bought the farm". We had such great men (some who were boys just out of ASTP wondering what the devil they were doing in an infantry company) Many were under 20 years old and had come in as replacements -- and we certainly were glad to see them.
I remember an affair that was a real "shocker" to me. I had written a letter to Col. L.L. Williams, our CO (he had made "4 star" in Korea and was retired at that time as a full General) rehashing a conversation that we had about this during a 405th reunion at Disneyland in Feb. 1966. In going through my files I came upon this letter that I had sent to him over 32 years ago. In rereading it I thought that it might bring back some memories to some of that old gang in the 1st Btn. 405th Regiment.
In this affair we ran into elements of the 9th and 10th S3 Panzer Grenadiers who proved to be nasty guys to handle. We lost two captains, a mess of lieutenants and a lot of darned good GIs. In fact we lost more guys in this affair than in the Roer River crossing.
I have attached the letter. Use it any way that you wish. Capt. Norm Estes, as you know, got it just prior to the Roer crossing.
Wally Aitchison, 405B
Gen. L.L. Williams, USA, Ret. 12/12/66
Dear General:
I have wanted to write to you before to tell you how much I enjoyed seeing you and Mrs. Williams at the last reunion of the 405th Regiment at the Disneyland Hotel in February of this year. Time has slipped by and now as we approach the Christmas season, I have at last accomplished my letter writing.
It was just 22 years ago to the day, I believe, that we were back in Begggendorf. As I recall, we had come out of the line on December 2, and having cleaned up we were beginning to get ready for the crossing of the Roer River which we expected to be about the 16 - 20 of December. We had gone from Beeck in late Novemberto Gereonsweiler and the sugar beet fields between Linnich and Lindern. I remember Norm Estes, Joe Route, Corner, Lazzono and Bill Miller in a meeting on the night of 28 November. As I recall, the main effort was to take Linnich and Lindern and push up to the Roer River. The 2nd and 3rd Btns. were to attack the morning of 29 November using our line (1 st Btn.) as their point of departure. All day long they attacked along with the 84th Division and apparently they gained only about 300--400 yards.
I recall an attack order coming down to us about 4:00 p.m. that afternoon, the 29th of November for the 1st Btn. to take the ground called "Yoke" which included the road running between Linnich and Lindern. I remember that we didn't move out until after dark, it was raining and the field was lit up with burning tanks and outlying buildings in the vicinity of Lindern. We got bearings on the fires and used them for reference points to advance on. We moved out in a column of companies. I believe it was A, C and B in that order.
We actually went right through the German outposts lines and reached objective "Yoke" which we identified by the Linnich-Lindern road. "A" Company continued on so that we could set up a perimeter and at that time we really caught it. We had walked into seven Panthers in hull defilade with their supporting troops. As you know, they got a good hunk of "A" Company and in the fire fight that followed we all caught our share of casualties. It was at that time that Capt. Corner got it. We found out shortly afterwards that there were Germans all around us so we sent out feeler patrols to locate our flanks and dug in on the objective "Yoke."
Early the following morning we could see five Panther tanks between us and Gereonsweiler silhouetted against the sky with Germans walking around and talking. They weren't more than 75-125 yards from us. Norm Estes and I called on our radio for artillery. Well, this caused quite an amusing situation; whoever it was we were talking to back in Gereonsweiler kept telling us that the Panthers were really our new ducks" (TDswithQOmm.) Well, this silly conversation went on for at least a half hour. We would continually be reassured on the radio that the Panthers were our 90mm. "duck" T.Ds -I can remember so well Norm carefully putting down the radio microphone and adjusting his glasses on the Panthers and muttering........."damned if those are T.Ds"....... the funny part is that we could hear the "krauts" yelling at each other as they milled around the Panthers.
Well, we never got artillery fire -- because just as the first clear daybreak light came up, one of our T.D.s, which was actually there, cut loose on those kraut Panthers and got three of them. As each Panther would get hit a big explosion inside the tank would take place and a great smoke ring would shoot up from the top escape hatch of the tank and the crew would scramble out into our small arms fire. The two remaining Panthers were blazing away at the TD and the TD, having "spoke its piece" was barreling for Gereonsweiler at top speed. The two remaining Panthers finally rattled away and disapeared in the direction of the Roer River bottom.
There were, however, still quite a few krauts between us and Gereonsweiler. All that day we traded small arms fire with the krauts to our rear and wondered where the 2nd and 3rd Btns. were. That afternoon we caught the most heavy barrage on our position that we ever experienced in "Baker" company. It actually made my teeth ache, the con- cussions were so heavy. Along about evening the krauts started to pull out - at a range of 200 - 300 yards, and retreated towards the Roer River. Being pretty beat by this time, we let them go and didn't fire a shot at them. That night old "Baker Go's" sup- ply Sgt. brought his jeep and trailer up to us with water, rations and some ammo. He really had a lot of guts to walk in front of his jeep up to our position across those sugar beet fields outside of Gereonsweiler.
That night we got a lot of shelling, but being in holes it didn't bother us. The next morning, a company of the 334th Reg't., 84th Div. launched an attack onto our position. We stood up in our holes and told them to "knock it off" and come on up to us fast. The damned fools kept milling around so we all ended up getting a good shelling and they lost several men 'cause they wouldn't take cover.
At noon that day, December 1, we were told to take the high ground north of Linnich which actually overlooked Linnich. We moved out about 1:00 pm through moderate artillery fire. I remember that Baker was on the right, Charlie was on the left and Able was in reserve. Old Norm Estes, as usual, was out in front with his great strides on line with the first platoon scouts. We reached the high ground east of the Linnich-Lindern road overlooking Linnich and walked right into those damned Panther tanks again in hull defilade. They opened up on us and pinned down the entire 1st Btn. I was with Norm Estes at this time and as we lay there in this Panther tank track, which was about two feet wide and 18 - 20" deep, we found that we were with an officer from an 8" gun battalion who was lost from his outfit and was very pleased to see us.
It seems that he hadn't given a fire mission all morning because he was separated from the unit that he was attached to. Norm Estes asked him if he could give us support and the P.O. artillery officer said "sure", (his 8" gun btn. was back in Nuenhagen, Holland - about 8-10 air miles to the rear). Anyway, he gave the fire order and adjusted one gun. The first round, which sounded like a freight train, landed across the river - but he kept calling the range down by 400 yards until it was just beyond the dug-in Panthers.
He told them to bring it down another 200 yards and had the entire battalion fire two rounds. Well, this adjustment must have taken 10&emdash;15 minutes and the Panthers were having a field day spraying us with machine gun and 88 mm tank gun fire. Finally, a whole series of freight trains came whirling through the air and tore up ground all around the Panthers. After the 2nd salvo the Panthers took off and we were out of trouble. Joe Route was killed in this advance leading the reserve company "Able" as he moved from the area "Yoke" on the Linnich-Lindern road to objective "sugar" which was the high ground just north of Linnich and the Roer River.
The following morning, Dec. 2, at 2:30 am we were relieved. As we staggered back towards Gereonsweiler there were 48 officers and men in old Baker Company. I know, 'cause I counted them off to each truck that took us back to Beggendort.
I served as Norm Estes' executive officer in Baker Company during December, 1944 and January, 1945. I was hurt on 29 January, and rejoined Baker Company on Feb. 20, just before the Roer Crossing. John Finney had the company at that time. I stayed with Baker Company clear up to Tangermunde on the Elbe and then on through Kulmbach when I was transferred back to the Z.I.
I knew Norm very well during December, 1944 and January, 1945. In fact we used to bunk together. He was quite a guy. A big, nice country boy from Eastern Washington. He didnt have a lazy bone in his body and he was fearless at the front.
I have never had a chance to thank you for the splendid job you did in running the 405th Regiment.
There were few regiments that were as good as ours and none that were better managed or led. I am proud to have been part of the 405th and I feel highly honored to have had the opportunity to have served under your command.
Merry Christmas to you, General, and to your wife and family.
Sincerely, Wally
----- Wally Aitchison
(Editor's note: Attempts were made throughout the text of the following story to place full names to the men listed in the story. For the most part, this is an educated guess and some names may very well be mistaken in their identy. The names were all taken from the division history book: With The 102d Infantry Division Through Germany, edited by Major Allen H. Mick. Using the text as a guide, associations with specific units were the basis for the name identifications. We are not attempting in any to rewrite the story. Any corrections are gladly welcomed.)
Interested in some background information?
Check out the related links below...United States Army, 102nd Infantry Division
History of the 102nd Infantry Division
Attack on Linnich, Flossdorf, Rurdorf - 29 Nov -- 4 Dec 1944
Gardelegen: April 13, 1945:
Massacre at the Isenschnibbe BarnAmerican Battle Monuments Commission: WWII Honor Roll
National World War II Memorial
The above story, "Letter to General L. L. Williams, Ret.", by Wally Aitchiston, 405th, Co. B., was originally published in the 102d Division "Ozark Notes", Vol. 51, No. 4, July/Sept., 1999, pp. 4 - 6.
The story is re-printed here on World War II Stories -- In Their Own Words with the kind permission of the 102d Infantry Division Association, Ms. Hope Emerich, Historian. Our sincerest THANKS for the 102d Infantry Division Association allowing us to share some of their stories.
We would also like to extend our sincere THANKS to Mr. Edward L. Souder, former historian of Co. F., 405th Regiment. His collection of stories of the "Kitchen Histories Project" series entitled, Those Damn Doggies in F, were responsible for bringing the stories of the men of the 102nd Division to the forefront.
Original Story submitted on 1 July 2004.
Story added to website on 5 October 2004.
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