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I saw a great
deal of combat in WWII as an artillery
forward observer with the infantry of the
4th Infantry Division while serving in the
29th FA Battalion. But, rather than write
about combat all the time I like to tell
stories about other aspects of army life in
training and in the field in Europe.
Many stories
have been told about how tough the
large-scale war game maneuvers conducted in
Tennessee in 1942 were. I was on the
Tennessee maneuvers and I also experienced
similar training in the Borrego Desert in
California, and in the Arizona desert. I
found the desert maneuvers to be much more
difficult than those in Tennessee. It is
likely that more complaints were heard about
the Tennessee war games because so many
troops were involved, estimated to have been
more than 200,000, and fewer troops may have
had the desert training. Another factor
which tended to create stories about the
Tennessee maneuvers was the fact that the
soldiers interacted with the many local
residents on the farms they fought over in
their games, and the animals, wild and
domestic, which they encountered.
In a letter to
my mother in October 1942, I wrote:
We are still
on maneuvers, but have been given a rest
period between phases. The phases last for
three or four days and in this time they
give us certain missions to fulfill. In the
first phase, the Red forces had to defend
the Cumberland River against any Blue
attempts to cross. As a forward observer for
the battery, I had the opportunity to see
plenty of action. I was captured by the
Blues the first day out, but managed to
escape by telling my guard I was going down
to a farmhouse to get a drink of water. I
think that guard is still awaiting my
return.
On the
second phase I was again captured, but was
not so fortunate to escape. The Blues took
us back of the lines about 50 miles and fed
us, but none too well. They issued blankets,
as we had none of our own with us. Lady Luck
must have been with us for another fellow
from our outfit was captured and got no
blankets nor food for two days. For the next
two or three phases I managed to stay out of
the enemies' way, but on the phase just
ended I was again captured. The First
Sergeant and I were stationed on a hill
overlooking the Cumberland. The enemy was
expected to attempt a crossing by ferry at
this point. The first night was not exactly
peaceful for us, partly because of the hogs
that abounded thereabouts and partly because
of the enemy. A small party of Blues made a
crossing and cut our telephone wires - - as
soon as they were repaired one of those
damned hogs chewed a piece out of it.
Those hogs:
It got so I could tell time by them. At dusk
they marched east over our observation post
and at dawn they marched west. I certainly
did tire of kicking hogs in the
you-know-what.
The next
morning a battalion of Blues came in behind
us and captured all the infantry and our O.P.
We had too much equipment so they left us
were we were. And the hogs marched east. We
went to bed. The hogs marched west. We got
out of our beds and the old man who lived
down the hill brought us coffee morning and
night. Did I say coffee? It was more like
lye. We sat around all day and told filthy
jokes with the Blue infantry. The hogs
marched east. We went to bed. The hogs
marched west. We got up. By noon of this day
the phase was over. And that, my dear
Mother, is how I spent my time during the
last phase.
In a 1994 letter
I said:
From this
letter it appears that I was a prisoner most
of the time. Before these maneuvers I was
assigned a mission to recon the back roads
and bridges to determine if they could
accomodate the tanks and other heavy
vehicles. It seemed that these remote areas
had a cemetery at every crossroad and all of
the families had at least six kids and ten
dogs. We were headed for a small town but
could see from the map that the road ended
at a small river. We passed an elderly lady
on the road and asked her for directions and
the size of the town. She told us that there
was a small ferry on the river but she
hadn't been to town for twelve years and did
not know the size of the town. All of these
people were very hospitable.
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/msgfisher/ww2-jc-2.htm
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