Passwords

[connie]

Floyd just sent me some reflections on passwords used early in the bulge in his unit. He added his permission to post his words, but I don't think that's necessary. I'd rather hear his words directly from him. So I'm starting this thread hoping he will tell you what he just told me.

Connie

[floydragsdale]

I recall the 1st pass-words we had after relieving elements of the 2nd division. It was Blue Danube. We (G Co. 424th Regiment) had patrols out the first night we were on Schnee Eifle. One of our patrols was returning from "no mans land". Thus I challenged them with, "Halt, who goes there?. Then I called for the pass-word. The patrol Leader replied, "Blue" & I responded with, "Danube". Then we knew that we were on the same side. Another one I remember is, "Who won the world series?" Detroit was the correct reply.

Pass words, as a rule, were changed almost every day. It was a good idea because some German Soldiers could speak good english; almost fluently as well..

Floyd

[Carl W.]

Very interesting post Floyd. I've been trying to decifer or find out more about passwords and callsigns used by the division. Most veterans don't remember this kind of detail from long ago, but thanks to your outstanding memory here we have yet another very important piece of history.

The radio call sign for the 424th Regiment was DERVISH. 2nd Battalion was BLUE. I assume that companies also had their own callsigns. Do you remember that of G-Company by any chance?

Greetings!
Carl

[floydragsdale]

Hollo Carl:

If Co. G had a call sign (I'm sure they did) most of the men didn't know what it was. Probably all Company head-quarters personnel knew what it was, however.

Many times a Company Runner would bring us the password during the early evening hours. Usually new pass-word were issued after sunset time.

I recall when one of our patrols got into serious trouble trying to get themselves past our combat posts because of confusion over the correct pass-word. Somehow, the new pass-word was changed after they went out on their mission. All turned out OK. Yet, it took a while to get the mess untangled.

Floyd

[floydragsdale]

Hello again Carl.

Now that I reflect back on the B.O.B. days I remember hearing call-signs between G Company and other units who were calling in. Many of us usually were not close to, or near the Soldiers who were operating radios. Nevertheless it would be something like, "This is Red Fox calling Red Boy, can you hear me?" Then he would say, "Over", and then wait for a reply from Red Boy .

My mind's eyes and ears can still visualize and hear the radio chatter between the caller and sender.

Another thing I remember is a spotter plane the Germans had who we called "Bed check Charlie" that flew over the area at night. Building fires at night-time to keep warm was a no-no for us..

Standing alone in a fox-hole at night was a sensation I'll never forget. In the Schnee Eifle area, one night, water seeped into the hole & was getting my boots wet (we did not have over-shoes). To keep my boots from being saturated with water I had to brace my back & feet against the sides of my fox-hole. I could only do that for so long a time and then I would need to stand up in the hole for relief from the stress on my back. That's one reason so many Soldiers got trench foot. Keeping our feet dry was a serious problem. More than once I took my shoes & socks off & let them freeze dry. Of course, something would have to be nearby to put my feet in to keep them warm.

Floyd

[connie]

Floyd,

Your remembered details are so interesting... Thank you!

The radio chatter... I have been trying to picture the various communication devices. Can you fill us in on what the radio set-up looked like?

Connie

[floydragsdale]

Hello Connie:

Radios in those years had what was called vacuum tubes. Therefore, most radio equipment was heavy and cumbersome - - - too heavy & bulky for a soldier to carry. The Army had what we called "walkie talkies" which were hand held, yet very cumbersome by todays standards. Also, the operating range was very limited; mostly to within an infantry company at most.

The long range radios were kept at Co. Headquarters, Battalion Hq. & up, in jeeps or other army vehicles. They were painted the usual army olive drab color. The switchboard had dials knobs & switches. This is an estimate, however they were about 2.5ft. to 3 ft. long, 1.5 ft. wide and 12 Inches high. A Soldier had to be trained to operate them.

Because zink carbon batteries, during those years had a short life the alkaline battery was invented. Yet, I don't think the alkaline battery came along until after the war.

I hope this will be of some help for you.

Floyd

[blauchie]

Hello Floyd I don't post often but I read all of yours. I want to thank you for your immense contribution to this site and above all thank you for your service to this great country. You mentioned not getting overshoes. My Dad, James Blauch Co A 423d who was fairly close to you by the way the Crow flies told me he didn't get overshoes either but some companies did. When he went into the line, a soldier who was leaving tossed him a pair of extra socks and told my dad he would need them. When his feet got wet, he would change socks and tie the wet pair around his neck to sort of dry out. (There was a scene in The Band of Brothers which shows a GI with socks around his neck). Dad was shot below the right knee and ended up using them for bandages while on a German Hospital train. He said I was one of the "lucky ones" He always said that after telling me a war related story. (He knew most of the other POW's had hellish experience's on those 40 or 8's). He said he wished he would have kept those socks because he ended up with severe trench foot as a POW.

Did you have an extra pair?

Joe Blauch

[floydragsdale]

Good Morning Joe:

Thank you for your comments.

We, at least at G Company level, had no extra clothes at all. Every thing we had, except the clothes on out backs were in our duffle bags. Where ever they were I do not know and none of us, in our Company, never saw them again.

We were informed that they were used as roadblocks along with bags of incoming mail (Xmas mail). They were eventually blown up by German or American artillery missals. I did not have a change of clothes until early February 1945. I must have smelled like the inside of an old catchers mitt; ugh!

Finally, in March of 1945, we got overshoes. They were delivered by a two & a half ton army truck and dumped on the ground. By the time I got to them there was two for the same foot. The bottom line is some of us had no overshoes at all during the winter of 1944/45.

Floyd

PS from Connie: more notes related to trench foot can be found at: 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=conditions&action=display&thread=628

[connie]

Floyd, Joe, Carl...

I have been finding the flow of this conversation extremely interesting... from passwords and call signs to boots, trench foot, and radios. There are details here I have not seen elsewhere.

On the radio bit, yes your notes gave a better picture. I do remember the vacuum tubes from my childhood (post war). We had a "portable radio" once that must have measured 2 feet by 18 inches by 4 inches... and that was just for listening, not for broadcasting. When using radio to broadcast and converse, did the systems used by the army have earphones? microphones?

I also seem to remember that there was some stringing of wires between (or within) units. Did these systems use a telephone?

Connie

[floydragsdale]

Hello Connie: Yes they had microphones & head sets. Yes there was some stringing of cable (wire). However, German artillery severed quite a bit if it. There were what was called sound/power phones also. I'd have to think about those for a while in order to remember how they were operated.

Try this web site to read about them.How does a "sound powered" phone work?
www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4076.0

You enquired, "Did you miss something? Just about every day of a Soldiers life on the front lines was another story. It was a very primitive way of living (surviving) & we had to learn how to cope with circumstances as they occurred from one hour to the the next. A simple thing in every day life at home could be a real challenge under the type of conditions a G.I. had to live under.

At home a toilet bowl had one purpose. A front line Soldier used his helmet for that and many other things. It's a darn good thing a G.I. learned something about field sanitation wile he was in basic training in the states.

I remember having a craving for water; my canteen was empty. When I found some water, halizone pills to purify it were not available. Just getting a drink of water presented a real challenge some days.

That is not the end of the story. I'll just say that that soldiers learned to put up with alot. Yankee ingenuity, it has been said, contributed toward the U.S Armys' ability to win the War.

Floyd

[blauchie]

Floyd,

that's a good point about the communication lines being knocked out. On the morning of the 17th, Co A 423 was in the thick of it. My Dad told me no one knew what was happening on the right or left of them because the lines were out. He thought the Germans cut them at night along with their kitchen being burnt down. They were not a fighting unit because of it and all was chaos. He said they had to retreat out their fox holes because of numbers attacking them from the front and side. "You could only see 75 yards in some directions because of the trees where I was" They made a few charges and retreats. He was shot that morning. Wasn't so Lucky he said.



Not getting overshoes for the winter is just unbelievable. I don't know how you made it. Anybody who lives in a colder climate, got wet feet and had to stand or sit still for a few hours like hunting knows it can be pure agony. But then you go home to warm up. Floyd, It had to be constant suffering.
Joe

[floydragsdale]

Good Day Joe:

The German Army had thousands of Artillery pieces massed all along an eighty mile front at the start of the Bulge Campaign. In the morning at 5:50 of 16 December 1944, they commenced a barrage that lasted for two solid hours. It seemed as if the very foundations of the earth were trembling. Trees in the Ardennes Forrest came crashing to the ground and communication lines were ripped to shreds.

When the salvo of artillery fire was lifted, the German Infantry and Armor came at us and that lasted most of the day. It has been estimated that when that Battle began there were 400,00 German Soldiers against 80,000 American Soldiers. An Army Infantry Division was supposed to cover five miles of front line; the 106th Division was spread out for about twenty-seven miles.

There was a two thousand yard gap between my Regiment (424th) and the 423rd Regiment. The German Army found that gap and surrounded the 423rd and 422nd Regiments. And of course, with shattered communication lines, the only thing we knew was what was happening in our immediate area.

As for the wet boots, after a while the feet just became numb until a Soldier got to where it was warm. Thawing out frost bitten feet wasn't very pleasant either.

Yet, the American Soldier was fortunate compared the the Belgian citizens in that combat area.

Floyd

[blauchie]

Hi Floyd,

My Dad was one who never willingly spoke of the war and doubt he ever spoke with anyone knowledgeable of the big picture about it. I had to be very careful and alone with him when I would ask him questions. I have read how most of the lines were taken out by artillery. Whether or not the kitchen was burned or lines cut by infiltrated Germans, In my Dads mind it was the Germans. He told me prior to the 16th they constantly heard activity, motorized vehicles, and what he thought were tanks, on the German side. He was pretty scared sitting out in that fox hole.



With tears in his eyes, he did tell me about the civilian people caught in the war. When he and his buddy Bill Millar walked away from Stalag 2A on April 30 they were headed to Wittenburg where they heard there were Americans. They passed thousands upon thousands of people of all different nationalities who were filthy dirty, starving, had nothing, just like my Dad and his buddy. But they knew as soon as they hit the American line, there was food and comfort. Those people didn't.



Here are a few lines from my Dads diary and words you probably haven't heard for a while:



Dec. 21 1944 Captured by "Jerry"

Jan. 19 1945 Arrived at Stalag 2A. 1st Red Cross box "Prima"

May 4 1945 Met about 15 Russian tankers treated us "swell"



Joe

[floydragsdale]

Hi Joe:

Hitler's Nazi party had thousands upon thousands of slave laborers working in Germany. They were called Displaced Persons. Yet, some of them did not want to go back to their homeland (Russia). Stalin, Russia's Dictator, killed more of his own people than the German Army did.

I saw Russian Soldiers (Deserters) when I was in Paris who emphatically said that they would never go back to their homeland because of the horrible living conditions there. Also, those Soldiers talked about the "rotten" political system their country had.

Then while I was in Germany, after the War ended, trainloads of those Displaced Persons were shipped back to their nativeland.

I witnessed Russian Civilians, hopping off those trains as they were pulling away from the station. Some of them were crying in fear of going back to Russia. I could go on and on concerning that situation.

I became acquainted with some of those Displaced People, who somehow managed to remain in Germany. Not one of them had anything good to say about living conditions in their homeland. Also, not one person had anything good to say about their government. With tears in their eyes, they would tell stories that made you want to cry.

Our forefathers created a nation free from the kind of garbage that we saw in Germany! Let's pray to God that we can keep it free.

I recall seeing Belgium Citizens fleeing the B.O.B. area, in bitter cold weather. Many of them had two or four wheeled carts, pulled by one or two oxen. The father would be leading the Cart and the mother would be walking along side of it looking after several children who were placed in the middle of whatever possesses they had in it.

Those folks who were able to stay in their houses took American Soldiers into their homes so they could just "thaw out" and get some rest.

Belgium Citizens of the little hamlet of Haare, Belgium let us in their homes in order that we could get out of the cold weather & get some sleep. That was Christmas Eve., December 1944. WOW! What a present that was. Our Company Commander said just before we broke formation to enter the houses, "Merry Christmas men and have a good nights sleep." Several hours later we were awakened to shouts of "Everybody up and on your feet; we're moving out!"

Like the little Dutch boy who put his finger in a hole in the sea wall to stop a leak; we had to go back up front to plug a hole in the front lines. For some of G Company Soldiers that would be their last Christmas Eve, they were killed in action at Manhay, Belgium the next day.


Floyd

[seaforth]

blauchie:

Thanks for your account on your dads part. I'm trying to puzzle the events what happend to A co within their perimeter together.

Altough basic outlines are described in books and the net its still vague. These are the first frontline accounts i stumble into.
Thank you very much.