Post by floydragsdale on Jul 2, 2013 18:48:38 GMT -5
It’s wintertime in Belgium! The Battle of the Bulge has been raging for days. You are a Soldier in the 2nd Bn., 424th Regiment of the 106th Division.
You don’t know the actual battle statistics, yet the number of men in your Company is probably less than one half of its’ original size which was almost two-hundred men, not many days ago.
If you could see a casualty list it would reveal that a dozen or so men were K.I.A., probably two to three times that many troops were wounded and quite a few men were lost because of trench-foot and frozen feet.
Your own platoon of forty men has been reduced to less than under fifteen Soldiers.
Reflecting on recent combat activity, you remember a fellow soldier being spattered with the flesh and blood from a man next to him, resulting from an exploding artillery missal; hearing the pleading cries of wounded men calling for a company medic. You think of a Soldier in your platoon that is possessed with the thousand-yard stare, known as combat fatigue; now he is no longer in charge of himself and his actions.
An Army General assured your outfit a hot meal (the first in over a month). However, by the time you went through the chow-line and found a place to sit down, there were ice crystals forming on it. You haven’t eaten ice-cold mashed potatoes and gravy since that day.
After your ice cold “hot meal” and a pep talk by an officer your, company falls into a combat formation to oust some German Soldiers from a small Belgian Village.
A number of days ago up on Schnee Eifel, by orders to, “Travel light, all heavy weapons are to be left behind, including your sixty mm mortar.” Therefore, your Company Commander (CO) can choose you for any type of duty in the Company,
On this occasion you are ordered to serve as point man on the extreme left flank of your Company; a risky place to be when in combat formation.
The advance begins through the Ardennes Forest (uphill). You are weary from the lack of sleep; the temperature is well below the freezing mark and your boots are wet. Suddenly, the attack is brought to a halt by a German artillery barrage. Apparently, your Company has been spotted moving through the woods.
The artillery fire is having a devastating effect on your Company.
A two man bazooka team in your Company takes a deadly hit from a German 88 artillery shell, killing both men instantly.
Another Soldier, near you, has been brutally wounded by shrapnel and is begging a medic to let him die.
The crescendo of the artillery barrage increases and you wonder, “Will I be the next one to get it?”
As you briefly visualize the thought, it isn’t a bad idea; you will be absent from your body and away from this miserable subzero weather and this war. Under these conditions, dying seems better than living.
As casualties increase in numbers, the advance slows to a crawl. Daylight hours are fading to twilight which is a signal for the troops to hole in for the balance of the day and Officers relay orders to the troops “Hold your positions for the night.”
Probing German artillery fire produces an incentive to dig a foxhole for protection. Digging through the frozen turf generates body heat and an appetite simultaneously. When finished, it’s time for a rest and something to eat.
Consequently, you reach for a can of something, which was acquired from a Ten-in-One ration earlier in the day. It was heavy and you thought that the contents were perhaps turkey, ham, or spam.
Yet, when opened, whatever it contained was froze solid.
Without eating utensils, to solve the problem, you placed the tin between your thighs to warm it up.
Several naps and some hours later you were able to gouge a bite out with your finger, only it wasn’t what you had imagined; it was ice-cold spinach. What a disappointment to your taste buds.
Oh well, on an empty stomach, something is better than nothing.
With German artillery missals detonating in the treetops you begin to think of something pleasant back home.
Before long in a hole in the ground,somewhere in Belgium, for a few hours, sleep comes to you and your tired body.
Floyd, 2nd Bn
424th Regiment
You don’t know the actual battle statistics, yet the number of men in your Company is probably less than one half of its’ original size which was almost two-hundred men, not many days ago.
If you could see a casualty list it would reveal that a dozen or so men were K.I.A., probably two to three times that many troops were wounded and quite a few men were lost because of trench-foot and frozen feet.
Your own platoon of forty men has been reduced to less than under fifteen Soldiers.
Reflecting on recent combat activity, you remember a fellow soldier being spattered with the flesh and blood from a man next to him, resulting from an exploding artillery missal; hearing the pleading cries of wounded men calling for a company medic. You think of a Soldier in your platoon that is possessed with the thousand-yard stare, known as combat fatigue; now he is no longer in charge of himself and his actions.
An Army General assured your outfit a hot meal (the first in over a month). However, by the time you went through the chow-line and found a place to sit down, there were ice crystals forming on it. You haven’t eaten ice-cold mashed potatoes and gravy since that day.
After your ice cold “hot meal” and a pep talk by an officer your, company falls into a combat formation to oust some German Soldiers from a small Belgian Village.
A number of days ago up on Schnee Eifel, by orders to, “Travel light, all heavy weapons are to be left behind, including your sixty mm mortar.” Therefore, your Company Commander (CO) can choose you for any type of duty in the Company,
On this occasion you are ordered to serve as point man on the extreme left flank of your Company; a risky place to be when in combat formation.
The advance begins through the Ardennes Forest (uphill). You are weary from the lack of sleep; the temperature is well below the freezing mark and your boots are wet. Suddenly, the attack is brought to a halt by a German artillery barrage. Apparently, your Company has been spotted moving through the woods.
The artillery fire is having a devastating effect on your Company.
A two man bazooka team in your Company takes a deadly hit from a German 88 artillery shell, killing both men instantly.
Another Soldier, near you, has been brutally wounded by shrapnel and is begging a medic to let him die.
The crescendo of the artillery barrage increases and you wonder, “Will I be the next one to get it?”
As you briefly visualize the thought, it isn’t a bad idea; you will be absent from your body and away from this miserable subzero weather and this war. Under these conditions, dying seems better than living.
As casualties increase in numbers, the advance slows to a crawl. Daylight hours are fading to twilight which is a signal for the troops to hole in for the balance of the day and Officers relay orders to the troops “Hold your positions for the night.”
Probing German artillery fire produces an incentive to dig a foxhole for protection. Digging through the frozen turf generates body heat and an appetite simultaneously. When finished, it’s time for a rest and something to eat.
Consequently, you reach for a can of something, which was acquired from a Ten-in-One ration earlier in the day. It was heavy and you thought that the contents were perhaps turkey, ham, or spam.
Yet, when opened, whatever it contained was froze solid.
Without eating utensils, to solve the problem, you placed the tin between your thighs to warm it up.
Several naps and some hours later you were able to gouge a bite out with your finger, only it wasn’t what you had imagined; it was ice-cold spinach. What a disappointment to your taste buds.
Oh well, on an empty stomach, something is better than nothing.
With German artillery missals detonating in the treetops you begin to think of something pleasant back home.
Before long in a hole in the ground,somewhere in Belgium, for a few hours, sleep comes to you and your tired body.
Floyd, 2nd Bn
424th Regiment
