WThunderbolt| NORMANDY. BRITTANY. LOIRE VALLEY. LUXEMBOURG. HURTGEN FOREST. ARDENNES. FIRST TO RHINE. ELBE BRIDGEHEAD! | V0L1, No. 3 SOMEWHERE IN GERMANY MAY 12,1945 United Nations Celebrate V-E Day As Germany Signs Unconditional Surrender

Allied World Rejoices At End of Bitter Six Year Struggle; Complete Capitulation Signed Monday At General Eisenhowers Hqrs. At Rheims

Victory in Europe Day was celebrated on Tuesday of this week following a joint proclamation by President Truman, Prime Minister Churchill and Marshal Stalin that Germany had signed unconditional surrender terms and hostilities would officially cease at one minute after midnight Tuesday. In all Allied capitals the news was received with wild enthusiasm and crowds surged into the streets shouting and whistling in celebration of the victory.

In Washington, President Truman in gium and bis family have been liberated to cease hostilities,*' he concluded. an address to the nation said that the and are in Allied hands. Despite the claim of the German radio surrender terms \ver< signed officially On Wednesday the surrender prior to the capitualion that Hitler was at 0241 hours Monday in Rheims, agreement was ratified in Berlin in the personally conducting the defense of France where General Eisenhower has presence of Marshal Zuhkov, Air Berlin, Russian correspondents have re• set up his headquarters. The president Marshal Tedder and General Spaatz for ported that no trace of the leading war further asserted that "our victory is on• the Allies and General Keitel for the criminal was found after the fall of the ly half won and not until the final Germans. Correspondents who went to city. Himmler, who conferred in Den• vestige of resistance in the Pacific is Berlin reported the city is almost mark on April 24th with the ,9»uliih overcome can there be a real completely leveled and that Nazi Red Cross, reported at =ai tone that celebration." government buildings have been Hitler had a hmmonge of the brain In London, Prime jMinister Churchill thoroughly gutted. One BBC correspon• and was not expected to hve more than in an address to the Jlouse of Commons dent reported driving for a half hour 48 hours. The German radio later an• told of the German, capitulation and through the streets of Berlin and seeing nounced that Hitler had been killed proclaimed a two-day holiday in only' a half dozen houses in which during the siege of Berlin but no evi• recognition of the clinax of a six-year people were living. dence of this was found by the Rus• struggle. The final capitulation of the German sians after the conquest of the capital. army on Monday followed close in the STALIN SALVO wake of the surrender of all enemy C0ERBELS SUICIDE Marshal Stalin announced the victory troops in Northern Italy and Western Josef Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda in a special order of the day as 2000 Austria on May 2rd and the capitulation minister, was found dead by Red Army artillery pieces fired 30 salvos to tell the three days later of Germans in the troops during the assault on Berlin. people of Russia that the war with Netherlands, Northwestern Germany Goebbels and his entire family commit• Germany was over. The announcement and in Denmark. Included in this lat• ted suicide by taking poison when the in Moscow came early in the morning, ter group were Germans holding out on fall of the city became imminent but the streets were soon filled with the islands off the coast of Germany Reichmarshal Herman Goering, head people who hailed the long awaited vic• and Denmark. of the Luftwaffe, has been captured by tory and paid special tribute to Marshal American Seventh Army troops. He D0ENITZ SPEAKS Stalin and the Red Army. is reported to have told Allied officials Similar demonstrations were held in Grand Admiral Doenitz who took that he was forced to flee Berlin when New York, Paris, Brussels and other over the German government after the Hitler ordered his execution. He Allied cities. Countless thousands of alleged death of Hitler told his people escaped to southern Germany with the people jammed their way into Times of the unconditional surrender in a aid of an SS officer who did not carry Square. They sang and danced through special broadcsst over the German radio. out Hitler's death sentence. ankle deep layers of ticker tape and torn He said that the strength of Germany Other prominent Nazis captured by paper which had been thrown down has succumbed to the overwhelming General Patch's Seventh Army include from the buildings. might of our enemies and that the Field Marshals von Rundstedt and Kes- continuation of the war would mean selring. It was von Rundstedt who plan• CEASE FIRING only senseless bloodshed and useless ned the German winter offensive in the Although the war did not come to devestation. Ardennes last December. an official end until one minute past "The government, with a sense of He is reported to have told American midnight Tuesday, the cease fire order responsibility for the welfare of the ... ' troops that the main reason for his was given immediately after the signing German people, has to draw the con• failure to repel the invasion of Norman- of the surrender agreement in order clusion from the collapse of all physical to save as many lives as possible. and material resources to ask the enemv (Continued on Page 4) The surrender took place in a school house at Rheims, France which is Last 85rd stop on the road to Berlin before V-E Day was the badly battered serving as General Eisenhower's head• city of Zerbst, east of the Elbe. The hurgermeister wanted to surrender, but the quarters. The historical document was local SS chief failed to agree; so for 15 unforgettable days massed 85rd signed for Germany by Col Gen Gustav Victory Quotes artillery shelled the village into devastation and submission. When the white Jodl, new chief of staff of the German flags finally flew for good, 85rd troops took the town without firing a shot. Army, for the Allied Expeditionary Force (Signal Corps Photos) by Lt Gen Bedell Smith, General Ei• "Our victory is only half won. When the last Japanese Division has senhower's chief of staff, for the Soviet surrendered unconditionally then, and then only, will our job be done." Union by Major General Suslapatow and for France by General Francois Se- President Harry S. Truman vez. When the last name was affixed Point Payoff to the document, the Germans met with General Eisenhower who asked if they "After six long years the threat of German aggression to a free world fully understood the implications of the Here's point payoff ten million civilians in uniform have been unconditional surrender terms. They has been finally eliminated. My congratulations to every Allied fighting stated they did and would carry out the waiting for, as broadcast by AFN Thursday night. Under this system agreement to the fullest possible extent. man on the earning of a well deserved victory." 1,300,000 GIs, 90 percent of them combat men, will be discharged Prime Minister Winston Churchill FLEET SURRENDERS from the service as fast as possible. The British Admiralty has issued or• 1. One point for each month of service. ders for the surrender of the German "Germany will not be dismembered as a result of her capitulation but I fleet and all ships at sea must wireless 2. One point for each month overseas. their positions to the nearest Allied a m now certain that we can look forward to a long period of peace in Europe. station. All German ships in harbor The Nazi party has been crushed under the heel of this great Allied victor;. 3. Five points for each combat award, including battle stars. must remain there and all submarines Bronze and Silver Stars, Purple Hearts and other battlefield at sea must surface and fly a black flag. Marshal Joseph Stalin The German cruisers, Prinz Eugen and awards, though not combat Infantryman Badge. Nurnberd, have already surrendered to 4. Twelve points for each dependent under 18 years, up to and the British. Allied warships have "On behalf of all my peoples I ask you to tell the members of the AEF entered Oslo Fjord in Norway and Scot• including three. tish officials have arrived in that country how dee ply grateful we are to them and how unbounded is our admiration to complete negotiations for the surren• for the courage and determination which, under your leadership. hat-, Men with 85 or more points are definitely on their way out, der of German troops there. RAF Lan• though the critical point for many will be lower. May 12th is last caster landed for the first time in Ger• them to their goal of a complete and crushing victoty." many Wednesday and brought back day ior points to count in this set-up. 4500 Allied prisoners of war to Eng• King George to Gen. Eisenhower land. In Austria King Leopold of Bel• PAGE 2 83rd THUNDERBOLT MAY 12, 1945 m 83rd Thunderbolt Germans Ihink . . . Swimming Saboteur Official Weekly Newspaper of the 83 rd Infantry Division 329th Platoon

The Thunderbolt is written by and for the men of the 85rd under the super• Full Regiment vision of Capt John C. Neff, Information-Education Officer, and Capt Thomas C. Roberts, Public Relations Officer. All material is censored by AC of S, 6-2. Member Camp Newspaper Service, 205 East 42nd St., NYC. If the Germans had known their po• STAFF: Managing Editor, Sgt AI Gladding; News Editor, Pfc John Maloney; sition, SZSgt Vernon C. Satcher of Cran- Art Editor, Sgt Nick Firfi res; Photographer, M/Sgt Harry Brouhard; Reporter, dall, Miss, and his 34-man platoon Pfc Carl Weber; Combat Correspondents, Sgt Ray Goguen, 529 th Inf, Sgt wouldn't have stood a chance. But as Grover Crawford, 530 th Inf, Sgt Jack Straus, 551st Inf, and Sgt Bill Schumann, things turned out, they captured 496 83rd Arty. prisoners, including a colonel, a lieute• nant colonel, two captains and two lieu• tenants - - and nine ME 109s complete VOL. 1, No. 3. May 12,1945. with crews. The platoon was left behind at Hal- berstadt while the rest of the 329th In• fantry raced to the Elbe. Their mission was to guard a mammoth food ware• house from pillaging by ciivilians and liberated foreign workers. Satcher and his men from the 1st pla• toon of Co C had their first inkling of Victory what was in store for them when one of the foreign workers told of a large group of Germans in the thick woods a To the Officers and Enlisted Men of the 85«i Infantry Division: mile or so from Halberstadt. "I didn't know whether to believe the The unconditional surrender of all German land, sea and air story or not," said Satcher, "but I was apprehensive because the rest of the re• forces to the Allied Expeditiouary Force and the Soviet Union giment was more then 50 kilometers away; so I decided to send two men out marks the successful conclusion of the first half of the Allies' war to investigate - - and that's when things began to pop." on the Axis nations. To the soldier the cessation of hostilities in CHECK TUNNEL Europe marks a complete victory - the total disintegration of the The two men, Sgt Charles C. Short of Dumkin, Tex. and SftSgt James D. once powerful Nazi war machine. Leitch, checked a tunnel near the edge of the woods and captured 105 priso• The Nazi Party was in power for a dozen years. During this ners, which they took back to the ware• house. time they huilt a large army, navy and air force, overran most Short took another patrol into the woods and came back the next morning of Europe and struck out for world conquest. with 56 more PWi This man from Mars, guarded by T/5 Serafino Ferrante of the 234th Engin• That afternoon SZSgt Robert Hodges eers, is one of the six suicide swimmers who attempted to blow up the of Brewston, Aki., Pfc Raymond J. Truman Bridge. (Signal Corps Photo) We who suddenly stepped from civilian life in a country at S/vnuMiBJi of Jersey Citv, N. J. and Pfc Frames Dutra of Portsmouth- R L peace spent a few short years in training. Then, in conjunction tried their lode. It ran to a full-scale

with our British Allies, launched the attack that drove the Nazis field telephones st 11 in workrrj "The colonel toid me he couldn't sur• out of Africa, Sicily and Italy. From the East another mighty render to a sergeant," said Hodges, "and the last thing we were looking for under friend, Russia, drove the enemy from the gates of Moscow and the conditions was a fire-fight; so I told him I would return with a staff HOME «£l Stalingrad, drove them back out of the Soviet Union. officer to pick them up." Continuing the search of the woods. NEW MAGNA CHART A 15th ARMY AO On June 6, 1944 American, British and Canadian fonts Some of them n'en booed an air strip with planes: so captors and captured set stormed the beaches of Normandy. At the same time Soi let forces out in seftiui w ..^urj^w——. i..— sion deeper into the forest, Hodges and a new Magna Charta Prime Mrnrtfrr Military Gouvemment officers at the maintained their relentless attack, driving the enemy further west. his party not only discovered the ME Smuts of South Africa, its author, said headquarters of the Army Commander, 109s, as advertised, but also the Luft• the aims of the document call for a In eleven months these combined powers crushed the entire German waffe personnel to go with them. reestablishment of faith in fundamen• Lt Gen Gerow, asserted there would be tal human rights for men and women no pampering of Germans by oc• cupation forces which will serve in the armed forces and effected their unconditional surrender. COLONEL IMPRESSED of all nations, a promotion of special progress and better standards of living, areas largely taken by the Third and "We figured if we walked our new an insurance that armed force shall not Seventh Armies. The problem of feeding We of the 83rd have done our share towards the victory in this group past the regimental CP, the colo• be used in disputes except when neces• German civilians will be handled by nel might be impressed enough by our sary, the establishment of respect for Allied occupational authorities through theatre. We can be proud ofour accomplishments. To every member show of strength to join the party," international law and treaties and the civilian and provincial officials and continued Hodges. setting up of international machinery provincial officials and local mayors. of my command I offer sincere thanks and appreciation for your The colonel was impressed He and for the promotion of social and economic The amount Germans will eat will his staff lined up silently in front of the advancement of all peoples. depend directly on how willing they gallant and courageous efforts of the past eleven months. God EM and marched back to the warehouse. are to work to re-establish their own He was much chagrined when he arrived food economy. bless all of you. not to find an American officer to accept 21-DAY FURLOUGHS his surrender. Quoting what it called "an unimpe• ROBERT C. MACON During the next two days, one and achable source'' an American news Major General, United States Army two-man patrols, catching the spirit of agency this week reported that more ... GI Jane the Jerry hunt, foraged the woods for Commanding more prisoners. They returned with than half of the American combat troops groups of 20 or 30 at a time until the in Europe will get a 21-day furlough in grand total of 496 was reached. the States before moving to the Pacific "It sounds simple now," commented war zone. Prior to this announcement, bY SGT.NS.FIRFIRES Satcher, "but until we were relieved I every official source had stated that GILBERT was always afraid the Krauts would most of the men in the ETO would learn the secret of our 34-man 'regi• wait in Europe until facilities were ment'." ready to move them directly to the Pacific. The news agency report further stated that the revised plans would apply more specifically to infantry, ar• tillery and armored forces and that 85rd Engineers other service units would be sent direct to build up facilities and bases for at• tacks against the Japanese. Between Set New Record now and shipment from the ETO, most of the combat troops will find themselves kept busy with educational, occupati• Members of Co. A., 308th Combat onal or redeployment duties until they Engineers believe they established a are taken to the U. S. Once home they record of some sort in their recent will be given a furlough and then ferrying operations on the Elbe River. trained in Pacific war problems. After putting the 329th Infantry across the river in an assault crossing, three platoons constructed two infantry sup• RATIONING REMAINS port rafts and a treadmay raft. These According to the War Food Ad• were in operation within an hour after ministration American civillians will the first wave of assault boats nosed continue to eat less food despite the their way through the dense smoke the defeat of Germany. Food screen prepared by Division Arty and will be used, according to hit the eastern shore of the Elbe. WFA, to win the peace as well and In the 16 hours that followed, over foodstuffs for minimum lend lease 1,000 vehicles of all types were ferried requirements cannot be met without across the swift current of the Elbe further reductions in civilian con• to the bridgehead, even before the first bridge was completed. After that, the sumption. The restrictions will also Ever since singing lovely Jane ferries were used to relieve congestion apply to tires, gasoline, clothes and even Froman was crippled in a plane resulting from the one-way traffic on public transportation. It is the explicit crash last year during a US() tour the bridge and were reserved for intention of the government to provide in the ETO, she has been GI Jane potential emergencies. foreign relief and full military require• to thousands of fighting men. Suffici• ently recovered now to sing again, The intensive stream crossing ments. The food shortage on the home she made her after-action debut on exercises conducted on the Mass River front will be felt most severely in meats, Broadway recently - from a wheel• in Holland paid rich dividends in this fats, oils, some dairy products, sugar, chair. (CBS Photo) historic river crossing operation. canned fruits and vegetables. MAY 12, 1945 83rd THUNDERBOLT PAGE 3

At the end of Hitler's road came the old men and their grandchildren— a symbol of a dying plete collapse were these sad specimens of the Fuhrer's super folk, members of a Wehrmacht nation in desperation and defeat. Among the last PWs taken by the 83rd before Germany's com• regiment that surrendered in toto to the 330th Infantry. (Signal Corps Photos)

both expressed their gratitude for the part the other's nation had played Awards Mission Sees Spectacle toward the unconditional surrender of Two 351st Doughs Serve As Germany. After breakfast Col Krynkow accepted the awards of Legions of Of Red Army On The Move Merit and Bronze stars to Col Burgermeister For Twelve Days Alexis Ivanov and the staff of the Sixth Guards Division in their absence. For 12 days, Pfc. James T. Leonard, Pottsville, Penn. and Pfc. FloydT. White The journey back th the American What started out as a presentation of decorations to officers of the Russian Pontiac, III, played burgermeister to an unoccupied German town of 5008 with lines was very much like the trip to some 1000 slave labor, including French, Russian and Polish. Sixth Guards Division in commemoration of the historic linkup between that unit Freiberg with the same endless stream and the Thunderbolt Division turned into a two-day trip inside Russian-occupied It was quite a story these men had to tell after being absent and unaccounted of Russians heading for Czecho-Slovakia, for a dozen davs. Germany for Brigadier General Claude B. Ferenbaugh and his staff, a visit during the same heartfelt, greetings, the same which they saw what few others have ever seen, one of the "biggest shows on caravan - at least it looked like the same earth" - the Red Army, on the move. The fast pace of the 83rd in its spear• wines and liquors, without which no one to the Americans. head across the Weser and Elbe rivers, European table is compete, were stored. The General and his party, consisting where transportation was a major Leonard and White made a daily hay for the horses, automobile tires, problem, made it often necessary to of Lt. Col. Shelley Hughes, Lt. Col hogs, gas and supplies of all types round and from the collected food and Jules K. French, Capt. Theodore De- leave bed rolls behind with someone to drink they rationed out enough for each heaped in pell-mell fashion. Artillery Cubs guard them until they could be picked Masse, Capt. Robert A. Chase, Lt. Gerry Some of the soldiers were sleeping slave laborer to eat well. Morrison and Lt. Vadim Gontzoff fol• up. White and Leonard were left to The next probem was clothes. Those on the tops of the over-stuffed wagons, guard the weapons platoon rolls lowed the Sixth Guards Division's line some were playing accordions and sing• of the slave laborers were old. worn, dirtv of march past the town of Brand, a few of Company C, 331st Inf. Only ing, some on seeing the Americans Fill Any Bill something happened. The race toward kilometers from the Czecho-Slovakian jumped from their own vehicles to border. There they ran into a Russian Berlin became so rapid no one was ever climb on the M8s to ride along for a Cub artillery plajoes are used sent back for them or the rolls. reconnaissance outfit who advised them while with their new-found friends. primarily as air OPs or 105 and 155 that they were well out in front of the mm gun batteries, but Uuring the S3rd's It was in one of those many towns if motley, arrayed. Russian front line. In 12 hours thev NO PATTERN sweep to the Elbe they were used for that the Company raced through, They were wise, too. Though the Army covered 125 miles from their own CP There seemed to be no pattern to the several other things not covered in cleared out, and left unoccupied. To might approve of what they were doing, at Calbe, weaving in and out of Russian Russian Army's movement, but what was the field manuel. make matters worse, the town was off the they might be forced to call it looting. convoys, cutting across open fields when enigma to the Americans was A-B-C When a patrol of the 330th Infantry main route of travel. For six days Le• So, with an abundance of German marks they came to traffic tie-ups that couldn't stuff to the Russian officer who met captured nine PWs in the town of onard and White saw no G. I. nor any which the Frenchmen had collected, be solved by having the Russians move them in Freiberg. General Ferenbaugh Prodel, they couldn't i.pare anyone to sign of one. After that trucks of PWs they paid for what they took. their vehicles, and passing through and his group arrived in the home of march the Jerries back to the regimental passed through going to the rear, but many towns that had been liberated "Twilight Sleep" just as the city was cage; so they contacted a cub plane of that was alL ENGLISH LEAVE just a few hours previously. being overrun. The Russian captain the 25th FA Bn, which was attached "I saw so many prisoners I thought There was an airfield some 60 miles made arrangements for them to sleep to Divarty, and the pilot, Lt Neil San• the war must be over," Leonard said. away from which the Englishmen could ders, and observer, Lt James Hoog, FRIENDLY WELCOME in one of the city's largest hotels and They had two meal rations. After that get home. So Leonard and White got explained that the divisional officers hovered over the nine Jerries and herded more cars, serviced them, supplied All through the long drive the five- them to their destination. it was a case of shift for themselves vehicle convoy of Americans was probably could not be reached because or starve. They shifted. First they found them with gas and turned them over to greeted excitedly and enthusiastically they were continuing forward with their On another occasion, a liaison plane themselves a nice comfortable hotel and the Englishmen. And they, prisoners by the men and women of the Russian front line troops. Laws for the military piloted by Lt John S. Baker of Divarty with some 25 liberated Frenchmen of war for five years, felt such warm Army. As the Americans pulled up to occupation of Freiberg were being with Lt James Flemming of the 322nd moved in. friendship for the two Yanks that they troop-laden wagons there would be first posted even as the first Russians entered FA as observer discovered eight Ger• delayed their departure for two days. the city. mans at a crossroads and by "buzzing" a look of surprise on the part of the YANKS TAKE OVER The German population gave them occupants, then a gleam of recognition, In Freiberg what had been an easy• them a few times convinced them to no trouble .Their uniform was treated remain there until the advancing a chorus of „Americanskis" and a salute going mass took form and turned into Though there were the Frenchmen with the utmost respect and was the or wave of the hand accompanied by a a fearsome cavalcade of men, machines doughboys could overtake them. The keynote to all their wishes. Though plane then contacted the Americans and (Leonard's French is passable) and Eng• huge grin. and horses swarming through the streets lishmen, three of whom spoke German there were rumors of SS troopers in the of the city. Unbelieving Germans shud• led them across country to the spot outlying woods, on only one occasion In the Russian convoys everything where the Germans were waiting to and served as interperters, all were new• dered in ill-concealed terror at the sound ly liberated and looked to the unique did they come in contact with them. went, horses and wagons driven by of hoofbeats on the cobblestones and surrender. olive-skinned Caucasians, mustachioed Yanks for leadership. Slave laborers came to tell them looked on incredulously at the Ameri• During the German attack on the that two SS troopers, changed to civi• Siberians and husky young women, a can General and his staff standing at Divarty CP when it was on the west One of the Frenchmen had a paper scattered few American jeeps - one had signed by an American colonel which lian clothing, were hiding in a nearby one of the city's principle squares bank of the Saale River, a company of barn. Getting their weapons, Leonard the chassis of a German sedan mounted watching the cavalcade ride through. enemy infantry tried to cross the river gave him authority to look after the on it - tremendous Russian tanks, cap• Americans and Belgians in that vicinity. and White went after them.The SS and seize the American positions. More troopers offered little resistence tured Germans vehicles, bicycles, Mack V-E DAY Nazis attempted to cover the crossing That put the O. K. on anything they trucks, dog-drawn carts, motorbikes - but deemed advisable to do for the slave though they insisted they were not sol• The following morning, V-E Day, a by taking up positions in buildings diers. The German mess gears and uni• more than any other single item, horses across the river and firing at the Ame• labor. and wagons. To an American it was dif• Russian woman soldier came to the ho• formed pictures of themselves they car• tel at which the Americans were staying ricans. A mortar platoon fired several "And those slave laborers," said Le• ried made them liars. ficult to conceive of this horse and bug• rounds into the German positions but gy gypsy caravan getting any place in and prepared breakfast for the officers onard, "thought we were gods. They Twelve days is a long time for fighting and enlisted men. She was a former pri• was unable to get direct observation beat a daily path to our hotel room men to stay in one spot. a hurry. Otherwise the collection of on the target until a piper cub, piloted racial types and the presence of women soner of war in Breslau who had joined with their problems, most of which 'T guess we would be there yet," said the Sixth Guards at Breslau. She was by Maj Jerome W. Byrd, took to the concerned food and clothing.'' in the midst of war bore out everything air and directed the WP mortar shells Leonhard, "if an 83rd QM truck hadn't we have heard about the all-out married to a Russian artillery officer in Leonard and White got busy. With come through the town by mistake the same Division. on the buildings in which the Germans two cars which the French had taken participation of the Russian people in were hiding out. The results forced the going in a Berlin direction." the war against Germany. Over the breakfast table the General for their use, they made a survey of the They told the driver their story, piled and Col. Nicholai Krynkow, Assistant enemy to withdraw and vacate their vantage points. This is believed to be district. From the farms they got their rolls in his truck, hopped in with Wagons were loaded to the overflow Russian Corps Commander, held in• vegetables, fruit, eggs and meat. them and headed back. It had been a with all the requisites for keeping this formal conversations through Lt. the first time that an artillery plane has been used to direct mortar fire. Bakeries in the town had plenty of glorious vacation but they might be family-type Army on the move, guns, Gontzoff who acted as interpreter. They bread. There was a storehouse where needed with their company. They were.

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m PAGE 4 83rd THUNDERBOLT MAY 12, 1945 MGO At Work .. 83rd QM Kept Rag-Tag Circus On The Road During Elbe Dash

Even the men of the Rag Tag-Circus are wondering how that "A" ration food kept getting up to them while they were highballing through the German Heart• land practically to the gates of Berlin. With the announcement of VE day The 83rd QM Co provided it and the answer to many other problems which this week the War Mobilization Board arose in connection with the infantry operation that will go down in history as has authorized the resumption of horse one of the most fluid and swift of all time. racing in the States again. The first races will be held today at most of the From the day they hopped off west major eastern and midwestern tracks. TB Miguel R. Guajardo of Brownville, of the Rhine (Mar. 29) to the Elbe Horse racing was ordered stopped in Texas was driving the last truck in line Bridgehead area (Apr. 13) the QM January on a directive from the WMB and only about 50 yards from the first moved their CP forward 11 times, oft- but it was asserted at the time of the group of houses. times twice in one day at distances ban that racing would be resumed after "From the side of one of these houses varying from ten to 60 miles. According VE day. a Heinie ack-ack gun let go point blank to Capt George P. Brauch of Marengo, at the front of the truck. The shell hit Iowa, the studious-looking CO of the the cowling directly in front of Both the New York Yankees and the outfit, the mere moving from one place Guajardo. Freakishly enough it exploded New York Giants were holding down first to another was a job in itself. outside the cab and shattered the glass places in the American and National "When first the situation grew to the cutting up his face, though not seriously. leagues this week as the 1945 season point where our trucks were in constant Nevertheless he stayed with the truck wound up its first month of play. Other 24 - hour operation, it was difficult and so did the doughs till ordered to first division teams in the National loop enough," said Brauch. "But when the dismount and clean out that overlooked were Chicago, Boston and St. Louis supply lines lengthened so that for some hot spot." while Chicago, Detroit and Washington supplies it was necessary to make as were hot on the heels of the Yanks in RIOT SQUAD high as a 400 - mile round trip, the the junior circuit. Rich or poor, German or forced guest of Germany— all present daily prob• going got quite rough. "And don't forget the Riot Squad," "After several of our missions had run interrupted Sgt Abe Shadid, who was lems to Military Government officials. Capt. Robert Rosenbaum of the 83rd The Eastern Intercollegiate Football into ambushes at night, we were standing by loaded down with requi• MG Detachment meets here with Raron and Raroness Carl Karninsky in an Association has announced that no re• forced to revise our schedules so that sitions. Shadid, a former department effort to determine their status. A former secretary of state in Austria, the visions will be made in the grid rules the supplies flowed steadily to all the store owner and manager of Mangum, baron had been imprisoned for four and a half years in the infamous Dachu for the 1945 season. Prior to this an• units of the Division despite this Okla., who is in charge of the Class II concentration camp. (Signal Corps Pboto) nouncement, it had been suggested that handicap. Unfortunately this resulted in warehouse where all those extra field rule-makers permit all fumbled balls several casualties and men becoming jackets and combat shoes are stored, to be advanced by opponents and lessen prisoners of war. Luckily two of the went on to say that was the name the severity for an illegal forward pass liberated PWs have been returned to they had tagged on the company when made beyond the line of scrim• us a little bit the worse for wear, but drivers because of all the screwy jobs mage. nevertheless still in there pitching. they were called upon to do during the operation. FOXHOLE FABLES WELL DONE "Cpl John Dudash of Brownsville, Now that the war in Europe is over the War Department has announced "Of the men and equipment, I can Pa. and Cpl John F. Reinhardt of I'tUiZ/ZfL. 7,500,000 dollars worth of athletic equip• proudly state that, respectively, they Hooverville Pa., showed ten Heinies ment will be shipped to the ETO as soon performed bravely and efficiently. In what a couple of Pennsylvania as possible. The WD's plans call for a our compact group 19 men have earned Dutchmen can do when they get mad. BronzeStars and three have been awarded They were carrying a load series of inter-Allied games that will Friendly Fellows Is o Takers the Purple Heait. Those great trucks, from my warehouse one day dwarf by comparison the largest of the as this deal was beginning to break peace-time Olympic games. Pfo William Holmes of Montgomery, He wanted to surrender, but no one 80 percent of them original issue, each wide open. From a stretch of woods W. Va., medic with the 3rd Bn, 329th had time to take him in. During the of which had mere than 2O000 combat il.'Z ;:ir -jif- • lit • — znz-i Infantry looked up from the foxhole he Division's Elbe drive, a quartering party ^i-rs- ' • • n::her rir:^ besting was digging to see four Germans en• from the 2nd Bn of the 33kt Infantry ±-i zr^x r- zzzzz z --lie-. — ii — it zZ z. zz : :rj.:: - _-til- YE Dav gaged at the same task about 20 yards stopped momentarily near an unarmed T(Sgt Damei C Mr: . .- '-z'- hard; ar.d v z-^_z~tz :_z away. He decided that a more distant German soldier with a bit of white pin• ton, N. C, whose- job it is among many — - — - While Dudash kept the truck moving. point might be more appropriate so he ned on his lapel. The Kraut approached other things to j keep equipment per• cm tagt 13 Reinhardt sprayed the wood and knocked grabbed his shovel and ran 50 yards a vehicle of the medical detachment and formance records,ioresented this statistical dy last June was due to the Aattjrtrig them off like ten pins." where he took cover behind a bank. asked rather indignantly if he might picture of the tremendous job they had effect of Allied air onslaughts. Second later, the four Germans arrived surrender. It seems he had been patient• done in a period of 17 days. Besides PWs NINE DAYS "Allied bombers not only shattered hauling ingredients of hot garrison type at the medie's newly selected location. ly waiting there by the road for this "We've got another boy who is pretty our supply lines and upset all efforts rations, twMigti to provide 1,911 "«U To his amazement they dropped their particular purpose for two days, but no i - -.-.--J: i v z-i-iz-rz zz T.5 Eiv-iri meals to the GIs of the Ha weapons and put their hands over their one had paid any attention to him. of Division, they a'so kept them heads. Four riflemen relieved Holmes of Lt Joseph F. with basic clothing issues and his prisoners. Their reward for bringing ,f "*~ rlt ~*r*i" ZZ :"tl ~~ ^ - the Krauts back to the^ battalion PW • mm •• m, cage was four foxholes "Made In ^Ger• AAA Men Get "In the QM Co alone, the gasoline moving truck. He caught this guy in iiserted r_i c-.~.zi-zz - zzzzz.zze vic• many, By Germans, For Americans." consumption was at the rate of 70 the act of aiming a Panzerfaust at tory he could not help but notice how gallons per truck per day", said Morrow. about 200 yards." his hands trembled and his voice Prize Pistols Ahead of War "A total of 383,110 gallons was burned "You've got quite a story yourself, faltered as he spoke. up by all the trucking companies and sir," interrupted Stivison. It developed When the news of the fall of Ger• While watching civilians of Warnigero- this did not include fuel for the tanks that Lorkowski and Cpl Jacob S. Levin many was announced in Japan a special de pile up their weapons in the town Four men listed as missing in action and TDs who drew from their own of Washington, D. C. were two of the session of the cabinet was held, and it square, Pfc Robert Osterndorf of Co M, turned up at their company after supply depots. For a time the 330th men recently repatriated after being was decided to go on with the war. "The 330th Infantry was approached by an spending five days traveling from one also drew from another source while ambushed in the Harz Mountain erea. war in the Pacific will be prosecuted to old woman who told him she had a uncaptured German town to another they were breaking up the resistance They had been prisoners for nine days a successful conclusion'', was the official house full of pistols and other firearms. in a German staff sedan, fighting off in the Harz Mountains area. and kept on the march for most of that announcement of the Japanese radio. Hurrying to the woman's house before one enemy patrol and narrowly missing time and were fed sparingly if at all. Despite Japanese boasts about carrying DUAL PURPOSE the good news could get around, being blown to bits by fire from a The lieutenant explained that on the war the Associated Press reported Osterndorf learned to his own chagrin German tank. "Our job was no one-way affair. On surprisingly enough the Germans unofficially that peace feelers were being that greed sometimes fails to pay off. Pvt. Loren D. Kissick, Tacoma, the way back to the rear areas we became more and more considerate of sent out by the Jap government in an There were weapons all right - old Washington, Cpl. Wilbert G. Kriger, loaded up the trucks with PWs. 20,000 their prisoners as they realized the trap effort to save their nation from the same horse pistols, muskets and swords. It Mannington, Va., Pfc. William H. of them rode with us at various times around themselves was tightening. fate which has befallen Germany. took Osterndorf six trips to carry the Buzzard, Marlington, W. Va., and Pvt and they didn't improve the looks of prize collection to the square. Bob L. Hemstreet of Milwaukee, Ore., the trucks a bit. Infantry or MPs could of Battery A, 453rd AAA were left not be spared as guards so our drivers Green Light behind in the Hasserode Forest when hit upon the idea that if they kept the German truck in which they were going fast enough none of them would .. . Pick of the Pickens They had gotten the green light; so riding broke down. dare to jump off or try any monkey they came on in. In the Elbe bridgehead "It was a question of who was more business. sector held by Co C of the 736th Tank upset, the Germans or us," said Kis• "One did try it as a convoy of three Bn, 30 fully equipped, cocky Nazis sick. "We knew from the towns that were slowing down for an underpass. walked into the tankers' lines thinking we had previously passed through that The driver in the last truck spotted him they were joining their own men. It the Germans were trying to get away; and tried to get him with the truck. seems they had seen some green flares so we decided that if we travelled The guy got off the road too fast for sent up by 83rd infantry to signal the during the day time we might be able that, but not fast enough to get out of Russians thought to be approaching to brazen the thing out." the sights of the assistant driver who And green flares had once been the In order to get moving, the men dropped him with an M-l slug right through the back of the head. Incidently Krauts' cue for a village retaken. needed a vehicle, so they calmly walked to the nearest town and commandeered there was no further trouble on that a German staff sedan from astonished convoy." Quick Change civilians. "But how about all those flat tires?" Changing horses in the middle of the "We played hide and seek with the enjoined TB Richard R. Stivison of stream is supposed to be bad business, Wehrmacht for the next five days," Indiana, Pa. "Stivie", who is somewhat but the crew of the 736th tank com• related Hemstreet. "We drove through of a statistician himself in his capacity manded by Sgt. Rudoph W. Parks, towns as though we were the advance of Company Clerk, brought out the fact Iennings, Olka., changed vehicles in party for a large number of advancing that they had suffered 1,018 tire failures mid-battle and made it stick. infantry. We figured that the Heinies during the race. "It wasn't that the tires weren't any good," he hastened to add, For four days during the 83rd's dash would make themselves scarce during "but tires have got to begin to wear across Germany, Parks' tank of "D" the day, but we were extremely care• ful at night because we didn't want out sometime." Company had been running on only to run into any large number of Ger• one of its two motors. Replacement man soldiers, trying to escape." DOUGHS GREAT tanks had been unable to reach him due The closest shave the men ran into Just then Lt Kenneth L. Hall of to the wild pace being set. was the second night when they did Brewster, Mass., injected a word Finally in the vicinity of Barby, the run into just such a patrol which they concening the men of the Truck Platoon replacement was available but the fighter fought off in a brisk fire fight. A couple of which he is the Platoon Leader. wasn't. It was in the thick of a fight in of grenades served to disperse the "Our job for a time was to provide a small village. enemy. transportation for the infantrymen of Maintenance men of the company The afternoon of the third day they the 2nd Bn. of the 331st Regiment. decided that they'd waited long enough. almost met with disaster when they Before I say anything else, I'd like to If history repeated itself, Parks and his rounded a corner and came face to face explain that my men and myself never ailing tank would be miles away before with a German tank. But the Nazi saw a finer bunch of doughs. The) a lull in the fighting came and they tanker was talen so by surprise by the obeyed every order calmly, regardless would have the same story over again. sight of four GIs in a German command of how rough the situation may have They decided on battlefield delivery. car that before he fired his first shell been. With lead flying thick, the replace• they had put several hundred yards "I know they have confidence in our ment tank was driven into the village between themselves and him. One shell drivers also and an incident which hap• alongside Parks' vehicle. Maintenance exploded near enough to put a couple pened just at the entrance of a sup• A singing star in her own right now and one of the reasons why tele• and the regular tank crew changed of shrapnel holes in the body of the posedly conquered town showed the vision shouldn't be held up another day is luscious Jane Pickens of the places, and the fight went on. car, but otherwise no harm was dojje. stuff that makes up the American GI. famous "Pickens Sisters". (CBS Photo)