Chapter 4

Wonder of wonders, Ernie showed up about mid-afternoon with a jeep to pick up Doug Johnson. He had cleverly hidden in the jeep a number of replacement bazooka rounds, ammo for our M1s and my Thompson, and some extra C rations. I almost kissed Ernie when I saw that he had promoted some canned peaches, enough for every man to have a can! Ernie was liable to make general if he kept thinking like that and if the war lasted long enough!

Ernie said that all he had to do to get the peaches was to promise the Supply Sergeant a P38 for a souvenir. Just before he left, he gave the sergeant the one he was carrying. Ernie was first in line for the next P38 that showed up!

The Germans had done such a good job with laying out the roadblock that we just took it over, lock, stock, and barrel. The only change we made was to add some defenses along the line where we had attacked. By this time, Chester had both MG42s back in operating condition. He and Jimmy Banner took over as the gunners for these two weapons, and I found two other men to use the BARs.

Nothing happened the rest of that afternoon except that a runner (on a motorcycle) showed up from Maj. Harris with orders for us to stay where we were and to hold the roadblock against a potential German attack. Gee, thanks! The major had saved us some more walking with that order, but it could also mean that we could get killed. Oh, well, win a few, lose a few. That's what war was all about.

The next morning about 1000 hours, a pair of Sherman tanks showed up. It turned out that they were here to support us, and we were very happy to see them. The extra cannon and machine guns would be welcome at any time, but we were beginning to feel like we were way out on the sharp end of the spear! We all wanted to locate on the same side of the road so that we would not accidentally shoot each other. Being wounded by Friendly Fire was no fun!

The two Shermans worked together to pull the Pz. IV hulk out of the way. One took its place and the other parked beside it. Damn, it was nice to think of all that artillery support so close at hand! It sure was comforting to see that these two tanks had the latest in long-barrel cannon with the fancy muzzle break. Rumor had it that these cannon were more powerful than the previous ones with the short barrels. Well, I hoped that the rumors were correct, but I was not going to bet on it! The tank crews had no opinion on the subject, and that only made me doubt the rumor even more.

We were having a reasonably pleasant rest in the sun up until one of our lookouts came running up with the statement that a "major" Nazi unit was headed our way. He had no count of troops or vehicles, but he did say that he had seen the stylized SS insignia, and that was all it took to get his attention. Fortunately, another man showed up a few seconds later with a count of approximately 50-60 infantry and three Pz. IVs in the column.

Needless to say, we were scared shitless at this news! The trouble was that we had no time to run—the Nazis were just too damned close! We had no choice but to fight, but it looked like the Germans thought that our roadblock was still in their hands. Therefore, they were taking no special precautions as they approached. Those SS troops were so arrogant that the were afraid of nothing, and they were sure that their shit didn't stink. Well, maybe that arrogance would work for us once the shooting started.

I talked to the two tank commanders and my two squad leaders about the best way to fight. We did not have much time to get ready, so we would pretty well make do with what we had. The three Pz. IVs were leading the column with some men riding them, and the rest of the Germans were spaced out behind in two columns at the road berms.

We decided to let the tanks get even with us before we took action. Gus was up front in case there was any conversation in German that needed a response. We didn't really expect much of that because of all of the noise the tanks were making on the hard-packed road surface.

The two bazooka teams were to take out the lead tank, and each of the Shermans was to go after the other two tanks. The range was so short for the tank cannon that we expected immediate kills unless we ran into some horribly bad luck. That should also take care of the men riding the tanks. Our biggest worry was actually the men trailing out behind the tanks. There were 25-30 men in those two columns, and that meant that we were outnumbered about 2:1. Now was when those two MG42s could prove their value!

It was with heart-stopping tension that we waited for the three enemy tanks to reach the desired positions. Suddenly, the two bazookas fired, and they were followed immediately by the tank cannon. Thank God! All three tanks went up like gasoline flares! That was the end of them and the men riding on top.