Skip to main content

August 22nd 1944-Journal Entry-Receiving orders to Brest





Convoy 10:00 Fougers, Antrain, La Bousac, Dinan,
High Bridge repaired by U.S. G.
Sign across St. "welcome at our liberators"
St. Brieuc- 4 year old threw onion and called sweetly in english "I love you"
Many "vive la america" more gifts of apples, eggs, onions, even buttered bread, 2 slices to our truck.
Cognac for pack of cigs. Threw many cigs to people-
Miserable night in Bivouc w of st. Brieuc-
Guard-
Rain Mud-Camouflage net crushing pup tent-
Priebe too much cognac-
Morale strengthened by French warmth, antagonized by SNAFU officers.

Lu, from his memoirs: The battalion History noted: "On 22 August the battalion liaison officer returned with orders attaching the battalion to VIII Corps Artillery for a mission in the Brest Area." Brest is located on the very tip of the Brittany Peninsula, and has a large and deep harbor. The Germans had established a major submarine base there ,with covered 'submarine pens' and huge fortifications on the surrounding hills. Large railroad mounted guns could throw shells far out to sea, keeping allied warships at bay.

The German troops, cut off when the allies broke out of the 'St. Lo Pocket' and surged south, west and east between Avranches and Mortain, retreated to the ports of Brest, Lorient, Quibereron, and St. Nazaire. They carried with them most of their equipment, and ammunition, and the ports were well supplied. Brest was liberated on Sept. 18, 1944 but the others were left under siege till the end of the war. Perhaps the costs in men and material to reduce Brest dictated a less costly strategy. Cliff's research for his book found that 'The allied command had not anticipated either the number of German troops or their fierce resistance, led by Lieutenant General Herman B. Ramoke, Commander of the elite Second Parachute Division and a hero of the 1941 battle for Crete. U.S. intelligence estimated 16,000 German Troops in the area, whereas eventually 38,000 surrendered. General Troy Middleton, U.S. VIII Corps commander had at his disposal the 2nd, 8th, and 29th infantry Divisions and Task Force A, plus considerable air support. These combat forces suffered almost 10,000 casualties.

The battalion history for Sept. 22nd continued: "The battalion moved up to a bivouac area outside the town of Plugat near St. Brieo. 'The warm reception by the French populace continued, " says the official record. But we'll remember too the ruins of St. Malo, which had fallen the day before.

 From Cliff Hope's book: Notes in my diary sketched our route through Fougeres, Antrain, le Boussac, Dol de Bretagne, and Dinan, where I noted a high bridge that had been repaired by U.S. engineers. There also, we were attracted by sidewalk cafes. At Jugon a sign stretched across the street said "Welcome at (sic) our Liberators.' Beyond Lamballe, at St. Brieuc a small girl threw an onion our way and shouted sweetly and in perfect English, "I love you." Many shouted "Vive L'Amerique!" Almost everyone waved, threw kisses and gifts of food-eggs, apples, tomatoes, onions. One little girl tossed two slices of buttered bread. A pack of cigarettes from the troops brought a bottle of "white lightning" in return. In addition to cigarettes, we tossed sugar, dextrose tablets and lemonade powder to greeters along the way. The day ended with a miserable night at the bivouac area west of St. Brieuc, where we were rained out of our pup tents.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

August 28th 1944 Journal Entry-Rain and Rations

Aug 28th RAIN RAIN and mud Lu from his memoirs: We settled into a routine of extending and improving our control surveys and existing on "K" and "C" rations and sleeping in soggy pup tents. There was lots of rain and mud and finding ways to improve living conditions was a constant challenge. As Cliff pointed out in his book, we had some talented buddies with inventive minds. Tom Fourshes, of Cadiz, Kentucky built a compact, wood fired cooking stove on which we could heat our rations, spread hot cheese on crackers, and boil eggs obtained from farmers. We found straw and dry grass to put under our bed rolls, but we never found a way to keep the water our of our fox holes. We didn't have too much incoming artillery, but I noted on August 26 'Priebe hits fox hole as I leave it going for mine as shells land in river' We also began a close relationship with our Field Artillery gun battalions. The 561st next to us were equipped with "155 Long T
4 comments
Read more

Welcome

Welcome to Winsor War Notes, the experiences of Luther Snow Winsor in World War Two. Subscribe to experience the day by day journal entries published on the matching day of the year for the time of his deployment to Europe and the Battle of the Bulge. Entries will include scans of the pages of his handwritten notes made at the time with a transcription and pertinent sections of the history he wrote later using these notes to jog his memories. The idea of this project is to publish and read the entries on the days of the year that they were originally written so we can get a feel for the weather setting and of the passage of time as it passed for him as he had these experiences. I will include relevant photos where possible. I suggest viewing Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan if you want a more graphic sense of what he was experiencing. He said that Saving Private Ryan was very realistic to his memories and Band of Brothers depicts many of the same kinds of things
4 comments
Read more

January 12th Battalion History

Battalion History: We'll remember of the overall picture, the general German withdrawal toward Houffalize to escape an allied trap, the enemy counterattack which regained Noville and Foy, the American attack which retook Noville, the original objective of the corps in this area. Houffalize was taken by First Army troops and Corps' new objective became Limerle. The Germans began to withdraw toward the Siegried Line. Limerle and Echo were taken. The First Army retook St. Vith. VIII Corps troops pushed on through Trois Vierges, Luxembourg, went on to take Burg Rowland, and reached the Our River on a braod front. Bridgeheads over the Our were established and enlarged. Winterscheid and Sehonberg fell to corps troops.  Poor weather made sound and flash ranging results almost negligible. And the buck privates who didn't want to go to war in the first place wondered if spring would ever come. The folks back home complained about meat shortages and said, "They say all the m
Post a Comment
Read more