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La 70ème division
américaine capture Emberménil le 13 octobre. Mais les combats
sur les hauteurs à l'est se poursuivront jusqu'au 22 octobre
1944
Lorraine Cross
26 juin 1945
(Journal bimensuel de la 79ème Division)
315th's ABLE COMPANY AWARDED PRESIDENTIAL
CITATION AFTER HEROIC ACTION AT EMBERMENIL
“By direction of the President, xxx Company 'A', 315th Infantry Regiment, is cited for the extraordinary
gallantry and heroism it displayed in moving against
overwhelmingly superior enemy numbers and fire to seize and hold
the high ground east of Embermenil, France, during the period 20
October 1944 to 22 October 1944.”
Colonel Andrew J. Schriver, of Mt. Holly, Pa./ commanding the
315th, was reading that portion of the War Department General
Orders in which Able Company was particularly interested. The
regiment had just finished carrying a big hod in Alsace, and
most of his attentive listeners had to think twice to identify
the action at Embermenil by that time.
But they had no difficulty remembering two endless, action-filled
days and nights that found the frantic krauts defying cold steel
and hand to hand combat, fighting at times within the company
CP. Embermenil was where clean-up squads, after the action found
dead GIs and jerries slumped in the same foxholes.
God And The M-1
“Jumping off on the morning of 21 October
1944,” Col Schriver read, “Company 'A' pressed forward over open
terrain toward an enemy-occupied hill, a wooded crest affording
excellent concealment for the thoroughly aroused defenders. As
the attack progressed, the second and third platoons were
subjected to extensive machine gun fire from the front and both
flanks, while the first platoon, in reserve was momentarily
pinned down by flanking automatic weapons fire. xxx
“I remember that part of it,” said S/Sgt. Antone C, Soares, of
Hayward, Calif., wounded at Embermenil and back in action in
Alsace. “After we had started up that damned hill my whole squad
was pinned down by a jerry machine gun. Then I saw something
that revived my faith in God and the M-1. Although pinned down,
my boys brought fire to bear with their rifles, and first thing
you know those same kraut machine gunners were pinned down. I
took a couple of men and circled around to capture the six-man
crew.”
“Although the second platoon commander and his platoon sergeant
were both wounded,” Col Schriver continued, “both the second and
third platoons ignored this distracting fire and, with fixed
bayonets, assaulted and seized their objectives on the wooded
hill. xxx”
“We started up that hill without any cover at all,” said Sgt
George Helm, of Fort Worth, Tex., another who earned a Purple
Heart at Embermenil and returned to the line. “For the first
time in my life I saw men skipping over machine gun bullets.”
“At 2400 hours,” Col Schriver read, “the enemy counterattacked
with three tanks, supported by an estimated company of infantry.
So determined was this effort that men at the Company CP, forced
into foxholes, were literally run over by the tanks and
subjected to .75 millimeter fire at pointblank range. xxx”
“Never saw so much shrapnel,” recalled PFC Leroy Zweibel. “Main
thing was that everybody kept going, no matter what. I remember
one shell fragment the size of my helmet that just missed my
shin. It would've taken off my leg like a bologna slicer.”
“The company gun section,” Col Schriver continued, “carried its
share of the fighting to the enemy in an action so valiant that
each member of the section was subsequently killed or wounded.
Riflemen fixed bayonets and pressed the enemy in fierce hand to
hand fighting. Until 0600 hours the following morning, the enemy
persisted in his all-out attempt to wrest the hill from Company
'A'. xxx” Jerry
Casualties High Captain
Raymond Harvey, of Sulphur, Okla., the company commander,
spotted five krauts attempting to flank one of his squads. He
charged them head-on, killing one and capturing four. “The
carbine,” he remarked afterward, “is a mighty handy little
weapon.”
“Enemy casualties were approximately 30 killed and 175 wounded,
plus 78 prisoners,” Col Schriver concluded. “Company 'A's'
casualties totaled 57, ten of whom were killed in action. By its
heroic action in storming, seizing and holding a strategic high
point against overwhelming enemy superiority, Company 'A'
contributed substantially to the success of the regiment in this
action.”
That was Embermenil. |
