THE 87th IN ACTION!!
New Combat Log Found
All of us who trained in the Infantry in World War II -- every mother's
son of us -- can attest to the discipline that was drilled into us. Today
I look back and wonder whether it could have been otherwise. But then?
Well, then, you couldn't have expected us to like it.
I had just reached 18 when I entered the Infantry ("with dirt behind
their ears"), 19 when I was baptized by combat. A little of the rebel
remained in me somehow. Not withstanding the stern, even punitive warnings
against GI's keeping combat logs, I kept one.
I had more opportunity than most to compile one. Sent overseas as a
heavy machine gunner, I was reassigned to heavy mortars, then made mail
clerk and assistant company clerk. Having started to study journalism
before being drafted, I was often detached from the front lines to write
citations for Silver and Bronze Stars as well as battlefield commissions
on various battered American and German typewriters. I must have batted
out 15 citations.
To this day, I can recite details of some of the most sonorous deeds of
my fellow combat infantrymen of Co. D, 345th Infantry. To this day, some
of those deeds bring tears to my eyes.
This memoir was sparked by your last issues featuring the combat log of
Sgt. Johnson of the 346th Mine Platoon. My own combat log is more cryptic
than Sgt. Johnson's, but it does evoke some of the places, names, conditions
personal feelings, and the bold sweep of the Third U.S.Army in World War II.
At first I secreted the log in my clothes. After the war, however, I
carried it for awhile in my wallet, then stuffed it in drawers and suitcases
wherever I lived. Without the Golden Acorn News feature and the solicita-
tion by the Army History Institute, however, I never would have been re-
mined of my log.
It's not always legible and not always clear, but its mere existence
in the face of severe and repeated admonitions against keeping one is, to
me, a minor miracle. For this reason I don't think very many others will
be uncovered. I don't know at this time whether I want to surrender by
original to the Army History Institute, but I send them the enclosed copy.
Mitchell Kaidy (Cpl. Co D 345th)
COMBAT LOG CO D 345th INF
10 Oct 1944...........Left Ft. Jackson, S.C. Destination Unknown.
11 Oct................Arrived Cp Kilmer, N.J. after daylong ride.
15 Oct................Left NY POE and boarded Queen Elizabeth.
17 Oct................Sailed. Goodbye, old gal. See you soon!
22 Oct................Arrived Grennoch, Scotland. Trip uneventful.
Weather balmy.
24 Oct................Disembarked to Biddulph Moors, England.
25 Nov................Left Biddulph for Southhampton. Goodbye
"Merrie Old England"
26 Nov................Set sail for France on LSI 37. Good food.
27 Nov................Went over the side of the LSI to an LCT at
the battered port of Le Havre.
28 Nov................The Old Apple Orchard near Amiens. Just mud.
4 Dec................The "Forty and Eight" days -- boxcars full or
human beings
6 Dec................Arrived Metz after 2 nights in cattle cars.
Committed to action 2330 taking Fort Jean D'Arc.
relieving Fifth Div.
8 Dec................Met Al*, who had come from Verdun, after about
two and a half years.
13 Dec................Left Metz by truck for Saar Basin, Rimling,
Urchen, Medalsheim, and Obergailbach.
24 Dec................Xmas Eve. Left Saar after an eternity of Hell.
Relieved by the 44th Div after much blood.
26 Dec................Rivouaced outside Reims, France after numbing
convoy ride. Attached to 7th Army.
29 Dec................Crossed Belgium border at 1515, Province of
Luxembourg. Snowing hard.
30 Dec................This was the "Bulge", little did we suspect it.
Objectives -- Jenneville and Moircy.
2 Jan 1945...........Show packed hard and high. Fighting hard.
Living miserable. Stayed at Laneville.
5 Jan................Moved to Ochamps. Collected 9,500 dollars for
Money Orders. Made corporal.
8 Jan................Left for Jenneville. Just snow..
10 Jan................Campaign for Bonnerue. 12 men captured from
our Company. Many casualties.
11 Jan................Back to Moircy for rest and replacements.
13 Jan................Defensive positions at Sprimont.
17 Jan................Truck convoy to Wilper, Luxembourg. Patrols
sent across Our River at Echternach. Snow.
26 Jan................Back in convoy to Wilper, Luxembourg.
29 Jan................Moved into a flattened city called St. Vith.
Taken by 7th Arm Div and 82nd A/B. Jumped off
overland to Hume.
30 Jan................Carrying party of emergency rations and a
mail bag full of socks 12 miles overland in
knee-deep snow. Brought wounded man back.
He died.
31 Jan................Took Hume after shelling by "88's".
3 Feb................Andler, Belgium. Poverty, snow and manure.
6 Feb................Moved over sea of mud to Auw, Germany.
7 Feb................Prepared to assault the Siegfried Line.
Crossed I.P. in approach march at midnight.
8 Feb................Jumped off to attack Siegfried Line at 0700
from Walschied, Germany.
9 Feb................Men against concrete. Cracked some pillboxes.
Tanks and TD's in support. Artillery, too.
10 Feb................CP in house with big gaping hole at Olzheim.
Jerries coming in by truckloads.
12 Feb................The "Screaming Meemie" days. Sniped at going
up with mail. Patrols into booby-trapped woods.
14 Feb................Back to Auw for a rest. 9th TAC in fray.
19 Feb................Left Auw for the Siegfried Line again. Shelling
terrific. Many close ones.
22 Feb................Taking and sleeping in pillboxes.
24 Feb................Took many small towns. One man captured.
27 Feb................Two men killed. 7 wounded this week in our Co.
28 Feb................After an arduous campaign we moved to Neunstein.
Not much left of it.
1 Mar................Infantry on tanks and TD's to Schoenfeld.
3 Mar................Moving fast we hit Gonnersdorf.
5 Mar................On tanks to Digel, Dollendorf. Fed hot chow
anytime we can catch up. Usually midnight.
Brief rest here.
14 Mar................Moving every day and moving fast, we passed
through many pretty towns untouched by war.
Plenty of Schnapps and Champagne.
16 Mar................Big move to Karich, and the drive to Coblenz
started. Crossed Moselle River at Winnengen
in assault boats.
18 Mar................Long pontoon bridge built by Engineers under
smokescreen. Took Coblenz after moderate
street fighting. Some casualties. Big news
splash.
23 Mar................Into woods ten miles from Boppard. Very hope-
ful now. Birthday today.
25 Mar................Took Boppard. Crossed Rhine under smokescreen
after 89th Div had failed further up the river.
Some casualties from "88's".
26 Mar................Pontoon bridge knocked out but we pushed in-
land to Dahlheim. Returned for mail and was
ferried across Rhine by U.S.Navy. Snipers in
Boppard, taken by 76th and 89th Divs following
us.
27 Mar................Esback, Bettendorf, Zollhause, Gimmerich. 6th
Cav Grp moving ahead of us.
30 Mar................Niederfelters, Butzbach, Brandoberdorf.
Flushing out of woods, snipers. Trapped Regt
of SS Troopers.
5 Apr................Obersul, the Waldfinch, Fich and Tambach.
8 Apr................Counter attacked. We lost some men in 2nd Bn.
12 & 13 Apr...........Plauen, Ehrenstein, we freed thousands of
slave laborers of every nationality, daily.
15 & 16 Apr...........Two Heinies give in to kitchen tonight. They
were hungry. We moved to Judenew and Fossa.
17 Apr................Pausa then Plauen, the city flattened by the
Air Corps. Camped in tents overlooking the
city.
7 May................Falkenstein, false VE Day.
8 May................VE Day, not much excitement, though.
* -- The reference on 8 Dec 1944 to "Al" is my brother Albert.
a T/5 in the 386th AAA Bn.
