G Company's War: Two Personal Accounts of the Campaigns in Europe, 1944-1945

2. The Mud of Lorraine

2 The Mud of Lorraine November 18-December 2, 1944 OPERATIONAL BACKGROUND On the south end of the Third Army line, where the 26th Division was engaged, the fiercest fighting in Patton's fall campaign in Lorraine had occurred in the first week. The capture of the Morhange and Dieuze (Foret de Bride et de Koecking) Plateaus, where Egger and the rest of the 328th Regiment had encountered such heavy going, had unhinged the main German line of resistance in the south. The next barrier would be the Saar River. This was the objective of the 26th Division's drive that resumed on November 19, after a brief halt for rest and regrouping (see Map 3). Fortunately for the men of the Yankee Division, the German line in this area was weakly held since the main enemy forces had withdrawn to the east side of the Saar River. Nevertheless, this screening force was manning well-prepared defenses. These included not only woods and the sturdy stone houses of Lorraine, but the old French fortifications of 1940, the Maginot Line.1 Pfc. Bruce Egger and his comrades of George Company, 2nd Battalion, 328th Infantry, were about to enter the second phase of the offensive that had begun so disastrously at Moncourt on November 8 and continued with the grueling advance through the Foret de Bride et de Koecking. Although the fighting would be less sanguinary over the next month, the weather conditions -the unremitting rains now interspersed with snow-would continue to make the lot of the foot soldier a miserable one. In this effort they would be joined on November 18 by 2nd Lt. Lee M. Otts, a son of Alabama who would find himself dismayed to be assigned to the Yankee Division. [P.R.] Nov. 18, 1944. G Company goes back on line and new replacement Lt. Otts is assigned to Easy Company. EGGER The trucks took us back to our positions in the morning. The villages we passed through were in ruins from the shelling and fighting, and the fields were pock-marked with shell holes and laced with 46 • THE MUD OF LORRAINE LUXEM SOU RSi_--....... , ---,--,.'/ " o 5 10 I I , MILES FRONT LINES EVENINGS NOVEMBER 7.1944 - --NOVEMBER 19.1944· ...... DECEMBER 19.1944fl12 .2'Z2ZW~WEST WA LL ~ Map 3. 26th Division Operations in Lorraine, November 8-December 19, 1944 trenches and fortifications. I had seen an Army paper at Chateau Voue that said the Third Army was moving ahead against light resistance. Stashin and Nickel rejoined the platoon today but were destined to go back for good three days later because of the condition of their feet. Very few of the men who were evacuated with frostbite or trench foot ever came back. Trench foot was caused by the feet being exposed to the wet and cold. Three or four days of exposure could cause the disease. The circulation is affected, and severe cases may result in gangrene. There was no way to keep our feet dry with the footgear the Army provided, and without bedding we could not dry and warm our feet at night. We never received proper footgear until the end of January, two weeks before we no longer needed it. I had a supply ofheavy wool socks from home that I used instead of the lighter-weight wool stockings the Army issued.* My parents kept me supplied throughout the war, and I *On Dec. 3 Egger wrote his parents: "I haven't any more heavy wool socks, if it hadn't been for those I did have I know very weill would be back in the hospital with trench foot." The 328th Infantry had lost over 500 men from trench foot and exposure THE MUD OF LORRAINE • 47 don't think my feet would have held up without them. My feet were much more sensitive to cold after the winter of '44-'45. [We now pick up the account of 2nd Lt. Lee Otts, who having arrived the day before at the regimental train area of the 328th Infantry Regiment, on November 18 was assigned as a replacement platoon leader with Easy Company , 2nd Battalion.] 0115 About an hour before daylight it seemed like all hell broke loose. We could hear guns firing and shells whistling over and falling. They sounded like they were right on top of us. For the first time, but far from the last, I...