Marion: Been tring to get 3-7-I Recon (Russ Cloer, platoon leader of the 7th Reg. Intellegence and Reconacense platoon to join. He tried yesterday but couldnt get it
established, but I did get his permission to post some of his ww 2 activities. He was in
the same Reg. as I was but in a different outfit. Till I get him here I will start posting a
few of his experiences as some of the battles were ones we both were in. I only joined the outfit in France but he started at Anzio. This was posted on another forum by Russ. Remember, this is HIS posting. "Rhine River crossing"
I reported to my Co upon my return from Paris and told him I was back a day early and why. "Good," he said, "I have a job for you. We are crossing the Rhine tonight. H hour is 0230 and we will be crossing about 200 yards downstream of the blown Autobahn bridge. I want you to take your jeep and reconnoiter a route down the the river bank suitable for tanks. Then come back here and there will be 4 amphibious Shermans waiting to follow you down to their I.P. For a moment, I considered reminding him that I was still on leave, but I decided against it!
I rounded up my driver PFC Steele and we headed east in his jeep. It was pitch dark, but it was a flat Rhine flood plain interlaced with a few dirt roads, used by farm equipment. Steele's night vision was superb and we could guide on the slightly elevated autobahn on our right leading to the blown bridge. We rode right down to the river bank. It was about a 4 foot drop to the water. The river was 400 yards wide and the water was flowing at 8 MPH.
There were no obstructions to our night vision. but what I remember most is the absolute silence! The only sounds were the soft gurgling of the water against the river bank and the muffled sound of the jeep's idling engine. None of the sounds of war! The blown autobahn bridge on our right was silhouetted against the night sky, a huge and very high suspension bridge with a section of roadway missing the center. I scanned the other side of the river looking for defenses, but saw nothing but more flat ground with no tall vegetation or structures. There had to be anti-tank guns over there, probably under the far side bridge ramp, which would provide both overhead protection and concealment for the crews.
At about 10:30PM, we turned around and headed back to Frankenthal to pick up the tanks. We saw nothing in the way of military preparations for the crossing, which surprised me until I found out that the Infantry was crossing south of the Autobahn and were hidden from our view by the elevated Autobahn highway.
The tank commander proudly showed me the accordion like rubberized canvas bellows, reinforced by a steel framework to hydraulically lift it into place so the DD Sherman tanks could float. There were 2 small propellers on the back for propulsion and steering. I remember thinking it looked like a real "Rube Goldberg" and I tried to visualize this 35 ton monster dropping off that 4 foot bank into the 8 MPH water! Or climbing the far 4 foot bank! (See photo of DD Sherman on this topic. I didn't take this photo.
- It came out of a book.)
The tanks started their engines and the roar was deafening! They started forward in column behind my jeep and the clanking of the tracks was fearsome! I remember thinking that when we got down to the river bank, all that noise would alert every Kraut within miles. All hell would surely break loose!
And so it was! Our jeep was about 20 feet from the river bank when the first 88mm shell came streaking across the river from beneath the far side bridge ramp and hit the lead tank causing it to burst into flames right behind us. As the burning tank lit up the area, more shells followed, focusing on the remaining tanks. Steele and I dove out of the jeep and crawled into the nearest depression in the ground which appeared to be a small bomb crater from an earlier air attack on the bridge.
We felt reasonably safe there until artillery air bursts began to blossom overhead! I remember thinking that it had to be "friendly fire" because every shell seemed to burst at the same height indicating use of proximity fuses, which the Krauts didn't have yet. But it mattered not who was firing it. We had no overhead cover, so we made a desparate run for the near side bridge ramp about 100 yards away. I found out later that the first tank had been destroyed, 2 others had their flotation gear perforated and the fourth was "missing." When things quieted down, Steele and I walked back to the CP abandoning our jeep on the river bank. I have since read that 3 more amphibious tanks came forward after the enemy anti-tank guns were silenced. The 7th Inf. had 7 DD Shermans attached for the crossing. One DD made it across the river, 3 were destroyed along with their crews and 3 were damaged and couldn't enter the water.
(to be continued)
3_7_I_Recon