From Maxonchamp, the 7th Infantry cleared Remiremont and pressed on toward Vagney, France and the Vosges Mountains. In early October 1944, our CP was established in a large 2 story house in an open field on the edge of Vagney.
Early one morning, I was ordered to lead a small patrol into the center of town and check the condition of the 1st Bn CP, since all communication had gone out during the night. This was vitally important because with no communication from the Bn CP, the rifle companies had no direction and the field artillery could provide no support. I was also ordered to be on the lookout for "stragglers", men who became separated from their company and were in no hurry to get back. They wanted a few days to collect their senses. I wasn't called upon to do this very often and I hated it! It was an MP function, but there were no MPs this close to the rifle companies.
I took Bigler, my platoon runner with me and we went in on foot. We crossed the destroyed bridge leading into town which was lying on the bottom of the shallow stream bed. Soon, we came upon a store front with all glass gone from the windows. I looked inside and saw about a dozen GIs asleep on top of 6 ft. long restaurant tables.
It was very cold and they were covered with their single blanket. The blankets were pulled up over their heads and their boots stuck our the other end of the blanket. They hadn't even posted a guard! This was a disagreeable assignment I had been given. I would have preferred to walk right by and let them rest, but my sense of duty overcame me. I pulled the blanket back from the head of the first man and as I stared at his face, I realized he wasn't sleeping, he was dead! I checked a few others with the same result. I then realized that the 1st Battalion was using this restaurant as a collecting point for KIAs so that Graves Registration personnel would have no trouble finding them. Here were a dozen GIs who had given their lives for their country and I had suspected them of malingering! I never looked for stragglers again, orders or no orders!
We continued through to the center of town and came upon an American Sherman tank, motionless and silent, in the middle of the street. (See pic above) A few GIs walked about and their sergeant told me what had happened. A Kraut patrol of about 30 men and a Mark !V tank came into town during darkness. A firefight erupted and the GIs could hear but not see a German tank slowly coming toward them in fits and starts. Lt. James Harris, 756th Bn Tank liason officer came forward on foot to investigate. He was severely wounded by a burst of MG fire and the man with him was killed instantly. He crawled back to the corner and summoned his tank forward. He didn't have the strench to climb aboard.
When the 2 tanks were head to head in the middle of the street, they couldn't see each other even though only 20 to 30 yards apart in the darkness. A Kraut foot soldier fired a burst from his light machine gun at the Sherman. The American tank machine gunner immediately returned that fire The German tank, now having located the Sherman in the dark by the source of the tracers, fired three quick rounds from its high velocity 75 mm main gun using armor piercing shells. (See photo). The shells went through the heavy armor plate, and exploded inside killing the crew. There were further casualties and then the Krauts withdrew. A medic found Lt. Harris in the street bleeding profusely but he died where he lay.
Lt. Harris was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving the Battalion CP from destruction with all of the attendant effects on the battle.
I found the Battalion Co who confirmed what the sergeant had told me. He said he had wire men stringing wirre back to the Regimental CP and expected to be in communication with them shortly.
I returned to the Reg'l CP, reported, and began beefing up defenses for the CP. I arranged for the 601 Tank Destroyer to send us one of their TDs, which carried a 90mm anti tank gun and stationed it out of sight behind the DP building. I was concerned that the Krautsmight take a crack at the Regimental CP. Late that afternoon, we came under attack. Mortar fire first and then machine gun and rifle fire. We were dug in and returned fire with our rifles, Bars and 2 LMGs
Suddenly, a Kraut flak wagon poked its nose out of the woods and opened full automatic fire on us with its 20mm exploding shells. It was a self propelled vehicle with 4 20mm anticraft shells which was used with equal effectiveness against ground troops. The crew was protected by a single sheet of armor, effective only against small aarms fire. Our tank destroyer, which had been hidden behind the CP building, lumbered around the corner and blew the flak wagon to bits with its first 90 mm shell! Our TDthen reloaded with HE and the went to work on the remaining enemy. We remained in our defensive positions throughout the night, but they didn't choose to challenge us again.
Russ Cloer - 3_7_I_Recon