Download - 70th Infantry Division Association

moving because the 60 mm mortar eats up a lot of shells. The ammo dump is wherever the jeep car can
get close to the front. The jeep is also continually moving back to the rear and then up to the front again. I
had three guns, so I had a total of 9 men and I was leading them to the rear to get the ammo when Sgt.
Ginthner got the concussion. He didn't have a puncture wound, just a concussion. When I came back to
the outfit with the ammo for the gunners asked where Sgt. Ginthner was and someone said he was sitting
over by a tree. I went to report in to Sgt. Ginthner because he was supposed to be my leader. I could see
something was wrong and I asked, "Is there anything you want me to do?" His eyes were like two fried
eggs, his mouth was open and there was saliva running from his mouth. He was completely in shell
shock. He did not hear me, or see me. He didn't even know where he was. It was just like he was
knocked crazy. So they evacuated Sgt. Ginthner at that particular time.
Now the hard thing about this was that I didn't know my Lieutenant had delegated me to take over the
section at that time and that meant I was promoted from a Buck Sgt to a Staff Sgt. This was only
temporary because we did not know whether Sgt. Ginthner would come back or not and you can't
promote anyone until you find out if there is a vacancy. So Sgt. Ginthner was loaded in an ambulance
along with many other men. According to my records there were quite a few boys who were hurt that day.
So Sgt. Ginthner was evacuated back to the hospital. It turned out he was eventually returned, but we'll
talk about that later.
On January 14 at Mattstall, France, we had four men returned from the hospital to duty and we had one
man slightly wounded in action. So we gained four and lost one. These four people probably had trench
foot, had been doctored up, dried out and powdered and bandaged and returned to the front. We were in
position in Mattstall at that time.
At 1357 14 January 1945 the regiment was warned by TF HERREN to be ready to be relieved by units of
the 103rd Division, the relief to be completed by 1800, 17 January 1945.
An advance party left the regimental CP at 1820 14 January 1945 with destination the vicinity of
Farebersviller.
Relief of the 276th Infantry by the 410th began 14 January and was completed at 1510 16 January 1945.
At 1500 16 January 1945 first elements of the regiment left for the vicinity of Farebersviller to relieve the
411th Infantry. The new regimental CP was established at Farebersviller. Movement to the new positions
continued throughout the night.
The mission of the 276th, on relieving the 411th (and some elements of the 106th Cavalry), was to deny
the enemy the area occupied in defensive positions extending from Emmersweiler on the left to
Buschbach on the right. The 2d Battalion occupied the right half of the sector, the 3d Battalion the left half
and the 1st Battalion was in reserve. At the time these positions were occupied the enemy strength in this
immediate area was estimated at three companies with a total of 350 to 400 men. The situation along the
front was generally static and it was believed the enemy probably knew our general location, since he had
been in this vicinity for at least a month. It was the S-2 conclusion that the enemy would continue to
defend and improve his present positions until he had massed sufficient reserves to launch a coordinated
attack. Active patrolling and harassing missions were anticipated.
On January 15, 1945, our company was relieved from position occupied one and a half miles north of
Mattstall, France, by the 103rd Infantry Division at 1500. We proceeded to an assembly area
approximately one mile north of Mattstall. Captain Michaels was still in charge. We were in an area that
was wooded and I can remember the 103rd Infantry Division came up on the hills to relieve us.
The night before we had made one of our first and only night attacks and we had attacked all night and
got up on the hill and then we were cut off from the rear. The Germans let us get in there on top of that hill
during the night. They let us get situated and dug in and then they just cut us off. We were on this hill and
we couldn't get away. So the 103rd had to come in and get us; when they did, we were replaced company
for company, platoon for platoon, squad for squad, man for man. On the day we were being replaced, I