elsie item issue 61 - USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association

of resistance from the German side.)First Lieutenant Frerking appeared next to me inthe trench, and we observed how the Americans,loaded down with weapons and equipment, toiledslowly forward, completely defenseless, throughthe high swells of cold salt water. It was clear tous that the G.I.s down there were about to enterinto their own slaughterhouse.“Poor swine. . .” Freking said softly to himself;then he went down into the bunker to give thecoordinates and firing order for the artillery. As Iturned back to my machine gun position I alsohad the feeling that I was ascending the scaffold.It had lasted about five minutes until theAmericans (units of the 1st U.S,. Infantry Division)reached the shallow water. I noticed the, for thefirst time that day, that there were soldiers ofthe Grenadier Regiment 726 at the strongpoint,for somewhat further down beneath mymachine gun position a sergeant and anotherinfantryman were trying frantically to get amachine gun (Model MG 324) into action – butit wasn’t working.I am not the type to look for trouble; I hadn’tthought of any such thing – whatever for?Behind me, the entrance to the strongpoint wasmined, and barricaded with a thick barrier ofbarbed wire. (That the heavy naval bombardmenthad totally torn up and disarranged everything upthere I only learned later.) Anyway, I was a soldier;a soldier who was going to be attacked, and assuch I now had to defend myself. I moved thesafety lock of my machine gun to the off positionand began to fire. I could see the water spoutswhere my machine gun bursts ere hitting, andwhen the little fountains got close to the GIs theythrew themselves down. After only a few secondspanic broke out among the Americans. Theyall lay in the shallow, cold water; many tried toget to the most forward beach obstacles to findsome cover behind them. Soon the first corpsesdrifted slowly in the waves of the slowly risingtide. I fired further among the many dark formsin the water, which were still about 300 metersfrom the upper beach. After a little while all theGIs on the beach had been brought down.Suddenly I had the impression that I was the onlymachine gun that had fired in our entire sector. Itis true that my machine gun made so much noisethat I could hardly have heard the others; neverthelessit seemed to me that I actually had firedcompletely alone, as I only observed the panickyreaction of the Americans at those places in thewater at which I had aimed.I must state here that I had concentrated exclusivelyon the incoming Americans. I was not evenaware of any hits of our own artillery. My rememberedimpressions come from my own subjectivesense in a physically very stressful situation.Then I noticed that tumultuous scenes were playingout on the deck of the troop transport and onboth of the gangplanks on either side. It wasclear that the GIs who had seen what had justhappened to their comrades were refusing to godown and jump into the water colored by blood.But they had to go down – and I began to fireagain. Few GIs reached the upper beach.After there were no more soldiers coming downfrom the transport, and there were no more to beseen on it, there was a pause. I didn’t know whatwould happen now, and went to the small observationpost where Freking was already standingon the flat roof. I offered him a cigarette and,although he was not a smoker, he took it. Ourhands shook as we lit the cigarettes.Suddenly a whole swarm of landing craftapproached the bay. I could see clearly how thesmall boats crowded with GIs struggled in theheavy seas, and moved forward only slowly.About thirty troops crouched in each boat. Thedrone of the motors got louder and louder, andechoed in the entire bay.So there it is. Should you be able to add anythingor comment on this report, you may contact RobertWolf at his home address: 1602 Third Street, NewOrleans, LA, 70130, or by telephone at 504/899-2450. His email address iswolfnola!@bellsouth.net.26