Ed & Ray Hersman in WWII - Robert Marks.org

4.10. HERBORN Ed & Ray Hersman in WWIIFigure 4.7: A US Army Jeep.bushes on a hill. This hill did not directly overlook the river valley. Therewas another hill not as high between us and the river. We could see theSiegfried Line two hills away.We mounted our 20-power bi-scope which we had captured from the Germansand I started scanning the German side. I was amazed to see a railyard with trains running back and forth.I called for artillery fire on the rail yard but since we had no map planned,I had to walk the shells in. In order to observe better, I called for smokeshells. The artillery consisting of 105’s fired and I couldn’t see where a singleshell hit. The firing was called off when I still couldn’t spot the bursts eventhought the guns were firing at maximum range. Later, when we obtaineda map, we realized that our shells were falling in the river valley where Icouldn’t see them, that the rail yard was 15 miles away, beyond the range ofour guns, and that 240 howitzers would be required to reach it.58