Ed & Ray Hersman in WWII - Robert Marks.org

4.14. FREEZING IN LANGLIR Ed & Ray Hersman in WWIIGerman. Finally we went back to the battalion C.P. and the division wasmoved up to the point of the Buldge where we relieved the 82nd Airborne.The 82nd had been fighting the Germans and there was no doubt wherethey were. We started attacking the Germans the next morning. CompanyE became too exuberant and charged into Rochefort. There was a wholeGerman Panzer division in that town and they trapped E Company.The battalion attacked Rochefort in an effort to release E Company. TheGermans apparently thought there were a lot more of us than there were andretreated. We then moved into Rochefort and E Company was free. Thenext day we were relieved by British troops. These troops were clean shaven,had all their equipment and looked like they had just come from England.They lost Rochefort the next day. We were loaded on trucks and sent toanother point of the Buldge. Our job was to cut the Houtilize highway andtry and cut the Germans off. The weather was extremely cold, snow wasabout a foot deep and to get wet feet could be fatal. The towns we foughtfor were called Langlir and Petite. 304.14 Freezing in LanglirWe attacked the Germans near Langlir and started pushing them back. Itwas almost fatal to be wounded since death would come very quickly fromfreezing. Some G.I.’s I saw laying dead had their arms raised in a boxingcondition, the result of freezing I suppose.We carried dry socks and whenever possible would change, since wet feetcould lead to frozen or trench foot. To sleep at night required sleeping for ashort while then getting up and exercising. Most of us did jumping jacks toget warm.Pearson, Freeman and I were sent to scout a large U-shaped farmhousefor Germans. We crawled up to the edge of the woods and the house wasonly about 200 yards away. There were many Germans at the house, and30 See #13 on the map in Figure 4.1 on page 40.71