On the internet "Odds & Sods" there was a notice that the US Army in Germany was approached by a German who was captured at Spicheren Heights. He was searching for anyone of the organization that had captured him, either A or F company, 274th Infantry.

I wrote to Leo Dorr (left) and explained that I was the Communication Sgt in A Company at that time and remembered the attack on Spicheren Heights, however, I was not sure that I saw him. At one time that day I saw one of our Weapons platoon guys going back with a POW but that was the only one I saw that day. (Since writing that, I kinda remember it was Bill Chamberlin taking him back). I described briefly our actions on that day, a little about those of us still around, and about out 70th Association.

Leo sent a letter which contained a replica of the POW tag (which shows the unit making capture "274 Inf Rgt"), a picture of Infanterie-Pionier Leo Dorr in Wermacht uniform, and a few other items.

Leo wrote, "Hello, my dear fellow Bob, You can't imagine how happy I am getting your letter of 6 Aug 2009. A dream came through "ein tranm wurde water." After so many years I was always longing for a contact to some US GI concerning Spichern Heights, in 21.2.45. Now I got it! I read your letter several times. You were fighting at the same place. Thanks to Heaven, that we both are still alive! I send you enclosed 6 documents about myself. I have more, at your disposal. Please give me a quick answer when this letter arrived you. Sorry, I am not in the internet - but I am still writing letters in the old fashioned way. If possible, please phone me. This is the shortest way! I would like to listen your voice. There are still so many questions about the Trailblazers on the Spichern Heights. I past nearly one year, as PW, in Heidelberg. Our camp was just in front of the US-Hqs. I had good treatment, good food, good rememberances. And now - last not least - a letter from an ex-GI.

(Webmaster Note: co-ordinates written on the POW card indicate Leo's capture just south of Styring Wendel and west of Spicheren. The map used is a 1:50,000 period map.)

Continues Bob Hall - harking back to that day, I remember that like everything in the army, it was all fouled up! We were supposed to attack the hill at dawn with a half hour artillery preparation before. We would attack with 5 Sherman tanks between each company (15 total) and our MLR should be past the top of the hill by about 2 PM. We marched at night from our foxholes on the southwest outskirts of town to a road running between Spichem and the hill. The road ran north out of town, turned east for a half mile or so, then turned north again. After it turned north there was a little one man shelter and a turnstile thing that dropped across the road. It was assumed that this was the border between France and Germany sometime before WW2. The road disappeared up the hill in the evergreens but the tall cross of the German Cemetery (War of 1870 period) could be seen from the road. (There was an 88 MM antiaircraft gun next to the cross which was used as anti-personnel cannon. I couldn't find that cross, it has apparently been replaced by a newer taller cross near our Trailblazer monument). At dawn, we were laying on the north side of this east-west road with a tiny lip (about 6 inches) on the edge above the road.

From any observation point on the hill not obscured by evergreens, we must have been an obvious line of hind ends. About 9 or 9:30 (only Commissioned officers had watches) about 4 medium tanks showed up and we had to draw in our legs to let them go by behind us. The lead tank came up to the guard shack (barrier was up) and stopped. The other tanks pulled in close behind him. Lt. Beyer detailed some guys (maybe third platoon?) to get on the other side of the tanks and use them as cover going up the hill. We got word that something got fouled up so B & C companies were being moved on paper to another Battalion and only A & F company were in our 1st Battalion and would make the attack. We had two machine gun teams from M company (all 4 of these guys got wounded or killed^, that day), however our mortar support came from D company. We waited some more and finally (10 AM or 10:30 AM) the artillery started. The first rounds were very long, over the hill, and then they shortened up. One of the guys on one side of me said "hope they don't shorten any more!" After about 20/25 rounds, maybe 10/15 minutes they quit and it got awfully silent. In front of us was an almost level field with two concertina wires in an "X". Two guys got hit trying to cut the wire where they crossed. Apparently, the Germans had a sniper sited so he could hit where the wires crossed, but couldn't see the medics who went out to get the guys with the cutters. (Incidentally, almost half of our company went through this point without getting hurt, but that night an F company cook carrying one side of a marmite can stepped on a shu-mine at that place.) The first tank hit a mine which ruined its tread and the remainder couldn't get around him so we attacked without the tanks. One of the guys wounded or killed when the tank hit the mine was reported to be a fellow who had just gotten a commission but no officers are shown as hit that day in SRP. The rest of the day was chaos, with me sweating out the weak battery in my radio. Before noon we had no communication with Battalion or Artillery, and we didn't regain comm until we got a Battalion wire late in the afternoon. Before 2 AM I must have patched that wire about 10 times as German mortars took it out. About 4 TDs came up on the hill before dark, but they kept running their engines "to keep their batteries charged!", which brought down more mortar, and almost all of it tree bursts. Finally, they left about 2 AM and I was run over in the dark by one while trying to find a break in the wire. My M1 looked like a pretzel after the tank tread went over it.

When I returned to France last year, I tried to find that road. It must be a residential street now, with houses built on the field where the concertina wire was. The street now runs east west past the southern end of the German Cemetary. The shelled ruins on our maps back then had been marked "TB sanitarium", however, that was not true at all because an eating place (with outdoor beer garden) is at about the same place, and from a picture on the wall near our table, was in business there in 1929. That first night I had Dave Black stationed there as a listening post with a sound-power phone to theCompany HQ bunker. The second night we didn't bother, but the line was still there so I connected up my phone and heard breathing on the other end. (The German Sound-power phones were a lot better than ours, but I didn't capture a set until just before coming out of combat.) A line which would have been about 50 feet or so south of no-man-land is now a jogging path. I think I found the bunker which was our company headquarters, and also the one which we used to store 60MM mortar shells. We captured a lot of German 50 MM shells and we used to have a lot of fun shooting them out of our tubes. They always flopped over and gave out a wow-wow sound as they tumbled.

Some of you have heard me tell this story before, but I have a great deal of respect for Marshall Sapp. I saw Marshall shoot bazooka shells down the stovepipes of three bunkers that day. Now stop and think about that for a second! If you tip a bazooka up to shoot in a downward direction, the shell immediately starts to slide forward and you only have a split second to tip it down, aim, and pull the trigger - before the wire from the battery breaks. If you don't hit precisely in the hole, -bang - you are dead! No one was in two of the bunkers but we found a couple of bodies in one - concussion from the bazooka shell in that confined space. (I first got aquainted with Marshall when we were standing in a chow line on one of those few occasions when we got hot chow about two weeks before Spichern Heights. Having nothing else to do in a foxhole he had embellished the back of his jacket with a very fancy "Kentland". Now Kentland, Indiana is about 12 miles due east of Watseka, Illinois on the TP& W railroad so of course, I knew where Kentland was located, even though it is in a different state. I last saw Marshall about 1947 when I was taking a date to a dance in Hoopeston. I parked the car about a block from the dance hall and walked around the front of the car to open the passenger door for my date. When in front of the car, the doors of a saloon opened and the bouncer threw a drunk out on the sidewalk. With my help he managed to get upright holding on to a lamp post. It was Marshall, who just got back from Washington state picking apples and had just finished drinking up his paycheck!) So much for yesteryear!