The following excerpt is from Evert Sprinchorn and is in a book by Steve Dixon, "From Camp Adair to Germany: the 270th Engineers in World War 2", published in 2002 by Merriam Press.

On the 20^th of February, the 274^th was given the responsibility of capturing the town of Spicheren and the heights north of the town. The Germans considered Spicheren Heights “holy ground”. As the infantry and engineers who participated in these battles found out, the Germans fought tenaciously to defend it.

Evert Sprinchorn, 2^nd squad, 1^st Platoon, A/270: “Among the most unforgettable of my adventures were the fighting on Spicheren Heights and the building of the pontoon bridge across the Saar River...The first time my squad was sent there (Spicheren Heights) our mission was to put barbed wire fencing in front of our infantry to protect them from a German attack. I remember quite vividly hearing a soldier in a shallow fox hole, really a slit trench, say to me as I moved through the woods, “Hey, where are you going?”- “Out there,” I said, pointing. - “There’s nothing out there. I’m the outpost.” - His words gave me a sinking feeling. - We didn’t get to lay the barbed wire that night because the Germans began lobbing mortar shells into the area. We lost a man, and I beat a retreat.

“I crawled backwards a short distance, with rifle fire all around. It was completely dark, except for the flashes of tracer bullets, and I was now separated from my squad. I had no idea what might have happened to them. I wanted to get out of the woods back on the dirt road that led into Spicheren. At the edge of the woods I came upon a deep foxhole, big enough to hold two men. There was an infantryman in it, deep asleep and snoring. I couldn’t believe it. I moved to a nearby foxhole that smelled of death. I didn’t even look into it. I moved to another, with a soldier in it who made room for me. The shelling had not lasted long, and the rifle fire had died down by this time. An officer came along the road and asked who I was. I told him, and he said that now I was in the infantry and my job was to go into Spicheren and carry ammo out to the men on the front.” *