George Ferber, Hqs. Co./275th, kept a daily diary of his time in Europe. Below are his entries...

70th Inf. Division, 275th Regiment, Hqs Company, Ammunition & Pioneer Platoon.

Dec 06, 1944    Boston Mass., Embarked
Dec 15, 1944    Marsaille, France
Dec 22, 1944    Moved north
Dec 25, 1944    Greis, Alsace Lorraine
Dec 28, 1944    Strassborg, St Ann
Dec 30, 1944    Roeshwoog
Jan 01, 1945     Neidderbron
Jan 15, 1945     Hundling
Feb 10, 1945    Ippling
Feb 17, 1945    Rouhling
Feb 19, 1945    Lixing
Feb 21, 1945    ZingZing
Mar 19,20,21    Merlinback (rest camp)
Mar 22, 1945    Saarbrucken
Mar 24, 1945    Hermersburg     (from seventh to third army)
Apr 01, 1945    Sprendlingen
Apr 05, 1945    Weisbaden
Apr 17, 1945    Niedderod
May 26, 1945   Limburg
July 28, 1945    Limburg - Kassel - Parris
Aug 01, 1945    Etampes, France, 307 Repl Co, 40th  Bn, 19th Repl Depl
Aug 14, 1945    Camp Lucky Strike   (Aug 16 - V-J day)
Aug 19, 1945    Embarked Le Harve for America, reconverted liberty ship, John Blair (748 men), speed 12 Knots, trip - two weeks
Sep 01, 1945    Arrived New York Harbor 8:00 pm

My Book: Width 3.5 inches - Length, 6 inches - Thickness, .25 inches. The black book's contents are copied, word for word, to Microsoft Word 7. Every word copied exactly as written in 1945 in Germany.

Book Description: The book's black cover appeared normal. The edges of the white paper looked dark and discolored.  The first page was hard to describe. Opening to the first page on the right side, penciled - text appeared faintly on discolored paper as if stained by moisture. The text was barely readable. The left side, the back of the front cover, contained at the top, a pencil drawn rectangular box and the name "George C Ferber". In addition, a faint unreadable image of the "right- page text" appeared in reverse. Evidently, carried in a soldier's pocket in hot, cold, perspiring day after day after day after day fighting with no bath or change of clothes.

Book Contents: Note: There were 64 pages containing text. The first 30 pages displayed page numbers 1 - 30. The last 32 pages displayed no page numbers.

Platoon Leader: 1st LT John Cruel (sweating it out)
Platoon Sgt: T/sgt Lewis Schooley (Texas)

First Squad

Sgt J Pryzbys (hood)
    Pfc L Hein (kid)
    Pfc J Kubowitz (pole)
    Pfc L Dowd (gigalo)
    Pfc J Malloy (trigger)
    Pfc J Badaloto (dago)
    Pfc R Evard (p heart)
    Pfc Davis (nine mm)

Second Squad

Sgt M Anzelc (combat)
    Pfc J Laskowski (nice guy)
    Pfc A Minic (late to work)
    Pfc B Becker (ohio)
    Pfc R Humphrey (cog)
    Pfc J Treadway (king)
    Pfc G Ferber (slide rule)
    Pfc J Kelly (honest john)

Third Squad

Sgt S Todd (ammo)
    Pfc A Condor (bird)
    Pfc R Frazier (say sarge)
    Pfc W Taylor (willie)
    Pfc R Boze (killer)
    Pfc D Grice (weazel)
    Pfc Gregory (s carolina)
    Pfc R Fenimore (dynamite) - honorary member

(1) I wish I could express my thoughts, my sentiments, and experiences as well as a poet or a good writer for I believe I could tell a beautiful and very interesting story. There are many things I see or hear that I can't repeat or describe well and many feelings I can't express but I'm going to try and give a fairly accurate account of my life in Europe on duty with the 275th Infantry, US Army. I had spent 21 months in the service of the US, 2 months with the air corps, 11 months with

(2) the Aviation Engineers and 8 with the Infantry, the branch in which I am now serving, when the Division of which we are a part was ordered to France. We left Boston Harbor on the sixth of November not knowing our exact destination but with a number of various guesses and rumors. We sailed for nine days on the US America, the former Westmont, and landed at Marsullaise on November 15. After a cold twenty mile ride in the back of open trucks and carrying our heavy packs and

(3) duffel bags about two miles, we arrived at our bivouac area - a rock covered, red clay field which looked very desolate and cold. It was very late at nite so instead of following the example of some who pitched their pup-tents, my buddy and I rolled up in two blankets and our shelter halves and laid on our raincoats and our overcoats which were spread on the ground. I didn't sleep that night with rocks and debris making my bed a torture chamber and the cold creeping thru two

(4) blankets. My buddy, Denver Grice, from Dayton, Ohio was a tall, jovial, easy going fellow and very likeable - probably the reason why I buddied up with him. He is a happily married man with one child and a nice home in Dayton - his occupation- a machinist. We got along together exceedingly well and the next few days were cheery despite cold rainy weather and deep mud. Our first Sunday in France was just another day and our dinner consisted

(5) of cold rations - cheese, orange extract, crackers, and caramels. We had pitched our tent Saturday and had spread our four blankets each inside and stored our equipment in one end. Incidentally if I had a voice in the matter these pup tents would be a bit larger. It's quite a task to put eight blankets with room for two persons to sleep in them, two large duffel bags, two full packs, two rifles, two pistol belts, and other small items in one of these dinky things. Sunday and Monday

(6) we unpacked our equipment which was trucked to our camp from the ship and Monday noon we had our first hot meal. It's hard to tell what a great blessing that hot food was after those cold rations. It had been raining periodically for two days but on Tuesday morning we had heavy rain and that day was Denver's and my turn for a pass to Marseilles. We arose early that morning putting on the proper uniform required by our pass and waited

(7) an hour and a half in a heavy rain for the trucks to pick us up. It was miserably wet and cold but we were determined to do a little sight seeing. Finally the trucks came and we piled in the back and packed together like sheep in order to take as many as possible and started on the long ride to town. It took us two hours in such bad weather to go the twenty miles and arrived very wet and unhappy. On the way in we saw large duds along the road, foxholes,

(8) abandoned ammunition, and bomb wrecked buildings. We passed thru two small French villages whose buildings were all scarred by small arms fire and hand grenades - the Germans having recently occupied this territory (3 months prior). We spent the day in Marseilles drinking wine and beer and looking around. I found the French to be friendly but had quite a time trying to talk to and understand them. We had exchanged our American money

(9) for French currency in camp - one franc being equivalent to two cents.  Our wine cost us ten francs a glass, sandwiches - if you could fine them - eleven francs each, and Denver and I bought a french repeater pencil apiece as a souvenir, for 120 francs each. They were nice looking well made pencils and well worth the price. I was impressed by the numerous varied types of uniforms I saw on the street and the dilapidated autos and trucks run by petrol or a charcoal burning device. I saw cigarettes bought by the natives for 100 francs a pack and a dollar bill

(10) exchanged for 100 francs. Up to this time (five days) I had not had a bath and didn't know when I would get one. I felt very dirty and our rain soaked uniforms looked a bit untidy but there was little we could do to remedy the situation. I was honestly glad just to get inside a building. We were in a small French Café drinking wine and the Café had no heat for the lack of fuel. The people ate poorly and were not well dressed. They had very little to eat but they were well off compared to some

(11) I saw. The people there - the majority I should say - had no cigarettes or candy, little food, and poor clothes. I saw lots of wooden soled shoes and some with their feet practically on the ground. Almost everyone carried a wine bottle or had several in their shops and homes for the French are great wine drinkers - men, women, and children alike. The French men and women around camp bring in wine to barter for soap, grease, cigarettes, or clothing with the G I's. A bar of soap would get you a quart

(12) of wine. I found that this sort of  bartering assisted the black market and greatly increased prices in France. Food, clothing, and cigarettes meant more to the people than money. They had quite a lot of money but nothing to buy. If only everyone in America could see the situation here and would have to live this way as I am now or as the French live now there would be a glorious change in our people. It's paradise in America and thank God I'm an American.

(13) This is the 21'st of December, three days before xmas. For the first time since we arrived here the sun is shining. It rose out of a thick fog this morning. In order to tell of conditions here I'll describe a day in our bivouac area. As I write this I am sitting on my muddy blankets in our pup tent. Our equipment lies around me jumbled and dirty - the tent is very crowded. Outside the mud is about five inches deep and sloppy. We get up in the morning at six o'clock, put our jackets and steel helmets on and we are dressed. To be warm at night we sleep in our

(14) clothes - socks and all. We crawl out in the cold and shiver as we stand revielle. After revielle we get our ice cold mess-kits and slosh up to the mess shack for breakfast. When we get our food and coffee we go stand by and eat and drink as fast we can trying to keep our food and mess-gear as clean as possible and out of the mud. Everywhere you turn there is mud and dirt. After we eat our mess-gear must be washed in cans of

(15) hot soapy water and rinsed in clear water. If we have a job to do after breakfast we do it - our clothing getting grimy with no way to wash or dry them. When we shave and wash we get a can of water and set it in the fire in the company street. When it is hot we strip our shirts, wash and shave as best we can, drying on cold damp towels and put back on our dirty clothes. All this is done with less than a quart of water. Everything you do is happenstance.

(16) You do it when you find time. Your clothes are always dirty and grimy and at first you feel uneasy about it but soon you get used to it and don't mind so much. At noon you slosh thru more mud to get your dinner. The food has been pretty good so far. After dinner it's more work or details and at four thirty we stand retreat. After that supper and then to bed or sit around the fire and sing - there is no light in the tents or swap stories.

(17) You go to bed - same clothes, same dirty blankets, same everything. Your bed is hard and a bit cool and your pillow is a piece of equipment. Water may have seeped in your blankets and they are wet and cold. Every day the dirt is shaken out of the blankets and they are placed back in the tent. Letters are written during the day if you find time. If not you write at night by the log fire or by flashlight. I have read and written letters by striking matches but they are too scarce

(18) now. Our weapons must be kept clean and free from rust - also our metal equipment. I have had no mail since I left the states - 15 days. Miss it very much. We have had PX supplies - candy, cigarettes, and gum - even beer. We are about three hundred miles from the front and are moving up in a very few days - maybe Monday. I don't know what's next. If I am able to write in this book again I will. I may never live to do it.

(19) Chagny - Chilon-Sur-Soane; OUR MOVE TO THE FRONT Left Della Base Staging area for our journey forward 22 Dec. Moved up in French train - small dinky boxcars, spoke wheels, no heat, and dirty. Ten men per unit, rations furnished our food and meals were cooked over small army gas stoves. Rations contained cereal, eggs, bacon, jam, biscuits, butter, cocoa, candy, gum, cigarettes, hash, and lemon powder and meals were

(20) good - when we took time to prepare them hot. At night we caught what little sleep possible wrapped up in blankets on the floor. Very cramped and crowded. Train travels very slow making many stops. Stopped at Chilon-Sur-Soane and while there we talked to the French. I sold a pack cigs for 50 francs - $ 1.00. One guy got 500 francs for two pacs. Some were able to get wine and cognac. Mail Orderly T/5 Ortega, who speaks and understands French well talked to a couple local men

(21) who saw American bombing nearby. Said they were happy - only two French killed and about a 1000 Germans. They were very friendly to us. They said the German push had been stopped 40 kilometer inside Belgium.& Parachutists were reported dropping in France last night and during last five days. Most of them were captured though. Huns. They are using our type vehicles and you can't recognize them. They also dress in American uniforms.

(22) Between Chalon & Chagny saw German helmets on sticks - probably graves. Thought I heard rifle fire last nite (22 nd). Evidence of recent fighting all along our right. Saw several French wearing solid wooden shoes like Hollanders. Lots of bicycles here - no cars. Are now at Beaune. It is 1700, cold, am dirty. Sign off for now.

(23) Should have seen us sleeping last night - ten of us in an eight by six foot place. Packed in like sardines. Tonite is Xmas Eve - what a hell of a way to spend a Xmas. Are About eighty miles from nearest front. German parachutists dropped twenty miles from here Thursday nite . Can't remember what the name of this town is. Rigged up a stove in our boxcar but smoke is so bad I'd rather freeze. It was around zero last night. We are south of Paris now but don't

(24) know how far. Boy I wish I were in the good old USA. Whenever train stops we pick up wood and coal for fire - Get off and stretch. Traveling worse than cattle. My body and clothes are filthy. See guards along route guarding bridge and supply lines. Will be in the thick of it soon I guess. All for now.

(25) Christmas Eve I sat on two duffel bags next to my buddy Grice and wrapped up in two blankets. It was cold as the rickety train sped thru the darkness. It was seven o'clock and my thoughts drifted back home. To my folks and my girl friends. During what little time I slept I dreamed of a good Xmas and laughed ironically as I wished my buddy a merry Xmas and a happy new year. Xmas morning I awoke and was met by these words - you are now ten miles from

(26) the Rhine and in artillery range of the enemy. That was fine Xmas news wasn't it? We could hear machine gun fire in the distance and artillery fire about dawn. We were issued ammo and hiked six miles where we were billeted in a bldg. You should try carrying seventy pounds six miles. The damndest Xmas in my life. Here we are tired, hungry, blistered feet and in a cold bldg. I haven't washed for five days nor changed clothes for ten days.

(27) Don't even know whether we are having a Xmas dinner - maybe no Xmas at all.At village where train stop signs say Strasburg 17 km, Mannheim 117 km - we are damn close anyway. Marched thru two villages to get to this one - German I think.

(28) Found out this morning 26th that they celebrate a two day Xmas here. Stood 2 hours guard around CP last nite. Slept warm. My buddy and I used all eight of or blankets and overcoats, must be below zero - plenty cold. Went outside to cook breakfast. Our platoon and some Medics are billeted in a large upstairs room of an old Nazi headquarters which probably was the local town hall or civic building at one time. Little boys and girls gathered around

(29) as we cooked breakfast over an open fire asking for gum and candy. We had them all saying our old standy by phrase - Hubba, Hubba. I don't pick up much of these foreign languages so don't understand the people readily. People here like American soldiers much better then Germans and they treat us fine. Some give the GI's bread and apples and even hot meals and wine. This little village of Greis is a picturesque little village - narrow streets with houses setting right right on

(30) edge of streets - no sidewalks. Houses are steep gabled - brick, stone, and mud. Very quaint and old fashioned. People live simply, are simple dressed and lead a quite homey life. Had my feet dressed last nite - two blisters one on each heel as big as silver dollars.  We'll probably leave here tomorrow. Expect to move any minute. Haven't heard from Julia yet or home. Here's hoping. Its been twenty days now. Wishing myself luck.

(31) Dec 27.  Moved about twelve mile to suburb of Strasbourg (Weyersheim).  Billeted in evacuated modern hospital - had comfortable hospital beds and modern conveniences except heat. Swiped eggs and boiled them in electric sterelizer. Found gold ring for souvenir. German clothes bloody and full of bullet holes. Germans brought wounded in to treat them. Our Medics found much expensive and usable equipment. A valuable portable

[32] xray unit was there. The hospital kitchen showed that Germans had left in haste. The German soldiers had left food, wine, & clothes. There were even plates of half eaten food around. All this time my work has been with the ammo squad bringing up ammo and rations and distributing to the companies. I have now a bazooka & four rounds, a hand grenade, and

[33] my carbine with 105 rounds of ammo which I keep with me all the time. We work day and nite at all hours. Eat when we can and sleep very little. Wrote a letter to Mother and one to Julia by candle light in our ice cold hospital ward. Dec 30. Moved to Roeshwoog about 18 miles from Weirsheim. Warm room and wood bottom beds - no mattresses. Like floor.

[34] moving today - 31st at noon. Are about 4 ½ kilometers from Rhine here. All for now. We left Roeshwoog and moved to Neiderbroun. Set up ammo depot in barn and cooked a good meal ourselves. After we ate we fixed our guard schedule and those who didn't go on first laid down to sleep. I was among that group and had no more than laid down and closed and closed my eyes when Sgt Clemenceau came

[35] in saying we had to move our ammo up so we all rush out and load our truck. We pulled out leaving all our blankets and packs and found ourselves unloading our ammo about a mile and a half from the enemy three hours later. We took turns standing guard on our ammo and it was terribly cold out. The rest found an old barn and crawled up in the hay to sleep. I went on guard with Condor - we always guarded in pairs

[36] when possible - and we were on duty about an hour when Sgt Grandonata came by looking for bazookas. He said that tanks had broken through our line companies up on the front and were proceeding our way. I told him he might find one at the Motor pool and that I would get mine and my ammo carrier - Grice - and we would get in a position along the road near our ammo. I ran to the

[37]barn where my equipment was and woke up Grice. It was quite a job arousing them for they were exhausted but I finally succeeded in getting them up and Grice and I got our bazooka and ammo and ran back to a place where there was a pile of logs along the road. We built a protective wall and got down behind it to wait for the tank. I was terribly scared. A man doesn't know what fright is

[38] until he is thrown into a situation like that. I began to see Jerries and tanks swarming around but actually there were none and no tanks got thru. Later on after we had moved our bazooka to a new position we heard one of our antitank guns blazing away at the tanks up ahead. Morning came and we were half frozen. We built a fire and warmed up a

[39] little. On New Years day the enemy made an attack on our positions and H Co. was completely demoralized and retreated losing several mortars. F company and G company stayed and fought And checked the attack. Next day our squad moved our ammo about a quarter mile in between two hills and dug a home in the ground. We stayed there for three or four days guarding and issuing

[40] our ammo. Jan 12 or 13. It was on the nite of the twelfth or thirteenth that the ammo squad was called out to go on patrol. Sgt. Todd notified Grice, Taylor, Laskowsky, and myself that we were going so we got ready to leave. We were to leave Condor with the ammunition. I carried my carbine and seven clips of ammo, two hand grenades and pistol belt.

[41] We made sure that nothing on us rattled and that we had no shiny equipment that may reflect light from the moon.  We left the ammo dump and went to the BN CP. After about an hour Lt. Cruel joined us and we walked about a mile to G Company CP. We learned there that G Company had been fighting for an objective and during its progress forward had their last contact with their rear CP. The battalion was scheduled

[42] to attack next morning and it was necessary for our patrol to get in touch with G Company and deliver an overlay besides delivering other important information and finding their present position and bring that info back. In other words the main force of G Company was lost as far as BN was concerned. We picked up a Sgt. who was a little bit familiar with that section and started on our patrol.

[43] We went through a small village - G Co. CP being in its outskirts and cut across a field to the base of large hill. We moved carefully and slowly for we knew that enemy patrols and snipers were in the same area. We went around the base of that hill to a second hill and started to climb the second one. About half way up we came on a trail and a communications line. We followed the line and trail for about half a mile to where the line cut

[44] off the trail and on up the side of the steep hill.We decided to follow the line on up so we turned off the road and start up. After almost reaching the top of the hill we found another trail and followed it about two hundred yards to where a dead soldier lay. It was so dark we didn't know whether it was American or German. We found out later it was one of G Co.'s men.

[45] We followed the wire on up the trail to where it ends - about a hundred yards from the body. The Sgt. that we had picked up at G Co. CP said he thought we were in enemy positions so we returned to the CP without finding G Co. Lt. Cruel did not go with us on that patrol.

[46] After we had come in from that patrol we returned to the BN CP and then to the ammo dump where we made ready to lay down and get some sleep. It had begun to get light and we had no more than laid down than an order came down that we must return to the front and go out on another patrol to G Co. This made us all damned unhappy for two reasons but after five minutes of good solid bitching

[47] we made ready to go up on the hill. This time Lt. Cruel accompanied us making it Grice, Ferber, Laskowski, Todd, Taylor, and Cruel. When we arrived at G Co., CP Lt. Cruel went in to check with the officer there and then when he returned we started up into the hills. Laskowski took the scout position on the patrol and the rest followed in this order. Lt. Cruel, Todd, Taylor, Ferber, and Grice. Taking a

[48] little different route this time Laskowski led us directly up over the high hill behind G Co.'s CP. We laboriously struggled up the side of the small mountain stopping to rest occasionaly and for our scout to look around. We kept about a fifteen yard interval so that if we were fired upon by the enemy all of us would not go down. After much slipping and sliding we reached the top

[49] of the hill and looked over to the next one to see the road that we had previously been on winding around and up to near the summit. We descended about three hundred feet and crossed over till we were on the road. After hitting that we followed it along our former route until about four hundred feet from the top of the hill we turned off the road and began a steep ascent up a path to the summit of the hill. About fifty feet

[50] from the top we came upon a wider trail and we followed that until we came across the corpse we had seen the night before. Then we found that it was an American and I learned later that he was a BAR man who had been shot. We went on up a few yards and then cut off the trail to our left. We were now right on top the mountain and in the midst of some foxholes.

[51] Right near the foxholes lay four dead Americans, G Co. men. They lay about ten yards apart and looked like they had been putting up a good fight when they got it. One with his arm in a sling lay crumpled in a heap. Another lay in a perfect rifle position behind a tree with his face on his rifle giving evidence that he was firing at his unseen enemy. The rest lay still and pale in their bed of snow - their bed and their grave.

[52] I learned later that these men had been part of a party carrying wounded back to the aid station when they were ambushed by Hienies. Four paid with their lives - the rest escaped. It was said that all the heinies had been killed but two and they were captured - that is, the ones that ambushed them. We went on - thinking, knowing, and expecting, but we had a mission to carry out so we must

[53] do our job. We started down the forward slope of the hill amid short evergreens heavily laden with snow. Across the valley to our front lay the enemy and to our right on our own hill were enemy positions but we knew not just where. We descended cautiously about a hundred yards and found a G Co. man who said the remains of his company was dug in right below us.

[54] Lt. Cruel gave the man the information and overlays and after a few minutes we started to trace our way back. On our way back we picked up one of G Co.'s Lieutenants who had a large shrapnel wound in his leg about eight inches below his knee. I forgot to mention that on our trip up a medic came with us and stopped to treat the officer.

[55] When we returned the medic had given the wounded man morphine to ease his pain and had tied a rifle to his leg to hold it straight and act as a splint. So when we returned he was ready to be moved down the hill. Two men making a seat with their hands and a third supporting the wounded man's leg we took turns carrying him. Before we had picked him up he lay in a position about five hundred yards from

[56] G Co.'s positions on the reverse slope of the hill. Even before we reached him on our return from G Co. the heinie artillery began to pound us. Several shells exploded about fifty to a hundred yards from us and in and running about three hundred yards we hit the dirt about twenty five times to escape the shrapnel. When we reached the Lieutenant we picked him up and started down.

[57] The artillery gave us hell every step of the way but we kept changing around and doggedly going on until we were about a quarter mile from G Co.'s CP. All the way down when we heard the shells screaming over our way we would set the lieutenant down and lay on the ground - exposed as all hell but none of us were hurt. It must have hurt the wounded man pitifully but we had to handle him a bit rough

[58] over the rough and snowy slick ground.  He didn't whimper though.  He   just gritted his teeth and whispered - War is Hell. About a quarter mile from safety we were we were rounding the side of the last hill about half way up when more aid men arrived with a stretcher. We put the Lieut. on it and started on. We started down a steep rough and rocky place when the shells started parting our hair and exploding in the trees above

[59]our heads. Boy it got rough. Shrapnel screamed all around us but we had to stay up and keep moving. The men that carried the Lieut. kept going and the rest took advantage of what cover they could which wasn't much. I think every man was praying against that shrapnel for not a single one was hit by a shell fragment and we got back safely with our man. It was a living hell on earth that shrapnel was. We were shaky and jumpy for hours

[60] afterward. We had been shelled for a solid hour - every step of the way back. The Lieutenant was put on a jeep to be taken to the aid station and we returned to the ammo dump. We had not been there two hours till we got orders to go back up to G Co. There we were, tired, shaky, scared, and exhausted and they pick us to go back. I could have killed my own officers then easily I was so damned mad.

[61] We returned to G Co.'s rear CP and after a couple hours we find, by God's blessing, that we don't have to go back after all. I believe that was the happiest news I ever received. We returned to the ammo dump and our blankets - and went to sleep.

[62] Pulled out of this front the fifteenth to occupy a quieter sector. New position okay - glad to leave old one - the Barenthau sector. Our new front proved to be a quieter sector. Our battalion held a position on the Saar river in and around Wulferting near Sarreguimines. The heinies lay across the river but there was little action except patrols and mortar fire. The Bn CP was

[63] located at Hundling - about six kilometer from the Saar. The ammunition and pioneer platoon was billeted in five separate rooms and we of the ammo squad had two of these rooms and kept our ammo in two separate nearby barns.

"nearby barns" - the last penciled words in "black book" Cause I like you...

George C Ferber BlackBook Continues. Note:

In his military service in Europe, George C Ferber carried a small black book and pencil that he might record his movements. The book contained 58 sheets of paper, the front and back of each assigned a page number. This accommodated 116 pages. The first 31 sheets (62 pages) contain a record of my movements from Marseillaise, France to Hundling, about six kilometer from the Saar river. This is the Alsace-Lorreine area.   The next 10 ½ sheets (21 pages) were blank.The "Ippling" record occupied 4 pages. The remainder of  the book was blank with the exception of the last page which contained the following: (114) F Company, 4 cases bandoleer, 2 cases belted 30, 8 cases AT Grenade, 1 case bazooka , 1 case incindrery grenades, 2 cases hand Frag Grenades; wanted 48 round Signal flares, 100 rd Smoke grenades, 25 rd WP Grenade...
The last sheet in the book had been torn out.

End of note:

Nicholi Brach in Ippling France
(84) Our A&P platoon arrived at Ippling in the dark. The area was completely dark - no street lights, no house lights, - nothing. It was bitter cold. We knocked at a residence and a women opened the door. She appeared friendly, asking us to come in. She introduced herself, her husband Nicholi Brach, and a son Paul. We identified ourselves, asking if we could stay there. They permitted us to stay.We maintained a 24 hour guard. The night was very very cold as we took positions along the street.

(85) It was still and quite as we paced up and down. I could hear a voice speaking that was over a block away. We experienced no disturbances the whole night. Nicholi described the area we were in. Ippling was a small village - population approximately 500. It is located in a broad valley consisting of small patches of gardens and fields. The valley, viewed from afar, appeared as a peaceful French countryside. The houses are typical French - concrete and brick walls a foot and a half thick, tile roofs, and shuttered windows.

(86) Many show scars - shattered and crumbled roofs-and-walls by bombs and artillery. Here in France, there are no farm homes. Every one settles in small villages and operate their farms from there. They keep their livestock in the village and raise their grain and hay in the fields.  Nicholi's house has four rooms for living and a barn attached to the side. The room in which we live has bare plastered walls. A cookstove occupies one corner of the room and in another stands a bed. Four of us sleep on the floor and one in the bed.

(87) There is a small table in the center of the room and a window to the east. At night our light is furnished by candles and lamps made of fruit jars and rifle cartridges. The kitchen is to the west. Here madam spends most of her day cooking and cleaning. She is a quiet and shy woman but very nice and a good cook.

My Memory:

The above is a written record. The following is from George's memory. Many French homes are as Nicholi's. His had a small barn attached adjacent to the kitchen. Milk cows were tethered there. Outside the barn door lay a large pile of manure. One steps out of the kitchen directly into the barn. A four foot space separates the wall from the rear end of the milk cow(s). The manure accumulating here is gathered and carried outdoors to the manure pile. My travels have revealed many homes just like this. On one night-patrol, a German machine gunner, hearing us approach, sprayed the road we were on with tracer ammo knocking our lead man down. We all hit the ditch. One called out to me with this - "stay low, those tracers are flying right over your head".