(After studying the material contributed by Burton Lincoln, I believe some of the material is from the Company L/276 daily journal kept by Peter O'keefe. In fact, his signature appears on one of the daily activities. There are some discrepancies in dates and other details from that reported elsewhere, but such is not unexpected from reports (including the Morning Report) generated behind the lines of combat. Fortunately these differences have little significance. Regretfully, the activities for December to January 16 are not among Burton's discovery. - Gene (Burt) Burtner)

Following is a portion of the papers that Burton Lincoln found dated 26 May 1945...

Wingen

While it is not our contention to discredit the 274 Inf. Reg. for the work they did at WINGEN, FRANCE, we would like credit for the part played by Love Company and the Third Bn. 276th Inf Reg. We, of course, cannot claim credit for the capture of the village, but the action in which Love Company participated did contribute to an extreme degree toward that objective. Stated briefly and without elaboration, our case is as follows.

Early in the morning, 4 Jan. 1945, Love Company was ordered to move from the wooded heights above ROSTEIG, to WINGEN, to deal with an enemy of unknown size and composition. By dusk Love Company had singularly penetrated deep into WINGEN proper, had sent a force around the left flank of the village and in a costly attack, had driven the enemy from a most important and strategic position, and had, after being ambushed, made a bayonet attack on the right flank of the village that had sent a group of the vaunted SS to their grave or fleeing in disorder. As darkness closed in, contact was lost with the platoon in WINGEN proper. That platoon held out all night in the center of WINGEN and regained contact the following day. The remnants of Love Company, and a unit of HMG from Mike Company, were forced to consolidate and set up a perimeter defense to protect their gains. It was a long thin line of defense to hold against two battalions but it was one that was bravely manned.

Our actions were secondary in nature on the next day as more troops arrived but the fact still remains that Love Company was the first element to test her armor against Germany's best. While facing an enemy that was numerically superior by far, a sustained attack had been made and gains were conceded to us by the Germans. Not one man had withdrawn until ordered to do so and while casualties are no criteria of fighting excellence or "esprit de corps', we lost 34 men, including our company commander, and three platoon leaders killed or wounded.

We too had gone without sleep, food water. We too had suffered in the bitter cold and it is our belief that we too should share the credit for the fall of WINGEN.

Signed,

The men of Love Company who fought at Wingen