26 June, 1944

V-MAIL

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 403 % Postmaster, N.Y.

France

26 June          1600

Dearest Sweetheart –

If this looks messy and wrinkled, blame it on the rain and darkness. All day I’ve been wanting to take a few minutes off to write you but have been unable to. I almost gave up the idea – but I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t write a few lines at least, dear.

Things are going along pretty well and the news is good. Today was a rather blue Monday, though, probably because of the weather. But chalk off another day, darling. It’s one less we have to go.

Will have to stop now Sweetheart because it’s getting practically impossible to write any longer. Love to the folks – and my everlasting love to you, dearest

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about The VII Corps and the Cherbourg Campaign - Part 7

The 79th and 9th Divisions virtually cleared the city on 26 June. Elements of the 313th Infantry reached the beach in their sector by 0800. The 314th was delayed by fire from the left but reached the beach by mid-afternoon. Fighting became doubly difficult for the Americans in the city when the guns in the lower levels of Fort du Roule began firing on them in the afternoon. Only the top level of the fort had been cleared the preceding day. The 2d Battalion of the 314th Infantry had remained on the lid of the fort during the night, and on the morning of the 26th resumed their efforts to reduce the remainder of the fort. This task occupied the entire day.

There was no way of reaching the lower levels of the fort from the top. The reduction of the fort, therefore, became primarily a matter of finding ways to place demolitions in the lower levels. Several charges were lowered through the ventilating shafts and packages of TNT on wires or ropes were let down the sides of the fort to the level of the gun embrasures and set off by means of a trigger device. More successful was the exploit of a demolitions team which made a path around the precipitous west side of the fort and blasted one of the tunnel mouths with pole charges and bazookas. Meanwhile antitank guns down in the city were turned against the embrasures. Resistance in the two lower levels finally came to an end early in the evening, placing Fort du Roule entirely in American hands. The fort yielded several hundred prisoners.

To the southwest the 315th Infantry took 2,200 prisoners. In the meantime, the 47th and 39th Infantry Regiments of the 9th Division fought their way through the western half of Cherbourg, the most strongly defended portion of the city. Both the 2d and 3d Battalions of the 39th Infantry moved down the ridge in the morning. Their objectives were Octeville and the Cherbourg area lying between the 47th Infantry and the Divette River. A captured German reported that General von Schlieben, the commander of the Cherbourg Fortress, was in an underground shelter in Rue St. Sauveur, just beyond Octeville.

By mid-afternoon Company E and Company F had reached von Schlieben's shelter. After covering the tunnel entrances with machine-gun fire, a prisoner was sent down to ask for the fort's surrender. When surrender was refused, tank destroyers began to fire directly into two of the tunnel's three entrances and preparations were begun to demolish the stronghold with TNT.

An article in Time, dated 10 July 1944, described the scene this way:

Soon a white flag appeared at the tunnel's mouth. The German lieutenant who held it stepped stiffly into the open. He turned right and dipped the flag, turned left and dipped the flag, faced General Eddy and dipped the flag. It was all very precise and formal. Eddy beckoned him to come over.

The lieutenant presented the compliments of Lieut. General Karl Wilhelm Dietrich von Schlieben, military commander of Cherbourg, and of Rear Admiral Walter Hennecke, naval commander, and asked that an officer be sent to the tunnel to conduct them out to surrender. The Germans in the tunnel did not wait for the conducting officer. A stream of them poured out. Their commander was with them.

Six feet three, black-helmeted, wearing the Iron Cross at his throat, von Schlieben was a beaten man. His flabby, worried face was a tired grey; his grey-green greatcoat was mud-splotched and a mass of wrinkles. The starch had gone out of both the man and his clothes.

After the surrender was made to General Eddy of the 9th Infantry Division, Eddy drove his captives in his command car to headquarters. By radio he notified Major General Joseph Lawton Collins, VII Corps commander, who arrived and demanded that von Schlieben surrender the whole Cherbourg garrison. The fortress commander refused, however, adding that communications were so bad that he could not ask the others to surrender even if he wanted to. When General Collins offered to provide the means of communication von Schlieben still declined.

All of the following photos belong to Photosnormandie's Flickr Photostream. First, they show the white flag of surrender, followed by soldiers exiting the tunnel. Last, von Schlieben is shown with General Eddy and then Major General Collins.

CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE
  

25 June, 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 403 % Postmaster, N.Y.

France

25 June, 1944         1600

My darling Wilma –

I don’t know how far I’ll get with this. I started to use V-mail but changed to this – no matter how little I write. Yesterday we got mail. I got 2 letters – both from you, written on the 6th and 7th; also Time magazine of June 12, and the fortnightly Salem news letter.

I can well imagine how you felt on D-Day, sweetheart. It certainly must be tough for those at home – because over here we know at least what we’re doing and how we’re doing. Faith and trust is all you can lean on, darling. Depend on that and you should find things easier. It certainly helps on this side – otherwise you’d be sure that every shell was coming your way. I appreciate your prayers, sweetheart, and haven’t stopped praying myself. I want so much for us to be together again, happy and living a normal married life – that it just has to work out that way.

Yes, dear, I was glad to read that Stephen was going to Latin School. It certainly is the only school in the city and should get him ready for college – Harvard, I hope. He ought to do well – he seems bright enough.

Say, by the way, dear – in one of your previous letters you mentioned you were getting to know some medical terminology. That’s fine because I know I’m bound to be referring to some cases in the course of a day’s work – and the more names of diseases that you’ll know – the easier it will be for me to explain.

Here in France it’s a quiet Sunday – for some reason or other. The day started out sunny and warm – but this p.m. it clouded up and I guess we’ll have rain. It seems a bit quieter in this sector than it has been for some time – and it sure is welcome. Where we are and what we’re doing should be fairly obvious to you, dear and I’m sure the radio tells you where the Americans are and what their mission is right now. But so far I haven’t been too busy and all seems to be going well with us – so don’t worry too much, darling.

I’ll have to stop now, dear, and excuse my writing on both sides of this very thin GI paper – but paper is very scarce here and I’m glad to have even this. Don’t forget – I don’t want you worrying! My love to the folks – and to you, dear

All my love for always

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about The VII Corps and the Cherbourg Campaign - Part 6

The outstanding event of 25 June was the capture of Fort du Roule. Built high and secure into the steep rock promontory which stands immediately back of the city, the fort dominated the entire harbor area and was a formidable-appearing bastion, particularly from the sea. Fort du Roule was primarily a coastal fortress, with its guns housed in the lower levels of the fort pointing seaward. However, it was also defended against land attack from its top level, which mounted automatic weapons and mortars in concrete pillboxes, and enjoyed a favorable defensive position with the steep sides of the promontory restricting the approach to the fort along a solitary ridge. Only the top level of the fort was visible from the land side. A few hundred yards southeast of the fort the Germans had dug an antitank ditch. Several hundred yards farther south was a stream bed, still another hindrance to the attackers.

At 0800 on 25 June one squadron of P-47's bombed Fort du Roule, but for the most part the planes overshot their mark and no damage was done to the subterranean tunnels housing the guns. The land attack was undertaken by the 2d and 3d Battalions of the 314th Infantry. The 3d Battalion first attempted an attack straight across the draw south of the fort. But on reaching the slopes leading to the draw the battalion was met with a tremendous volume of small-arms fire originating from a row of dug-in positions on the forward slope. The resistance from these bunkers was finally eliminated by the concentration of all machine guns in the 2d and 3d Battalions. Few Germans escaped to the fort. Most were wiped out by the great volume of automatic fire.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

German soldiers surrendering to U.S. soldiers
in the ruins of Cherbourg at the foot of Fort du Roule.
Photo is from Roger Hamilton's The War Photos.

From this point the attack was taken over by the 2d Battalion, with the 3d providing covering fire. In the course of these operations the capture of the fort was given its most notable impetus by the action of Cpl. John D. Kelly of Company E. Kelly's platoon had become pinned down on the slopes by enemy machine-gun fire from one of the pillboxes. Volunteering to knock out the position, Corporal Kelly armed himself with a 10-foot pole charge with fifteen pounds of TNT, inched his way up the slope under withering heavy automatic fire. and placed the charge at the base of the strong point. The first blast was ineffective. Kelly therefore returned for another charge and braved the slope again to repeat the operation. This time the ends of the enemy guns were blown off. Kelly then returned for still another charge and climbed the slope a third time to place a charge at the rear entrance of the pillbox. Following this blast he hurled hand grenades into the position, forcing the surviving enemy crews to surrender. While he survived this heroic act, he was later killed in action.

Meanwhile, the 3d Battalion moved up to clear resistance from the left flank of the assaulting battalion. Here again the fight was aided by an individual exploit. When Company K was stopped by combined 88-mm. and machine-gun fire, 1st Lt. Carlos C. Ogden, who had just taken over the company from the wounded company commander, armed himself with an M1 rifle, a grenade launcher, and a number of rifle and hand grenades and advanced alone up the slope toward the enemy emplacements. Although wounded in this advance, Ogden continued up the slope and finally reached a point from which he destroyed the 88-mm gun with a well-placed rifle grenade. Again wounded, Ogden continued, found the two machine guns which had held up his company, and with hand grenades knocked them out also.

These and other destructive attacks gradually induced various sections of the fort's top level to surrender. Some sections held out until nearly 2200 that night, and even then only the capture of the top level was completed. It was still impossible to enter the city in strength on 25 June due to the fire from the guns in the lower level of Fort du Roule.