This photo is one of the guys my Dad was with for a while in the 18th battery , 2nd anti-tank division. "Snuffy Schafford" was the name my Dad knew him by. Here Snuffy is sitting on the front fender of one of their gun tower trucks.
......There were six of us gunners so we soon had the gun turned around. The driver managed to get the tow truck turned around and we made our way back. It didn’t seem very far. It was a bit moonlight so we could make out some objects along the way, some knocked out tanks. Both German and British. Then we turned up a narrow road with quite a lot of trees and hedges. We came to the place we were to exchange with the British gun crew, take out their gun and crew with our tow truck and put in place our gun. Same location alongside a very large tree and more hedge. All was going fairly good and we didn’t lose any time making the switch when suddenly there came that howling sound of mortars. It was the first time I had heard anything like it. Instinct took over and I dived for what looked like a trench between the gun trail. It turned out to be what I thought it was but there was a couple of the British gun crew still in it. I landed on top of them.
6.Luckily it was below ground level so that’s pretty safe unless you get a direct hit. When the dust settled I got out to see what had happened expecting to see some great holes in the ground but there was no sign of anything like that. They make terrific blast and shrapnel . In this incident the British officer was killed. We didn’t lose anybody at this first introduction to “ moaning minnies.” They are fired from either six or twelve barreled apparatus. Known as Nebelwerfers they can bring them down quite accurately with devastating and harassing effect. Jack Faibish , our Sergeant in charge of the gun and myself took over the trench beside the gun with our ammo piled at the back of us, not realizing the effect of a hit or near miss by small arms or mortar.
7.You are never told much about your location , who was to your left , right or rear. I soon came to the conclusion that our gun was pointing to the rear which bothered me as all the firing was coming from behind us. Mostly machine gun and mortar. There would be a lull and then they would start blasting away again. I didn’t know where the rest of the crew were but assumed they were close by. It was not safe to move around after dark so we laid low . A half ton was left near us in case we had to leave in a hurry.. We soon found out it was a lost cause as by morning it was completely out of commission. It was our first casualty.
8.Come first light of morning there was a lot of motor noise about two or three hundred yards behind us and the sound of tank tracks. Jack tells me to get on the gun. We are not sure who they are, however I must follow orders unless I recognize it to be friendly. I was given the range which I put on then ordered to fire when ready. I went through the necessary sequence and pressed the foot pedal trigger. Nothing happened. I then realized I had not removed the safety catch. I said, “damn, I forgot the safety catch” . Jack shouted “Hold it, I think they might be our tanks”. So we sat for two or three minutes, studied them as they were amongst some trees. It was hard to identify. At this time of year it becomes light very fast and early. These tanks appeared to be British Crusader type tanks. That was the one and only time I neglected to remove the safety catch. It took a while to get over thinking what the results would have been if it had not been for the safety catch. I can’t remember if we said much about it after. When you are taken into position after dark you are pretty much in the dark as to what is happening all around you.
9.We stayed in this position for ten days. The temperature was around 80 degrees F , it was pretty hot. The stink was pretty high from the dead animals and men in the area. These were left until the battle moved on as it is impossible to bury anything due to the shelling. You didn’t go far from your hole in the ground. The second day we were there, Jerry dropped a big shell right along side our gun. There was quite a bulge came in our trench. A tire on the gun was flattened and several holes through the heavy gun trail plus some of our ammo cases. Luckily no ammo burst or flared up. There was a big hole in the ground which proved to be quite handy as a biffy. Those trips were made in record time as you never knew how much time you had.
10.After a day or so I discovered Sgt. Pete Barret of Indian Head with his crew were not far from us. During some shelling Pete’s ammo was hit and went on fire and due to fire or exploding shells, Pete was wounded. Its funny but I can not remember sleeping at that position. If I did I think it must have been by day. I do remember sharing a trench with one of the other gunners one night. We would take turns as every one did two hours watching, listening mostly as you couldn’t see much. This character was quite nervous and when he was supposed to be on watch, every few minutes he would say to me, “Goff, I hear something”. I was somewhat relieved when after three days this man and two others were taken out and back to headquarters. Jack told them to have their kit and rifle and be ready when the ration jeep came about dusk and unloaded and beat a hasty retreat. Those three men didn’t waste any time getting on board. For one it was his first time out of the trench. He left everything behind. It was at this same place I lost some of my equipment due to mortar fire. My rifle and mess tins and various odds and ends of army issue I had put out of my trench for some reason. After a mortar shower that I knew was very close I found the butt of my rifle was gone. My mess tins had holes in them. I think I lost my shaving gear which I didn’t need anyhow as we didn’t shave for ten days at which time was the least of our worries. We had shaved our heads prior to going to France so we were pretty dirty and crumby looking after ten days. This was the place where my boots stayed on continually for ten days except to change socks.....................to be continued.
Tough times. We were blessed not to have such a war during our generation, though they're ALL bad enough.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting and detailed account of his war experience. A horrible experience, but one to be remembered and hopefully not repeated for everyone's sake. Looking forward to more of these historical posts.
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