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Moving into Medendorf, Belgium
near the front lines |
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Ready for action |
Getting acquainted with the M7 |
Al with gas mask |
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In late October the Medendorf area was
quiet with time to get acquainted with the surroundings and prepare for a
training cycle to prepare for combat. Weather was moderate and there was an opportunity to settle
in for an extended stay. |
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A few days before the Battle of the
Bulge snow came. The battalion had prepared dug-outs, some sporting doors and
heaters. This relative
comfort would be short lived. |
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| The gun positions camouflaged,
for the green and brown foliage stood out in snow. |
Albert and friends display 105mm ammunition
used by the M7 Selfpropelled Howitzers.
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Albert made friend with the locals and
their animals. Albert used to tell his daughter,
Marcy, about befriending children with the chocolate
bars. His smile must have been
equally refreshing to them. |
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Sal Oliva also of "C" Battery recounts the
morning that he was rousted out of his dugout as the German offensive
began irrupting. They just got orders to move out.
The weather before the German offensive had been
rainy. It was muddy and the galoshes that they had been issued were
muddy. So Sal had left them outside on top of his dugout.
The snow had covered the top of his dugout, and his
boots. They were frozen stiff. He couldn’t get them on. Just about
then, an M7 started up shooting a blue flame out of the exhaust.
He rushed over to the M7, held his boots up to the
exhaust and they were thawed.
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Later in the battle as "C" Battery began
to receive incoming enemy fire. He and Ben Segal, a recent replacement
to the battery, dived into a foxhole as a round hit about ten feet
from them. Ben looked up and said, "You know, I wouldn’t be
here, if I didn’t need the money."
Sal passed away Mar. 21, 2000
Ben is an attorney in NY, NY |
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[Photo
by:
Ben Segal]
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Sal and Ben
Germany, 1945
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GERMANY
4 FEBRUARY
1945 - 14 JUNE 1945
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Somewhere east of the Rhine
river, spring 1945
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Albert Weisberger, Ray Crans, J. C. Smith [Photo
by: Phillip Millspaugh]
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Albert admires a captured German P38 pistol
[Photo by: Phillip Millspaugh]
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