Charmes...LuneviIle...Foret de Parroy

A week later the re-united Battery was back in Charmes for three days protecting the bridge there before returning to Luneville to guard the 267th Field Artillery and their gigantic 240mm howitzers. The shells for these guns were almost 10 inches in diameter and the noise was almost overpowering when they were fired. After three days, the Platoons were re-attached to the 961st again, now on the east side of Luneville near Croismare. Here the 79th Infantry was engaged in a bitter battle to take the Forest of Parroy. This turned out to be the biggest artillery duel we had ever seen. As we pulled into position ahead of our artillery, I heard a tremendous explosion and looked up to see a Colonel, his driver and his command car thrown about 10 feet into the air after driving over a mine in the ground about 50 yards from us. This commotion attracted some incoming artillery shells so we had to lay low for awhile as they fell around us.

Later in the morning, a really breathtaking event occurred. All of the artillery in the area was programmed for a Timed-On-Target exercise -- and there was a lot of artillery. The objective was to carpet the area above the forest with air bursts of artillery shells, all of which would arrive on target at the same time. This meant that the 155mm Long Toms located up to 10 miles away would fire several minutes before the 105mm howitzers, which were only a few hundred yards from the forest, and the other gun sizes in between would be scheduled to fire at appropriate times. At 11 o'clock we could hear the whine of the long distance shells coming our way just as the near-by 105mm howitzers fired. The area over the forest lit up like a malevolent Christmas tree as about 100 shells burst at once a little bit above treetop level. The noise of the airbursts was deafening. The leaves on the tops of the trees were shredded as the shrapnel rained down to the forest floor below. Then it became eerily quiet.

We moved around the forest to its northern side and waited for a couple of days as the battle-scarred 79th Division was given a much deserved rest and was replaced by the newly arrived 44th Division. On October 20 both of our Platoons were assigned to protect the 156th and 157th Field Artillery battalions of the 44th Division. The Germans seemed to sense that a change was taking place and moved forward to shower our positions with shells. The withdrawal of the battle-hardened 79th was delayed for a few hours to steady the green troops of the 44th Division but eventually the line held and we did not have to pull back. Several of the camouflage nets covering our half-tracks were blown down and the half-tracks dented by the shrapnel but we did not sustain any casualties. I spent a good bit of time lying in my foxhole and twice I was lifted out of it by the air from the concussive force of nearby shell explosions.

Enemy planes remained scarce, although three were engaged on November 8 while we were moving to Manonviller. It was at Manonviller on Armistice Day, November 11, that the Battery experienced its costliest single day of the war.

We had just moved past a small bridge near the edge of town and were ordered to stop there to spend the night. Our bivouac area included the remains of a shell-blasted old church and a small apple orchard. Most of our communications crew decided to bed down at the base of the walls of the old church, which would offer some protection from wind and from strafing planes, if there were to be any. I told them that I felt safer in a foxhole out in the open field, not too close to an apple tree. My experience had shown that shells can land quite close to your foxhole and the shrapnel will pass harmlessly overhead. But if the shell hits a tree or a building, the shrapnel can shoot downward, even into a foxhole. So I dug in, wriggled into my sleeping bag and spent a comfortable night.

Just after daybreak, German artillery shells began falling around us. Since the shells were landing one at a time about three or four minutes apart it seemed likely that the Krauts couldn't see us but were just shooting interdictory fire at the road over the bridge. I stayed in my foxhole. Soon there was a shell explosion closer to the church, followed by an ominous thump. The shell itself had done no damage but the concussion had caused the weakened wall of the church to collapse and bury the sleeping soldiers at its base. Killed instantly were Staff Sergeant Anthony L. Gerardi, T/5 Joseph Kapral, Pvts. Norman Gaudette and William Gage.

Shortly after the wall fell, the Germans noticed the cloud of dust it released and threw in a barrage of shells to harass rescue workers, but there were no further casualties at that time. Sporadic shelling continued all day and in the afternoon a shellburst near one of the half-tracks wounded Cpl. Francis Calabrese, T/5 Thomas Creegan and Pvt. Joseph Ortaglia. The latter two returned to the Battery after recovery but Calabrese was evacuated to the United States.