After action battle report for the Normandy reenactment at Wendell Ford:
Kameraden,
The six FJR6 Fallschirmjager arrived at Wendell Ford on Friday. Steve, Dean, Mike, Scottie, Phil and myself. We occupied a barracks and had an entire bay with only FJ. The other FJ unit was FJR5, however the bay was only half full, and we suspected that it was because folks didn’t show up because of the intense storms. However, we would make the best of it. At approximately 8 pm, the combined FJR units had a tactical meeting in a small briefing room in the barracks. Our objectives were laid out, and we formulated a plan of attack for the next day. The main bulk of the Amis army would attack from two roads from the west, while our LAH armor and infantry would attack them on the roads from the east. Our mission, was to take a hill objective with observation tower which US Airborne had dropped in overnight to occupy. The key to this whole battle was taking of the hill. At first glance, those of us who were at Kreta recognized similar terrain. Rolling hills, with small pockets of cover…but mostly scrub brush and open fields of fire. A difficult task it would be for us. On the day of battle, we boarded our Auntie Ju, and we again miss dropped by our pilots who were avoiding flak. Yes, Kreta indeed! But, we sang “Rot Scheint die Sonne” anyway, and prepared for the on coming battle with the vigor that Von der Heydte would have appreciated. We reached our link up point with the mechanized motorcycle FJR 5, we had to explain we were dropped at the wrong place and had to quick march to make it to the start off point…but we were a little late. Along the way, we met a group of infantry SS who were also lost. We absorbed them into our gruppe. With great stealth, we were able to avoid contact until we got to our objective. Our group had to cross a road before we could get to the base of the hill. It was murderous. The hill was occupied by American airborne and a jeep with a .50 cal machine gun. After several casualties, I began to look for another way. I came upon 3 infantry artillery soldaten pushing a pak. I told them of our situation, and they agreed to help. After I positioned the crew and their artillery piece, our soldaten opened fire with everything we had…the PAK fired and a tremendous explosion took out the American jeep. This was our moment! FJR 6 stormed across the road and started working our way up the hill. There was no cover or concealment, so we had to continue gunning down our adversary very quickly up the hill as there was no where to stop. Now, the Americans started to reinforce our side of the hill. The fighting was difficult, but without any heavy weapons, they had no chance. Our MG42 and MP40’s were knocking them out quickly. Unknown to us at the time, LAH having seen the Americans withdraw from their side of the objective, mounted an attack on the opposite side of the hill. We were now squeezing them between us. Their half track dismounted their infantry just before an American bazooka took them out. Their infantry eliminated the anti tank crew. After several moments, the FJ took the hill and were the one’s to pop orange smoke signaling that the objective was captured. We took many casualties, but this difficult objective was taken nevertheless. Yes, my friends…hill 107 on Kreta indeed!
All American forces now retreated to another, but smaller hill in the distance. Not having to fight up hill again, we moved on foot quickly to the hill. FJR6 was to take the far right of the hill, and attack against their flanks, driving the enemy into the SS and LAH units to our left. Having made it to our start off point before any of our other units, we decided to push left anyway to confuse the enemy. Surprised that we were even there before they could put their troops into position, they fell back immediately. Now, what happened next was incredible. We found ourselves attacking an enemy anti tank artillery piece which was highly defended. The anti tank cannon was pointing down the road, but not at us. We were able to stay on our side of a clearing, and fire across to keep their crews pinned down so they could not fire. Again, sensing imminent defeat, the Americans reinforced the anti tank gun with infantry. After popping smoke, an FJR charge was initiated to disable the gun before more troops would arrive, but the attack failed. The Americans counter attacked and they were also repelled. A stalemate ensued, and finally the Americans pulled out again. FJR 6 regrouped and had a nice picnic lunch on the battlefield, as the American trucks drove away carrying their army.
We were out of water. There was a resupply point, but it was very far away. We started to maneuver through a series of roads and terrain to get to the point, but with our weak muscles and wounded, were no match for the long march. 3 of us, Steve, Dean, and myself unloaded all of our gear and weapons to take all the canteens of the gruppe to the resupply point. Half way there, we came upon a Canadian jeep with 3 soldiers, who appeared unarmed too. Seeing us, they were at a panic, and the jeep suddenly stopped. Both sides decided to call a truce for the moment, and we resupplied our water with their water can. After exchanging chokolades and cigarettes, we bid them good luck and left to return to our Kamerades. Shortly after returning, the axis commander came up to congratulate us for taking our objectives so quickly, but he had another job for us to do. Again, the Americans who outnumbered us were occupying a small resupply point/village, and it was our job to root them out! After the most tremendous display of smoke I have ever seen (they lit a 5 gallon smoke pot which burned for 30 minutes) we moved quickly through open terrain…the smoke was so thick, that you could only see the man in front of you, not the whole unit, or enemy. Having reached the woods, we started to hear gunfire but not directed at us. It is possible that the smoke which was now filling the woods confused and frightened the Americans and they were shooting at each other. This of course, gave away their positions, and we mounted an attack. Seeing that my forward elements were pinned down, I flanked the Americans after having found the extreme left of their defense, and I gunned several down with my MP40, including a Lieutenant. However, again we somehow managed to stumble upon a heavy concentration of American troops guarding their command post. We had to fall back to a small berm, which was a great defensive position. FJR6, alone, repulsed another American counter attack with our MG42 and brave soldaten. They had no chance of taking our position. They fell back to their positions they occupied earlier in the battle. I moved to cover the left flank with a wonderful trench line that would have allowed me to mow them down with the MP40, but no one came. I reloaded all my magazines at this time. After about 30 minutes, the road was full of American trucks…apparently the Americans sensing us regroup for another attack, moved their operations base. The objective would now be ours without firing another shot.
We were ordered back to a small road to regroup with all other axis forces in the area. The terrain was unimpressive, and we wondered why our leaders had chosen this area to defend. However, upon a second look, the area was surrounded by a great trench on all four sides which we could defend against an American attack. The LAH, who were there in the greatest numbers but had done little all day…occupied the trenches around the command post. They formed a 3 ring layer of defense, which the outer ring would make contact and move back to a 2nd ring with more defenses. We were held in the center of the command post to act as a fire brigade…go to where the breaches might occur. We rested in a small trench and gathered our thoughts, and reloaded our weapons. The fighting was everywhere. We saw dead on both sides of the defense lines, we were being attacked from 3 directions. The fighting was extremely heavy. At some point, our pak took out the last remaining enemy armor, but we soon lost that to heavy infantry attacks. We were thinking that we would be the last men to defend the command post. We remembered hearing stories of an American general surrounded by indians in their old west…Custard I believe his name was…we felt like that. Just then, an American jeep breached the road and drove into our command post firing his .20 cal machine gun. He did not see us as his back was towards us when we mounted an attack from our positions…MG and MP40 fire destroyed the jeep and all on board. LAH were cheering (more like laughing) at the spectacle. Just then, it seemed like the Americans would break through to our left. So we made a mad dash in an attack through the gap which surprised the Americans. This attack which was led by our leader Kellar, inspired the LAH to get up and attack beside us. We took many casualties, but this last attack ended the American advance abruptly. There were no American survivors and we still had all of our men. No casualties for this attack. Unfortunately, the LAH suffered terrible casualties because the Americans knew where they were, and when the got up to attack with us, were gunned down. This is how we were able to save our command post and win the day! Horido!
August Berg FJR6