The GI's War by Edwin P. Hoyt

Author:Edwin P. Hoyt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cooper Square Press
Published: 1988-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

May: The Eighteenth Infantry was moved down to its final marshaling area in southwestern England. The troops were behind barbed wire, and British soldiers patrolled the perimeter. No one could get in or out without a special pass.

One morning all the officers of Lieutenant Downing’s Second Battalion were assembled and marched out in a column of twos past the sentries and up to the former staff officers’ quarters, to the dining room. The doors were closed and guards were posted. Colonel Smith then gave a little speech, and Majors Colacicco and Middleworth, using maps, briefed the junior officers on what was going to happen.

The First Division was going to land on the coast of France, east of the Cotentin Peninsula, at a place called Omaha Beach. The Sixteenth Infantry would land first and clear the beaches. The Eighteenth would land behind the Sixteenth, move through, and assemble at the town of Colleville-sur-Mer; the Eighteenth would then march on to Mosles, where it would set up a roadblock and await an enemy counterattack.

Lieutenant Downing and the other junior officers had hoped that somebody else was going to be making the assault. But at least their job was easier than the Sixteenth’s, and that made them all feel better. Going in behind another regiment gave Downing the feeling that he had a better chance of coming through in one piece.

The company grade officers were issued maps that day and told to brief their men. The maps were clear and accurate (Downing hoped); made from photographs that had been taken from a submarine, they showed enemy installations and gave an idea of the lay of the land as it would appear from an assault boat.

Then the officers were released, and Lieutenant Downing went back to his company. He explained the projected assault, using his new maps. Nobody showed much enthusiasm, but nobody complained, either. The men accepted the coming of the invasion and their part in it.

All sorts of new equipment began showing up. The “assault jacket” replaced the pack, with pockets in front, on the sides, and in the rear. When a man put it on with all those pockets full, he was really loaded down. Gasproof underwear, shirts, socks, leggings, and trousers were issued, too. They were virtually airtight and made everyone sweat. There was also shoe impregnant. Downing treated his shoes; it made them gas resistant and waterproof, but also airtight. His feet began to sweat.

The soldiers got small blocks of nitro starch, with a fuse and igniter, to blast foxholes instead of digging them. They got waterproof plastic bags as covers for their weapons, field glasses, and radios. And they got compasses and small silk maps of France. Cutting files wrapped in waxed paper and magnetized pencil clips, to be used as emergency compasses, were issued for escaping from prison camps—a comforting thought. They also received paratroop first aid kits, with syringes of morphine. The battalion surgeon showed the officers and top three grades how to use them. They were issued sulfa tablets.

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