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Whooping Midwest Soldiers Who Shot From Hip Captured Le MansBY HENRY 7. GORRELL United Press War WriterLE MANS. France, Aug. 11 (Delayed) — Le Mans was captured by a regiment of Midwest doughboys who made a thrilling 34 mile cash east through Mayenne whooping like rodeo hands and shooting from the hip.The story opened east of St. Hailire de Kareouet where the boys, after weeks of seeing their comrades killed or wounded in weary hedge to hedge fighting, were given their big chance to deal with the enemy in the way they wanted to deal with him.Organised into several flying columns of iniantry and armor, the regiment was assigned the assault and capture of Le Mans.Stormed Through MayenneThey stormed through Mayenne, crossed streams in skiffs with fence posts as oars, charged head-on into German tanks and fought it out in the streets of Le Mans to win their objective.They left behind hundreds of Germans who were rounded up by combat teams supported by iank destroyers and mobile artillery.I saw many of the prisoners asthey were being driven to prisoncamcs. Thev looked more like ^ *cattle than the cream of Hitler’s fighting men.Mayenne was the first objective. One section of the regiment attacked straight down the highway. .Another swung south to cross the Seluoe river into the town. Engineers had not arrived with rubber boats. But the boys spotted two skiffs and tore down fence posts for oars to move enough strength across to make it safe for the others to cross.Prevented DemolitionsThe regiment roared down the main street of Mayenne, whooping wildly, dismounted and then, shooting from the hip, kept the | Germans from setting off demolitions which would have blown up a bridge and delayed the advance.The regiment “simply flew tos=me night,” he added. “We had to wait nearly 12 hours for their return.'’The nest battle occurred near St. Suzanne when the colonel, setting the pace with or.lv -gae platoon- of infantry in jeeps trucks, found himself surrounded by Germans who attacked with grenades.“I radioed back for tanks to come to my assistance,” he said. “Meanwhile my boys were shooting as fast as they could reload. It looked hopeless until I spotted a French farmhouse and decided to use it for a fortress.“The French occupants bowed politely and then hustled off to muster assistance of neighbors who shot their way through a cordon of Germans and for several hours fought shoulder to shoulder with us until our tanks arrived and dispersed the Germans.”Ran Gauntlet Of TanksFrom there to Le Mans, the regiment ran a gauntlet ^ of tanks lurking in roadside woods and past houses where holed up Germanswould let the infantry columnspass and then fire on the supply’ trucks.At one point 500 Germans attempted to form a blockade. The regiment simply’ detoured and left them holding the bag.The regiment entered Le Mans while Germans were still there. At one hotel some doughboys moved in not knowing several German paratroop officers were there. The Germans kept coming and going while the doughboys enjoyed iheir first good^ meal - in days. Neither knew the others were there.The Germans finally were driven from the town by the arrival of tanks after some lively street fighting.“I'm just now beginning to,.^4 scared.” the cplonel told me aff^' it was over.TEXAS DAM DELAYEDWASHINGTON. Aug. 12 (iPj— Personnel problems and other factors probably will delay a final renort on the Robert Lee damand beyond Motsurs,” its colonel said.“Except that there had been a prior, order to send back trucks after the capture of Mayenne, we could have taken Le Mans thatproject in Texas, for at least 30 days, the Bureau of Reclamation, said today.
Newspaper Details
Avalanche Journal
Lubbock, Texas, US
Sun, Aug 13, 1944
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
FR 23 Feb 2020
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