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Sgt. Casper Arduser With Tank BattalionSaHeSgt. Casper D. Arduser recentty mailed to his parents, Mr. nnd Mrs. Cap Arduser, Sand Spring, a story of the. Headquarters 899th tank destroyer battalion of which he Is a member. The story took the form of a letter, written Nov. 10, 1944| by Herman J. Garretson, Jr., captain of the battalion.'Hie history of Ardusor's battalion showB that It is a “regular army’’ battalion and has been overseas 22 months. The shoulder y patch worn by the soldiers on their left sleeve Bhows a tiger with a tank destroyer grasped in Its teeth. The battalion was activated at Fort Lewis, Wash., July 1, 1940, where it did the moBt of its training and later moved to Camp Hoed, Texas, until it went overseas January 14, 1943.• Land In Africa The 889th landed in North Africa and was one of the first two tank destroyer battalions fully equipped with the then new M-10 tank de-. stroyer. The crews fired twenty.SGT. CASPER D. ARDUSERrounds per gun before they were sent to help shoot up the famous German “Afrika X6rps.” The boys; felt the first real punch of the Germans in Tunisia March 23, 1943,* where they joined the fumous “First Infantry Division,” and tangled with Rommel’s 10th Pan-1 zer division. Although the battalion suffered some casualties,! many more were inflicted upon the enemy, and it was the firstNeed $125,000 On Bond QuotaOnly 50 Per Cent Of “E” Bonds SoldJones county is not doing welltime American units had stoppedin the sixth war loan drive. Upa German Panzer division cold. Invade Italyto Saturday njght, Dec. 9, County Chairman Fjank E. Stimson re-Thegifts, fruit pretty wool purchi the he It is Mo the Christ young The tions a festi across well a fail tc urday.0 *“i j Ported that the county was short TUf*.TkSf! total quota of SI.- Mrdesert, the 899th left North Africa! (PR Ann Nov. 1, 1943, nnd landed in Italy I fniun rJones county ha3 alsoten .lays later. However, the Z' £!'* o’n tl tTlD43Uthe battan’oTl mri lNf'-‘ A8'! “ales had been made up to'satur-Brlush l^ to n— tor lie da' niKht- The lt;'uota th. coun-grcat second Front”'invlsiom th0| »*0r E” bons isin FOl'°AnR T'A3 / t™,nj oex^aturda;,d8 “nDedc i's: tZlDieWeMrs. home nftern, an ext ices wiNormandy on D-day with the re- ; , .7° at thewsr.sftBMsiB-“SSW LSu plus 4 anu u pius o. ine 899th j drivc since the beginning of the1 ‘‘l^rch— -such was split up for a time and b Jn P£n J ^ ' n ** tfought with four different divi- - en. f,JIed. ,n Jone» ^*nty and,, sions. On D pluB 11 the entire battalion was attached to the Ninth | Infnntry division whose first objective was Cherbourg. The 899th together with the Ninth Infantry division cut the peninsula, bottling up the German forces defending Cherbourg, pushed on up to help capture the town, and assisted greatly in cleaning up the remaining resistance on the Hague Cape.First In France After a short rest period of seven days the drive south began. It was at the very start of this drive that the 899th again shewed its fighting qualities. On July 11, 1944, near Le Desert, France, the battalion stopped a German armored counter-attack that was destined to split the Allied beachhead. When the smoke cleared from the battlefield that duy, the 899th had accounted for 'wclvefurther, that the quota on “E” bonds has been entirely ir.et. This may be hard to do, but, if every one will buy that extra $100 bond, the quota of $676,000 will be in the bag.Anamosa Short Line Debate Taken 'To Courtfiervice Oakwo The was K born F moor, daught Heideir ed Stai Her occurre 29, 19C on vari 21 yea: muellet Mrs. MThe Chicago and North Western; Luthen railway company Dec. 6 brought s,,e : suit in district court resisting an and the order of the Iowa state commerce Mrs. J. commission to restore service on Moenk; the Anamosa shortline. i lefs; VIn questioning jurisdiction of the M°ejk* commission, the railway firm asked •' brotherthe court to vacate the commission’s ruling.Mark V Panther tanks, one Mark IV tank, and one SP gun. For that action two companies of the 899th have been recommended for the “unit citation.” The bitter hedge-row-to-hedgerow fighting continued until the 899th together with the 9th Infantry division cut the St. Lo-Periers road, the fi*st unit to do so. Continuing with the 9th division the 899th helped spearhead the great breakthrough and then swung south, across the Seine river, through Chateau-Thcirry, and became one of the first Allied units to begin the liberation of another European country by fighting into Belgium on September 2.more, IHeidemThe petition set out that the 68-' ¥_____ . uvea jnmile line between Lyons and Anamosa was forced out of service last July 26 because of floods whichchildrerdamaged the 12 miles of track between Nashville and Onslow. As a result of the floods, eleven bridges were damaged and several thousand feet of track was washed from the road bed, the petition related.The company estimates that repair of the damage would cost $43,000 and called attention to present difficulties in obtaining labor and materials.Mrs.BrotiBecause of the repair cost andTogether with the 9th division the *** .tha* the lia® baB battalion rolled on across the °Perate at a profit for years,battalion rolled on across the \ *-----.Meuse river and then continued the J5® c°mPany applicationdrive into Germany itself. The 899th was one of the first to breach the Siegfried line, where it rendered maximum support to the in-with the commission for abandonment of the line, the petition said.Following this application, aMrs. word ol Lt. Co Col. La; byte riai sions. ! missioni Sacatoo transfer tion in years he t.e Ari when 1 called t« the arn time ofpetition was filed by W. K. Ken-fantry and in places smashed nedy and others asking the corn-through both fortified linos guard-' mission to order the company to ing Hitler’s Greater Reich. j restore service oq the line, accord-Sgt. Arduser, youngest son of ,n0 the Petltllt;;n-Mr. and Mrs. Casper Arduser, ha*’- The commission, on Nov. 22, is-been in army service four years.John Wherry Takeslirasued an order requiring the company to restore service within 46 days.statione.P.TJThurMemb aBsociat; school n»21, at Christmi der the
Newspaper Details
Monticello Express
Monticello, Iowa, US
Thu, Dec 14, 1944
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Stuart G.
NA, 17 Nov 2016
Other Publications Near Monticello, Iowa
Jones County Liberal
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