70th Infantry Division Association January, 1986

TAKING THE SALUTE-S/Sgt. Frank Colla (nearest camera)and Pfc Ernest Day, Co. G, 275th, werehonored at the Division's first formalretreat parade on German soil. They1945ContinuedThe 275th's 3rd Battalion then moved out ofEtzling and hastily dug in on the lower slopes ofthe height Pfaffenberg. Farther east the 2ndBattalion had pushed into Grosbliederstroff.By mid-morning the German defenders hadbeen forced back to the northern end of thetown . The Battalion's attack was continued,troubled by artillery and mortar fire from theother side of the Saar River. Finally the lastGerman strongpoint in the town fell in a sharpfirefight.On the divisional left flank , the 276th stillconfronted the key defenses around Oeting.During the night it had cleared the mines fromthe road into that village. Then the Regimentresumed its attack on February 18. By earlyafternoon Oeting had been taken and a smallenemy infantry-tank counterattack was repelled. Afterwards the Regiment turned itsfront to the northwest toward Forbach.In its path rose three hills covered by thethick woods of Kleinwaeldchen . The westernmostof the three hills rose sharply from theforest to afford a panoramic view of Forbach tothe north and visibility to the south as far asOeting. On its summit stood a redstone castle,the Schlossberg. The commanding observationgiven to the side that held it made the capture ofthe Schlossberg the obvious prerequisite to thetaking of Forbach.By nightfall on the 18th two of the three hills8had just been awarded the Bronze Star.This photo by Chet Garstki ran in the first"Trail blazer" that had been cleared bycensors so it could be sent home. Thisran on April 5, 1945.in the Kleinwaeldchen had been overrun. Thenext morning Co. I advanced cautiously towardthe Schlossberg. Surprisingly, no opposingenemy fire was encountered and, when theattackers scaled the outer walls, they found thecastle deserted . Almost immediately heavy artilleryand mortar fire began falling in the area.Between barrages the troops dug in around thebuildings.At 7:20 p.m. an enemy battery of 88mmguns began shelling the castle with great accuracy.Under this covering fire , German patrolscrept up to the outer perimeter of thecompany's defenses and cut its telephone wire.At 8:40p.m. the enemy artillery barrage wasbriefly intensified. Then as it was lifted, Germaninfantrymen began rushing the castle fromthree sides, screaming wildly. Despite Co. I'sactive resistance with rifle fire, the enemyadvance reached to within yards of the castle.When he judged that the attacking Krautswere sufficiently close, the Co. I commanderCapt. Herbert J . Andrews had his men calledfrom their firing positions to shelter inside thecastle walls and requested defensive artilleryand mortar fire. Thirty-five dead Germanswere found on the hill around the castle the nextmorning.The shelling that came in response-8lmmmortar frre of Co. M. and I 05mm howitzer fireof the 884th Field Artillery-drove the enemyback. The vital Schlossberg position remainedin American hands .Supported by the 274th's 3rd Battalion, the276th assault in Forbach began late the sameafternoon, February 19. The road from Saarbrueckento Forbach, the Metz Highway, wasto be interdicted by attack aircraft. The 276th's1st Battalion and elements of the 3rd Bn. 274thwere the first units to penetrate into the city inits southeast section. The enemy opened upwith machine-gun and artillery fire on the advancingskirmishers after they had penetratedthrough the first two blocks. When the advancewas thus slowed, 3rd Bn , 276th less Co. I,descended from the Kleinwaeldchen and joinedin the house-to-house fighting . The attack continueduntil shortly after nightfall.*In its "Report of Operations" for February19, the Seventh Army G-3 staff evidently foundnothing noteworthy in 274th activities. However,there was a dramatic event involving theregimental commander that day. Reconnoiteringthe heavily wooded, rough terrain onKreutzberg ridge, Col. Sam Conley and hisparty including Maj. Buford Boyd, 2nd Bn.CO, came fact to face with a trench full ofenemy infantry. Conley and his party seemedtrapped when the enemy opened fire . But thenthe colonel made a run for it to get help and gotout amid a hail of enemy automatic weapons.Lt. Fred Cassidy was with one of his Co. G rifleplatoons when it received a radio message ofthe command group's predicament. Runningforward to investigate, Cassidy ran into Conleygoing the opposite way. After a brief discussion,Cassidy fetched the same platoon,found a supporting tank, climbed on its back,and directed his ad hoc task force throughtangled woods, over barbed wire and to therescue. After a brief, hot fight 50 Kraut prisonerswere taken.DAYBREAK on February * 20 was attendedby drizzling rain and fog , restricting tankmovement to roads and making displacementof artillery difficult. The 70th ReconnaissanceTroop in its patrolling concentrated on theeastern flank, where the advance of the adjacent63rd Division had lagged behind that ofthe 275th Infantry across the Sarre River. The275th's 1st and 2nd battalions advanced rapidlyagainst light resistance, capturing the villagesof Zinzing, Hesseling, and Alsting.T!Sgt. Rorabaugh: "After A/sting wascleared on the 20th, we immediately pushed oninto the woods beyond and ran into stiff resistence.We cleared out some pillboxes and tooksome prisoners. Among them was a medicwearing a white over-vest with its big redcross. He did a great job administering first aidto wounded men from both sides. I remember aGerman officer had been shot between the eyeswhile looking through his binoculars. We usedthe fit prisoners as litter bearers."Sgt. Lee Miller, Co . D, 275th: "We had afine gun position south ofZinzing. On the firstnight of preparing it we had to lie in snow as wefilled sandbags; then before dawn we put thebags in the hole we'd excavated and camouflagedeverything with snow before withdrawing.After a couple of nights working like thiswe had a bunker with a 4"-by-4" timber roofcovered by several layers of frozen dirt. Theday before the jump-off the weather thawed,and the bags sagged under the weight of theroof, making our position unusable. We had torebuild the whole thing .''70th Division Assn. TRAILBLAZER