Huertgen Forest and Beyond

For many years, my husband, John R. Weinert did not speak at length of his army combat experiences in WWII.  Recently John and his foxhole buddy, Al Miller, were reunited after sixty three years

For many years, my husband, John R. Weinert did not speak at length of his army combat experiences in WWII.  Recently John and his foxhole buddy, Al Miller, were reunited after sixty three years.  It was after this meeting that I encouraged John to write his war stories so that our family and others would remember his service to our great country.  The following is the first of the many articles he wrote.

 

 Huertgen Forest and Beyond

The historian, reviewing the events in a war. can arrive at best. at cold bloodless conclusions.  The combat Infantryman is not granted such a sweeping view of history.  His observations are immediate, frequently seen through the front sight of his rifle.  Decisions are reached in a split second and are frequently lethal.  Both approaches to history are instructive.  I was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division in October 1944, in the midst of the Huertgen Forest battle.  We were bound together by our will to survive.  I think that God went with all of us.  Some were just called home a little sooner.  This story is dedicated to them.

My name is John Weinert.  I'm from Pittsburgh, Pa., and I enlisted in the army reserve, upon high school graduation in 1943, at age 17.  For those physically and academically qualified, the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) offered an accelerated college program followed by Officer Candidate School.  I successfully completed my first semester as an engineering student at the University of Florida.  Having turned 18, I then took my basic training at Fort Benning, GA. Based on the need for replacement combat troops, the army cancelled the ASTP program, and assigned us to infantry training divisions. Later after being held at Fort Meade for three months, because army regulations required that you must be 19 to go overseas, I shipped from New York aboard the Amsterdam, a Dutch cruise ship. If the food didn't make you sick, running at 22 knots, unescorted, and zigzagging every seven minutes to avoid German U-boats certainly will. From Glasgow we proceeded to the Normandy beach and finally to the 4th Infantry Division then in the Huertgen Forest in mid-October 1944.,  My unit was C Company, 12 Regiment.

 The death and destruction was unbelievable. Dead bodies were stacked, like logs, awaiting recovery.  Whole sections of forests were sheared off 50 to 60 feet above ground by incoming artillery tree bursts.  D Company, full strength being 193 men, was reduced to 8 men, a sergeant and 7 privates. I was one of 110 replacements. Three months later there would be 10 of us left. I was hit once by shrapnel, a half inch cube of steel, was embedded in my wallet, having passed through my Virgin Mary Prayer card.

What was left of C Company was moved to a rest area in northern Luxemburg in early December. The Battle of the Bulge began a few days later. By this time, I was a scout.  A scout is one lucky enough to escape death or injury long enough to develop some survival skill. Leading attacks and recon patrols are part of the job. I regarded my M1 as my lucky rifle. Shrapnel was embedded in the stock, not in me. After the Bulge, we crossed the Rhine River, and occupied towns almost into Austria.  In the final stages, we were riding on the back decks of medium tanks to protect them from hand-held anti-tank rockets.

Shortly after the war, the 4th Division was stripped of married and older men, the equipment was stenciled TAT (To Accompany Troops) and we motorcaded to Le Havre. We were to receive one month furloughs in the U.S., retrain and then ship out for the assault on Japan.  The A-bomb was dropped during my furlough.

In the eighteen hundreds there was a common expression to indicate you had encountered every possible human experience.  It was, "I have seen the elephant".  I have seen that elephant.

 John R. Weinert

 

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