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of the Division Engineers (mission to blow the bridge if necessary),
about half of Batallion Headquarters Company with mortars and machine
gun sections and several stray men from other regiments.

The Company dug in well and quickly. I had just completed
my inspection of the forward positions when we knew that an attack
was coming. You will recall that in front of our position, west of the
Merderet River, was a marsh at least 1000 yards wide at its narrowest
point. The road running west from the bridge could better be described
as a causway.

As I recall, the mission of the 508 was to occupy a position
beyond this causway. In addition to the men who assisted us in
capturing the bridge at least a company of the 508 passed through our
position and moved over the causway to their objective. They were gone
at least an hour when we saw several of them retreating back across the
marsh. I remember that we helped several of them out of the river,
which was quite shallow.

The machine gun fire from the Germans was very heavy by now.
We didn't return their fire as there were no visible targets and our
ammunition supply was limited. They attacked with three tanks, which
I was unable to identify for sure; but they appeared to be similar to
the German Mark IV type, or maybe a little lighter. The tanks were
firing on us with machine guns and cannon.

Just about a half-hour before this attack, a 57MM A. T. gun
was assigned to Company "A". I located this gun about 150 yards from
the bridge on the road where it curves to the right as you approach
the bridge. Incidentally, this was my C.P. and later the Batallion
C.P. This gave the gun excellent cover and a good field of fire.

On the bridge I had three bazooka teams. Two of them were
from Company "A" and the third was either from "B", or "C" Company.
The two Company "A" bazookas were dug in to the left and right of the
bridge. Because of the fact that the road itself was the causeway
type, they were as of necessity dug in below the level of the road,
so that in order to fire, they had to get out of their fox holes. The
third bazooka was over more to the south where better cover was available.

To continue, I had just completed my inspection of our defenses
and was 40 to 50 yards from the bridge. Major Kellam and Captain Roysden
were nearby.

The first two tanks were within 15 or 20 yards of each other,
the third was back about 50 yards. When the lead tank was about
40 or 50 yards away from the bridge, the two Company "A" bazooka teams