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I had just gotten into a hole myself when the German Infantry came.
They ran right into our position and I knew that we would have to
retreat if we were ever going to fight another day. I hollered at the
men to fall back firing and took off myself leaving my pack which
contained all my worldly possessions at the moment. We lost three men
getting out of there but luckily most of the platoon arrived safely at
the new positions around the hospital where we again set up the guns
and started firing. While there I took a couple of wounded men into the
hospital where I was greeted by a sight I shall never forget. Here were
a couple of German Doctors working alongside a couple of American
Airborne Doctors on what had once been a dinning room table. They
were sawing off arms, legs, etc. and throwing the discarded limbs into
a pile. The whole place was a mess of blood and bandages and I felt
considerably better when I got back outside. By now the German fire
had lessened and I decided to rush the position [crossed out] and [end crossed out] again and try to
regain it. We did this and in most cases jumped back into the holes
just as the Germans were jumping out. Needless to say many of them
[crossed out] did [end crossed out] failed to get out in time. I managed to get back into the same
hole I had vacated just previously as I was [crossed out] [illegible] [end crossed out] determined to get my
pack back if at all possible. I found my pack alright but unfortunately
the German in the hole just ahead of me had taken my "K" rations and a
very favorite Dunhill pipe which I found only after much effort while on
leave in Belfast Ireland.
That German Armored Car was still up on the road and there was
nothing we could do to stop whim with our light weapons. Only now he
was joined by a German tank, and for the first time that day I became
really worried about our situation. I knew that American Armored units
were supposed to get through to us as soon as they landed on the beach
but had no way o knowing wether this part of the operation had been a
success or failure. As if to answer my questions I heard the
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