Hi All, I have been reading 'Eye Witness D-Day - The Story of the Battle by Those Who Were There' by Jon E. Lewis and wish to share some of the personal accounts therein with Forum readers. The accounts sometimes have dates and locations mentioned, but often they are just general impressions of day to day life during the Normandy Campaign. Regardless, they are all poignant in nature. Readers are welcome to add information regarding individuals or units as we progress through the stories. Captain Edward W. McGregor, US 1st Infantry Division [p229-230] 'There was to be a major attack on the American front at St. Lo. It was to be called Operation Cobra. The attack began on 25 July, preceded by a strategic bombing by the American 8th Air Force - Flying Fortresses, B17s - and, well, some of these bombs fell short - on top of our 9th Infantry Division and, I believe, our 3rd Infantry Division. I know the 9th was hit and I think it was the 3rd. Anyway, we were in reserve and were then ordered to advance through the decimated front lines of these divisions and attack. Which we did and it was really something. There were these huge craters from the bombs, all over the place. We had a whole battalion of tanks attached to my battalion, the 1st Battalion of the 18th Infantry, and we couldn't use them, the ground was so torn up. And the still had pockets of resistance that fought us all day long. Well, in the mid-afternoon I told the Battalion Commander - we had just had a new Battalion Commander - that I'd better go up. He didn't want me to move up with the troops, but with the old Battalion Commander we always used to move up with the advance echelon. So I went up and kicked tail - or kicked ass, to use that expression - with A Company and C Company. And then some sergeant comes running up: 'Captain McGregor, the Battalion Commander has been killed and also Captain Cameron' - who was our Heavy Weapons Company Commander. Well, I rushed back to the rear with him and the Battalion Commander was very badly wounded - but not dead - but there was my buddy, Captain Archie Cameron, deader than a mackerel. I cried like a baby. Then comes along some war correspondent, demanding to know what the situation was. A large man with a stick. Well, there were bullets flying all over the place and I was heartbroken, so I told him to get the hell out of there or I'd shoot him. At the time I didn't give a damn who it was, it could have been the Holy Ghost. Somebody said, 'Jeez Captain, that's Ernest Hemingway.' And I'm not certain, but I think it was Hemingway.' Anyone able to figure the name of the new 1st Battalion Commander of the 18th Infantry Regiment who was killed on the 25th July? Thanks, Pat
Capt. Cameron must be Capt. Archibald B. Cameron. The battalion went into battle on D-Day under Lt.Col. Robert H. York. On 11 July he was transferred to command the 331IR of the 83ID. The battalion was taken over by the commander of 3/18IR: Lt.Col. Jospeph W. Sisson Jr. AFAIK he was SWA, not killed, on 25 July. He was replaced by Lt.Col. Learhard (difficult to read) A lot of the 1ID records have been digitized. I've recenlty been using them to fill in some blanks on certain German units from their intelligence files. The division's records can be found here. But be careful, it is very simple to get side-tracked ;-) The search engine is very, very good, but the quality of certain documents is too poor to be fully searched.
Thanks Niels, I wrongly posed the question above regarding the identity of the 'new' Battalion Commander, now identified by you as Lt.Col. Jospeph W. Sisson Jr. Regards, Pat