736th
Field Artillery
Battalion WWII Reunions
Web Page
HISTORY
of the 736th FABn Courtesy
of Ken Roll Page 5
Chronology of the
736th across Europe (continued)
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| 5 Sept 1944: | Battalion captured 4 more
enemy prisoners. |
| 6 Sept 1944: | At
0724 the battalion commenced a march to positions 1
mile north of the town Braquis closing at 0935. Up to this time houses had not been used for any shelter. The CP was put in a small barn. The battalion remained here until Sept 8, no firing was done from this position. |
| 8 Sept 1944: | At
1342 the battalion
marched to and occupied
positions at Etain 1/2 mile west of Fleville, arriving there at 1540. From these positions the battalion fired several missions. |
| 9 Sept 1944: | At
1657 the battalion left
its position near Fleville and
marched to Tucquegnieux closing at 1728. Firing positions were occupied and several missions were fired. A observation plane reported a German tank in the vicinity, a number of German half-tracks had been shot up just before the battalion arrived. They had carelessly come over a hill in the face of an American 105mm howitzer battery. The 105’s opened up with Ack-Ack joining in with its two-bits worth. Pieces of metal and Germans were scattered all over the road. |
| 10 Sept 1944: |
Battalion left Tucquegnieux
at 1630 and occupied firing
positions 2 miles south of Audun. One hour and 15 minutes after leaving Tucquegnieux, “B” battery was registering by Air OP. The rest of the battalion closed in at 1745. Several missions were fired from here. |
| 11 Sept 1944: | At
1545 the battalion
commenced a march to positions 1/4
mile east of Lommerange, closing at 1612. The fast moving march had begun to slow down. |
| 12 Sept 1944: |
The battalion left the last
position at 1545 and marched
to new firing positions 2 miles south of Fontoy in a forest. “A” battery was registering 1 hour from the time it left Lommerange. In the middle of registering, an urgent call for fire on an enemy truck column was received. Fire was shifted to this new target with highly successful results, The column being totally destroyed. The registration was thereupon resumed. The battalion remained in this sector (Thionville) until 1228 Sept 14. |
| 14 Sept 1944: | At
1228 the battalion left
the Thionville sector and
marched south to St. Marcel closing in at 1751. The advance had ended temporarily. For one month and seven days the battalion had not taken a backward step. It had swept through the St. Lo gap and had swung around Paris. Gasoline was very short and ammunition closely rationed. We were now on the outskirts of Metz. For the entire month we were attached to 195th FA Group with the mission of general support of XX Corps in the Metz Sector. |
| 17 Sept 1944: | Battalion Exec Captain Peter Fox received notice of his promotion to Major. |
| 22 Sept 1944: |
“B” battery fired a high
performance plane observed
mission on an enemy battery with very successful results. During this period the battalion fired a number of missions on the Forts surrounding the city of Metz. |
| 24 Sept 1944: |
Special Service
Officer presented a show headlined by
Bing Crosby and company. The show was in “B” batteries area. It was for the entire Corps and lasted about 2 1/2 hours. It rained heavily up until show time then stopped. The loud speaker system quit working at the start and French villagers were very curious to know who Bing Crosby was. |
| 25 Sept 1944: |
FFI (Free French
Infantry) moved into the area and
occupied buildings in town not used by the battalion. |
| 30 Sept 1944: |
General Slack visited
the firing batteries positions. Patton's Third Army grappled with the problem of reducing the Metz fortification system. Both the city and its surrounding defensed blocked his path to the Saar and could not be bypassed. The key to “Fortress” was Fort Driant, a formidable bastion located atop a 360-meter-high hill on the west bank of the Moselle river. Observers in the fort could direct fire from artillery in the southern sector of the Metz area, while Driant’s own 100mm and 150mm batteries, hidden in casements with seven foot thick reinforced concrete walls,, covered the approaches along the Moselle. Furthermore, the fort had an elaborate system of bunkers and observation posts, all connected by underground tunnels. Fort Driant lay in Maj. Gen. Walton H. Walker’s XX Corps sector. Walker gave the mission of taking the fort to Maj. Gen. S. LeRoy Irwin’s 5th Infantry Division. On Sept 27, Irwin launched the 2nd Battalion of the 11th Infantry, supported by a company from the 818 Tank Destroyer Battalion. On Oct 3rd 12 medium tanks, and a company of combat engineers breached the defenses but with heavy losses. The fighting within Driant became a melee. By Oct 9th the struggle had cost over 500 Americans, yet the Germans held, finally Third Army halted the attack. |
| 2 Oct 1944: |
The battalion formed
a provisional battery to
man 4 captured German 88mm anti-tank guns. Lt. Peter Hartman “A” battery XO was to be “D” battery CO and Sgt/Maj Drue Dorton was the XO and “A” aand “C” batteries would each furnish a four man gun crew while “B” would furnish 2 men. “D” batteries position was in an open field 500 or 600 yards in front of “A” batteries position. The primary mission would be to keep some 100mm guns with disappearing mounts located in a turrent on Fort Jean D’Arc, and it would be the base point. “D” battery would be in effect for 13 days until Oct 15th when the 88’s would be replaced by Russian 12.c cm guns. The 88’s were found to be very accurate while the Russian 12.2 howitzers were very eratic. (See appendix C) |
| 4 Oct 1944: | XX
Corps presented a
vaudeville show for the troops.
“A” battery fired 24 rounds into Fort Jean D’Arc. “C” Battery fired 15 rounds. Nobe of the rounds showed any measurable effect on the target. “B” Battery received some counterbattery fire, with a small fragment burying itself in the timbers over one dugout door. |
| 5 Oct 1944: |
The
Special Service
Officer of the 195th FA Group
presented movies. Three high
bursts were reported over the alternate FDC position. It turned out to be shells hurled by “D” battery of the 733rd FA battalion from one of their captured German 88’s. They had set the fuzes wrong. The battalion received a citation from the City of Verdun and was listed in the “Soldier’s Golden Book” of that city. |
| 8 Oct 1944: | Battalion had another movie presented by Corps Special Service. |
| 9 Oct 1944: | General Slack visited the battalion area. |
| 12 Oct 1944: |
The battalion received it’s standard. The Bronze Star
medal was awarded to Major Fox, Sgt. Puntoriero, T/5 Gemmel and Pfc John H. Smith. Air medals were presented to 1st Lt. Robert Huber and 1st Lt. Ernest L Wagner. |
| 14 Oct 1944: |
The battalion CO informed “D” battery that it would have
to give up it’s German 88’s but they would be replaced with Russian 12.2 centimeter howitzers. |
 |
 |
| German 88 guns of "D" Battery |
Russian 12.2 cm howitzers |
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