HISTORY of the 736th FABn Courtesy of Ken Roll Page 8
Chronology of the 736th across Europe (continued)
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| 29 March 1945: | The Red Cross Clubmobile visited the battalion again. |
| 30 March 1945: | A quarting party left the
battalion to cross the
Rhine. At 1630 hours the battalion marched to Mainz where it awaited its turn to cross the bridge and at 1855 rolled onto the 1896 ft. long pontoon bridge and across the Rhine river, to an assembly area at Nordenstadt closing at 1958 hours. |
 Capt.
Skonberg at the Rhine pontoon bridge |
| 31 March 1945: | Lt. Glick was in charge of
a convoy of 10, 2 1/2 ton
trucks that were being loaned to the 80th Infantry Division for motorizing its infantry. The battalion fired 4628 rounds of shells during he month. There was 1 wounded in action. Awarded were 1 Silver Star, 20 bronze Stars. 1 Air Medal and 7 Air Medal Clusters. |
| 1 April 1945: |
At 0707 the unit commenced
a 121 mile march to
Neuenbrunslar closing at 0047 hours. Battalion was halted for a few minutes on the autobahn by an enemy patrol that had broke through the lines and was mining the road. Took two prisoners before moving on to Ronrad where 3 more prisoners were taken. From there the battalion moved on to Schreckbach. |
| 2 April 1945: | The battalion finished its
march to
Neuenbrunslar closing
at 0047. Firing positions were occupied and 95 rounds were fired in support of the 80th Infantry Division. |
| 3 April 1945: | At 1100 hours the
battalion, less “C” battery,
displaced
to Rengershausen closing at 1223. “C” battery had remained at Neuenbruslar. 3 more prisoners were taken at Rengershausen. |
| 4 April 1945: | “C” battery rejoined the
battalion and at 1227
the
battalion displaced to Kirch- Ditmold near Kassel, a city formerly of 250,000 inhabitants. A German woman told the Battalion Commander “Our guide, Hitler, had never seen out in the world, he did not know how big America was. This is all a mistake..”. the last battery closing at 2000 hours 411 rounds were fired from this position. |
| 6 April 1945: | The battalion arrived at a
assembly area at
Allbshausen,
Germany. Marched to and occupied positions at Monchof. The unit is now in general support of the 76th Infantry. 187 rounds were fired from this position. At the chateau some women had been driven off their estates in Pomerania by the Russians, one of them was their sister of two German generals. The Generals had not been heard of since being involved in the bomb plot to kill Hitler. Six prisoners were captured, one American soldier was slightly injured when he fell out of a hayloft in excitement over discovering Germans in the hay. |
| 9 April 1945: | At 1157 the battalion
displaced to Nagelstadt
(Kreis-Lancensalza). There was some air activity now that it was useless, there were more German planes overhead than ever, most of them were older and slower aircraft. 124 rounds were fired from this position. The battalion was detached from the 5th FA Group and attached to the 416 fA Group. |
| 11 April 1945: | At 1300 the battalion moved
to an assembly
area at
Andisleben (Kreis-Gotha) closing at 1540 hours. Took 16 prisoners all in civilian clothes, but all soldiers. |
| 12 April 1945: | At 1215 hours the unit
moved to another
assembly area at
Leutenthal (Kreis- Weimar). Took 6 more prisoners. This was near the infamous Buchenwald concentration camp. A revealing sight seen there by the S3 was a small room occupied by German SS guards. Every pinup on the wall was a section of human skin with tattoos which had interested the guards. One was a 10 inch square containing a tattoo of an American Indian head. As side exhibits there were a few dried heads and other parts of prisoners bodies which had proved entertaining to the SS guards. |
| 13 April 1945: | Eight Germans were
captured. The battalion
moved to
Camburg but didn’t stay long. At 1300 hours the unit marched to an assembly area at Grossgestewitz (Kreis-Osterfeld), a three-story Chateau occupied by women and refugee children. Displaced Polish people brought in the story that the German owners had been seen burying something in the garden just before the American troops arrived. Cpl. John Bobrowski was detailed with a shovel to recover the cache. Was it gold, jewels or p-38 pistols or cameras, No, it was 3 or 4 tins of canned fruit and a bottle of wine. |
| 14 April 1945: | Battalion captured another
prisoner. |
| 15 April 1945: | At 1300 hours, the
battalion
marched to
Weissenborn
(Kreis-Weinbenfelt) where an assembly area was occupied. |
| 17 April 1945: | The battalion commander presented awards. |
| 19 April 1945: | At 0400 the heavy vehicles
(M4 tractors and
howitzers)
commenced a march south, followed by the remainder of the battalion at 0700. One of the M4’s of “B” battery turned over into a deep ditch, injuring Cpl. Ernest J. Schrader and Pvt. Corado A. Gioffredi. This was to be the battalions longest match of the war almost entirely without route markers. Down the autobahn past Weimar and Jena then through Thuringia, through Coburg. The unit closed into an assembly area at 2330 hours at Watzendorf after completing a 174 mile march. Mission of the battalion is now general support of XX Corps in the ZA of the 71st and 65th Infantry Divisions. This march marked the end of the American eastward drive below Berlin and moved the battalion into position for a drive down the Danube river toward the Russians in Austria. |
| 20 April 1945: | One more prisoner was captured. |
| 21 April 1945: | The battalion moved to
Riegelstein into an
assembly area. |
| 22 April 1945: | Moved to another assembly
area at
Lieritzhofen. |
| 23 April 1945: | Took 6 German prisoners. |
| 24 April 1945: | The battalion moved to
Hoenburg
(Kreis-Hansburg) an
another assembly area. |
| 25 April 1945: | The battalion started at
0400 to cross a
bridge in time
to avoid a traffic jam, but the bridge was not built yet when the battalion arrived. A ford was found a few miles to one side. The battalion displaced to Schonhofen (Kreis-Bamburg) at 0535 closing at 1400 hours. On the way to that position a medical battalion was coming up a one-way road, a tank battalion and the 736th were coming down the same road, an armored outfit was moving in from the other side. In the resulting confusion, the 736th was the only Corps artillery to get into position and registered in time for an attack upon Regensburg inducing that city to surrender. Two prisoners were captured. |
| 26 April 1945: | Pfc. Mark A. Barber of the
attached “D”
battery, 455th
AAA was shot in the left forearm by a sniper. The battalion received 16 reinforcements. |
| 27 April 1945: | Battalion received 18
more reinforcements.
The battalion
was commended by XX Corps Artillery Commander for it’s role in providing support fire for the capture of Regensburg. |
| 30 April 1945: | At 1400 the battalion began
its march across
the Danube
river. While leaving its position a “HQ” kitchen trailer and a “C” battery gasoline trailer turned over. Luckily no injuries. The battalion went onto an assembly area at Pfatter (Bez-Amt-Regensburg). During this period the battalion sustained one battle causality. Awards presented were 1 Silver Star, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster to Silver Star, 8 Bronze Stars, 1 Oak Leaf Cluster to Air Medal, and 1 Croix De Guerre. A total of 1325 rounds were fired. |
| 2 May 1945: | At 1148 hours the battalion
commenced a 65
mile march
along the west bank of the Danube river closing at 1852 hours at Eichet (Kreis-Passau) where firing positions were occupied in support of the 65th Infantry Division. 139 rounds were fired from this position into Austria. |
| 3 May 1945: | The last round fired by the
battalion was
fired by
“B” battery at 0500 hours over the Inn River into Austria. Battalion took four prisoners. |
| 4 May 1945: | 18 Enlisted men were sent to Passua to help regulate traffic. |
| 5 May 1945: |
The firing batteries were
given “Close
Station”,
infantry out of range. Two prisoners were taken. “A” battery reported flares in the nearby woods, it was suspected they were SS troops. |
| 6 May 1945: | At 1200 hours this
organization was relieved of
its combat
mission effective this date. 1st Lt., Mark Johnson left for the USA to undergo training as a liaison pilot. |
| 7 May 1945: | At 1630 hours official word
was received through
military
channels that the war had ended and that the enemy had surrendered unconditionally effective 0019 May 1945. |
VE Day 9 May 1945
 |
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