Notes about April, 1945 (Part 1 of 3)

As I promised in my notes at the end of March, April 1945 was quite the explosive month!  The many months of planning, fortifying their positions, and deceiving the enemy as to troop movements and whereabouts paid off.  The men of the 757th Tank Battalion, along with the 85th, 88th, and 34th infantry division mobilized like they had never before, and began the northward march. 

I've decided to split up my analysis of April into three sections for numerous reasons.  First, I don't have the time to do all of the necessary research for the month of April, work nine hours a day, and spend time with my beautiful wife all at the same time.  Second, notice that Vernon was able to describe the month of March in a little bit over two journal pages.  April is 14 jam-packed journal pages.  And third, there are several
corresponding documents to go with April and I'm limited as to the size of each post.

The first half of April is a lesson in mobilization.  The Combat Highlights of the 757th Tank Battalion states "1-15 Apr 45: Early in April the companies and the Bn reorganized and regrouped."  During the 11 days of March 27, 1945 - April 6, 1945 Vernon is on active alert with assault platoon.  As described in my March post, the enemy are spending an average of 50 rounds per day shelling the Allies.  This low level of shelling was just enough to ward off any attacks, while at the same time it allowed the fascist forces to conserve ammunition for a later fight.

Vernon's journal was evidence of the fact that while the threat was tangible, it was not severe.  From April 1-7 he only makes one reference to a "barrage" and later verifies it was only "target practice."  He seems more captivated by the picture of Dee Spiltz he received, and the red cross girl.  (In the case of the red cross girl, he's not interested in her so much as he is the doughnuts she's carrying, just proving I am in fact blood-related to him).

His post on April 8 is a good premonition of what's to come.  He writes:

Soon the summer offensive will begin + its supposed to be the biggest ever staged in Italy yet. It is said the skies will be black with planes + artillery barrage will be bigger than ever. Reason for such an offensive is that they don’t want another Cassino episode or stalemate.

It appears that the men of the 85th were well aware of what was to come.  The old navy adage that "loose lips sink ships" must not apply to terrestrial infantry - if troop scuttlebutt was powerful enough to make it to a lowly PFC like Vern, everyone must have been talking about it.

The next seven days (April 9-15) Vern was relieved from active assault and returned to base camp.  On April 10th he received a letter from what looks like Lucille Hoschette.  If there are any relatives who read this and know if Vernon had a relative named Lucille Hoschette, please let me know.  I know he had a brother Walter.  In his collection he had these two pictures of Walter, who was serving in the navy at the time:

The inscription on the back of this photo reads: "Left to Right. Monty Frank Maulik Wally Jim Wheil Erickson July 29 - 44"

As you can see, the front of this photo reads "Ain't this a Dilly."  My guess is that the meaning of this phrase is something like "ain't this cool/funny."  There's a Marlon Grisham song called "Ain't that a Dilly" and from the lyrical context it seems my analysis is spot on.

On April 12, 1945, while Vernon wrote a letter to a woman named Dee, Franklin Delano Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia of a massive cerebral hemhorrage.  Vernon made note of it in his journal by writing "Pres. Roosevelt died today."  Coincidentally (or perhaps as a direct result of FDR's untimely death) Field-Marshal H.R. Alexander, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Mediterranean Theatre issued a special order of the day to all "Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Forces in the Mediterranean Theatre:"

"Final victory is near.  The German Forces are now very groggy and only need one mighty punch to knock them out for good.  The moment has now come for us to take the field for the last battle which will end the war in Europe.  You know what our comrades in the West and in the East are doing on the battlefields.  It is now our turn to play our decisive part.  It will not be a walk-over; a mortally wounded beast can still be very dangerous.  You must be prepared for a hard and bitter fight; but the end is quite certain - there is not the slightest shadow of doubt about that.  You, who have won every battle you have fought, are going to win this last one.  Forward then into battle with confidence, faith and determination to see it through to the end. Godspeed and good luck to you all."

This special order is a part of Vernon's collection.  The date it was received is amended to read "[12] - April, 1945" presumably by Vernon.  The very next day, April 13, Vernon tells us that General Mark W. Clark spoke directly to the men of what was now the Fifth Army Division.  I've included a picture of General Clark below:

The next few days must have been filled with an explosion of chatter, rumor, and conjecture.  The men of the Fifth Army Division were most likely terrified, but at the same time excited.  I cannot write from the perspective of a soldier in combat, having never served myself, but I do know the fear military officers have about "idle hands."  These men must have known that the end of the war was near, and that they were about to be a part of the final push.  The months of muddy rain-filled malaise were about to be transformed into a spring filled with victory.

On the eve of the attack, April 15, 1945, Vernon writes:

Today the big air raid over Stalz began. From 1 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. airplanes flew over in huge bunches of 50 or 60 at intervals of every 5 minutes. It was said 1500 planes were going to be flown over + they did. During this time we were ordered to wear our steel helmets + stay under cover as our ack ack guns were firing straight up to guide our planes over us to enemy territory. After raid was over we expected shelling but nothing came in. Also big artillery barrages went up at nite + the big push was about to start.

The next day the attack began...