War Movies and life in reserve

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semallon	War Movies and life in reserve	Lead	[-]
Posts: 47 (02/11/08 00:10:27) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None Today, Feb. 10, The TV stations had 2 war movies that I partially saw. I saw parts of "Band of Brothers" and "Saving Private Ryan." That guy, Stephen Spielberg, is a fantastic producer of movies. Both portrayed the best of American combat soldiers. All war movies show soldiers crowded or grouped together when on the front lines and even when attacking the enemy. We were always told to maintain an interval of at least 10 yards. In other words, stay at least 10 yards away from any of your comrades. This is because if a mortar or artillery shell explodes near you, it will likely only cause one or 2 casualties. Also, an enemy unseen machine gun could take out a dozen or more with one burst of fire if they're close together. I understand that a movie would be quite boring if it could show close up only one person at a time. Seeing the human reactions and interchange of conversation between buddies is quite important and makes the movies very exciting. Another thing that needs to be understood is that in combat a soldier is not confronting the enemy every day. There are many days when your regiment or battalion or company is in reserve. This means that you are behind the front lines and ready to move up and help when needed.- A second line of defense if you will. This didn't happen in Eastern France but in Italy sometimes the whole division was pulled back miles from the front for re-training, rest and most likely to take in replacements. Shortly after I joined the 36^th north of Rome, the entire division was pulled off the front and bivouacked near Rome for about a week with many passes to visit the imperial city. Next, the entire division was sent way down to the Salerno area for a month of amphibious training in preparation for landing in Southern France. Surprisingly, one company had about a dozen deaths because their small flat bottomed Higgens boat hit a sand bar and the men ran out the front as ordered, landing in very deep water. The smart ones took of their packs in the water, dropped their rifles, grenades, etc. and swam to the beach. The dumb ones were casualties of the war, obedient, but dead! I'm not seeing as much participation in this message board as we use to have. I hope more will write in, inquire, let others know any relevant news etc. Our European friends are great to participate and hope they continue. Jay D. Baxter Participated in Co. B, 143^rd Regiment and the Batallion Anti-tank Platoon of the 143 RCT, 36^th division.
hclaudon	WWII	#1	[-]
Posts: 32 (02/11/08 01:58:48) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Dear M. Baxter, Thanks for your testimony, it is so interresting and so important to understand life during those historic days. Unfortunately, most of veterans keep silence after they got back home after war and that's why their sons and daughters try to get informations after they pass over ! We try to follow GI's steps during autumn 1944 in our area and we need informations and testimonies. With Gerome, we are actually searching on the Moselle crossing and it was a very important operation at the bottom of the Vosges mountains. Its success saved so many lives ! At the end, we will expose you all of this on the forum. I'm very surprise to read that you didn't have rest during your campaign in East of France, can you give us more informations about that ? Thank you. Hervé.
cricket37	pictures	#2	[-]
Posts: 3 (02/11/08 22:43:15) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Hi there - again I also (found in my research) pictures (a lot) of the 36th 141st training in S. Carolina and at Fort Benning in Georgia prior to going to the N. Africa. I can email or post where ever you would like. My cousin (James L. McNeil's granddaughter) is sending me more. There are quiet a few group shots as well. Cyndi
semallon	Herve' & Cyndi	#3	[-]
Posts: 48 (02/12/08 00:15:09) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	After landing east of San Raphael, we moved quickly north in the hill country with no rsistance. We passed Digne, Sisteron and Aspres. This was a happy time where we were hailed as victors and received gifts from the locals. They had excellent cheese in the dairy towns and wine everywhere. Some of our units were sent over to Montilimar and some at Valence to cut off the German retreat. There were a few tough battles for several of our 9 regiments. With our artillery and air force we destroyed huge amounts of German armament. Hundreds of draft horses were seen dead, many with four legs facing upward. Next was the big city of Lyons where we let the FFI and the Marquis take the city. It was mostly riding in trucks with short stops while the front units knocked out enemy road blocks. When we got close to the Moselle River, resistance got much tougher. I think the Generals kept us on the front lines so long hoping to get the war over by Christmas. We had tough fights at Bruyers and the St. Marie Pass but only a few battalions were envolved at a time. The battalions rotated at the point of the fighting so although all were at the front lines, most were just clearing areas that had been taken. Most veterans were quite silent after the war because we didn't want to think of the misery and death we had seen. Later in life, many have writen books about our experiences and talk freely. Cyndi, I didn't train with the 36th Div. in the states so pictures wouldn't help me. There were many Infantry Divisions training in the states longer than the 36th but I think the 36th was highly rated so they got in battle early. They proved their ability at Pasteum (Salerno) on Sept 9, 1943. Jay D. Baxter
hclaudon	Details of life	#4	[-]
Posts: 34 (02/13/08 14:41:55) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Thanks M. Baxter for all those informations, there are so precious ! I would ask you if you remember details of your food during your journey in Europe ? I collected a few rations but can you give me your appreciations about that ? Thanks again, Hervé.
hclaudon	Details of life	#5	[-]
Posts: 34 (02/13/08 14:41:55) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Thanks M. Baxter for all those informations, there are so precious ! I would ask you if you remember details of your food during your journey in Europe ? I collected a few rations but can you give me your appreciations about that ? Thanks again, Hervé.
semallon	Food on the Front	#6	[-]
Posts: 49 (02/17/08 20:40:06) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I apologize for being late in responding on my opinion of Army food in the 36 Division. We had an adequate amount of good nutritious food. The only seasoning was salt and pepper. The cooks had only about a dozen menus so the food got quite boring. The scrambled eggs were made from powdered eggs and the potatoes were made from powered potatoes. Fresh eggs could be purchased from the civilians at a price but I didn't mind the powered stuff myself. One fellow from Louisiana wouldn't eat most of the time because he was accustomed to highly seasoned and spiced Cajun food. His wife sent some Louisiana Hot Sauce and he then became a good eater. If your are not accoustomed to this sauce, it will burn a hole in your tongue unless used with food. In Italy, several men got disgusted and went to a farmhouse where they bought a good Italian meal which was well seasoned. They traded cigarettes and chocolate for the meal. A few days later they got sick and we learned that the Italians had gotten the food from the dumped U.S. Army garbage and heated and seasoned it. When I was in France from our beachhead landing at Dramat, until we reached St. Marie, we had cooked food twice a day. This was because our anti-tank platoon was in headquarters company. The three rifle companies had C or K rations more than half of the time. This was unfair but that was the way of the Army. St. Marie area was where I was transferred to B Company. Our anti-tank platoon had 3 21/2 ton trucks. Two men rode in the front cab and about 6 were in the back. The truck pulled a 57 mm gun. One day, in the Moselle River area, we ran in to a cloud burst. We were as wet as if we had been in the bottom of a river. After a mile or two traveling, we came to a farm house with smoke coming out of the chimney. We ran in the house and found 3 older French women. They went right to work taking off all our wet clothes and drying them on strings near the stove. They weren't concerned with our modesty, just very practical in getting us dry with towels. We got a big laugh out of this! After our clothes were dry, they gave us an excellent meal of chicken in a vegetable stew. In return, we gave them a box of food called a ten man meal. Then we headed North in the truck. They loved the powdered instant coffee, powdered lemon juice, and especially a gallon of beef squares in gravey. The biscuits we had were very hard but I suppose they had their own bread. J.D. Baxter.
hclaudon	Life at the front	#7	[-]
Posts: 36 (02/18/08 07:06:12) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Wow ! Thanks so much M. Baxter ! Don't apologise for your late, your details are so important ! It's very interresting to comparte them with french testimonies. I noticed you were "lucky" to eat with the ambulant kithcen even if there was only dozen of menus. I recognised your "10 in 1", those rations with "first half of 5 rations" and "second half". There are still empty boxes in several farms in the area, especially where was field artillery. You speak either about C and K rations, as you said, they bored rifle troops and GI's tried to exchange them with fresh food like eggs or chicken or brandy ! Local people said that US rations where too spiced for them. However, my dad said that they ate some till the 60's ! and I founded some not opened in the 80's and the 90's ! What do you remember about unregular food or drinks, we sometimes find boxes or bottles that looks not from regular rations ? Did you always used the halazone to purify the water, used fuel for heating your meals,... ? Here's a few photo, may be they will enjoy your memory ? Thanks again M. Baxter. Hervé.
semallon	G.I. FOOD	#8	[-]
Posts: 51 (02/18/08 19:31:39) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Herve', I very much appreciated those photos. We used halizone tablets to purify water in Italy but not in France. The water in Eastern France seemed to always be safe. I do remember the fuel tablets often carried by infantrymen. If we didn't have fuel tablets, we would burn the wrappings of K rations which had a lot of wax to keep the contents air tight. In Italy, we were required to swallow an aterbraine tablet (substitute for quinine) everyday to prevent malaria but not in France. An officer stood at the head of the chow line and popped the pill in each man's mouth and watched him swallow it. In France,we found wine in bottles and barrels almost everywhere. A lot of soldiers got sick on what we called "green wine." There was also Vermouth. To test hard liquor,it was common to pour some out and light a match to it. If it burned, it was considered good to drink. That may not be very scientific but was the practice. Any non regular food found would have been from the Red Cross or sent from home. I had heard that a lot of people in the Nice area were of Italian descent. On August 16, in the early morning we were camped in a farm yard. We were out of drinking water. All at once an old man and his wife came up out of a cellar near the house. I asked for acqua but he didn't understand. Then I showed him my canteen and he quickly took us to a hand pump and gave us all the water we could drink. We soon learned to talk to the French in sign language. They were quick to understand what we needed and quickly fetched it. Jay D. Baxter, Sgt, Co. B 143 Infantry.
hclaudon		#9	[-]
Posts: 37 (02/20/08 03:19:45) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Thanks again Mr Baxter, so interresting ! After reading you, I understand better some facts, notably why we find so many bootles of halazone : it's because you didn't use them ! You noticed that I found so many types in our area ! What did you call "green wine", was it the young wine unfinished ? Boxes of rations were very hard, they are still and I never found some more hard ! I noticed that there was different type : V1, V2 and V3. Those last ones where less good and used in wood boxes, example for K rations. About hte food, here's on photo a descrition of the meal of a "ten in one" ration. May be it will remind you some details about the quality of the food or other details ? French people enjoyed your coffee because they haven't tasted some since 1939 ! They replaced it with burned barley... not so good ! French restriction was still 1947 and barley was used till this year, here's on photo a small bag of it. Here's photos of drinks, do you remember some of those bottles in iron or in glass : I don't know what the ones in glass contained, may be beer ? Her's too, photos of cigarettes, You can see that some are closed with a yellow paper on the top and others with a blue paper, did you saw the both types during WWII ? Thanks for your testimony, have a great day ! Hervé.
TRosenbluth		#10	[-]
Posts: 30 (02/20/08 06:36:36) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Hi Herve, Spoke to my Dad about this and he said that they also used candles to warm the food as they were easily available. Take care Terry
hclaudon	food	#11	[-]
Posts: 39 (02/20/08 07:39:32) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Thanks Terry, Don't hesitate to ask more details to your father ! Hervé.

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