| Table of Contents < - - - return Chapter 31 - Climbach < - - - next Don Bennett's War Chapter 30 - The Maginot Line _______________________ We traveled further up the valley and when night came we took a short break in the woods. We were suddenly surprised a few minutes later when a burst of small arms fire came at us from another clump of trees about 100 yards to the west. We were all ready to return the fire when our captain told us to keep quiet. The captain took a patrol out and contacted some of the enemy infantry and a tank at a crossroad. He surprised the tank for they had their hatches open, but his 45 jammed when he fired at them, and all he could do was cuss them as they drove down the road. He came back and a few hours later, he and two riflemen, one was Meairs, and I headed down a pitch black road on a patrol with the mission of making contact with G Company. We kept our eyes peeled and expected an ambush at any time, but no Germans were seen. We found G Company in a small village and after a short conference, a couple men were sent over to bring the rest of our company. They arrived at three o'clock in the morning and we tried to get two hours of sleep before daylight. I put my small German tarp on the frozen ground upon which Meairs and I laid down. Meairs pulled his lone blanket over us and we tried to sleep. Although I was dead tired, I was too cold, and my hips were too sore to get much sleep. My hips were sore from laying on cold frozen ground. I couldn't lay on my back because of my ammunition belt. After a couple hours of this attempted shivering rest, we got up and at dawn, silently headed north toward the Maginot line. We made good time because of no contact with the enemy and reached the Maginot line by noon. We took a little time looking over all the concrete runways and pillboxes, partly for possible Germans and partly for curiosity. Our battalion moved on northward with excitement tingling in our veins. We were only a mile and a
half from "Germany". Chapter 31 - Climbach < - - - next Table of Contents < - - - return _________________________ Copyright, Donald Bennett
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