Another Nazi Convoy Pulverized

F.O. Team Sits On Target
As Guns Open Up. . .

To celebrate the anniversary of the Salerno landing, a F O team of an artillery battalion, sat on a target to identify it when the guns opened up.

Lt. Karl Martin, Tulsa, Okla., Cpl. Harold Horning, Dallas, Tex., and Pvt. Charles D, Petter, Booneville, Ind., started the holiday ordinarily enough, when the infantry unit to which they were attached advanced against strong enemy positions. Later in the day the Germans brought up strong reinforcements by a route on which there was no observation, so Lt. Martin and his team volunteered to make a recon to see if there was some point from which fire could be directed on the enemy.

« We started up a lonely road, » related Horning, « when some Germans stepped out in front of our jeep to surrender. We turned around and took them back to the POW cage, there was nothing else we could do ».

Returning they went a little further and ran into a recon outfit which told them they would be able to get observation from the road ahead.

« I figured they didn’t know any more about it than we did. They hadn’t been up there themselves ». said the Lt., « We never got a chance to find out. We got around a bend in the road when the Jerries had some mortars zeroed in on us. We beat it, but quick. »

Leaving Pvt. Petter in the jeep, the other two set out to trap the Germans across country. They finally reached the infantry outposts. « And still no road », said Horning. « We had gone several miles and still no sign of the road or the Germans. »
About 2.000 yards further they heard the noise of Germans marching. Peering through the brush they observed lines of infantrymen marching on their way to the lines.

« No outposts, no nothing », recalled the Lt., « It was a cinch for us. We sneaked down within a 100 yards of them, then Petter came up with the radio and went to work.

Petter grinned, « It was no fun, » he said, We knew about where we were according to the map and had to adjust our guns accordingly One short round and they would need a new F O. As it was, every time we called for a round, we ducked into a ditch and didn’t stick our heads out till the shrapnel stopped falling.

« But it was terrific to see », added Cpl. Horning, « The fire just knocked those Jerries out of the picture. Then we moved back to a safer spot and stayed there all day, just calling down fire on their reinforcements and on a convoy that came in sight and everything else that moved. It was good to celebrate Salerno ».