Making connections …
Extract from the memoir of Corporal Joseph Negri, Troop A. (Courtesy of Karen Farrell)
As the material we have on the squadron expands, apparent connections begin to appear between the accounts of different men.
Some of the written memoirs mention other men that we have researched and this helps bring the story to life.
Occasionally an event is mentioned that seems to connect with a photograph. This is one example.
Joe’s photograph of a captured tank crew is undated and his written notes don’t say where this happened. However, we now have a copy of the memoir written by 1st Lieutenant Gus Blass, who joined the squadron as a replacement in December 1944.
The following is an excerpt from Gus’s account of his service.
My Most Harrowing Combat Experience
Leaving Aachen, our mission was to capture Cologne, which meant crossing the Roer River. Cologne is some 45 miles northeast of Aachen. There is a little town about three miles from where we crossed the Roar. I remember that the land was flat as flat as the back of my hand. This was the type of land on which the dreaded Tiger tank loved to engage.
"Tank country," I mused to myself as we moved along the Germany countryside.
It wasn't long until I saw tank track marks. I halted my vehicles and studied the tracks, which seemed a million miles wide. The Tiger tracks were much wider than those of our Shermans. I touched the tracks and found that the mud was still wet. There was a Tiger up ahead almost certainly in that little town, probably half-hidden and waiting to ambush us. My stomach did flip-flops!
I called my superior officer, Captain Norman, and asked him for some firepower to soften up things before we moved in. Sometimes, you could bring heavy artillery in on a German tank and it would return fire, thus giving away its location.
"Blass, time is of the essence. Go ahead and take the town," said Norman.
I told Sgt. Cauriveaux to lead the charge and I'd be in the third vehicle. The third vehicle gives the one in charge the best vantage from which to command the entire column. One can see everything and issue orders accordingly.
Cauriveaux, a veteran of some of our hardest fighting, just shook his head. He had made the D-Day landing at Normandy, but wanted no part of going after a Tiger tank in a jeep. I told Corporal Fortner t o get in the lead vehicle. He refused to budge. I called Captain Norman and again requested heavy fire, needing it before anyone would take the lead vehicle into town.
"Speed gets 'em. After them, Blass," Norman commanded
So I mixed a shot of grain alcohol and grapefruit juice, downed it, then had another. I eased into the head of the column and we started down the road. I could just imagine that Tiger lining us up in his sights.
Memories swirled in my mind. My thoughts were of mother. I wanted to see her again. I remembered the times that I had caused her problems and pain. I wanted to tell her that I had been wrong. I wished that I could tell mother that I loved her and appreciated all that she had done for me. And there was the thought that I might never see her again.
I thought of dad and wished I could thank him for putting me through school. I thought of the Razorbacks and how nice it would be see another football game. I knew the odds were better than even money that I'd be killed or wounded. To be killed now at age 21 was not an inviting thought.
I told the crews of the two jeeps and two other armored cars to follow me and we'd go in as fast as we could. If we were going to be a target, at least we would be a fast one. Off we went, revved up to as fast as we could go.
Miraculously, no enemy shells came as we roared into town. The awesome looking Tiger sat in the town center unmanned. We captured the tank, but the crew wasn't in sight. We soon found them inside a nearby building eating lunch. When we captured them, they had the most sheepish looks on their faces
Looking back, that was my luckiest day of the war. I thanked God like I had never had before. Certainly, his hand had been on my shoulder.
Do Joe’s pictures above show that captured tank crew? Or were these separate incidents? Was it really a Tiger Tank? Allied troops were often so in awe of German tanks that they called them ‘Tigers’ generically. One of our researchers speculates that the tank in Gus’s account could have been a Panther, given the relatively small difference between 66 cm and 72.5 cm tracks.
And yet it seems doubtful that Reconnaissance Troop A, mounted only on jeeps and thinly protected M8 Greyhound armoured cars, captured many Tiger Tanks (or indeed Panthers) in combat and Joe and Gus were certainly fighting alongside each other (maybe Joe was in Gus’s platoon - we don’t yet know).
All of this is conjecture. But as more information surfaces it may eventually be possible to tell parts of the squadron’s story in richer detail than the original After Action reports and other documents allow.
Nor are the original documents always necessarily reliable as hard fact. For example, Gus Blass is listed as arriving with the squadron on January 31 1945. But his memoir seems to suggest that he was involved in December’s fighting during the Battle of the Bulge. He seems to have been involved in the defence of St Vith, which proved decisive in holding up the German advance so that Patton’s Third Army could famously stop it entirely after his celebrated manoeuvre to turn an entire army around in 48 hours.
Gus also reports being involved in helping to retrieve the bodies after the infamous SS massacre of US PoWs at Malmedy, which happened on December 17 1944.
Speaking of key events, for an ‘unknown’ or little celebrated unit, the 24th Cav Recon were involved in many of them. For example, Troop A were among the first to cross the Rhine via the Ludendorff bridge, which the Allies were surprised to find intact. A story for another post.
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