WW2 Vet George Perrine's Story PART 5
PART 4
FORWARD:
We were lucky enough to meet this fine fellow - George Perrine, United States Army, 2nd Armored Division – on D-Day 70th anniversary, 2014. He is sharing his story, in his own words, of his time during the war.
It is a long tale so we will be posting it over a few days so look for the rest of the story.
The battalion crossed the Belgium border September 29th, 9:30 a.m. If we encountered dismounted troops we rounded them up, disarmed them and started them marching back to the rear. Vehicle columns that had no tanks we shot up, rounded up prisoners and headed them to the rear. If we encountered tanks or strong roadblock positions, we called in the Air Force P-47’s. After a work over by the P-47’s, most of those positions gave up. We destroyed their equipment and started them to the rear. Strongly held positions that did not affect our advance were bypassed and left for armor and infantry to take out.
During this time we moved forward day and nights. First it was Belgium, and then Holland became the objective. The lack of fuel was the only holdup. Several times we stopped with dry fuel tanks waiting for fuel to come forward. Fuel was delivered in 5 gallons cans by 2 ½ ton trucks. Many times, I stated I would rather be a scout leading the divisions than driving on of the fuel trucks through the retreating German army rear areas. There were many small groups of German soldiers bypassed by the reconnaissance elements of the divisions, desperately trying to get through to Germany. One well-placed round would make a blazing torch of a truckload of gasoline.
Rivers became wider, and canals became more numerous, and resistance stiffened as we headed towards Holland. Fighting became intense as the Germans defended the canals and rivers. Our divisions pushed on, clearing each obstacle as we came to it. Holland’s border was reached September 12. September 18th, the division was on German soil. From august 29th, when we crossed the Seine River, to September 20th when the division drive was halted after crossing into Germany, I was constantly on the over with very little rest. On two short occasions, I was back in my armored car, then back into the scout section. I made two trips back through “Indian Country” (the area between the forward elements and the leading armor and infantry units of the division), about twenty five miles of unoccupied territory. Using captured German trucks and one jeep was a “hairy” experience that I would not want to repeat too often. We were challenged by American roadblocks on occasion at night but never fired upon. The three things that stick in my mind are boredom (hurry up and wait), how tired you can get and still function and the smell of death, rotting and/or burned flesh. Once identified, you’ll never forget it. By this time I had become calloused to what I was witnessing by sight.
On October 2nd, the division jumped off by attacking the Siegfried Line. The divisions, tanks, infantry, artillery, and engineers conducted the assault. Our unit’s mission was to secure the division’s right flank and clear minefields.
Clearing minefields was not one of my pleasures of life. We got lucky and completed our assignment without casualties. One little incident was amusing if frustrating. We were ordered to clear a rather large field that appeared to be heavily mined. We set to work and spent on half day probing and sweeping for anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. The field was full of trip wires indicating anti-personnel mines and the sold had circular sections cut out and replacing indicating anti-tank mines. Amazingly, we found one S-mine, an anti-personnel mine which we safely removed. Not bad for ½ day’s dangerous work by fifty men!
On October 8th, the division was through the Siegried Line and captured the town of Oidtweiler. It was here on October 23rd that I received my second wound of the war. I was ambushed by a German patrol behind our front line. The wound was through the calf of my left leg by a 9 MM round fire from a machine pistol. It did not stop me, so I ran like hell and was not hit again. I was in the general hospital at Hereford, England, and later a convalescent hospital for 4 ½ months. As I had recovered nicely, I was sent back through the replacement system to the replacement center in Verviers, Belgium.
I was in the replacement centre for a week or so and no one came from the division to pick me up. So I bluffed my way through the main gate and caught a streetcar to the east side of town. Sticking out my thumb to the first vehicle that came by, I got a ride with an engineer outfit. While traveling down the road, a jeep from the 2nd Army Division MP’s overtook us. I asked the engineer jeep driver to catch the MP jeep and he did. Pulling up beside the stopped MP jeep, I stepped over into it and thanked the engineers for the lift.
I explained who I was, where I came from, where I was going, and that I was AWOL from the Viviers replacement depot. They agreed to take me to the “B” Company but before they turned me over to the company commander, they made him give them a receipt for me. After all, I was AWOL in a war zone. Now let me explain. If you’re going to go AWAOL and claim that you are trying to return to you unit and get picked up by the MP’s , you had better have your fighting gear with you, including your assigned fire arm. Otherwise your story will not be very convincing. We all had a good laugh, as I was welcomed back. I was on the company roster as of midnight the same day I went AWOL, therefore nothing was ever placed on my service record.
Continued: Excerpt from next chapter – “The roadblocks were all unmanned but we found out too late that this one was defended."
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