ASLComp Vossenack: Everyman Edition

VOSSENACK, GERMANY, 2 November 1944: At 0900 hours the riflemen of Companies G and F, accompanied by the tanks of Company C, 707th, began to pass through the outpost positions in Germeter. Almost as soon as the preparatory American artillery fire shifted to more distant targets, the Germans replied with a heavy artillery concentration of their own upon the line of departure, and the attacking companies sustained a number of casualties. Nevertheless the attack continued, and the men and tanks moved out into the shell-pocked open fields leading east to the objective, plainly marked in the morning mist by the shell-scarred tower of the Vossenack church. With the tanks taking the lead, the infantrymen fell in close behind, stepping in the tank tracks as a precaution against antipersonnel mines. Scattered small arms fire from Vossenack sprayed the tanks, and the Germans fired light mortar concentrations; but neither stopped the advance. On the left in its attack along the open slopes north of Vossenack toward the northeastern nose of the ridge, Company G started out, its attached tanks firing at the Vossenack church steeple. Company F, with its armor reinforcements, came from the right. Friendly mines were poorly marked and posed a hazard, but the combined-arms effort, reinforced by a .50-cal. platoon from Company H, was able to seize Vossenack without excessive casualties.