Schaffner Recollections

The date and place eludes my memory, but not the incident. "I was detailed to accompany the Lt. and a radio operator to the observation post of the day. It turned out to be the attic of a farmhouse located where we had a view of the front and were able to direct artillery fire when requested. During a quiet time, the Lt. told us that he was going outside to take care of "personal business". He was equipped with a new weapon that I had not seen close up before. It was a .45 caliber M3 sub-machine gun that was known as a "grease gun", because that is what it looked like. He left it with us when he went outside. That was a mistake. Curiosity got the best of me so I picked it up for a closer examination. It had a small crank handle on the side that must have been put there for a purpose, but what ? I cradled the gun in my left hand and pulled the handle back with my right hand. It was spring loaded and when I let it go, the gun said, "BANG!!!!" and a bullet went out the window. SURPRISE!!!! There were no Germans in sight, so when the Lt. came back he said, "What are you guys shooting at anyway? You want to give away our position?" We gave him some lame excuse and it all went away when we got a fire mission. I believe that it was in this same house that I found a sewing machine and made myself a sleeping bag using two GI blankets and a shelter-half for a cover. " Here is another that happened after the war was over: "Practice for battery and battalion tests were held regularly at a range near Kempernich, about 10 miles north of Camp Jones. The range was in heavily rolling country which provided many good O.P.'s as well as battery positions and much progress was made with the training during this period. On one day, when our unit was not involved in an exercise, I was ordered to go to the motor pool, requisition a 2 & 1/2 ton truck and driver, go to a POW pen, check out a truck load of German POW's and deliver them to the artillery range to perform whatever menial tasks the commander there had for them. I was given a hand drawn map to use for directions. When I got the truck and driver, I handed the driver the map and asked him if he knew how to find the place. He replied in the affirmative, so we got started. We found the POW pen and loaded the back of the truck with Germans and a G.I. guard and started up the road. I was already lost. The driver eventually said, "this is the place", and turned off onto an un-improved road that led us up through deserted villages into the hills. Next he turned into a logging road, shifted into low gear and started up the hill through the woods. I figured that we were getting close because the sounds of artillery fire were very plain to the ear. No sooner than I thought about how close we were, when about four rounds came crashing down through the trees to explode not 200 feet away. We were there all right, but on the wrong end of the range. The driver slammed down on the brakes, shifted into reverse, backed into the brush, swung the wheel around, and said, "LET'S GET THE HELL OUTTA HEAH!!!" Down the hill we came, on that trail, as fast as he dared drive, around a curve to the right at full speed and that truck was NOT going to stay on the road. We struck the end of a loosely piled stone wall head on. Rocks flew everywhere. The truck came to rest, on the wall, still upright, all ten wheels off the ground, still full of very scared German POW's and our one G.I. guard. We all dismounted, and after sizing up our situation, I had the POW's tear down the rest of the wall and get busy chocking rocks under the wheels. We were apparently out of the line of fire by this time so we took our time getting the truck back on the road. It seemed none the worse for wear. All that iron was still in running order. It's a good thing that those rocks were not mortared together, could have bent the bumper on that truck. I decided that I had enough excitement for one day, so we drove back to the POW pen, returned the prisoners, drove to the motor pool, returned the truck, I went back to the battery area and reported, "Mission accomplished, sir". It was about chow-time and I never heard another word about the big fiasco. I would like to meet up with one of those German prisoners some time to see how he remembers that day".