campagne champagne

Aug. 18, 1944 Le Muy, France
Aug. 20, 1944 Truck Théoule-sur-Mer, France

Arrived 11AM.

Strength of command:
Officers Enlisted
Hq & Hq Btry 11 61
A 5 85
B 6 86
C 5 84
D 5 94
TOTAL 32 410


Aug. 21, 1944 Théoule-sur-Mer, France

Casualties:
Pvt. Thomas M. Shaw WIA
Pvt. Warren L. Snead WIA
Pfc. Edward M. Spath WIA
Pvt. Thomas J. Wolf WIA

Aug. 23, 1944 Truck La Napoule, France

Arrived 5:30PM


Casualties:
Pvt. John P. Hay KIA (buried at Draguignan Cemetery)
Pfc. George P. Ruell KIA (buried at Draguignan Cemetery)
Pvt. Howard Knapp WIA - LW - Leg
Pvt. George P. Tolster WIA
Pvt. Merlin E. Van Etten WIA
Pvt. Joseph Vuchak WIA
Pfc. Weldon Walker WIA - LW - Leg

Aug. 24, 1944 Truck La Napoule, France
Aug. 25, 1944 Truck Antibes, France

Arrived 10AM



Casualties:

Pvt. Alfred H. Hulshizer KIA

Pvt. Michael J. Austin IIA - LW - Left Knee

Pvt. Lloyd L. Boisjolie WIA

T/5 Hudson J. Chenevert IIA - Contusion, Buttocks

Pvt. Leo A. Guelette WIA

Pfc. James W. Hall WIA - SFW - Back

Pvt. Stewart H. Pelton WIA

Pvt. Paul A. Pyontek WIA

T/4 Frank W. Scott WIA


Aug. 27, 1944

Casualties:
Cpl. Edward Kalinowski MIA

Aug. 28, 1944 Truck 3 Km East Antibes, France
Arrived 11AM

Aug. 30, 1944 Truck Castellane, France
Aug. 30, 1944 Truck Frejus, France
Aug. 30, 1944 Truck Barcelonnette, France

Batteries A and D arrived at 8PM.
463rd rapidly moved into Maritime Alps with the 550th Airborne Infantry to cut off German escape route into Italy. "Champagne Campaign"
The mission of all 4 batteries was to protect the pass through the Col de Larche and the Col de Vars, the two main roads to Turin, Italy.
The battalion front extended 12 miles with resupply by mules and backpacks.


Aug. 30, 1944 Truck 10 Kilometers west of St. Andres

Headquarters Battery and Batteries B and C arrived at 7:30PM.


Aug. 31, 1944 Jausiers, France

Monthly Report - Fired approximately 3,158 rounds on: Personnel - 27; Machine gun & gun positions - 6; Observation posts - 1. Targets disabled, destroyed: 3 machine guns; 3 gun positions; 2 strongpoints. Casualties: 5 enlisted men killed; 2 officers & 56 enlisted men wounded & injured.

Battalion united at 7:50PM. Set up position at 12,750 ft. at French fort.


Officers Enlisted
Hq & Hq Btry 19 156
A 5 84
B 6 80
C 5 81
D 5 81
TOTAL 41 482

(7 Os & 96 EM joined Hq from rear echelon)


Sept. 8, 1944 Casne de Restefond, France
Battery A moved into this position

Sept. 18, 1944 Jausiers, France

A suspicious man about 6'1" tall, blond hair, and wearing an OD shirt and slacks was reported in vicinity of Jausiers. It is believed that this man could be Capt. Bisping of the 90th PZ, Gren. Div.


Sept. 20, 1944 Jausiers, France
Reinforced by one platoon of French 105mm Howitzers for 3 days.

Sept. 26, 1944 Jausiers, France

Casualties:

2nd Lt. Robert F. Anderson WIA

1st Lt. William F. Biggs WIA

Pvt. Jose F. Rodriguez WIA


1st platoon of D Company, 2nd Chemical Battalion went into position at (5195-4545) and were ready to fire at 0800 hrs. 26 Sept. 1944. Patrol consisting of 1 O & 7 EM (1 O (Capt. Timothy Moran) & 1 EM 463rd, 2 EM, mortar observers 550th, & 4 EM from FFI) left the pill box at La Condamine to secure and set up observation post on Tête du Cuguret. Equipment consisted of 2 M1 rifles, 3 French rifles, 1 cal. .45 pistol, 1 TSMG & 1 Machine Rifle (French or German make), and several grenades, Fragmentation, one telephone and radio SCR 536 were also carried. At 0930 hours the patrol started with Machine Rifle covering advance in bounds of 1 to 2 hundred yards. On arriving approximately 600 yards from objective, 2 German riflemen were seen on ridge to left of Cuguret.
Artillery fire was called for and enemy retreated behind ridge. Patrol then proceeded towards objective. Upon reaching base of peak, the telephone line was found to be blown out in several places. It became necessary to leave four men to repair the line while one French EM and the one American officer mounted the peak. Upon attaining the peak at approximately 1110 hours, 4 German riflemen were seen approaching the peak from about 25 yards, 3 more joined them from the left and 5 more from the right. There was no way to signal the men at the base, so one grenade was tossed by the Frenchman and the two beat a hasty retreat down the side of the peak, gathering the rest of the patrol as they went. Numerous egg-shaped grenades were tossed by the Germans. Upon reaching base of peak, a machine gun approximately 150 yards to the right and another 175 to 200 yards to the left opened fire with rifles supporting them. Slight cover was found about 200 yards from there and Artillery fire was called for. They received Artillery fire with Chemical and 81mm mortars in addition. Under cover of this fire, they were able to withdraw by leaps and bounds to a comparatively safe position, when they began to receive enemy mortar fire and timed fire from Artillery. They returned to the pill box at approximately 1400 hours.


Sept. 30, 1944 Jausiers, France

Monthly Report - Fired 15,357 rounds on: Personnel - 32; Observation Posts - 20; Gun positions & Machine guns - 28; Mortars - 15. Targets disabled, destroyed, neutralized: 1 dugout; 3 pack trains, 1 pill box. Fired on 41 enemy patrols. Casualties: 1 officer, 2 enlisted men wounded.


Officers Enlisted
Hq & Hq Btry 16 193
A 5 101
B 5 97
C 5 97
D 4 100
TOTAL 35 588


Oct. 10, 1944 Jausiers, France

Two Germans wearing French civilian clothing over their uniforms were challenged by the sentry at 463rd Command Post at 0300 hour. Josef Gogler Unteroffizier, German Sergeant ASN 1414, 1st Co. 242 Pioneer Battalion, Division unknown was shot and killed by the sentry. His companion escaped through wadi. Believed to be slightly wounded. Both are believed to have been unarmed.
Battery A, in position at 10,000 feet at Casne de Restefond, found itself under 8 feet of snow after a three day blizzard. Much of the equipment had to be pulled down the mountain by hand on sleds fashioned from sheets of corrugated roofing before the roads were opened 3 days later.


Casualties:

T/5 James J. Hawkins WIA - SFW - Buttocks

Oct. 12, 1944 Jausiers, France

3 German speaking men were fighting with a man from D Btry, in Jausiers at 2115. Several Frenchmen ran over to help the man from D Btry. The men who were speaking German ran away. A patrol from B Btry (5 men in a jeep) left Jausiers at 2200 hour and proceeded to Barcelonnette looking for the German speaking men, but could not find them. The patrol returned at 2330 hour.


Oct. 14, 1944 Barcelonnette, France
Col. Cooper returns to battalion.

Oct. 15, 1944

Casualties:
Cpl. Lloyd C. Hood WIA - SFW - Leg

Oct. 16, 1944 Barcelonnette, France

During the previous week, C Battery was shelled out of its battery position in the village of Le Sauze and had to move its guns; a German was shot and killed while sneaking through battalion positions in uniform and on a bicycle wearing a French beret and French overcoat attempting to replenish his squads liquor supply as he had numerous empty canteens and wine bottles; and at dinnertime one evening with the chow lines full at battalion headquarters the Germans cut loose with a heavy artillery barrage scattering all chow lines.
Without infantry in its front, the 463rd was vulnerable to enemy attack.
Lt. Austin, FO, reported an enemy attack at 2030 hour on 463rd position at (52864656). It was receiving fire from machine guns and other small arms; also hand grenades. Lt. Austin adjusted fire in area from (52864670) to (54264760) to (53494775) to (52684710) with the result of breaking up the attack at 2300 hour. One EM was wounded. Enemy casualties were unknown. Strength of attack was one enemy platoon. Light harassing fire vic Jausiers and the 463rd CP throughout the night. Lt. Schoenedk, Air Observer, reported occupied enemy artillery position at (36325689) three mules and enemy personnel entering position from the south. Occupied defensive positions at (34405520). Enemy living in house probably prefabricated at (33455580). 2 large trucks on road between Col de Larche and Argentera. 5,619 rounds were fired throughout this period, arguably the most fired in a 24 hour period by a single battery during the course of the war.
(Being unattached and on paper attached to 2 separate units, the 463rd was able to acquire as many shells as it wanted along with any other equipment and rations it needed. Some thought the shelling was more to get rid of the excess shells than anything else.) Corps. Headquarters heard of the incident and Cooper was called to justify his use of so much ammunition. Gen. Fredericks was all set to chew Cooper out when Cooper brought the General's attention to the fact that there were no infantry in the 463rd's front and that all he had to shoot Germans with were 75mm shells. Shortly after, French Colonial Senegalese Infantry showed up to cover the front. A French Senegalese sergeant appeared with his squad one afternoon at C Battery's switchboard and communication center. One of the 463rd, speaking French, found out that these soldiers were sent to protect the area. They were taken out and shown the wire net to the guns and OP and the infantrymen were dispersed throughout the area. The nights, being very cold, the black colonials from equatorial Africa, who wore long robes and carried very sharp knives which they sometimes used on German victims, built large bon fires every night to keep warm.


Oct. 22, 1944 Truck 2 KM NW Menton (St. Agnes), France

The snows of late fall began and Hdqts, B and C Batteries arrived at this position at 2030 hour, joining the First Special Services Forces closer to the coast. They traveled through Antibes, Nice and Monte Carlo.



GENERAL NOTES ABOUT FRENCH ALPS AND RIVIERA

John Cooper

During one evening after Cooper returned, having recovered from his injuries during his jump, all batteries opened fire on their front, firing 5,600 rounds. (Being unattached and on paper attached to 2 separate units, the 463rd was able to acquire as many shells as it wanted along with any other equipment and rations it needed. Some thought the shelling was more to get rid of the excess shells than anything else.) The official reason for the firing was that the enemy were attacking and there were no infantry in the front, but the real reason was that one forward observer thought he had seen something and called fire on it. Since he had just returned, Cooper and some other officers were drinking when the firing began and unsure of the reason, let it continue. Only 3 wild goats fell victim to the shelling. General Frederick called Cooper to the first Airborne Task Force headquarters in Nice? to explain what had been going on. The shelling had been the greatest the battalion would fire in the war and one of the greatest in the European Theater. Cooper told him the truth, that he had just returned, had been celebrating and the firing began. He also called attention to the fact that no friendly troops were in his front. Frederick laughed, told Cooper to watch himself. He also told Cooper to prepare to bring his men back for a rest.

Claude Smith/Jay Karp (tapes)

#1 gun in Baker Battery taken up behind enemy lines because of reports of enemy mule train. Claude Smith, Joe Lyons, Nichols (gun sergeant), Karp and Clark were the only ones who could fit in jeep along with the ammunition. They fired 10 to 20 rounds. They fired so fast that the forward observer made the comment that he thought they were firing a machine gun. At one point they settled down to eat. While eating, a shell passed several yards behind them. Another fell several yards in front of them. One of the members asked Lyons, "Lt., what would you do if you were the forward observer and you threw one shell over and the other short? Where would you put the next one?" Lyons said, "I'd put the next in the middle." Before they knew it, a salvo exploded next to them. They ran for the basement of a nearby house and Lyons reported to headquarters that they were under fire and they were ordered down from the mountain. The Germans had fired 88s. The Americans got the gun out in a hurry.

Jay Karp

A unit of the FFI was stationed near them. One of the men would go out with them, alternating missions. The 463rd was eventually relieved because of coming snow.

John Mockabee (tape)

rejoined D Battery and went into Menton and went through there and the batteries set up there. Just when the guns pulled in, but were not yet set up, an enemy artillery barrage came in with busts occurring every 5 to 10 minutes. Whittaker, radio man, John, Lt. Bill Biggs, and other man went up into the alps to set an OP up in a castle. They stayed there 4 to 5 days. It overlooked a pass, road, and a little hamlet. They could see German vehicles. Jerry used the castle as an aiming point. Every morning at 6:00AM, Jerry fired on the castle until hit and after a couple of more rounds, would fire beyond to the units behind. When John went back to the battery, a 75mm pack went off and John hit the ground, an impulse from reacting daily to the shelling on the castle. Another trooper saw him and laughed. A sergeant came up to him and said "Mockabee, I hate to ask you this and you can refuse if you want, but I need to have someone go back up the castle with Lt. Anderson. You can refuse but I'd rather have volunteers. John said he'd be willing to go back up if that other trooper would be willing. The other guy finally agreed and the two of them went back up to the OP with a 50 caliber. Booger Childress went up carrying a radio pack. They arrived at the castle that evening. The next morning at 6:00AM, Jerry starting firing again and the other trooper couldn't get deep enough and John was laughing. Another time while they were up there, one of Jerry's shells went short. The next over. Another shell fell to the left. Booger said, "If that SOB don't hit this castle the next time, I'm going to wave him a maggy drawers." The next shell went over and Booger had an old sheet which he tied to a stick, got to the highest peak of the castle and started waving it. The Germans kept shelling the castle for several hours and Lt. Anderson told Booger, " God damn you Booger Childress. I could just kick your butt for doing that." After the shelling stopped, they got back up and started firing at troop formations or trucks going by and Lt. Anderson called for artillery fire. Shells hit close to the trucks which dodged them the best they could. Lt. Anderson wanted to get closer, so they left the castle and went down until enemy artillery bursts came in. Booger kept walking with the radio. Lt. Anderson told him to get down. Booger said if they're going to get me, they'll get me standing or lying. The Lt. said he didn't care about him, he needed the radio. They couldn't find a place with as good a view, so they headed back to the castle. On the way back, it was getting dark and they stopped at a little house along the road. 2 stayed up while 2 slept. About 2:00AM, they heard what they believed to be a German patrol walking by and on up the hill, but luckily never stopped to check out the house. When they got back to Barcelonnette, they went out a little to the east and were placed on the right of the road. They stayed there a couple of days and then moved back to the left side of the road and before they could set up, an enemy artillery barrage came in. Lt. Anderson was wounded in the back by shrapnel. John's machine gun (Corporal Fraley's) was placed always to the left of the howitzers and Bill McConnell's always to the right.

Armond Cerone (tape)

When he arrived in Barcelonnette, Armond remembers going into foxholes where there was blood on the blankets. Armond feels there must have been some action there before they arrived. One night he was asked to be a volunteer to help man a gun in a forward position. During the night they zeroed into a target and fired many rounds into an unknown position. The fired at isolated targets.

John Cooper/Alfred Mury (tapes)

Cooper sent Lt. Mury and Benucci?? to Nice to look for a place for the unit. Mury found the Hotel Bristol in Nice all boarded up and thought that would be an ideal location for a recuperation center. He found the owner in Monte Carlo who was happy to have the hotel opened again. Mury was the manager and ran the hotel as a rest basin on a rotating basis for each battery.

Tony Spagnol

"We were shipped to the mountain area near Barcelonnette and Jausiers, France. Our observation Post (OP) was located at an old French fort called (I believe) Fort Restafund about 9,000 ft. at the top of mountain which gave a scenery sight which seemed to be on the top of the world. Activity was very limited. We fired on vehicles traveling along the road in the valley between our OP and that of the Germans on the mountain top across the valley. After several days of inactivity, all hell broke loose. The Germans zeroed in our OP and fired about twenty or more rounds of an 88 or 105mm artillery hitting our Fort directly above our sleeping quarters and knocking down part of the heavy stone siding at the rear of the building. Several infantry men were hit, not seriously, but most of us were at a forward OP about 100 ft. in front of the Fort. I was lucky to have my camera with me and took a few pictures of the damage. I was at the OP with Lt. Merriman and Siemer. We were told that there were no Germans in the area. On our few days off, Montague and I became very friendly with a Jewish family in Barcelonnette. I took pictures of members of the family and their home. We gave them soap, toilet paper and other items which were in very short supply in France.
"During a giant snow storm which lasted several days we were forced to abandon the Fort and troop down to our gun positions to catch a truck to our Command Post. After about a month at the foothills of the French Alps we returned to the French Riviera for a few days of R&R. We were trucked to Toulon where we boarded a railroad for a trip to Marseilles. From Marseilles we traveled by rail to Reims where we loaded on trucks to Mourmelon a staging area for the 18th Airborne Corps. I got a two day pass for Paris, took a log of pictures, went sight seeing and of course looking for girls."

Doug Bailey:

After we got together with the 463rd and 509 guys that did drop at Le Muy, we continued along the coast until we got to the outskirts of Nice. At one point we came to a river, and the Germans had blown the bridge. There was a blown up jeep that had hit a mine with pieces of the jeep in the branches of a tree and what looked like clothing or body parts. The engineers had marked a path with white tape down the bank of the river which was fairly shallow and the trucks started down to cross. Most of them made it. But the truck behind us turned too soon and did not follow exactly and hit a mine in the middle of the river and blew up. I could see two guys flying trough the air over the side of the truck and come splashing down in the river. One suffered a broken leg, and I heard later that the other guy, I think his name was "Felton" was paralyzed from the waist down. They were the only two really hurt. The rest were pretty shook up, and the truck was totaled. Later two more 463 troopers were wounded when their machine gun position was hit by mortar fire. One was named "Tolster" who was an ex-Marine and had served in China. On the transport that took us to N. Africa, the Matson Liner S.S. Monterey, he ran into the captain of the S.S. Monterey's steward who had owned a bar in Shanghai that Tolster use to patronize. They looked at each other and recognized each other, and had a mini-reunion right there down on D Deck. A few days after the capture of Nice, we were on our way to the mountains. The 463rd along with a glider battalion was sent up into the French Maritime Alps to fight as mountain troops.
It took about two days for the trucks to get up in the mountains to our destination in the Alps. We had our rear echelon in a pass through the mountains in the own of Barcelonnette, and our front line positions near the village of Jausiers. We were told that this was the same pass that Hannibal took his elephants through on the way to Italy.
B Battery had a good position on the side of a mountain and did not receive too much counter battery fire. The other batteries further down from us took a lot of fire. I believe one battery had to move a couple times. They sent one battery way up higher on a mountain, and while there were covered by deep snow and became ineffective. They took 3 or 4 men from each gun section, and sent us up the mountain to help dig out the road so the snowbound battery could get out. I did not mind going up there, although the snow was about 8 feet deep in places. We really worked up a sweat shoveling that snow. I think we were in the mountains for about 3.5 months. We lived on C & K rations and once in a while we had 10 in 1 rations. I think they were packed in England. Because each box was a great big can of beef and kidney stew which was the worst food I ever tasted. Even now I shudder when I think of it. We were finally relieved by French Moroccan troops from North Africa that had mules to get around with. The 463rd moved back down along the French Riviera where we fought what we called the Champagne campaign. This was not too bad as the country was too rough for any serious fighting. Sheer rock cliffs almost from the beaches. We were dug in near Mentone, which is on the French/Italian border.
Just as we were ready to leave the Maritime Alps and go back down to the Riviera, the Germans mortared heck out of the positions we had just left. We were really lucky to have missed all that incoming fire. This also happened when we pulled out of a position down on the Riviera. About the time the last truck pulled out, the mortar shells started to fall. The same thing happened in Italy one time. I guess we were just a lucky battalion.
At one time we were emplaced in a position by the French Maginot line that ran from the North Sea to the Riviera. One day a couple of us decided to enter one of the big forts. We got some flashlights and entered. We went in quite a ways, but when we encountered all kinds of explosives laying around and teller mines laying all over the place, we beat a hasty retreat. The place was huge. It had tracks for the small railway cars, rooms with big generators, large elevators, kitchens, sleeping rooms, and mess halls.
We were finally pulled off the front lines for good and moved to a terraced hillside on the outskirts of Nice. We spent a couple of weeks here waiting for our next move. Things were pretty relaxed and we got to into the city of Nice as much as we wanted, or until your money ran out. I used to head for "The Queens Bar" that was a hangout for the airborne. Had an orchestra that played American tunes. At this stage of the war, the Germans did not have much of a bomber force left and the city of Nice at night was lit up just like in peacetime. This ideal situation lasted about two weeks, and then we went by truck to Marseille where we loaded up in box cars for the trip up into the middle of France near Rheims to a place called Mourmelon La Grande, and joined the 101st Airborne Division. Mourmelon Le Grand means Big Mourmelon, and was next to Mourmelon Le Petit, which means little Mourmelon.



The S.S. Monterey

Fred Shelton

3rd Gun Section Battery D, the battalion was in firing positions in Jausiers, France near Barcelonnette. One of the weeks while we were in this firing action in these mountains. There was a fire mission called for, or a registering fire, for just number 3 gun along for a period of five days. We fired about 2 rounds each day about 11:00AM. At the end of the fifth day, after firing, we in the gun pit, heard over the phone mission complete. About a week later we found out from Forward Observer Party that we were firing at a German postman on a bicycle, who had to be just in the right place on the curve of the mountain road or we did not have a good shot because he went in back of the mountain shortly on the curve so we had to be right in our timing also. All things turned out for good when your Forward Observer Post has patience and determination to stay on the job.

Oct. 24, 1944 Truck 2 KM NW Menton (St. Agnes), France
Batteries A and D arrived at 1800 hour.

Oct. 31, 1944 Truck 2 KM NW Menton (St. Agnes), France

Monthly Report - Fired approximately 12,970 rounds on: Personnel - 64; Machine guns - 16; OP's & CP's 11; Gun Positions - 9. Targets disabled: 16 machine guns; 9 enemy gun positions; 5 self-propelled guns; 3 strongpoints; 10 vehicles; 19 mortar positions. Fired in support of 2 counterattacks. No casualties.


Officers Enlisted
Hq & Hq Btry 15 186
A 5 95
B 5 99
C 4 102
D 2 99
TOTAL 35 596


Nov. 1944 French/Italian Border

Gave support to last push by First Special Services Forces. (1SSF 295)


Nov. 18, 1944 Truck Gattiers, France (just northwest of Nice)

Battalion fired on Enemy personnel at (8220-9294) with good effect. Battery A relieved by Battery A, 602nd FAB at 1845 hour 17 Nov. 1944. Battery B relieved by B Battery, 602nd FAB at 1757 hour 17 Nov. 1944. Battery C relieved by C Battery, 602nd FAB at 1818 hour 17 Nov. 1944. Battery D closed from firing position at 0800 hour 18 Nov. 1944. 602nd FAB relieved CP and assumed control of sector 0800 hour 18 Nov. 1944. 463rd moved to bivouac area vicinity Gattières, France 0800 hour 18 Nov. 1944. During Operation Dragoon, 463rd conducted over 1,000 fire missions and fired 34,759 rounds of ammunition, captured 375 enemy troops (244 in the first days after the airborne invasion), and suffered 81 casualties.


Monthly Report - Fired 4,632 rounds on: Personnel - 54; OPs - 8; Gun Positions & Machine Guns - 30; Mortars - 7. Targets disabled: 1 mule train, 2 machine guns; 5 gun positions; 2 mortars; 1 road block; 1 75mm gun; 2 vehicles. No casualties. Broke up German counterattack on November 12.


Officers Enlisted
Hq & Hq Btry 17 186
A 5 98
B 4 97
C 5 104
D 6 100
Met Det 2 15
TOTAL 39 602

Moves:

Truck Antibes, France

463rd en route to Mourmelon.

Train Toulon, France

Train Marseilles, France

Train Avignon, France

Train Valenca (Valence), France

Train Lyon, France

Train Macon, France

Train Dijon, France

Train Chaumont, France

Train Saint Dizier, France

Train Châlons, France


Dec. 12, 1944 Train Reims, France
Dec. 12, 1944 Train Mourmelon, France

Arrived 2:30PM. Temporarily attached to the 101st Airborne Division for administration and rations.
A drinking spree for everyone. (Smith tape) (Hazzard tape)