Events were moving quickly toward the conclusion of World War II on this date in history. Tech 5 Dillon Summers, as a tank driver for artillery forward observers of the 391st Armored Field Artillery Battalion, Combat Command B, 3rd Armored Division, was at the forefront of the action. He had only earlier that month returned to combat after a furlough home. He had little time to write home about his activities or whereabouts, even if he had wanted to, and he didn't. You'll soon see why.
On the morning of the 28th, Task Force Lovelady, of which Dillon's unit was a critical element, was ready to be, once again, the point of the spear, leading an attack on the German city of Marburg. They crossed the Dill River and were on their designated line of departure by 0900. Morale was high, and the weather was sunny and warm. They were ready to go!
Leading the column in a jeep was Colonel Lovelady himself. He drove up and down the column urging the tankers, "Step on it!" As the tanks accelerated, he fell back to his normal position. When the column slowed, he raced ahead to find out the cause of the slowdown and hurried the column forward. As the ground troops raced forward, they were overtaken and passed by formations of bombers en route to bomb deeper into Germany.
Whenever the column encountered pockets of resistance, they raced past the enemy, leaving them for the following infantry to mop up. Liberated POWs from various countries lined the roads, cheering the Allies' advance. One time, the column passed a German supply convoy that was moving westward, oblivious to the fact that they were heading right into the arms of their enemies. But the task force couldn't be distracted even by such a tempting target; they continued the race toward the Ruhr Valley and an even greater prize.
Within less than two hours, they arrived on the outskirts south of Marburg. Faced with a heavily armed roadblock, the force quickly swung around it, surrounded the city, and attacked it from the west, closing off all exits and trapping the defenders before they realized what had happened.
About 2,000 of the enemy were captured throughout the day. About 6,000 more prisoners were captured in the city's seven hospitals, where they had been recovering from wounds. Several American POWs were also released from those same hospitals.
The men of the 391st were angered by the Germans' apparently intentional targeting of a clearly marked medical half-track. Task Force Lovelady discovered that Task Force Richardson had already entered the city, having encountered less resistance than Lovelady. The German line had been broken, and Spearhead was ready to exploit the breakthrough, just as they had in Operation COBRA.
Also on 28 March, Brigadier General Truman Boudinot of Combat Command B, revealed their next orders: to head due north to complete the encirclement of German forces in the Ruhr Pocket, linking up with the 2nd Armored Division, Ninth Army, at Paderborn. The three combat commands were to travel down three parallel roads toward the objective, and the first combat command to reach the city was to take it....
The Germans either didn't now the Americans were coming or, if they did, they didn't now where the Americans were, so early on, many of their vehicles were surprised along the way and destroyed. One instance of such a situation would forever be etched in the memories of every soldier who witnessed it. H. Glenn Jenkins described it in his Battle History of "A" Battery, 391st Armored Field Artillery Battalion:
"About 40 miles north of Marburg we were coming down winding roads around the edge of a hill. It was a sharp curve and when we got halfway around we could see a German peep stopped on the opposite side of the road. In the front seat were two German officers. The only trouble was that they didn't have any heads. Their heads were cut off very neatly, just even with their shoulders, and the blood was still gushing up out of the several arteries. Their heads, or parts of their heads, were nowhere to be seen. There wasn't a shrapnel hole in the peep so there was a lot of discussion as to just how it happened. The only logical explanation is that they and a recon car of the 83rd came up on opposite sides of a blind curve and met head on, and the recon car fired a couple of rounds of 37 A.P. [an armor-piercing shell] at them at point blank range, tearing off their heads. It wasn't a pleasant sight but war is war. Down the road were other Germans all shot up, but we soon passed this small pocket of what had been some resistance."
Perhaps this single example explains why Tech 5 Dillon Summers and other combat veterans of World War II seldom talked of their experiences! We should honor them for enduring such horrific scenes and then returning home to live productive lives. "The greatest generation," indeed!
[Excerpt from Dillon's War, available on Amazon.]
