Posted by Allan Wilford Howerton on June 22, 2005, 4:30 pm, in reply to "Re: More on Company E, 334th Infantry" The first battalion of the 334th Infantry led the attack across the Roer River on February 23, 1945. The division history, "The 84th Infantry Division in the Battle of Germany" by Lt. Theodore Draper notes: "At exactly 3;30 a.m.—H-Hour—the (American) artillery barrage (T/Sgt. George H. Hale, of Company C, said the barrage ‘was so heavy that as we approached the water to man the boats, we were nearly shocked ourselves’) was shifted back a few hundred yards. The engineers rushed forward to the footbridge sites with their equipment. The first wave of 35 boats, carrying companies A and C, 1st battalion, 334th Infantry hit the water. "The crossing was unexpectedly easy . . . For Company C, T/Sgt. Hale reported: ‘Going across we received a few 88’s and mortars. There were no small arms except one machine gun which got three men in one of our boats.’ "Company A came over intact. Company C lost two boats, dragged down stream by the swift current into some burp gun fire. Many boats, however, drifted downstream in the strong current; this was important because it was impossible to return them in the dark to the west bank to bring across the second crossing battalion. The two companies crossed on a front of approximately 700 yards. The boat trip took about ten minutes." The battalion stayed near the bridgehead only long enough to organize. It then drove on to the town of Kõrrenzig where it was engaged in fighting until the town was cleared about 8:30 a.m. Company A stayed in Kõrrenzig and companies B and C drove on to the next objective, the town of Rurich, taking it by 10:30 a.m. My unit, Company K, 335th Infantry followed the 334th's first battalion into Kõrrenzig. The story of the Roer crossing from the K-335 perspective is told in my memoir, "Dear Captain, et al.:the Agonies and the Ecstasies of War and memory.
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Per the 84th Division roster, Sergeant Charles L. McCauley of Wakefield, Massachusetts was a member of Company C, First Battalion, 334th Infantry. The entry notes his award of the Bronze Star Medal and that he served in all three of the divisions campaigns (Rhineland, Ardennes, and Central Europe).
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