Posted by Allan Wilford Howerton on February 26, 2005, 2:24 pm, in reply to "Re: My late grandfather, Capt. Harry W. Abbitt" "At 2:15 the 335th’s 1st Battalion was committed to help out the 3rd Battalion (elements of Companies K and I had been on their objective at Lindern since early morning). Company A and B led off, Company C in reserve. They had to guide on the Gereonsweiler-Lindern road also and by this time 88’s seemed to be plowing up every yard of it. In addition Germans were dug in along the way. In fact, since the 3rd Battalion’s three platoons had slipped through in the darkness, the 1st Battalion was our first force which had to fight its way through in broad daylight. One counterattack from the Lindern-Linnich road on the right, involving about 75 enemy infantrymen, came at 4;30 and was beaten back only after our artillery, mortars, machine guns, and riflemen were brought into play. By the time we reached the anti-tank ditch for the second time (portions of Companies K and I had crossed it earlier), it was dark and more than three hours of continuous shelling, shooting, and wading in the mud had been going on. At the ditch, the 1st Battalion made a detour to the northwest in order to avoid enemy fire from the direction of the Lindern-Linnich road. It was ready to enter the town from the west at about 8 o’clock. By that time, Company B, 40th Tank Battalion, and Company L, 3rd Battalion had already entered by the more direct route and Company L had dug in on the eastern edge of Lindern. At about 9 o’clock, the 1st Battalion’s three companies went in and took over the western and southwestern sides of the town." The above, pertaining to the detour, coincides with Captain Abbitt’s Silver Star citation as to his role in finding the alternate route. Two Company B men were killed in action on November 29 but without the alternative route there might have been many more. The battle for Lindern, from the Company K perspective, one of the two lead companies in the early-morning attack, is told in my memoir, "Dear Captain, et al.: the Agonies and the Ecstasies of War and Memory."
205.188.116.139
The following from the division history, "The 84th Infantry Division in the Battle of Germany," by Lt. Theodore Draper, describes the battle circumstances pertaining to Company B-335 on November 29, 1944, the first day of the battle for Lindern:
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