WORLD WAR II
FRIENDLY-FIRE
NOTEBOOK

1 Dec 1944: Germany. A U.S. Air Corps P-51 bombed the position occupied by my infantry platoon, killed three of my men and wounded me. Early April, 1945 The POW camp at Limburg, Germany (north of Frankfurt), Stalig XII A, & served mainly as a transit or collecting point for POWs before they were moved further east to other more permanent camps. I was a POW there. -- Peter R. Branton III

COMPANY I, 413TH INFANTRY, 104TH INFANTRY DIVISION

1 Dec 1944: Germany. Interrogation Center, Dietz. As American units crossed the Rhine, the Germans started an evacuation of XII A by train. The train I was on contained about 1200 American & British. It was not marked & just as we feared, American P-47s strafed our train before we had moved more than a short distance. Most box cars contained 50 men each, but the car I was in had only 19 officers & was in the center of the train. The attack by the P-47s concentrated on our car & 8 of our 19 were killed & another 8 of us were wounded. I was one of the wounded & we, the wounded, were returned to a hospital in Limburg & liberated a few days later by units of the 9th Armored Division. It was interesting that while our train was under the air attack, most of the men were able to get out of the cars, removed their shirts (so their white backs would be more visible) & stood in an open field, forming the letters "P O W". This stopped the strafing & the P-47s continued to circle to protect us from other planes. This continued until we were evacuated to the hospital. All of this, the opening of the rail car doors & organizing the men to form the letters, was done by a very brave Scottish Chaplain, as the strafing took place - I wish I knew his name. The Germans moved the balance of the men, those not wounded, on further east & they were not liberated until later. Those of us who were wounded were first placed in a small military hospital for POWs, I was operated on there, & after the first units of the 9th Armored entered town we were moved to a larger civilian hospital until more American units arrived. -- Peter R. Branton III

LCI 365

36TH INFANTRY DIVISION, MEDICAL DETACHMENT 143RD INFANTRY

Technician Fourth Grade/ Surgical Technician 861 Leo F. Schroeder was in the African and European Theaters. He took part in the Salerno, Italy invasion on 9 Sept 43 and was in action until 4 June 44 when he was wounded on the outside of Rome. He was part of the 36th Infantry Division that was moved to Anzio for breakout of the beachhead. His story:

"We were on our way to Rome in a column along the road that lead into Rome. I remember a field bordering the road, a stone fence row on the opposite side and trees beyond that. We were taking sniper fire from the trees. A soldier was down in the field and I went to administer aid to him. As I crouched over him and administered aid, I was suddenly cut down by fire. I momemtarily blacked out and then I looked up and saw one of our own tanks blazing at me with a 50 calibre gun. Then the firing stopped and one of our lieutenants was cussing the gunner fiercely. I noticed my right arm nearly severed. I stopped the bleeding and passed out. I remember next is being in the ambulance, then passing out again and finally waking up in the hospital in Rome. I suffered an amputation of the right arm just below the shoulder, a wound the left arm and another wound in the leg. I never found out what happend to the soldier that I was giving aid to."

As a son of the wounded veteran, I wish to testify to the lifelong pain and health problems that the veteran had. However, he never complained about his situation and became a model citizen and family man. -- David Schroeder

B BATTERY, 34TH FIELD ARTILLERY BN., 9TH INF. DIV

Below is a friendly fire incident related to me by my Uncle shortly before he died here recently. The following was told to me by my Uncle: David Gilmore Edelen, b. 9/8/1924--d. 5/17/2004, who served in WWII as a Telephone Lineman and was in "B" Battery, 34th Field Artillery Bn., 9th Inf. Div., Gen. George Patton's 3rd Army. He went to France about a month after D-Day, fighting through France and Germany until the war ended. I asked him not long ago if he ever saw a German plane up close or had one straff them. He said yes, and was even straffed by our on side at the same time. I asked him to explain. He said they were all dug-in somewhere in France or Germany, and their position was straffed by an Me 109 and a P-47 Thunderbolt at the same time. He said that the Me 109 came swooping down and straffed them, then went up and around and was coming back around for another run at them. As it began its dive for its straffing run, out of nowhere a P-47 Thunderbolt swept down and fell in behind the Messerschmidt. So as he Me 109 fired into their positions as it straffed Uncle David and them, the P-47 was steadily firing at the German plane, the bulletts from both plains tearing up Uncle David's position. Uncle David said that they had to really grab some ground as their position was hit and torn up pretty badly by both the German's bullets and our own P-47's bulletts at the same time. That must have been a strange occurance.

David M. Edelen II

H COMPANY, 2ND BATTALION, 5TH REGIMENT, 71ST INFANTRY DIVISION

I was a member of a mortar squad of H Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 71st Infantry Division. After fighting in the woods near Budingen, Germany against the 6th SS Mountain Division my squad dug in for the night. It was April 4, 1945 I pulled guard duty on our mortar emplacement with my partner Frank Rickett. We failed to be relieved after our assigned time. The night was pitch black, cold and it was raining. The remainder of our squad was back several hundred yards with a rifle company. After about an hour we realized that no one had alerted the others to relieve us. One of us had to go back and wake our relief. I volunteered to go. I passed by one of our other mortar pits and was challenged by one of our men. I gave him the password, but I guess he was nervous and he fired twice hitting me in the abdomen and then in the left foot. I was in terrible pain but managed to call out and tell him who I was. He came out of his pit and told me he thought I was one of the SS sneaking up on him. I spent 8 months in hospital in France, England and the U.S. before receiving a medical discharge. I guess the phrase "friendly fire "became popular in the first gulf war. I'm 78 now and aware each day that the fire was not very friendly whenever I try walking.

Submitted by former PFC. Charles F.Platz 13201470

USS INDIANAPOLIS

I was a Marine aboard the USS Indianapolis with orders to fire at Tarawa Atoll until commanded to stop. The orders did not come until after many of our men who were landing, were killed. As the ship pulled up anchor, the huge props churned up the water and bodies of our buddies came to the surface. This scene has haunted me the rest of my life yet I don't find any reference to that "friendly fire" incident in your listing on the web. Has the number killed been released? abing@televar.com

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