It was more towns, more tiresome hand-carrying, more mud, and more of holding the high ground. It was a relief to see those days behind us as when we finally made the Kyll River. One day a bunch of us looked down from the hills around Glaadkyll. Every road and approach we used or could have used was in perfect observation. We saw the emplacements the Jerries had built with slave labor years back. And we stand there in bewildered thought. Our PFC-G2 Sudy, gives us a commentary and we agree with his observation that a battalion holding at this point should be able to frustrate the attacks of a division. Yes, here we are but it was tough going getting here. Behind us was the “impregnable” Siegfried Line and ahead of us the “Super Racers” trying to out-race the 4th Armored Division.

More dramatic phases of the war come in now. There are motorized advances. Soon we will be up on the Moselle and who knows how long until we are at or across the Rhine. Each day as we read the Stars and Stripes we closely follow the narrowing process of Germany as the Russians and our lines close in. Our big gripe is that we are never mentioned in the papers. “Poor doughfoot,” we say. We clear the way and now the headlines dramatize the mad 60 mile dash of the 4th Armored. “It will always be that way with the infantry,” we say. But later as we rode – yes, as we rode – through the country and saw the results of the 4th Armored’s work, our spirits soared and we were in a mood of quick victory.

Two rivers, they won’t be hard to recall in the days to come. The towns come easier now but once in a while the Jerries fool us. They got Johnson in Gondorf just when we least expected to meet a Jerry with any fight left in him. And didn’t they keep sniping at us from across the Moselle when we were in Lehman. You can’t play it too safe with these Jerries, we found that our more than once, later on. The Rhine? I guess it should have been a thrill to look forward to. Somehow, I never did like the idea of having a big river in back of me. Suppose the Jerries had formed a line of resistance to throw us back. Wasn’t the Rhine glorified as a defensive line as much as the Siegfried Line? But a smokescreen, a boat ride and some hills on the other side to climb and it’s all over. We are not getting pushed back but pushing Jerries out of the woods and marching them back for their boat ride. Not a bad war. Not bad at all.