bob2.jpg Before I write further I should remind you that this little side bar war was planned to start (14 April, 1945) only about three weeks before the big war in Europe came to an end (7 May, 1945)and would involve, we were told, using almost the entire U.S 8th Air Force’s fleet of heavy bombers (over 1200of them) for 3 days of continuous bombing to open access to The Port of Bordeaux. Access to the port via the Gironde Estuary was blocked by about one division of German forces which had been surrounded by Free French troops for about a year following D-day, but somehow had been able to be re-supplied. The Allies had gotten along quite well without being able to us this port so why the rush with the war in Europe almost ended? Who’s crazy idea was this? I would like to know, wouldn’t you?

One would think that an action so important as to warrant the use of virtually the entire U. S. 8th Air Force would be well documented, but I haven’t found this to be so.

We had our orders and on the first of April 1945 the Germans were informed that in two weeks, if they did not surrender, we would begin the action to remove them.

maroccan2.jpg The ground forces that would be use would consist of about one division of Free French Moroccan troops. They called themselves Moroccans, but they did not look like the Moroccans I have met at Disney World. These were tall, very black and wore a red Fez and a very sharp scimitar as part of their fighting uniform. As good a target as that Red Fez made, we found that they would not wear a helmet. Their appearance did not jibe with what one would expect of those with Arabic or Berber ethnicity. They were not Islamists and enjoyed their wine, which during the fighting, was supplied to them by the French Red Cross. In talking to them, we found they did not think highly of French military men. One night, during the period prior to the start of fighting, while we were exploring the little city of Saintes and it’s Bistros, we observed the following incident which occurred late in the evening. One of the Moroccans and a uniformed French Caucasian soldier were arguing quite heatedly in the street. The Moroccan suddenly drew his scimitar and made a vicious downward swipe that laid that French soldier wide open, top to bottom. Within what seemed like seconds everyone on that street just seemed to evaporate. As quickly as possible, we did too.

For the upcoming fight, the Moroccans had no modern equipment. Their Armor consisted mainly of a small contingent of World War One Tanks and a few large wheel mounted trench mortars. Their small arms, Rifles and machine guns, were also World War One vintage. The remaining ground forces, which I was a part of, were three Battalions of American Artillery (155 mm howitzers). We were pulled out of the front line as the Spring Offensive into Germany was about to start.

During those two weeks that we allowed the Germans to consider our offer, we ran a train into the pocket each day to remove what civilians wished to leave. Each day as the train entered the pocket, German troops would line up on one side of the tracks, American troops on the other. There was no hostility and we hollered back and forth good naturedly. During the last several days the train returned empty. Out along the pocket’s outer edge, North and East side, the new German built concrete bunkers were quite in evidence and we often saw soldiers stripped to the waist lying on the tops of them sun bathing. On the 14th of April this all ended. Our artillery opened up and began firing almost continuously at pre-designated targets for three days. At the same time wave after wave of heavy bombers came over.

As I recall this first day it was all H.E. bombs that they dropped. The bombs were landing along the heavily fortified areas along the south and east edges of the pocket. We could also see distant explosions to the south-west which would have been in the general area of the fortifications on either side of the estuary leading to the port of Bordeaux. Day 2 was much the same except that the bombs dropped this day seemed to be all Napalm.

ruyanrunes2.jpg Areas hit seemed to be the same, smoke obscured our vision, however. Day 3 was a repeat of 1 and 2 except that it seemed to be more a mix of H. E. and napalm. During these three days I had not much to do except to watch. At first it was a bit unnerving, looking almost straight up at the almost continuous flow of bombers and their bombs looking like they were falling straight at us. I have read that our navy and one French battle ship were also engaged in working over the Estuary fortifications. We had not been told this and I was quite surprised on the morning of the 14th to see a low flying plane headed straight for our Observation Post from the direction of Royan. It attempted to drop a torpedo, but it hung up and broke loose only when he plane pulled up sharply to clear the knoll we were on. The torpedo went over our heads and exploded harmlessly in the empty field behind us. The plane was not German, it was a U.S. Navy torpedo bomber. How it got through the rain of bombs being dropped and our shelling is a wonder.

In the 3 days of bombing, I counted 17 bombers get hit and drop out of formation. I did not actually see any of them crash and I did not see any explosions near where I would see them drop from sight. From what records I have found, the only loss reported was by the 389th bomb group. On the 14th they reported loosing two in the pocket, two more crash landed in France and one made it back to base. These 5 planes were not hit by A.A. fire. They were hit by frag bombs dropped from a flight flying above them. As best I can remember, there were 4 more days of ground fighting, maybe more, but I remember three particular days because on each of these days I was accompanying Moroccan forces to provide close artillery support.

I saw a lot of very tall and very black and very brave pseudo French Forces. All went into battle wearing their red tasseled Fezzes, they would not wear helmets. I remember the last day of fighting because I was at Battalion H.Q. in mid morning when word came down that the Germans were attempting to leave the mainland and retreat the coastal islands. Apparently our Navy got in their way and this soon stopped and they had surrendered. I Asked my Commanding Officer if he wanted to take a ride into the pocket. He declined, but gave me permission to do so. I took three of my section with me and in our jeep we headed out around the north end of the pocket to the coast and then headed south toward Royan. We saw no Germans until we entered what seemed to be the heart of Royan. I didn’t know then, but I know now that Royan had been heavily bombed by mistake by British bombers on January 5th, 1945.

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There wasn’t much to see in the way of a city as I recall. There were not many buildings standing, but there did not seem to be any new fresh damage. What I most remember was what appeared to be a Monastery or possibly a hospital located in a park setting with many large trees and lawns. The lawns were covered with wounded on stretchers being tended by nurses or Nuns. They paid little attention to us as we drove through the park, though we obviously were not a sight they were familiar with. We were Americans and our Jeep was quite impressive looking with a long barreled 50 Cal. Machine Gun mounted on an anti aircraft pedestal. There was no evidence that this Immediate area had been bombed at all, in January or in April.

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We spent maybe two hours wandering through the pocket’s central area looking for some of the bombers we had seen hit. Bomb damage in this central area of the pocket was very minimal. We found 5 planes, four B-24s and one B-17. The B-17 had made a belly landing in an open field and was intact except that the mid part of the Fuselage, where the waist guns were located, was completely melted away.
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The two waist guns were lying on the ground. The gunners were still gripping the burned away handles and were themselves burned to a crisp. Why the gunners were still on their guns when the plane landed puzzled us at first, but we surmised that what must have happened was that the plane had been hit, lost it’s fuel and after landing had come under attack and the oxygen bottles had been hit, causing a very hot fire at this one spot. The B-24’s damage was common in one respect. What we noticed most was that the fuselages seemed to have broken in half at the trailing edge of the wing. This is contrary to what I have read which said that the wings tended to fold up like a butterfly’s when hit.

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"When we tried to leave the pocket heading east, we passed many Germans standing or sitting along side of the road. They looked tired-- exhausted, but waved back as we passed. We finally came under fire though.

It seems the Moroccans hadn’t yet received word that the war was over. They finally recognized that we were hollering at them in English and let us come through. This little war had ended but the Moroccans had no telephones or radios and hadn’t yet received the news.

I have been able to find almost no good factual information on this battle, except from individuals who flew on the three days of missions over Royan, April 14, 15. and 16. One of those sent me an excerpt from a book written by Howard Zinn who was a bombardier and flew one mission on 15 April. Of the mission He writes:
We were told our job was to bomb German troops in and around Royan, and that in our bomb bays were thirty 100-pound bombs containing “jellied gasoline”, a new substance (now known as napalm). Our bombs were not precisely directed at German installations, but were dropped by toggle switch over the Royan area. I remember distinctly seeing from our great height (25,000 feet) the bombs explode in the town flaring like matches struck in a fog. I was totally unaware of the human chaos below. In 1966 I spent some time in Royan, and found in the town library most of the material on which this essay is based

I have found that Mr. Zinn’s next bombing run was on 25 April to Pilsen, Czechoslovakia. I think Mr. Zinn was confusing his bombing of the Royan area with the Bombing of Pilsen. Most other descriptions of Royan flights speak of the flight elevations as being 15,000 feet or lower and bomb loads as being about twice that which Mr. Zinn reports dropping on Royan. It would seem logical that to bomb the more distant Pilsen and where anti aircraft fire might be expected, they would fly at a higher elevation to avoid this fire and a lighter bomb load would be carried because of the greater distance.

Mr. Zinn’s book also contains many ridiculous newspaper stories such as the following. New York Times report from Paris:
Two days of shattering aerial bombardment and savage ground attacks in the drive to open the port of Bordeaux. More than 1300 Flying Fortressed and Liberators of the United States Eighth Air Force prepared the way for today’s successful assault by drenching the enemy’s positions on both sides of the Gironde controlling the route to Bordeaux with about 460,000 gallons of liquid fire that bathed in flames the German positions and strong points…….

There was no assault successful of otherwise on this second day. No French troops entered the pocket while the three days of bombing and the three days and nights of constant Artillery fire was underway.

Here is more New York Times reporting on the second and third days of bombing.
The liquid fire was napalm, used for the first time in warfare. The following day, there was another bombing, with high explosive bombs, and further ground assaults, Altogether, it took three days of bombing and land attacks to bring the Germans in the area to surrender.

There were no attacks until the 4th day and it was several more days before they surrendered.

Here is another one, again from the New York Times:
French troops mopped up most of Royan, on the north side of the river’s mouth-------Royan, a town of 20,000, once was a vacation spot. About 350 civilians, dazed or bruised by two terrific air bombings in 48 hours, crawled from the ruins and said the air attacks had been “such hell as we never believed possible.”

I saw three terrific air bombings. Being buried in the ruins, as the New York Times reported, those 350 civilians must have slept through the third one. Also there were no French Troops in Royan “mopping up” Between the second and third days. I entered Royan at least four days after the bombings and no French troops were there ahead of me.

Here is yet another one. This one from Zinn’s Book. It is not credited to any particular news paper, It just says-----
A press correspondent on the scene described the very heavy artillery bombardment which prepared the attack on the Royan area: 27,000 shell. Then the first aerial bombing on Saturday, April 14th , with high explosives. Then the bombing all Sunday morning with napalm. By seven that evening they were in Royan. It was a burning furnace. The next morning, they could still hear the clatter of machineguns in the woods nearby. Royan is still burning. The dispatch ends: “It is a beautiful spring.”

I think this correspondent was so engrossed in the bistros of Cognac that he had no idea at all about what had gone on over on the coast. Maybe he read the New York Times.

There were good Correspondents over here someplace----like Ernie Pile and Margaret Higgens, but they weren’t at Royan. (Side note, I met and danced with Margaret Higgens and her Mother at their going away party in New York on the night before we all sailed for England------Same convoy--- different ships. It wasn’t a secret, even the cabby, who drove us back to camp, knew when we were leaving)

LETTER #7

freeroyan.jpg Now that the fighting was over, who do you think rushed in to suck up some glory? I bet you guessed it, General Charles De Gaulle. A large open pasture was found that was adequate to hold the entire ground fighting force involved---somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 men.

As far as I know the American 8th Air Force, that was certainly involved at the beginning, did not attend the festivities. If not, were they smart or just lucky? There had to be room for all of us to be able March in Review before the General and other viewing dignitaries and then stand facing the Reviewing Stand while the General did his thing. His thing was to give a long speech while we stood at attention listening. Of course it was in French and most of the American couldn't understand it.

Next came the presentation of medals ---- hundreds, it seemed like. For this we had to stand at attention and hold a salute. It was impossible to hold a salute that long. It seemed like hours but it probably wasn't more than an hour. How long does it take to call a name, read a short statement , pin on a medal, kiss them on each cheek and step to the next man? In our position, it just seemed like a long—long time.

Now that was just for the French and Moroccan troops. Next came the Americans. He didn't bother with individuals here. He just gave the "Croix De Guerie", a French decoration, to the American commanding officer and another box of them for distribution to the American troops as he pleased. That was a relief. Holding the salute through all of this caused it to deteriorate from the standard salute to gripping the front of the helmet with the fingers----to putting the hand on top of the helmet---to holding the right elbow up with the left hand--- to just saying to hell with it and letting the long dead arm drop and hang there. By the time this display was over we all hated that arrogant ******* with a passion.

We could now go back to the real War, but first we would have to get our Howitzers refitted with new tubes (barrels). The continuous and rapid amount of firing we had done here plus what we had done during the Battle of the Bulge, had completely worn them out. While this was being done the war ended. We all were very happy about that, but I had a lot more to be happy for. My 21st birthday was coming up in a little over a month----and I would soon become a legal Adult.

If anyone reading this has any further info on this operation, I certainly would like to hear of it.

LETTER #8

Of the three days that I accompanied the Moroccans on their advance into the Pocket, It has nothing to do with the Air force operations, but you might be interested. They were each unusual in their own way.

These Following three events might give you a view of the Moroccan troops and the French Red Cross that you might find enlightening. I did.

I believe it was the first day following the bombings that the following took place. The Lieutenant and I had this interesting experience while looking for a place we could observe from. We followed the Moroccans into a small very old village. The outer buildings were joined together to form a wall around the entire town. This town had not been bombed nor had it been shelled. There also had been no damage to the fruit orchards and vineyards that surrounded it. Where the few roads radiated out of the village, there were gates. At the gates the Moroccans had parked their tanks to block the opening.

Another interesting point: The tanks were vintage World War I with the tracks that went high up on the sides to the top of the tank and their two 75 MM guns stuck out the sides between the treads.

At the gate that lead out toward the Enemy we noticed that the French Red Cross had a van type vehicle parked at the side. The two Nurses were tending the wounded and a man was tapping mugs of beer out of a keg and passing it out to the soldiers. This sure wasn’t something that our army or Red Cross did. It was another indication that these troupes were not Muslim.

There was a high Water Tower standing in an orchard about a 100 yards beyond the gate. We could see a walk-way with a railing around the water tank near the top and we thought we might have a good view from there. A very tall, very black Moroccan Sergeant was standing nearby and with this in mind we tried to communicate with him by using gestures mostly. He smiled, and by his expression, indicated that he understood and beckoned for us to follow him. We walked out through the gate with him for maybe fifty feet or so before he turned to us and in perfect English with an Oxford Accent said, “I really don't think you gentlemen should try to get any closer to the tower. There is a German machine gun nest we are trying to get that is beneath it". With him laughing, we all beat a hasty retreat.

There was high grass growing in the orchard and every so often we would see the tip of a red fez stick up. Also every so often we would hear a call and stretcher bearers would run out (The Germans didn't seem to shoot at them) and bring another wounded one back. We gave up on our WATER TOWER idea.

This was the second interesting event.
Possibly on day # 2

One of the problems we had here was lack of places to use as Observation Posts. There were few hills. On this occasion the lieutenant, and I were exploring the one low ridge available to us at the time. There was a hedgerow running along the top of the ridge. At the right end of the ridge, on which this hedgerow ran, was a barn. We thought if we could get up on the top of the barn, we would be able to get a pretty good view of what was ahead.

To get up on the ridge we had to go up to the left end and then follow along the hedgerow. When we got up there we found that the Moroccans had a couple of their few 30 caliber machine guns set up on the other side of the hedgerow and the Germans were shooting at them with small arms fire. We began crawling behind the hedgerow toward the barn. About half way along we came to an opening in the hedgerow. We would be exposed to fire crawling across this opening. This we didn't particularly like and while we were discussing the problem, we heard a shuffling behind us. It was a French Red Cross Nurse with a bottle of wine in each hand---refreshments for the Machine Gunners. She crawled right by us and crossed the opening. We, feeling a bit sheepish, followed her.

Our view from the top of the barn was good, but it didn't last long. The barn was built into the forward slope of the ridge and had what amounted to a basement that was accessible from the front. Shortly after we got on the roof, a German "Screaming Meeme" rocket came in, apparently went into the basement and blew the bottom part of the barn out from under us. What a let down. These particular rockets were called "Screaming Meemes" because of the loud whistling scream they made as they came in. Surprisingly the ride down for us didn't seem all that bad, except that the concussion plus the shock of getting to the bottom so quickly loosened all of the fillings in my teeth. Other than that we were totally unscratched. When I told our Medical Officer what had happened---my fillings were falling out---he said, "No Problem". Surprisingly, a couple of days later, a Military Field Dentist came to give me a new set of temporary fillings. I didn't even know they had this service. The Dentist had a Staff Sergeant Assistant. The drill the Dentist used was Bicycle Powered. In place of a rear wheel, there was a transmission assembly that powered the drill. The Sergeant did the peddling----not quite up to today's standard, but it worked. Those temporary fillings lasted almost a year. The Dentist suggested that I wait until I could have my civilian dentist put permanent fillings in.

This is the third incident and probably occurred on the next to the last day of fighting. (Day #3)

At another location we were observing the Moroccans advance toward one of the only real hills in this pocket. It has a conical shaped hill about three or four hundred feet high. The Germans were occupying what appeared to be some well dug in defensive positions on the top. We called down for some heavy Artillery fire on the hill top. As this was going on, about a hundred Moroccans filed onto a narrow roadway cut along the base of the hill, preparing to charge up the hill when we lifted our fire. When the firing stopped, they took off running up the hill. Heavy machine gun fire erupted from the top and before they were a third of the way to the top, they were all cut down. We called in heavy fire again, much more than the first time.

While this was going on, a second group of Moroccans filed in and waited. When our fire ceased, they too took off, like one man, not one hesitated. Machine gun fire again hit them. They made it about twice as far as the first group before they were stopped. We began our firing again and kept it up until there was nothing on top that we could see except raw dirt. The third group, that had moved into position, again took off without a hesitation and secured the top. These Moroccan Troops were extremely well disciplined and brave men.

We heard that about one half of the men in the first two attempts were killed, probably about one hundred men, and all of the others wounded. We never did know how many German casualties there were on this hill top. There wasn't anything left to count.

bob3.jpg Charles R.(Bob) Young