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Samuel A. Lopinto 736th FA Bn


siege1863
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From the combat diary of Samuel A. Lopinto, who served in Battery C of the 736th Field Artillery Battalion. This unit, comprised of tractor-towed 8" howitzers, was in the area of Haller, Luxembourg.

 

 

February 9, 1945

 

“A day I will remember the rest of my life. Jerry has spotted our position. We’re on top of a big hill a deep valley separating us from Jerry who is on the hill on the other side. They have direct observation on us now. In the middle of a fire mission, an enemy shell falls to our right flank. We didn’t get any orders to evacuate the gun so we held fast. A fire mission came down on the phone, we loaded it up. Another shell hit to our left flank. Jerries were getting a bracket on our gun. The third shell hits to our rear. Jack pulls the lanyard without the order to fire. We all hug the ground and pray hard.

 

It was getting too hot to stay there so I and several others ran down the hill toward our tent at record speed and in ankle deep mud. We made it all right to a cave formed by two rocks. I felt a little safer there. The rest of the fellows came down a few minutes later. Another shell hits in front of the gun. Jerry makes a direct hit on our powder pit. 81 powder bags go up in smoke and fire a hundred feet high. Burning powder is scattered all over the gun and the tires and fuses. Eight tires blew up and burned all day and night. No one hurt.”

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February 10, 1945

 

“Jerries sure worked over the battalion. Three men were killed and ten wounded. EVENING–As we were taking our big tent down, Jerry drops a shell at our gun position again then several more, not damaging anything. All of a sudden a shell bursts at tree level over our head and to our left about twenty feet. Three of my buddies are hit, one very bad in the leg. The other two were sprayed in the face, arms, and legs. The Lord was with me every second. I didn’t get a scratch. Just scared senseless.

 

Our gun was the first to get knocked out by enemy fire. Shrapnel holes all through our tent. A piece of shrapnel hit my raincoat which I had laying beside the tent. Tore it to ribbons.

 

We moved out of the position to avoid fire. We got shelled again tonite for about an hour and a half. Two of the men in B Battery were killed by a direct hit on their tent. Its driving us punchy, being shelled three days in a row. Town of Haller, Lux”

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Fascinating insights. How long is this guy's diary? Does it cover his whole time or just part?

 

Thanks for posting.

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Although Mr. Lopinto backdates some of the entries (enlistment, basic training, sailing overseas, preparation for D-Day, etc.), he doesn't begin to fully record events until July 1944, when his unit (then the 46th Field Artillery Bn) crosses the English Channel and lands on Utah Beach on the 10th. The diary is complete to the end of the war and then his entries jump many days or weeks. He does record his departute to the US and documents the distance traveled each day aboard ship. He ends with his arrival in the US, going to the separation center, and receiving his discharge.

 

Some entries are rather brief, but he does record some interesting events. He talks of being strafed by German planes, being shelled by 88s, deaths of comrades, the destruction of numerous cities, buzz bombs, fire missions, etc. The diary is a little more than 50 pages long.

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disneydave

Diaries and letters are extremely interesting and important documents as most of the time they are written very close to when the history they speak about occurred. Thanks for posting these passages.

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This entry is from August 1944 and is in regard to his assignment as a driver for the pilots of the “Cub” planes which spotted for the artillery. At the time he was still with the 46th FA Bn...

 

“Later got the job as jeep driver for the pilots of the Cubs (Air Corps Section). I liked the job pretty well. Some time later our outfit got marching orders one evening, so the pilots took off to their new air strip. The three-quarter ton driver and myself followed the road map. Seems as though we were going too close to the front lines that night. We had to find our new air strip so we kept going. Finally reached our destination, camouflaged the trucks and Cubs, and bedded down. We were awakened the next morning by fifteen girls that lived nearby. They greeted us with beautiful flowers and bottles of wine and champagne. We had later found out from our battery that we had moved ahead of the infantry and front lines five miles. We sure were lucky that the Jerries had moved further back.”

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