The river was swollen many feet above its normal
level and the current was very swift. It didn't look good at all.
The river wasn't normally that wide, but an unusually early warm
spell had thawed the snow, causing the river to swell to about twice
its normal size and flow at about ten miles per hour. While we were
in the CP one of our men came in soaking wet. He had gone over on
an engineer raft. The current was so strong that it tore the raft
to pieces and several of his men had drowned.
. . .
Max Kelly was having a hell of a time getting into the second
little town. The Krauts had a lot of machine guns, and Max had
to cross a couple of hundred yards of open ground. The only way
to do it was to go in with artillery and mortar support. I fired
smoke to provide cover for our attacking troops, and the artillery
fired HE. It was a pretty sight. Max and his boys charged with
bayonets. It looked as if they hit the edge of the town the same
time as the smoke and HE.
