[World War II Memories: August W. Benner] Page: 2
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2--- A POW'S STORY
might have been able to catch the Germans as they came at our posi-
tion on January 9th.
On the night we were captured I took a detail of four to Co. C.P.
to pick up food and supplies. While we were there there was a heavy
shelling of our position which continued for some time. Finally
it stopped. We decided to return to the platoon C.P. which we did,
even though it was snowing. We arrived at the C.P. with no trouble
and moved to our assigned position.
We took turns being on guard duty. My turn was to be about daylight.
I was looking out to the front and to our left flank. A heavy
machine gun was positioned to my left about 50 yards away and a
little forward. The first I knew about the attack which was coming
from our back and right and put the Germans between us and Lemberg.
They set up a machine gun to ur rear and started firing over our
heads. The Germans moved in on us from the direction of Lemberg.
Tree limbs were falling and bullets were knocking snow from the
top of our bunker. Next I heard the sound of grenades being thrown
at bunkers. Our field of fire was only to the front since we had
a pile of logs stacked on top of our bunker. I fired at burp gun
flashes in front of our oositiorl. We were trying to find a way
to get at the Germans, but because of the fire over our heads we
were helpless.
Daylight had come enough so that we could see the C.P. which was
covered with smoke from grenades. The machine guns could now see
where to fire but realized that the Germans in whiteehad some of
our men stand ng by the C.P. and the machinetcrew did not want to
kill our own men. Our position was about 75 yards from the C.P.
and we could see the Germans pulling our men out. We probably
could have killed a few Germans at this time but it would have
meant losing some of our own men. All the time this was happening
the German machine gun set up behind our position was firing at the
back of our bunker and the heavy machine gun position. I thought
about trying to get out of the bunker and crawl through the snow
away from the fight with very little chance of getting away. We
finally heard Lt. Martin shouting for us to surrender. We talked
it over and decided to do so. We saw that they had placed those
in the C.P. in front and were us i ng them as a shield. We along
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Benner, August W. [World War II Memories: August W. Benner], text, 1983; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth379791/m1/3/: accessed May 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Arlington Historical Society’s Fielder House Museum.