WWII Diary of Chick Bruns – 70 Years Ago

We moved today bright and early. We were to move over to a new sector or next to the 1st army but plans were changed, and we only went about 30 miles. This is about the craziest move we ever made. The front is only about 100 yards away from us. The infantry mortars are only about 50 yards from us. They are sniping at us from the hills. Shells are coming in and let me tell you it’s big stuff. They finally chased us out of the area. They could only get a few fellows to drive the trucks out so I volunteered and drove a couple of trucks out. We move back about three miles to a new area. Set up the tent and went to bed.

It has been raining all day and not much to do. We are moving to a new sector so Slattum and I went down to the water point to wash some of the mud off the truck. We went into the town of Lure, about 18 miles east of Belfort. Played some more cards and went to bed.

Well, no shells last night for a change. I wrote a few letters and straightened up the truck. Cooked some beef and made some good soup. Played cards and went to bed.

A few shells came in last night, but it was enough to keep me awake. Three fellows have been hit. One fellow had his little finger cut off by a piece of shrapnel. We played cards for a while until the shells started coming in too fast so we moved to another place. It has been raining all day.

Did a little bit of cooking, played cards and packed up to get ready to move. We moved about six miles and a little too far again. They are shelling us and everyone is looking for a hole. Wow, they sure make a fellow nervous. I’ll sleep combat tonight.

Played cards all day. The infantry still hasn’t pushed ahead as yet. They are to attack today. We played cards all afternoon. Didn’t move.

German Prisoners

Four fellows caught six more Germans this morning about a 100 yards from us. I walked into town this morning and got four loaves of bread. We are moving tonight. We moved about 10 miles and no further as the infantry was in the next town. Set up our tent and went to sleep.

We layed around all day doing odd jobs. Dags and I went into town to get some bread, but didn’t have any luck. We are moving tonight. We moved about 10 miles and moved just a little too far. As we pulled into the bivouac, six krouts came out and gave up. They had a machine gun there but figured there was too many so they gave up. Shells are coming in but not too close.

There was a lot of heavy shelling going on last night and the infantry was going to make a push. We moved up about six miles this morning and the infantry was still going so we may move again tonight. I wrote a few letters and that was about all for the day. We stayed here for tonight as we are short on trucks & the trucks should be here tomorrow.