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Intelligence Bulletin - 1945
The commanders of four U.S. rifle companies which have been in contact with the enemy in the Siegfried Line have furnished valuable information about the resistance offered by German pillboxes, and have submitted comments regarding the vulnerability, as well as the capabilities, of these fortifications. The terrain in which these rifle companies have been fighting contains many steep hills (some as high as 500 feet), woods with thick underbrush, and streams. Consequently, most of it is poor tank country. The pillboxes encountered by rifle companies have been of three types: some have had only one aperture, others have had mounted machine guns and two apertures, while still others have simply been personnel shelters. As to density, there has been approximately one pillbox every 100 yards in width and depth, and the fortifications have been mutually supporting. The Germans have had very good observation and an abundance of artillery and mortar support.
None of the company commanders' remarks should be construed as necessarily coinciding with United States Army doctrine.
U.S. soldiers fire a bazooka into a pillbox in the Siegfried Line.
A front view of a captured pillbox in the Siegfried Line.
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Movement
"Most of the pillboxes seem to have been constructed to permit long-range fires. Once you get fairly close, there are quite a few dead spaces through which troops can filter. We've found it advisable either to view the routes from a good observation post on the previous day or to make a thorough map reconnaissance. One way of avoiding enemy fire has been to move across open ground, from ridge to ridge, during the hour just before daylight. Although one of our rifle companies gained only 100 yards in a whole day of fighting, because of extremely heavy German mortar and machine-gun fire, the same company caught the Germans unaware in the hour before daylight the next morning. It covered 1,000 yards without losing a man, and took six pillboxes without the aid of supporting weapons."
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Cooperation with Mechanized Support
"When tanks or tank destroyers are used, infantry should be deployed, ready to rise and advance with the vehicles as the latter pass through the infantry positions. As I see it, infantry should not be allowed to stop because of mortar or artillery fire, for infantrymen who lose close contact with the tanks are more vulnerable, and the demoralizing effect of an infantry-tank assault upon the Germans is lost."
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Assault Teams
"Each member of an assault team must know not only his own weapon and his own mission, but the weapon and mission of everyone else on the team. That is, he must be familiar with flame throwers, demolition charges, rocket launchers, and so on. Sometimes each rifle platoon is assigned a fixed zone of responsibility. Each pillbox becomes a phase line for coordination and reorganization. In many instances a single platoon, by firing at the embrasures, will cause two or three German pillboxes to `button up'. However, the Germans often will continue to fire through small slits in the embrasures. The fact that pillboxes are mutually supporting very definitely is something to remember. This is why our plans always include fire on flanking pillboxes, as well as on those which are to be assaulted."
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Use of Smoke
"The saying that a blind man cannot shoot straight can be equally true of German pillboxes. While it is not always possible or desirable to use smoke, a pillbox which has received smoke and white phosphorus from 81-mm mortars and artillery is at a great disadvantage when the actual assault takes place."
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Infantry and Direct Supporting Fire
"Supporting weapons, such as tanks, which have been placing direct fire on pillbox apertures should cease fire without signal as soon as the infantry comes within 25 yards of the pillbox. The Germans are likely to keep an aperture closed if the infantrymen nearest it take it under fire immediately. If two flanking groups of three or four men each take up positions in the rear of the pillbox, they can cover the rear entrance and apertures. If the support squad locates the embrasures in the supporting pillboxes and keeps them covered with fire, German capabilities are reduced proportionately. The rest of the company or platoon should move past the pillbox and secure the ground beyond it, to protect the assault team while the latter does its job."
This U. S. soldier is peering into an abandoned German pillbox.
A U.S. tank destroyer has blasted this Siegfried Line pillbox with
devastating fire from its 75.
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Possible Surrender
"We have a man work his way close to the pillbox, so that he can throw in a fragmentation grenade or white phosphorus grenade. When there is a quiet moment, he shouts, 'Kamerad?' and 'Wir schutzen nicht!' ('We won't shoot!'). Often the occupants of the pillbox will give up at this stage. If they don't surrender, use of rifle grenades or the bazooka against the steel doors or apertures may have the desired effect. For safety's sake, other riflemen cover all fire ports while this is going on."
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Digging Them Out
"If the Germans refuse to surrender, some of our men work their way to the blind side of the pillbox and blow the embrasures with TNT. After this, working from the top, we place a pole charge against the door. We never allow anyone to enter the excavated area behind the pillbox, inasmuch as the Germans always cover it by means of a small embrasure built especially for this purpose. In no circumstance do we allow anyone to enter the pillbox to take prisoners. We make them come to us. Sometimes they claim that they are injured, but we have found that after a second charge of TNT they somehow manage to walk out.
"Antipersonnel mines may be found in the approaches to pillboxes. We always keep half an eye on the ground, just in case."
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