A Machine Gunner's War: From Normandy to Victory with the 1st Infantry Division in World War II

“In a strong new volume, A Machine Gunner’s War, one of [those poor foot soldiers], Ernest Andrews Jr., tells the tale of his own struggle to fight and survive as an unheralded infantryman.” ― The New York Times

Ernest “Andy” Andrews began his training as a machine gunner at Fort McClellan in Alabama in July 1943. In early 1944, he arrived in the UK for further training before D-Day. Andy’s company, part of the 1st Infantry Division, departed England on the evening of June 5 on the USS Henrico. Due to a problem with his landing craft, Andy only reached Omaha Beach on the early evening of June 6, but still had a harrowing experience. Fighting in Normandy, Andy was nicked by a bullet and evacuated to England in late July when the wound became infected, before returning to participate in the Normandy breakout. Following the race across France in late August, Andy participated in the rout of several retreating German units near Mons, Belgium, and his outfit approached Aachen in mid-September. For a month, Andy's squad defended a bunker position in the Siegfried Line against repeated German attacks, then after Aachen surrendered, the unit fought its way through the Hurtgen Forest to take Hill 232. Early on the morning of November 19, Andy engaged in his toughest battle of the war as the Germans attempted to retake Hill 232. Andy was wounded in the shoulder.

After surgery and a month convalescence he rejoined H Company in time to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. His unit then participated in the fast-moving Roer to the Rhine campaign, then the battle to expand the Remagen bridgehead. Breaking out from the Remagen bridgehead, Andy's squad stumbled on a German tank unit and Andy narrowly escaped getting killed. Following a rapid advance up to the Paderborn area, Andy's unit races to Germany's Harz Mountains, where the Wehrmacht was trying to organize a last stand. Andy's outfit ends the war fighting in Czechoslovakia, where Andy witnesses the German surrender in early May. Following occupation duty, Andy returned to the States in October 1945. The war shaped Andy's postwar life in countless ways, and in 1994, Andy made the first of three return visits to the European battlefields where he had fought.

This vivid firsthand account takes the reader along from Normandy to victory with Andy and his machine-gun crew.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
PROLOGUE: PRELUDE TO INVASION (Dawn, June 1 - 8:30 a.m., June 6, 1944)

CHAPTER ONE: EASY RED BEACH (8:30 a.m., June 6 - Night, June 6-7)
CHAPTER TWO: HEADING TOWARD WAR (July 1923 - July 12, 1943)
CHAPTER THREE: FORT McCLELLAN (July 12 - Early August, 1943)
CHAPTER FOUR: TRAINING AS MACHINE GUNNERS (Early August, 1943 - January 17, 1944)
CHAPTER FIVE: ENGLAND (January 17, 1944 - June 1, 1944)
CHAPTER SIX: THE BATTLE FOR NORMANDY (June 7 - July 27, 1944)
CHAPTER SEVEN: VICTORY IN NORMANDY (July 27 - August 25, 1944)
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE RACE ACROSS FRANCE (August 25 - September 7, 1944)
CHAPTER NINE: TO THE GERMAN FRONTIER (September 7 - 14, 1944)
CHAPTER TEN: THE STOLBERG CORRIDOR (September 14 - 23, 1944)
CHAPTER ELEVEN: ON THE SIEGFRIED LINE (September 23 - October 22, 1944)
CHAPTER TWELVE: THE HÜRTGEN FOREST (October 22 - November 18, 1944)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: HILL 232 (November 18 - 19, 1944)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: A BREAK FROM WAR (November 19 - December 22, 1944)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE (Dec. 22, 1944 - Jan. 15, 1945)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: WINTER WAR (January 15 - February 6, 1945)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE ROER TO THE RHINE (February 6 - March 18, 1945)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: BREAKOUT FROM REMAGEN (March 18 - April 6, 1945)
CHAPTER NINETEEN: THE HARZ TO CZECHOSLOVAKIA (April 6 - May 9, 1945)
CHAPTER TWENTY: PEACE (May 9 - October 19, 1945)

EPILOGUE: THE POSTWAR YEARS (October 19, 1945 - Present)
A Word to the Hürtgen Forest
FINAL NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS