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December 10, 1944 Somewhere near UBACH Germany.

My Dearest Virginia, Your letter November 3 came in mail call today. This was our rst mail in more than a week. We are on the move again. It is good to read that our 5 month old son, Johnny, is doing ok, and you too. Say hello to Martha and Chesley for me. Any photos of Johnny you can send would be wonderful. I am enclosing a Christmas card from Holland. We left there about a week ago after completing special training exercises. Now it is a daily affair to pack and move. We are always on guard and ready to ght. The terrible cold winds and daily rains are constant problems. And no one seems to know where we are going. Sgt. Kleck (B/31) thinks we are in reserve for an attack on the Germans. Artillery and air strikes are about us daily. Several times we have taken re, and soldiers were wounded in another Battalion. Two days ago we watched an American ghter plane pass overhead. It was on re and then dived into a crash about a mile away. We all froze in quiet remorse knowing that the pilot likely died. Our tank driver thinks we are somewhere near the German border. The villages we travel through are devastated. Buildings are in rubble and burned out. The war damaged is so bad that we cannot even use them for shelter. Yesterday we arrived about noon in a new area, a deserted village in the vicinity of UBACH. In many of the german towns we nd huge underground shelters and cellars, probably sufficient for the towns' population. These abodes are so well constructed that its inhabitants are virtually protected against anything the Allies could throw at them. The statement that "Germany is well dug in" is quite apparent. This is one of the reasons it is proving such a hard shell to crack. This morning Col BRUCE CLARK of CC "B" spoke to our officers in the Command Post. Col. Clark served with General Patton before taking a command in the 7th Armored Division. He orders much special training to test our ability to maneuver Sherman tanks in the muddy hills about us. My Sherman is a medium tank and weighs about 30 tons. It is home for a 5 man crew -me the machine gunner, a loader, a driver, a codriver, and a tank commander. I am sending a photo showing my forward gunner seat is #27 in the photo. Our crew works constantly to keep the tank running right.

Todays weather is so bad that few of us ventured from our make shift shelters. There was a blinding snowstorm most of the afternoon, and the earth is so thoroughly saturated by this never ceasing rain that the snow failed to stick. By 1700 the snow had just added a little more slush underfoot, and then we sank into another of these blacker than black nights. Your loving husband, Herbert

1 - Lifting ring 2 - Ventilator 3 - Turret hatch 4 - Periscope 5 - Turret hatch race 6 - Turret seat 7 - Gunner's seat 8 - Turret seat 9 - Turret 10 - Air cleaner 11 - Radiator filler cover 12 - Air cleaner manifold 13 - Power unit 14 - Exhaust pipe 15 - Track idler

16 - Single water pump 17 - Radiator 18 - Generator 19 - Rear propeller shaft 20 - Turret basket 21 - slip ring 22 - Front propeller shaft 23 - Suspension bogie 24 - Transmission 25 - Main drive sprocket 26 - Driver's seat 27 - Machine gunner's seat 28 - 75 mm gun 29 - Drivers hatch 30 - M 1919A4 machine gun

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