The patrol report at right does not relate the tale of any of the above men, but Cpl Smith and Pfc Heath were members of Rex Combs platoon as well. ===>

Hq. 1st Bn.,508* lnf. 17/18 Oct, 44

S-2 Patrol Report
Two man patrol of Corporal Smith and Pfc Heath left our outpost line at 725700 at approximately 2330 hour on the 15* of October and moved by the most direct route to the canal at 730712 where a board bridge is located. They lay within sight of this bridge and watched two Germans go up and down the canal calling "Comrade" for the purpose of checking the men in their holes. The patrol assumed that this was done about once an hour. They waited for about 30 minutes allowing time for the Germans to become drowsy, then Cpl. Smith moved forward and crawled across the plank bridge. Nothing happened, so Pfc. Heath followed him. They then boldly walked down to the southwest and crossed the second bridge just as the Germans had done. The crossing was made 0100. From that point on they moved down the ditch to approximately 733715. Meeting no enemy, they continued by the most direct route to a point approximately 739722. They reached this point at 0300 hour. Here they heard the noise of digging and estimated it to be about a squad of men. They moved to the west along the road (739722-739725) to the patch of woods at 730727. There was a line of entrenchments generally along this road. They then turned north again and made their way to the buildings in the orchard at 743732. The buildings had recently been burned. In the vicinity of the buildings they found a platform scale built into the ground, one board of which was loose. They tore up the board and crawled under the platform scale and slept from 0600 to 0900 hour.

At 0900 hour noting no activity, they moved out for local reconnaissance. There was no sign of Germans in the vicinity. They stayed in the corner hedgerow at 744732 in observation. Between the hours of 0900 and 1000 hour, they saw two Germans push a cart in among the buildings at 745737, one civilian walk down the road at 746735, and one German walk along the dyke at (745732-732740). At 1130 they moved to the house at 740733. The house had evidences of having been used by the Germans in the past, as they found a switchboard, German equipment, some odds and ends of food, motor oil in the barn, and places where four men had slept. There was an ME109 that had been shot down in the orchard in the rear of the house. At 1400 hour they observed a German walk in amongst the buildings where they had spent three hours in hiding. The patrol stayed in the building until 1800 hour. The patrol left the house and moved to the dyke at 741738. They observed that the buildings in the vicinity of the dykes were occupied. The dyke was about 25 feet high. On top of the dyke was a cement, paved road. They saw a 3/4 track, well-armored, move northwest on the dyke at 1830. They observed entrenchments on the reverse slope of the dyke, similar to those found on the canal. Then they retraced their steps back to the point from where they had climbed onto the dyke. While on the dyke, they were passed by one small vehicle going east containing six men, which almost ran them down, and by one German walking, who took no notice of them.

The patrol moved back to the house at 740733 to study their map and plan their way back to our lines. At 2030 hour, they started their trip back to our lines. They did not "sneak and peek", but rather walked boldly down the road to the point 7447 32, turned south, and followed the road down to point 739722.

At this point, the night previous, they had heard digging. At this time, however, the location seemed to be unoccupied. They continued on their way to the dyke by the shortest route. They were at the dyke by 2130 hour. They walked across the first bridge, down the center dyke between the two canals, across the second bridge and into the field on our side of the canal. There they stopped to formulate a plan for capturing a prisoner.

Their plan formulated, they nonchalantly walked back onto the bridge and down onto the path at the base of the reverse slope of the canal (see sketch). They moved up the canal to the northwest. At the first hole, Pfc. Heath called "Comrade'. There was no answer. The hole proved to be empty, so they went on to the next, which was a large machine gun emplacement, with sleeping compartments in it. Here Pfc Heath again called "Comrade". This hole also was vacant At the third hole, his call of "Comrade" was rewarded by the head and shoulders of a German soldier. It was a simple matter to make it clear to the man that he was being captured by shoving a TSMG [Thompson submachine gun] muzzle into his face. The man raised his hands over his head without hesitating. He was motioned out of his hole, told to put his hands down, and the party of three walked briskly down the canal up to the bridge and onto the field towards our line. From this point on, it was a simple matter to make their way back to our forward positions.
 

     Attached is an overlay of the route followed by the patrol and a detailed Prisoner of War Interrogation Report.