Labens relates activity of Dec. 15 years ago
Alvin Labens, K/393, reports about action on the night of Dec. 15, 1944. He was on guard duty, which ended before daylight. He stopped by the mess truck "for a snack, naturally. That was where I was when the first rounds came in."
He then went to the battalion CP where he joined other 99'ers. It was Saturday. On the 17th, Sunday, he tells how they "presumed" the activity on Saturday was a minor skirkmish.
He was in the CP when Lt. Col. Jack Allen (the handsome "Smiling Jack") got word for an "orderly withdrawal." I/394 was to cover the battalion's withdrawal. "The first two men out of the woods were drilled right off." Labens and others "withdrew" as did others in the area.
"At some point we got to the area we had been in, when we had been in reserve in late November."
K Company led on, in the direction their lieutenant indicated. It wasn't until they got to the edge of the woods that Labens discovered that he and four others were the entire group. Nobody was behind them. They thought they were leading the group. They were the group.
The above information is from a story in K/393 Kapers, edited by B.O. Wilkins, Jr.
