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encountering only feeble resistance. On moving out of Deisel this force encountered terrain difficulties which slowed the advance and a roadblock stubbornly defended halted the advance. This roadblock was reduced and the force moved on to the south of Hclmarshausen was secure. The battalion displaced with the attack of Task Force Welborn at 0700 hours and at 1230 hours closed in position near Haarbruck. The battalion fired 16 missions this date: 1 on a roadblock, 5 on infantry, 2 on guns, 3 on personnel, 3 harassing missions, 1 smoke concentration, and 1 registration. Total rounds expended this date 1427. The two gun positions were reported neutralized. Harassing fire was placed on the bridge at Carlshafen to prevent the enemy from using or destroying the bridge. Despite this fire the bridge was destroyed before our forces readied the town. In the attack Second Lieutenant Merritt's FO tank was knocked out by direct fire. There were no casualties in the section though. Second Lieutenant Clark, 1 O with the infantry was seriously wounded by sniper fire and evacuated.

8 April 1945
CCB sent out patrols to clear the wooded area in this zone and a patrol of Task Force Welborn cleared the road from Carlshafen along the river to Warmbedk. At the end of the day CCB was being relieved by elements of the 1st Infantry Division.
Operations Memorandum 40, Headquarters Third Armored Division, 8 April 1945 ordered CCB upon being relieved by the 1st Infantry Division to move south through the area occupied by the 104th Infantry Division across the Weser River and into assembly positions. Preparations were to be made to attack on Third Armored Division order. 9 April 1945-CCB was relieved by elements of the 1st Infantry Division by 0600 hours and moved in a single column to assembly positions, crossing the 'Weser River at Gieselwerder. Because of the rapid advance of CC Howze, CCB was ordered to proceed through the assembly area and proceed toward the objectives Bilshausen, Gieboldehausen and Duderstadt. Task Force Welborn encountered dug in enemy infantry along the road and engaged with enemy tank concentration in the late afternoon. Supporting aircraft knocked out 2 tanks and 3 were destroyed by tank tire.
The battalion displaced at 0800 hours from positions-near Haarbruck, joined the CCB column and began crossing the Weser River at Gieselwerder at 0950 hours. The battalion coiled near Offensen at 1050 hours, displaced forward again at 1230 hours. The battalion coiled again at 1400 hours west of Ascte. At 1915 hours the battalion displaced forward and closed in position for the night east of Asche at 1930 hours.

10 April 1945
CCB attacked east at 0630 hours and made good progress against light resistance. The battalion displaced with the attack of Task Force Welborn at 0630 hours and closed in position at 1645 hours. The battalion again displaced forward at 1940 hours and was still on the road at midnight. The last 7 miles of the march was across country and many of the vehicles became stuck.

11 April 1945
CCB resumed the attack east to seize Nordhausen. Task Force Lovelady attacked at 0430 hours and by 0740 this force was in the town without opposition. Task Force Welborn attacked at 0530 hours and by 0650 hours this force was in the town. By 1330 hours the town was secured.
The battalion attacked with Task Force Welborn and by 0300 hours had closed in position near Grosswechsungen. The battalion displaced forward at 1100 hours and closed in position 1 mile west of Nordhausen at 1300 hours.
"Mac, you just can't believe it until you see it. And when you see it, you car. hardly realize things like this could happen. Pictures don't begin to make you realize it.
You come into a big long room where they are and its just a mass of putrif ying humanity. Bodies are stacked in the corners like firewood. The living lie among the dead unable to move out of their own refuse, and the dead are luckier. One man died on his knees with his arms and head in a supplicating position - yes, still on his knees, dead for days. Some of the living tried to smile, through what medics say is the most excruciating pain-death by starvation. Yeah, they ,were literally skin and bones. No buttacks to lie on, no flesh on their arms to rest their skulls on."
"Jews, Poles, French, Belgians, Russians, Slavs, yes, even Germans. All political prisoners. They were what once must have been a fine selection of freedom loving intellects in healthy bodies. A Jew grasped my hand. `Are Jews allowed to serve in the U. S. Army?' he asked. And do you know, 1 don't think be believed me when I said, `Of course.' What looked to be an old, old man tried to kiss my hands and feet and couldn't speak for crying. The Jew told me the man was ,31 years old. There were no young men in Nordhausen. Yes, 1 saw the ovens, the gas chambers, the kitchens where the daily cup of stinking potato soup was made." "And as 1 was leaving, sick at the heart and soul, a man approached me, barely able to walk, old and thin. He had been a professor in a university in the east o f Germany-can't remember the name now. He took my arm, threw his hand out to indicate the room with its living dead and dead and said simply, `This is Germany."
12 April 1945-Task Force Welborn attacked at 0700 hours and advanced rapidly against no resistance until anti tank fire was encountered in the vicinity of Beyernaumberg. Task Force Lovelady attacked against light resistance from bazookas and small arms fire all day.