Word: platooning
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...what they're paying me for." The record of his tours of duty is as unglamorous as it is long; in World War I, though he got to France, he saw no action. In one thing he takes pride: he has commanded, in relentless progression, a squad, a platoon, a company, a regiment, a brigade, a division, a corps and an army. He dislikes the lofty impersonality forced on him by his present duty-"Hell, I'd rather have a regiment." Now, he says, "I don't do much except think a lot, scold a little...
Lieut. Will Rogers Jr., son of the late, great humorist, and Congressman from California until he quit politics to go to war, was forced to withdraw his platoon in the face of an enemy attack, but left his regards for the Nazis: on a four-foot sheet of wrapping paper, nailed to a tree in the middle of a road, he printed in big red letters a favorite Nazi slogan: "Beware! We will be back in two weeks with our new secret weapon...
When a division in action loses a pan or parts (a technical sergeant, a second lieutenant, a platoon, a whole company), the replacement is promptly supplied-how promptly was revealed by the entries in a captured German officer's diary. Having battered a U.S. division to pieces, the Germans laid plans for a knockout in the morning. But by morning the astounded Germans discovered that they were faced again with a U.S. division fighting at full strength...
...Flaming Crocks. My platoon hugged the wall of a half-demolished building for a second as a rain of Jerry mortars crashed near by-then moved on again as stretcher-bearers went to work on the wounded...
...None of the Germans in the trenches taken by our platoon put up any real fight-they were too cowed by the flamethrowers, and evidently went deep into their dugouts when the flame came licking over the bank. We took 60 prisoners in three minutes, all paratroopers, and all thoroughly frightened except one. He surrendered easily enough, but kept complaining bitterly in broken English: "Flames-it is not fair...