BRONX BOYS FIRST TO SHELL GERMANY
The Deed Done by Battery B of the 991st
Battery C Also Commended For Its Decisive Roll
In Capture Of Aachen
By wireless to the New York Times
American First Army Headquarters, November 4, 1944.
-- The first American shells to fall on German territory were
fired by boys from the Bronx, members of Battery "B",
991st Field Artillery Battalion, formerly the second Battalion
of the 258th Field Artillery, the "Washington Greys".
(Pfc. Joseph P. Mutnan of Carteret, New Jersey fired the first
shell, said a report from Verviers, Belgium on Sept. 10.)
The presence of this Battalion with the Third Armored Division
was disclosed simultaneously with the announcement that Battery
"C" of the Battalion had been formally commended for
the way its Self Propelled 155 mm rifles literally brought the
house down on the defenders of Aachen.
One of the first few outfits in Europe, the 991st Battalion has
never been out of action a single day since it was first committed
to battle July 13 in Normandy. Besides having been the first
to fire into Germany when one of its Batteries shelled a road
intersection town of Bildchen southwest of Aachen on September
10, it was also the first to use captured 155mm shells against
their German manufacturers.
First Used With Infantry
During its first months of action, the 991st was employed
in general support of the infantry then attached to the Third
Armored Division during the campaign that decimated the German
Seventh Army with the closing of the Falaise Gap.
From Normandy the Battalion Sped through France with Lieut. General
Courtney H. Hodge's First Army, crossing the Seine, the Marne,
and the Aisne and entering Belgium on Sept. 2 and finally chasing
the Germans directly through the West Wall. During the advance
the Battalion participated in the entrapment of 25,000 Germans
at the Pas de Calais area, and one forty-eight hour period took
more prisoners than its own strength although it was an artillery
and not an infantry battalion.
Once into Germany, Battery "C" was detached from the
Third Armored Division and was assigned to the First Infantry
Division for the assault on Aachen. During the encirclement of
that city, the battery directly supported the Eighteenth Infantry
Regiment, destroying or neutralizing pillboxes, strong points,
and bunkers with its self-propelled guns, while the infantrymen
fought their way up Crucifix Hill and into Verlauntenheide.
In Aachen itself, the battery fought through the streets with
the 26th Infantry, attacking strong points and pillboxes at ranges
sometimes only 200 of 300 yards.
Maj. Gen. J. Lawton Collins, commander of the Seventh Army Corps
and Maj. General Clarence R. Heubner, commander of the First
Infantry Division, in letters of commendation to the Battery
Commander, Capt. George G. Fisher, Jr. of 303 Larch Avenue, Bogota,
NJ, expressed their appreciation of the assistance given in enabling
the infantry Division to reach its objectives on schedule.
Feared By Germans
Perhaps a more significant complement came from the German
commander of Aachen, who said that the greatest shock his men
had was the use of the Battery's big guns in Aachen's streets.
In one case, he said, high explosive shells penetrated three
stone buildings and exploded in a fourth. In another case four
rounds were fired in the basement of a building, causing it to
collapse on its foundations.
The 991st was inducted into Federal Service in February 1941,
and subsequently trained in up-state New York, North Carolina,
and Virginia. It sailed for England in January of this year after
tours of duty in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New Jersey, and New