Note: Continued February 17, 1944 to February 20, 1944.

Feb. 17 Continued:
Jerry also threw over some shells.
A mess of our bombers went over & bombed the lines out of about 100 planes 2 were knocked down.  Lots of dive bombing down by P51’s & 40’s.  This beach head is costing a lot of lives & material. Jerry is giving us tough fight & he’s got the equipment.

Feb. 18
Jerry came over 3 times bombing and strafing also did a hell of a lot of shelling around here.  I had a couple of close calls from shells bursting about 10 feet from me shrapnel wizzing right over my head.  I sure hit the dirt fast.  Heard the Jerrys 6 barrel mortar, & there wicked.
Called screaming mimies.
Jerry started a counterattack about 8 P.M. & it looked bad for us.
He pushed the English & Americans

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Page 17 Continued

Feb. 18 continued:
Back to within one mile of us.  We saw & heard the machine gun bullets going over our heads.  We stayed up all night.  The second line of defense of Trich guards with machine guns set up behind us.

Feb. 19 (My birth day)
About 4 A.M. Jerry opened up with a wicked barrage. Shells were bursting everywhere.  One shell hit the corner of our gun pit throwing a lot of dirt.  We sure were scared.
Our boys held Jerry back but there still 1 mile from us.  Lots of tanks around to make a push.
Jerrys been over 3 times this morning droping bombs.
Our planes been diving bombing the Jerry lines also a few bombers went over.

Feb. 20
Jerry was pushed back by our boys, pushed them to

Note: This is the end of what we refer to as page 17.