NAIL Limburg

75% of the gliders would make a successful landing without damage and 85% of all the troops stayed unharmed. The gliders were made out of plywood and would be easily damaged or destroyed by German small arms fire or anti-aircraft “flak” guns.  A 75mm Howitzer would be ready in 15 minutes after their landing.  Again the 401st would fight side by side with the 506th PIR. Sometimes the battalion would relieve the 506th from the front. Together after days, the unit was send up north to the island between the Rhine and the Waal River. They ended up in the area of Opheusden.. 

At 0430 in the morning of October 6th, an enemy force approached the company. Toward dawn enemy artillery and mortar fire increased and another German battalion supported by four tanks advanced down the tracks. Again, men of the 401 opened on them with everything they had, but the tanks with their heavy close-in fire made a difference. A large portion of this new group managed to break through and continue east.

Heavy German artillery fire con­tinued but there was no new attack until 1330, when a small force again advanced against the left flank of Company B and a larger group moved across the open space between B and A. They found the open space a death trap. Combined artillery, mortar and small-arms fire, working according to plans made the night before, wiped them out.

Before dawn on October 9 intense artillery and mortar barrages, laid along the entire front, preceded an attack by several strong enemy pa­trols. These were ably repelled, but the Germans were only beginning. Harassing fire continued throughout the day and before noon General Taylor was visiting the 327 command post where he studied the situation. Then, at about 1700 hours, the heaviest artillery barrage ever experi­enced by the 327 and 401 came down on the regiment. Consisting of both medium and light artillery it lasted a full 45 minutes. Many soldiers thought, at the time, that no human being could live through such intense fire. British Artillery officers, sup­porting the regiment, said that all during the war the only other German Artillery preparation in their experi­ence which compared with this oc­curred in Africa at El 'Alamein.

The artillery was lifted and the Germans attacked with an entire division, supported by tanks on both the northern flank and the center of the line. But the Americans, who remained safely under cover in their holes during the artillery barrage, now came out to meet the advancing enemy with a ferocity that defies description. Small arms were fired so rapidly that they became red hot and the varnish burned off the stocks of M-1 rifles. Sergeant Brown, 401st , fired his machine gun until it got so hot that when he tried to stop the gun kept firing until the belt was emptied. At some points the Germans advanced to within six yards of the front line and were driven back only by the strength of bayonet clashes. Americans picked up grenades thrown by the enemy, and tossed them back. Not an inch of ground was lost.  In this fierce battle PFC Clark lost his life. He was just 19 years old.