February 1944--More Fighting at the Front in Italy

February 1 dawned cold and foggy.  There was a lot of artillery fire and shells coming in.  On February 4, our new 240 MM Howitzers in the rear lines seven miles away were shelled by heavy German artillery.  On February 7, I came back to the front, and during the evening, one of our own planes dropped two bombs and hit the kitchen of the 125th Field Artillery and killed 15 men, who were sitting down and eating "chow".  The next day, I went to the rear and hauled up a truckload of charcoal.  The Germans dropped a lot of shells along the road as we were driving, and I was really scared.

On February 10, enemy planes flew over in the morning.  The Germans threw a lot of shells in today and hit another Artillery Battalion near us.  Our own "C" Battery got hit, but it wasn't too bad. One shell hit the tail of Number 2 gun.  On February 12, two fellows in "B" Battery were killed and two officers were injured badly.

On February 14, we went back to Rest Camp in Caserta.  Got all new clothes and good eats, and saw some shows.  The next day, I went to Santa Maria and bought some gifts and saw more shows.

On February 18, came back to the front again, and it was very cold.  Three of our guns were hit and damaged.  Our Medics moved out of their house that night, and a German shell knocked it down after they were out safely.

I alternated my time between the Field Artillery work and repairing all of our jeeps.  On February 25, I took the jeep to the creek in Mignano and washed off all the mud.  All of the houses in Mignano are knocked down and the streets have 15 feet of rubble heaped up.  We saw an old man putting stones around a grave, which he pointed to and said "Mama".  It was a sad sight.

Letter Home from Robert to His Family:  "February 10, 1944--Here it is a very cold and dark, rainy evening.  The mud is so bad.  I didn't get any mail tonight, but I read all of the letters I've received over again today.  I enjoyed them so much! Tell everyone hello from me.  Love from your son Robert."