Show With Ernie Pyle in Normandy Bombardment nt of Nazis Be Bee Captivating Spectacle to W IN NORMANDY By Wireless Wire Wire- less less With With our own personal danger past our historic air bombardment of the German lines holding us in the Normandy Norman Norman- dy beachhead again became a a captivating spectacle to watch By now it was definite that the great waves of motored four planes were dropping their deadly deadly deadly dead dead- ly loads exactly in the right place And by now two Mustang fighters flying like a pair of doves patrolled back and forth back and forth just in front of each oncoming wave of bombers bomb bomb- ers as Jf If to shout to them by their mere presence that here was not the place to drop drop drop- wait a few seconds wait walt a few more seconds And then we could see a flare come out of the belly of one plane in each flight just after they had passed over our h heads ads The flare shot forward leaving leaving leaving leav leav- ing smoke behind it in a vivid line and then began a grace ful downward curve that was one of the most beautiful things Ive I've ever seen It was like an invisible crayon cray cray- on drawing a rapid line across the canvas of the sky saying in a gesture for all to see Here Here is where to drop Follow me And each succeeding flight flIgh t of oncoming bombers obeyed and andin andin in turn dropped its own hurtling marker across the illimitable heaven to guide those behind Long before now the German German German Ger Ger- man ack-ack ack guns had gone out of existence We had counted three of our big planes down downin in spectacular flames and I believe believe believe be be- lieve that was all The German ack tick gunners either took to their holes bOles or were annihilated It seemed incredible to to to-me to me that any German could come out of that bombardment with his sanity When 1 It t was over even evenI I was grateful in m a chastened way I had never experienced before for just being alive I thought an attack by our troops was impossible now for forit forit forit it is an unnerving thing to be bombed by your own planes During the bad part a colonel I had known a long time was walking up and down behind the farmhouse snapping his fingers and saying over and over to himself himself himself him him- self As he passed me once he stopped and stared and said And I said There cant can't be bean bean bean an attack now can there 1 And he said No and began walling walking walking walk wall ing again snapping his fingers and tossing his arm as though he was throwing rocks at the ground The leading company of our battalion was to spearhead the t attack 4 40 minutes es t v ar heavy bombing testa cea ceas company had been hit I by our bombs Th ir ties including casU shock ock were h heavy avy y j to pieces and had to back The he company f e. 1 and shaken V VAnd And y yet t Company B sV I and arid and on time to thi W t They Attacked and t r hour they sent word b th they y had advanced advance l i through German to rn were still stilt going farmyard men With wy their shoulders a when th the tho word cam earo portable radio The soldier can be s needs to be There 1 is one mo mOlt want to say before t the group troops on d di d' France in the great pg been reading about no now nw- Im I'm sure that back ln It that night other m men n crews crews almost almost wept e LJ they did really realty in I b knowledge that they b 11 I our own American trot troy I want to say this thus to II b. b chaos and the oi the orchards and ber 1 hedgerows that atte passed After th the came sober the air corps is the I ate ite arm in front of u us Stitt ot the beginning but c cand s sand and everlastingly 11 of the faintest daylight i t t corps is up there ban I ahead of us i Anybody makes s 11 m The enemy makes them same as we do The sn amI ai confusion of battle baUle beall bend be I all on the ground as vc wr the air And in this t o percentage of error nj wa wu wavery very small compared colossal storm of bomb boraN fell upon the enemy J The air corps has wr be throughout i-i i and the m men n on the p rr it I |