Crossing the Channel 1944
Sinclair Hart (Slobak@AOL.COM)
Mon, 18 Mar 1996 21:15:04 -0500
Our 287th Engineer Combat Battalion crossed the English channel on Christmas
Eve 1944 on a small boat (once a royal yacht) named the Princess Charlotte,
en route to the Bulge. That night another ship, the Leopoldville was hit by
a torpedo. It radioed for help to Cherbourg, France, but apparently officers
who might have responded were celebrating the holiday. The ship announced to
her men that there was no danger, since they were expecting rescue. But it
never came and the ship went down with loss of some 500 men. They had been
members of the 66th Division. As a result, our group
replaced some of the losses and were sent to western France to shut in the
Germans who were guarding the submarine pens at Lorient and St,. Nazaire so
that they couldnt breaklout and join the Bulge, thus cutting the allies in
half.
I sure would like to hear from anyone who is familiar with this story or who
was also involved.
Sinclair Hart