VICTORY INSIDER 11
An Infantryman's Diary
From the Journal of Daniel "Coke" Simmons, PFC, US. Army
Transcribed By
William Hamilton
Ambush represents to me the merging of three very exciting hobbies. everything they had at us, but we got nine of them, losing two. Our
For garners, there is the realism of tactical combat (with albeit very in- other casualty was the second, Stan Browne, who caught a machine pistol.
tensive action);for computer garners there is the programmed action I incapped three guys and wounded one in hand-to-hand, and got another
paragraphs; and there is the element of role-playing that gives you a with a crack shot of my semi-auto. Got another commendation for that
variety of options (would you leave your wounded buddy behind, or go one. All in all, we only let two Krauts slip through. A good day.
on and attempt to finish the mission?). For those who agree, not only
is Victory coming out with Purple Heart sometime in the future, but at 14 August 1944
that time the Insider will publish a scenario of its own! So, it is with We got our new CO today; a real vain bastard by the name of Vance
pleasure that we present this article: one man's journey through the world Hughes. The second's name is Junior Carlin, but he told everyone to
of Ambush. WEP call him Spike. He's a real decent sort, compared to Hughes. I gues
that's what you call taking the bad with the good.
7 June 1944
War is Hell, all right. All us GI's that have seen action h o w that 23 August 1944
for a fact. After minimal training, we were dropped into France. We Our next engagement was during an offensive. While waiting for fuel
were to capture and hold two important bridges near Caretin for the boys and supplies, we were sent ahead to scout out the town of Chasol (mission
busting through Utah Beach (mission4). The winds were gusting at dawn 2). We cleared all the buildings, incapping or killing nine Krauts while
and we got jerked all over the drop site. Willie Stevens drowned in the none of us so much as bruise a shin. A lucky shot from my carbine
river when he couldn't get out of the chute. Tom Wilson took one in knocked down a plane in flight. Hughes, Jimmy Jackson, Lorne
the belly and died before the medic came. The Krauts must have known Washburn, and even Bubba Jones got commendations for that mission.
something was up because they blew the bridges before we could stop Washburn was Rabbit's replacement and really showed what he was made
them. Big Bubba Jones killed a couple of Krauts and near blew off the of in his first fight.
leg of another with his Browning but didn't get more than a nod from
the Looie when we got back. Probably because he was a negro. I like
Bubba, and wouldn't want anyone else to be in a firefight with. I busted 7 September 1944
a Jerry open with my carbine as did our second in command, Stan We were sent forward to capture a crucial bridge across the Sambre
Browne. All in all, we gave as good as we got, killing two and incapaci- two days ago (mission 8). They told us that a Sherman would arrive
tating five more. Too bad about them bridges. Sgt. Dirty Jack got a com- for backup. We reached the bridge with little trouble, but when the Sarge
mendation and Richie Long got a Purple Heart for getting wounded. went to check the bridge, the Krauts blew it up. Hughes got a nasty
gash on his arm,but bandages and sulfa powder took care of it. Luckily,
5 July 1944 (Mission 5) we found a ford a little ways downstream and managed to clear the area.
Dirty Jack sure lives up to his name. He volunteered us for a raid The Sarge was worried about Washburn, who'd taken a couple of bullets,
to bust up a rocket base in Holland. With help from the Dutch under- and didn't feel right waiting for the Sherman, so we kept going. Wash-
ground, we found ourselves on the outskirts of the base early yesterday bum turned out OK and both he and Sarge got Purple Hearts. Doug
morning. We had been given plenty of explosives, but found ourselves Crawford, Spike Carlin and I all got commendations.
short of them before we would have liked. Our orders were to destroy
what we could and try to find some documents on a rocket the Germans 1 November 1944
were building. Well, we found the documents, blew up a tower and radar Things have calmed down, so tomorrow we're being sent to Belgium
station, but had to scram when we ran out of demo packs and things for gamson duty.
started heating up. We got out, but lost our two replacements. Arnie
Davies took one between the eyes and died instantly. Charlie Simmons 5 November 1944
(he was the Rabbit, since his eyes got real big and would shake in a Who ever said gamson duty was easy! Yesterday, we were out on
fight) took some shrapnel in the belly and died real slow, scared as hell patrol. There must have been Krauts all through the area. Although the
and crying for the pain to stop. His last words were for his mom. I volun- attack was sudden, we killed, wounded, or incapped 11 Krauts, and Big
teered to write his parents and found it worse than busting tanks with Bubba knocked out a tank with a bazooka. Bubba later took some nasty
baseball bats. The CO destroyed a command car with a grenade and shrapnel in the leg, but we bound it up and got him out.
we kill three and incapacitate one. I didn't get any, but did get a com-
mendation. I found out later that Stan Browne told the Looie about Rabbit 20 January 1944
dying in my arms. Wow! You want to talk about hairy missions. Sixteen January saw
us approaching the bunker-packed West Wall by canoe (mission 6). Good
10 August 1944 thing it was at night or we might have crapped if we'd seen all the
After our last mission, we got 10 days R&R and then some guard bunkers. We knocked out a couple and wasted about half a dozen other
duty. Eight August, our orders came through to bivouac at Mortin, a Krauts, though it cost us our CO and Bubba. That fool Hughes must
small French town. Never could spell those Frenchie names right. We have gone nuts, cause he tried to rush one of the bunkers and got cut
got AT mines and a Jeep since a tank attack was expected (mission 2). in half. Washburn, Rick Long and Crawford all got commendations on
Dirty Jack took along a bazook and got Rick Long to load for him. We that one.
sure did a number on the Jerrys when they tried to cruise through. Sgt.
Wagner and PFC Long personally KO'ed a Panzer and a Jadgpanther 25 January 1945
tank destroyer along with three Germans with the baz. Wagner then threw The new replacements arrived today. Our new second (Spike's now
himself on a live grenade, and all we found were his stripes and his Purple CO) is Willard Wilcox, and seems a decent enough sort. Bubba's replace-
Heart. That was all we wanted to find. When the tanks started going ment is Freddie Thompson. Those are awful big shoes to fill, Fred. I
up in smoke, Krauts started crawling out of the woodwork. They tossed wonder what our next mission will be like?
