
Adjusting Close Air Support
Comments of Lt Braden Vanderventer, Jr., Acting Air-Ground Liaison Officer, 100th Infantry Division
Situation
On 5 April 1945 the 100th infantry Division was attacking the town of Heilbronn, Germany, where German forces, with artillery support, were resisting bitterly. The 398th Infantry Regiment, whose mission was to close upon Heilbronn from the north, was held up by fire from German pillboxes and from a nearby patch of woods. Forward elements of the 398th were only 300 yards from the pillboxes. At the time, there was no artillery which could effectively shell the enemy fortifications because the main effort was being made some 10,000 yards to the south. The regimental S-3 immediately requested an attack by fighter-bombers.

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