The following dramatic extract comes from Presidio's new book Seven Roads to Hell – the gripping account of an American paratrooper's World War II adventures. Here Donald Burgett describes an attack on a German position during the Ardennes offensive: We were up, yelling and screaming, running low and zigzagging through deep snow toward the enemy positions in the deep, dark woods on the other side of the field. Overcoat tails flapped around our legs as we plowed our way through the snow. Sweat soaked our bodies, running freely down our faces as we raced forward. It seemed impossible, but there were still German survivors in that torn section of woods. They opened up on us with rifle and machine-gun fire. Bullets cracked as they passed close by, at times nipping clothing, at times thudding into a trooper's body. I always got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I started a running attack into frontal fire, knowing that at any moment an enemy bullet might tear through my body, face, or limbs, severing arteries and ripping away organs. But once we started, there was no turning back. There was only one option as far as I was concerned: run forward and kill. Once the enemy was dead there was time to rest my mind and body, secure in the knowledge that I had survived once more. Phillips was to my right, Benson to my left, and Carl Angelly followed close to my left rear. Then we were in the woods. We were in the enemy's front yard. German dead lay all around the area, some in the open, others half in and half out of holes In the swirl of fighting I lost contact with some of my buddies but I kept a watchful eye on Carl. Liddle was close by, and I glanced at Phillips. A grenade-like explosion went off just to my left front. A trooper with his helmet smashed flat sideways on his head went stumbling through the trees. It was Benson; something had exploded close to him, smashing his helmet flat on his head. He had lost his senses and dropped his carbine. He ran into trees and stumbled over fallen branches. Phillips and Liddle finally tackled him throwing him to the ground. Carl and I ran over to them. Normally we would not stop for a wounded comrade, but Benson was running amok and was at risk of running into the enemy and getting himself killed. We tried to straighten him out on the snow. He thrashed wildly. Carl and I pried his helmet off with great difficulty while Liddle and Phillips held him down. There were traces of white froth around the corners of his mouth. The way he acted, his skull must have been cracked. We found communication wire, which was always lying around a battle scene and tied him securely. We left him trussed on the ground for our medics, who were always right there with us. The medics would see that he was properly cared for. We had to continue the attack. This all took place during heavy firing, the main body of our men still moving forward into the enemy positions. Phillips, Liddle, Carl and I went running forward into the mêlée. As we spread out, an enemy bullet smashed against my rifle. It spun out of my hands and clattered against a tree. The gas cylinder and front stock were destroyed; it was useless. The rifle left my hands so violently that I thought every bone in my fingers had been broken. I stood for a moment shaking my hands. It felt as though all my fingers had been hit with a hammer at the same time. Again I was forced to use my forty-five as I pressed forward in the attack with the others. The relatively few Germans still alive were deep in their covered holes and bunkers. We used a lot of grenades. I fired round after round at the fleeing enemy with my pistol but doubt if I even came close to any of them. A forty-five is mostly good only for morale and as a last-ditch defense weapon. It is accurate up to about ten feet or so. After that it's mostly just a noisemaker. I did grenade two bunkers that had Germans inside. We yelled for them to come out but they refused, yelling back at us in German. I don't recall any prisoners being taken during or after this fight. Again the attack ended and we found ourselves standing in the center of broken and torn equipment and bodies. And again I was among the survivors. Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 93 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com