Truman orders fire on a German artillery position

Truman orders fire on a German artillery position was a battlefield decision in which Captain Harry S. Truman deliberately broke his assigned limits of fire to strike a German battery threatening the 28th Division. The episode shows him combining restraint with decisive action: he waited for a tactically advantageous moment, then ordered a concentrated bombardment despite the risk of punishment.

The position and the decision

After the 129th Field Artillery moved into a peach orchard west of Cheppy, Truman, a lieutenant, Sergeant Kelley, and Corporal William O’Hare went ahead to establish an observation post. They strung a telephone line and advanced several hundred yards beyond the infantry. At dusk, from a hill crest, Truman saw an American plane drop a flare to the west. Through his field glasses he spotted a German battery moving into position on the left flank, across a small river and in front of the 28th Division, beyond his own assigned sector.

Standing orders authorized fire only against enemy batteries facing the 35th Division. Truman chose to disregard that restriction. Rather than order an immediate barrage when he first saw the Germans, he let their crews get their guns into position and take their horses away, leaving the battery ready to fire but less able to withdraw quickly.

The order to fire

Private Leigh later recalled that Truman did not panic or call for an indiscriminate response. He waited until the German guns were set and the horses were a couple of miles away, then made sure the firing data were exact. That patience distinguished the decision from a reflexive reaction: the men were to strike a prepared battery at the moment when its ability to move had been reduced.

Truman sent the data back to his battery. Private McKim recalled the order that followed: “Fire at will, fire as fast as you can,” and the guns opened up. The account presents the bombardment as a deliberate, coordinated act, not simply a defiance of orders; the precision of the observation and the timing of the fire were central to the choice.

Consequences under fire

The decision was credited with saving lives in the 28th Division. Colonel Klemm was outraged and soon telephoned to threaten Truman with a court-martial for violating orders, but the threat produced no further action. The episode therefore ended without formal punishment, while leaving clear the tension between the limits of Truman’s assignment and the danger he believed the German position posed to another division.

The battery itself remained exposed. A German plane spotted the orchard and flew in at about 300 feet, dropping hand grenades; Truman ordered his men to pull out. German artillery fire followed and devastated the orchard. Later that same night, as the battery moved on, Truman was struck in the face by a low branch and lost his glasses, only to discover them resting on the horse’s back. These events did not undo the decision to fire, but they place it within a day when the battery’s position and its men remained vulnerable to attack.