With a total of 80 Germans captured and an estimated 350 others killed or wounded, A Company and its attachments - a force totaling approximately 150 men-suffered 9 men killed, 79 missing in action, and 24 wounded in action. In reality, the number of men killed was probably greatly in excess of the figure mentioned, however, darkness and the inherent confusion of 24 hours of continuous fighting precluded the possibility of ascertaining the death of every man who fell.

In view of the excessively high casualties, it is difficult to say that the mission was a success. From the viewpoint of those GIs involved, the operation was a miniature "Dunkirk" with at most, a hollow satisfaction achieved. Fighting men don't believe in moral victories.

Whether or not A and I Companies served their purpose in diverting enemy troops from a more important sector is impossible to say. In any case, they were hit and hit hard by at least a regiment of troops, plus a platoon of tanks supported by a battalion or more of artillery. With this operation relegated to memory and the flies, the regiment continued its combat activities along the same pattern as before.

On April 13, a 504 patrol contacted elements of the 97th Division as they advanced north along the east bank of the Rhine. Three days later the " Sack " had dwindled to a mere blister and the 504 was relieved of its active defense of the Rhine.

From the date of relief from active combat duty until April 27, the regiment was engaged in policing an area of some 360 square miles north of Cologne. Local military government was enforced and the entire area was searched for unauthorized firearms, ammunition, salvageable equipment, and displaced persons.

Men of the regiment, who had always fought "for souvenirs and for the hell of it," found a gold mine in German weapons, motorcycles, cars, and the like; however, the existing non-fraternization order presented its problems. It was difficult for paratroopers, not the least romantic of America's fighting forces, to snub pretty girls - particularly when the pretty girls didn't want to be snubbed. A division order moving the regiment to an area South of Hamburg failed to relieve the situation, but it did promise more souvenirs and more excitement.

May 1 found the 604 CP established in the town of Breetze, Germany, on the west bank of the Elbe River, awaiting the arrival of the troops who, though they had departed from Cologne four days before by "40 and 8's," were just now reaching the Elbe bridgehead.

The 2nd and 3rd Battalions crossed the pontoon bridge constructed during the day and advanced nine miles along the south bank of the Elbe. The 1st Battalion, which was the last to arrive at the LD, remained in regimental reserve.

Resistance by the enemy to the advance was almost negligible. In fact, those German troops which were overtaken, almost without exception, threw down their arms. The Luftwaffe gestured feebly in the direction of the Elbe pontoon bridge, sneaking in at sunset behind the covering Spitfires to drop their ill-aimed bombs.

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