No Victory in Valhalla

by Ian Gardner

  Located about 350 yards south of Route Madame, the battalion CP was well hidden in the Bois Champay behind H Co on the site of an old quarry about 250 yards west of the N30. In another pit 70 yards further south, Barney Ryan established his aid station, alongside a track that originated from Foy and ran up the hill through the MLR, before eventually joining the N30.

  At over 10ft deep, the two ancient pits were ideal and measured about 25ft in diameter. Although they were covered by a thick layer of logs it was possible to stand up inside and the natural bunkers soon became a safe haven for Col Patch and his staff as Fred Bahlau recalls: “Whenever my guys were in reserve, I always had everyone remove their boots and massage toes and feet to promote circulation.” Casualties with early-stage emersion foot or frostbite were stabilized inside the aid station by means of a coal-fired brazier before being sent back to their foxholes. “On the MLR, the men were not really allowed to light fires. However, during daylight those of us dug in around the battalion CP were able to boil water and melt shavings from D-Bars and make our own form of airborne ‘hot chocolate.’ Every morning one of my duties as HQ Co first sergeant was to visit the battalion command post and report any casualties that had occurred during the previous 24 hours.” A few days into the campaign, HQ Co began to send men across to the rifle companies in an attempt to make up for their acute loss of manpower.

  Shadows in the mist

  Sometime after midnight on December 21, a patrol from 2/506 discovered dozens of footprints near the railroad tracks around Detaille Farm and traced them to a patch of woods behind the eastern MLR.

  The enemy troops were part of a reconnaissance group from Regiment 77, 26.Volksgrenadier-Division, who had previously been supporting Panzer-Lehr-Division around Margeret and were now in the process of attacking Bizory. At the time 2nd Bn were holding the MLR from the eastern edge of Foy through the Bois Jacques to the railway embankment at Detaille Farm (F/506 CP). With E and F/501 dug in around Bizory, the ground east of the tracks was virtually undefended. D/501 were still occupying a bivouac position in an isolated L-shaped block of woodland about half a mile southeast of the farm. At this point the fissure was extremely vulnerable, especially when heavy fog led to poor visibility. It would appear that the Volksgrenadiers were part of a spearhead whose job was to punch and consolidate a hole along the railway, enabling the Panzers clear route into Bastogne. D and F/506 were dug in along the edge of the Bois Jacques, with D Co now holding the line west of the embankment.

  During the early hours of the morning, 250 Volksgrenadiers crossed the fields adjacent to the Bizory road. Avoiding the 506th CP, the enemy group slipped through the mist and swung northeast before reaching the railway embankment close to the D/501 bivouac area. Realizing the woods were occupied and with daylight fast approaching, the Germans decided to cross over and find shelter in dense woodland on the other side of the tracks. The forest here was scattered with trenches previously dug by the Belgian Army in 1940 and US forces in September 1944, which was a blessing in disguise for the Volksgrenadiers. After establishing their harbor area the Germans sent out recon patrols and OPs to protect the flanks. At 0830hrs D and F companies heard German voices coming from the woods and immediately formed a containment force with the 501st to block all possible escape routes.

  Thirty minutes later, 1st Bn was mobilized and dispatched from nearby Luzery by Col Sink to eliminate the enemy force. As Bob Harwick recalls, “A and C companies were sent in, while B Co was placed between the target area and Luzery. Leaving 2nd Lt Don Zahn’s platoon in reserve, I led 1st Lt Dick Meason’s A Co and 1st Lt Mehosky’s C Co and at 0900hrs carefully started in a southeasterly direction from the main road [N30]. We moved through the woods to try to chase the enemy into B Co led by 1st Lt Herbert Minton, who were now waiting in ambush.” The forest was made up of dense woodland, the branches of which went down to the ground, forcing the men onto the single-lane logging tracks that criss-crossed the Bois Jacques.

  The two assault groups advanced cautiously toward the railway as Bob Harwick continues:

  We experienced a limited amount of enemy shelling which mainly fell behind our line of advance. As the men moved onward, orders were issued by a whisper or hand signal. A shot rang out and everybody hit the ground wondering where it had come from. This was followed by a burst of machine-gun fire that ricocheted from tree to tree. A Co spotted a few low mounds of freshly dug earth marking the outer line of enemy defenses and put in a joint assault with C Co. A few moments later, above the noise, I heard someone shout for a “medic.”

  At this point [1100hrs] C Co was still advancing to contact, when I moved forward past Lt Zahn to make sure that both companies didn’t become separated in the forest. Another long burst of enemy machine-gun fire ripped through the trees as C Co closed in for the fight. A wall of noise erupted as the company engaged the enemy at close range. I came upon one of our boys who’d been killed earlier – face down in the dirt, helmet to one side – still holding his rifle. Two prisoners were brought back under close guard by one of my men. Both Germans were terrified and kept ducking their heads as stray bullets whipped through the trees. A burst of automatic fire sent them diving into a nearby foxhole. Taking no chances the guard threw a grenade in after the prisoners and followed up with four shots from his carbine before returning to the fight.

  Maj Harwick crawled over to a wounded man in need of assistance. Next to him was the body of another soldier who had been shot in the head and killed while trying to apply a field dressing to his injured comrade. In total C Co lost four men during the attack. “More POWs were coming in – one of them, gibbering in German, half scared out of his wits, kept falling to his knees, eyes darting around like a lunatic. Finally in English he began to repeat ‘Don’t shoot me’ before collapsing to the ground sobbing. The rest of the prisoners had a similar attitude except for one lieutenant who stood cold and aloof. His arrogance soon crumbled after one of our guys punched him in the face leaving his nose pouring with blood.”

  While this was happening, the support platoon from C Co were skirmishing northeast alongside the railway embankment and captured another 30 prisoners. “We counted 65 German bodies scattered amongst the trees. Most had been killed as they were falling back to a secondary defensive position,” recalls Bob Harwick. “One of the ‘dead’ Krauts was found trying to operate the radio he was lying on … needless to say his communication came to a very abrupt end. Not all of the enemy troops were accounted for so we decided to sweep the woods towards B Co. It wasn’t long before we found more along the edge of the tree line where they had hastily tried to dig in. Afraid to fight in the open, the Germans fired on our scouts.” One squad from 2 Ptn A Co worked its way around the flank, killing four Volksgrenadiers, wounding three, and taking another prisoner, as Pfc Don Burgett recalls: “On our way back to the main road Pvt Don Brininstool, Pvt Charles Horn, and myself were covering the left flank of the company.” Horn was a few yards behind Burgett and Brininstool when the beleaguered Volksgrenadiers opened up with a machine gun. The first burst went high but the second was more accurate, as Don recalls: “As the string of bullets ripped toward us we hit the ground and rolled away but Horn was too slow and died instantly after being hit in the face.”

  Moments after Horn was killed, Burgett and Brininstool were able to skirt around the enemy position and neutralize the gun crew and two riflemen. During the course of the morning, Dick Meason was shot in the abdomen and seriously wounded. A Co also lost privates Emanuel Fell, John Bielski, and Siber Speer, who were all from 2 Ptn. The remaining German troops, 13 in all, fled their positions and ran into B Co, who promptly took them prisoner. The 501st captured a further 85 soldiers in their sector as what was left of the Volksgrenadiers (some of whom were only 15 years old) withdrew east across the tracks. Around 1800hrs, upon returning to Luzery, 1/506 discovered that the 57 men who had been wounded during the attack had no hope of being evacuated as Bastogne was now completely surrounded by enemy forces.
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  Three days later at the rifle range, Meason developed acute peritonitis. Luckily, due to the abundance of penicillin and sulfadiazine (which was administered intravenously), he survived and eventually made a full recovery. Blood plasma was also in plentiful supply, thanks to VIII Corps, who had left behind most of their medical depot at Caserne Heintz.

  Back on the 3rd Bn MLR, Capt Joe Doughty had been surveying Recogne together with Sherman Sutherland. As the two officers were standing along the edge of the 2 Ptn sector, the “Western Finger” came under intense fire by an enemy mortar barrage. Something struck Sutherland in the right temple and the men could only look on in horror as he fell, convulsing, to the ground. Jim Martin recalls, “Bizarrely, as Capt Doughty was trying to revive Sherman, a bullet slipped from a gaping wound on the left side of the lieutenant’s forehead!” (Martin thought Sherman had been killed instantly, but according to official company reports he actually died two days later.)

  Cpl Don Skoglund (2 Ptn) was also killed while running messages to 1 Ptn, which suffered around a dozen casualties, including Stan Clever, Sgt Elden Gingerich, Sgt Vic Szidon (communications), and Cpl John Hildebrandt. Clever was sent back to Bastogne along with the rest of the walking wounded for treatment. Stan had not gone far when a heavily armed German patrol crossed the trail ahead. “They didn’t see us and disappeared into the woods. A little further along the track we came across a group of GIs sitting beside a Sherman TD, brewing hot chocolate on a small campfire. They seemed unconcerned when we told them about the Kraut patrol and responded, ‘So what – we don’t have any ammo anyway!’ Shrugging, we carried on to Bastogne, where I was treated by Capt Feiler, who suggested as my wound wasn’t serious that I return to the front line the following morning. That night the town was bombed, so in all honesty, I was glad to be going back to the MLR.”

  The continuous patrolling by 2nd and 3rd battalions acquired dozens of potential targets for mortar and artillery in the vicinities of Recogne, Foy, and the Bois Jacques. 3 Ptn E Co would often use Route Madame as their highway into Recogne, moving out through 2 Ptn G Co and H/502. Ed Shames and his men spent many nights creeping around the village trying to figure out where the enemy-held positions and buildings were located.

  One night Pvt Ray Calandrella was on guard duty and could not believe what he was seeing. “Somebody was using a flashlight around the battalion CP. Whispering angrily into the darkness, I asked for identification and that they extinguish the light immediately! ‘Where are the candy bars?’ came the response. I recognized the voice; it was 1st Lt John Williams. Although we were behind the MLR the lieutenant seemed clueless to the danger he might be exposing us to… I still can’t believe that someone could be that stupid … totally unbelievable.” The following morning, LtCol Patch was sitting outside the CP shaving, when a barrage of German shells came hurtling overhead. Unconcerned by the explosions, Patch carried on with his admin and shouted above the din, “Those bastards will never get me!”

  Some nights, when things were quiet, Lou Vecchi would detail a couple of men to head down into Foy and collect fresh water from a well, located on the western side of the N30 between the houses belonging to Alphonse Degive and Jules Koeune. The route was protected by a shallow dip lined by a long hedge that provided good cover. One evening a Sherman tank was observed moving along the N30 from the direction of Bastogne. Bizarrely, the tank trundled slowly through the MLR down into Foy and straight into the path of a German Panzer hidden in the dip of the road. The longer gun of the German tank smashed into the side of the Sherman’s turret, prompting its commander to traverse his shorter barrel before firing several rounds at pointblank range into the Panzer, incinerating its occupants. “The Sherman then backed up the hill to our positions, whereupon we learned from the crew that they were in fact lost and had missed the left turn for our battalion CP,” recalls Hank DiCarlo. “The enemy in Foy began firing everything they had at the Sherman so we hunkered down in our foxholes and rode it out.”

  After returning to the Bois Jacques from a night patrol into Recogne, Ed Shames noticed a glow coming from one of his platoon foxholes. “Earl McClung and I wondered what the hell it was. As we approached the trench we discovered our armorer Forrest Guth, aka ‘Goody,’ underneath a raincoat reading a book by electric light! After a brief exchange of ‘words,’ we made him cut the wires to make sure he wouldn’t compromise our position again. After calming down we inquired as to how he’d managed to do this. ‘Goody’ was a resourceful man and we weren’t surprised to learn that earlier in the day he’d salvaged an old generator and headlight from a German motorcycle to form the basis of his ‘in trench’ lighting system.”

  During the morning of December 22, Hank DiCarlo was sent back to Bastogne with a detail to collect ammunition. “I decided to look in on Ed Petrowski at the seminary to see how he was doing. Although Ed appeared to be in some pain, he was quite coherent and we talked for several minutes. Turning to leave, Ed grabbed my sleeve and pulled me toward him – ‘Hank, if something should happen to me I want you to promise to go see my wife and little girl and give them these.’ Ed then handed me a set of rosary beads and a medal he’d ‘acquired’ when we were in Holland from a church at Uden. Assuming I would return at a later time, I patted his hand, told him not to be so stupid, and assured him everything was going to be OK.”

  Moving along the N30 on his way to Foy, DiCarlo was passing by the back gate of the caserne when he noticed bodies being carried into the indoor range. Entering through a set of double doors, Hank found himself in a target store at the end of the range. Continuing down a short but steep flight of stairs, DiCarlo entered the butts through a large sliding door. The sight that greeted him was deeply shocking. Spread across the sand-covered floor and sloped bank were numerous dead bodies, American and German, plus dozens of amputated arms and legs.

  Over the next 48 hours the regimental CP at the barracks took a number of direct hits, resulting in yet more casualties as T/5 David Phillips from the regimental S3 (ex Co HQ 3rd Bn) remembers. “Around 0130hrs on December 23, a 105mm shell landed in the corridor close to our room. Two men were wounded and we were covered in dust and debris. My immediate boss, M/Sgt John Senior, brushed himself down and gave us all a large shot of cognac which helped to steady our nerves.” That same evening the Luftwaffe arrived overhead and began to bomb the town. Nearby in Luzery Maj Bob Harwick was in his CP at Blaise Farm and recalls, “Immediately I abandoned my room on the second floor and moved downstairs to the living room. One of the bombs landed in the field opposite about 100 yards away, leaving a huge crater.”

  “Nuts” and the fortune of war

  The previous morning (December 22), along the Arlon road south of Bastogne, a party of four Germans had approached the American lines at Kessler Farm (which was occupied by F Co 327th GIR) from the direction of Remoifosse, under a “white flag” of truce. It is likely that the commander of the 47.Panzerkorps, Heinrich von Lüttwitz, personally drafted a letter asking for the Americans to surrender. The party consisted of Major Wagner from the 47.Panzerkorps, Leutnant Helmuth Henke from the Panzer-Lehr operations section, and two enlisted men possibly from Panzergrenadier-Lehr Regiment 901.

  Leutnant Henke, who spoke English, asked to see the commanding officer and was directed toward S/Sgt Carl Dickinson, T/4 Oswald Butler, and medic Pfc Ernest Premetz. Henke pointed to the briefcase he was holding and explained to Dickinson that he had a written message for the American commander in Bastogne. Leaving the Panzergrenadiers behind, Wagner and Henke were blindfolded and taken to the F Co CP located in a wooded area about a quarter of a mile away. Capt James Adams (F Co CO) made several telephone calls before he was able to speak with his regimental S3, Maj Alvin Jones, who was asked by Divisional HQ to retrieve the message and bring it to Caserne Heintz.

  The surrender demand was written in both English and German and read:

  To the U.S. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne: The fortune of war is changing. This time the
U.S. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Our near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompré-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands. There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note. If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy AA Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours’ term. All serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well-known American humanity.

  Signed: The German Commander.

  Maj Jones and LtCol Ned Moore (divisional G1 and acting chief of staff) took the message to Tony McAuliffe, who at the time was trying to sleep. Jones explained the situation to the general, who much to everyone’s surprise exploded in anger, threw the note on the ground, and shouted “Us surrender? Aw nuts!” At that point he left the building to visit a unit on the western perimeter to congratulate them for destroying a German roadblock.

  Puzzled by the response, Jones returned to his Regimental HQ to brief Col Bud Harper (CO of 327th GIR). Almost 2 hours later, when McAuliffe came back from his trip, he was informed that Harper had telephoned to say the two German officers were still waiting at the F Co CP. In front of his staff, McAuliffe wondered aloud what to tell Wagner and Henke. It was only then that Harry Kinnard spoke up and suggested that what the general had said earlier would be hard to eclipse. Everyone agreed and McAuliffe scribbled a line on a message pad with instructions for it to be typed up by T/4 Ed Ihlenfeld. The message read simply: “To the German Commander, ‘N-U-T-S’ – The American Commander.”