No Victory in Valhalla

by Ian Gardner

  Gene Brown received orders via runner (as the regiment was back on radio silence) to withdraw and reorganize with 2/506 up on the ridgeline. 2nd Bn had been ordered forward to take up positions extending from the 3rd Bn CP in the Bois Champay to the N30. At the same time the first American tanks began to move down into Foy. “As it started to get light we began to exfiltrate but still kept up the rifle fire until we were out of the village,” recalls Dingman. Harley was later awarded the Silver Star for his courage, leadership, and initiative during the mission, which gained some vital time for the 506th. He adds, “After what was left of my patrol regrouped back on the MLR, I looked into their haggard faces and felt momentarily overwhelmed by the terrible responsibility of leadership.”

  Earlier, just before 1 Ptn H Co withdrew, Lou Vecchi received last-minute instructions to abandon his line of precious 60mm mortars. “To leave the tubes in situ seemed a ridiculous idea, so I decided to remove each C2 sight and throw it as far away into snow as possible. At this point, Tom Beasley came running over in a panic, shouting, ‘Cpl Myers is dead!’ I couldn’t believe what he was saying because I had only spoken to Luther a few moments earlier. After disposing of the sights, I went to check on Myers, who thankfully was still very much alive after being hit by shrapnel.”

  A few hundred yards away to the west the forward sector occupied by G Co had also received some attention from the enemy, as Jim Martin recalls: “At around 2300hrs, 2 Ptn (who numbered about 26 men) were on OP duty 1,000 yards in front of the ridge when two enemy tanks supported by infantry pushed into our area, and the firefight continued deep into the night. Illuminating rounds fired from the 81mm mortar line up on the MLR kept troop movement to a minimum. A Sherman TD came trundling down the hill in the darkness and began spraying the enemy with heavy machine-gun fire. When the tracer rounds started to ricochet at right angles into the air, the TD crew knew that they had located the lead enemy tank.”

  Seconds later, the Sherman fired two rounds in rapid succession, both of which deflected upwards after striking the glacis plate of the German tank, directly below the front turret. “Bizarrely, as the first shell left the barrel it was followed by a luminous green smoke ring that slowly disappeared before our eyes,” recalls Jim. The lead enemy tank returned fire, knocking out the TD. Another Sherman rolled up and pumped a couple of rounds into the first tank, which immediately caught fire. At this point the second German tank opened up on the newly arrived Sherman and disabled its turret before withdrawing. Jim Martin continues:

  It looked to us like the bedrolls strapped to the side of the German vehicle had caught fire, ignited by sparks from the other tank.

  Although it became a kind of stand-off we could clearly hear the sounds of more enemy armor building up in the distance. As it began to get light we spotted one of the tanks from the night before parked up about 75 yards in front of our positions. The remaining Sherman TD had moved away in the early hours toward Foy, which, despite the fog, left us vulnerable and exposed. If we were going to get out in one piece we had to do something.

  1st Lt Rowe called me over to his foxhole and said, “Martin, I’ll put you in for a Silver Star if you’ll go out there and plant a demolition charge under the tank.” “Lieutenant,” I replied, “are you crazy? Sergeant Anderson and I will put you in for one if you go.” Rowe wasn’t impressed and gave me permission to call in smoke to mark and record the surviving enemy tank and also the approximate position of the German troops who were in the trees opposite. The first rounds fired for effect landed accurately, so we gave the artillery boys permission to go ahead and send in the 155mm HE. Around 0600hrs, when we were certain the enemy were pinned down, Lt Rowe gave the order to withdraw. I’ve never been so scared, and luckily, despite coming under random small-arms fire, nobody was seriously injured as we ran back through the mist toward the “safety” of the MLR.

  Dawn was breaking as H Co moved out of Foy in extended line. “As the fog was clearing,” recalls Alex Andros, “I happened to look round and saw Fitzmaurice (who had been on OP duty) about 300 yards away slipping and sliding up the slope trying to catch up with us. It transpired that despite my clear verbal instructions nobody had told him we were leaving!” Up on the ridge Pete Madden was attending an officers’ meeting at the battalion CP. “Afterwards, as I was preparing to return to the mortar line, I bumped into one of the cooks I knew from HQ Co, Sgt Tony Zeoli, and stopped for a quick cup of coffee. As we were talking a shell exploded in the trees and a piece of shrapnel tore through Zeoli’s groin and kidneys. Another fragment hit me in the upper chest but luckily was stopped by a box of C-rations in my top pocket.”

  Bob Dunning happened to be there at the time and recalls, “It looked like Zeoli’s penis had been injured and he was screaming over and over that he’d been ruined for life. We really didn’t like Zeoli, whose nickname was ‘Blackass,’ and as Doctor Kent was taking him back to the regimental aid station, one of our replacements, Charlie Smith, called after him and said, ‘Don’t worry Sarge, the Doc might be able to cut off a piece of your nose (which was pretty large) and replace your pecker with it!’ He didn’t appreciate our humor and disappeared into the distance shouting abuse with all the venom he could muster.”

  “After Zeoli was sent off to the hospital,” recalls Pete Madden, “another barrage came in and shrapnel rained down all over the place. I crawled under a Sherman tank that was parked nearby and lit up a cigarette. In the middle of the barrage the tank drove off toward Foy. I sprinted to my CP, which was covered with heavy logs. Ironically, as I entered the bunker, a piece of shrapnel came flying through the entrance and tore into my knee. The wound was serious enough for me to be evacuated to Paris. After the splinters of metal were removed from behind my patella I was shipped to a hospital in the UK.”

  2nd Bn were diverted to an assembly area in the woods above Recogne in preparation for a hastily organized attack on Cobru, which they subsequently secured. With Allied armor now consolidating in Foy and Recogne, the last few remaining enemy tanks were destroyed.

  What was now left of 3rd Bn was ordered northwest to the southern edge of Fazone near the lake to make contact with 1st Bn and the 17th Airborne (who were scheduled to take over from the 101st), as Alex Andros recalls: “We marched through deep snow in single file and upon reaching the woods came under artillery bombardment. The barrage seemed to originate from somewhere to our rear so we knew it had to be friendly. About half a dozen rounds exploded before someone realized they had made a mistake but not before one of our replacements was badly injured. I don’t think the new guys reacted in the same way we did to counterfire. Maybe they froze for a few extra seconds… I mean, we were still just as scared but somehow those of us who had survived one or more campaigns seemed to instinctively know what to do.”

  Due to the shelling G Co suffered four casualties when Pvt Franklin Ely was killed and privates Abner Liggett, Chester Shaffer, and Tim Clifford were seriously wounded. With 2nd Bn now in control of Cobru, E Co moved forward to the high ground on the southeastern edge of Noville between D and F Co to maintain the regimental front – which was once again under radio silence.

  Guts and drive – January 15–20, 1945

  After digging in for the night, 3/506 relocated to the northeastern edge of Fazone Woods, where they had previously suffered so much damage during “Hell Night.” The battalion re-occupied the fortifications recently vacated by 1/506 – now in the process of attacking and capturing a wooded area directly northwest of Cobru. During the “cleansing” action, Capt Roy Kessler was killed leading A/506. Kessler had been seriously wounded in Holland when he was XO for H Co. As 2/506 were attacking Noville, Col Sink moved forward and relocated his CP to the Château d’Hoffschmidt in Recogne, which had only recently been cleared by S/Sgt Keith Carpenter and the regimental demolition platoon. Back in Bastogne the town was still under intermittent attack by the rail gun, which had an effective range of over 11 miles!

  On January 14, two platoons from
E Co and one from F Co took cover for the night in an old, abandoned quarry overlooking the church at Noville. The quarry pits were covered with logs and anything else that could be found for protection. A dawn attack was planned for the following morning that would simultaneously coincide with 1st Bn’s assault into the woods directly northwest of Cobru. During the premission briefing, carried out by Capt Winters and 1st Lt Speirs, 1/Sgt Carwood Lipton was tasked to take 2 Ptn (because Jack Foley had been wounded at Foy) and clear the western (left-hand side of town), while Ed Shames and 2nd Lt Ben Stapelfeld (1 Ptn F Co) were to come in from the east. Still under radio blackout, the force was told to expect support from 11th Armored, who were operating a number of M36 “Jackson” tank destroyers that had only just arrived in theater. With its low silhouette, the Jackson, weighing 29 tons, was fitted with a long, 90mm gun complete with a muzzle brake. At a glance it could quite easily be mistaken for a German Mk V Panther.

  Pfc Jay Stone and Sgt Plummer from 321st GFA were attached to 2/506 for the assault albeit in different FO parties. There was no evidence to suggest that the 321st communications network had been breached, so the two groups were able to provide the artillery and close air support vital to the assault. Because the church was so badly damaged the enemy were unable to use its steeple as an observation post. For this reason 2 Ptn were able to move forward to a fence line from where Lipton could just make out the rear of several large properties situated on the western side of the main road.

  As the buildings seemed unoccupied, Lipton carefully advanced with his radio operator (probably tuned to the 321st network) to a barn from where they could clearly observe the N30. From here it was just about possible to make out the outline of a Sherman and a half-track. Thinking 11th Armored could already be in town, Lipton decided to patrol toward the crossroad for a closer look. Trying hard not to disturb the frost-covered snow, Lipton picked his way into town only to find that the American vehicles had been knocked out on December 20 during Team Desobry and 1st Bn’s epic withdrawal. Fearing the worst, he decided to pull back and report his findings to Speirs.

  ____________

  Shortly before first light the assault platoons moved out to their respective jump-off points. Ed Shames crossed the N30 with 3 Ptn ahead of Ben Stapelfeld and moved his men into position behind the Beaujean house (previously the 1st Bn aid station on December 19/20) situated on the southern edge of Noville. Once again, the job for 3 Ptn was to punch toward the center of town and consolidate behind the church and await further instructions. Shames was somewhat concerned by the amount of exposed ground he and his men would have to cross before even reaching the church. In front of 3 Ptn, about 300 yards away on the other side of the field, was a line of trees that ran toward the back of the church and presbytery. Beyond the trees was a small group of buildings that included the milking shed belonging to Felten Farm.

  Almost immediately 3 Ptn came under artillery fire. The shelling seemed to be coming from a nearby area of woods that overlooked the town from the northwest, as Ed Shames recalls: “I watched the shells come in and start to explode on a line, one by one, in front of us. As they dropped closer I thought, ‘This is it; I’m dead,’ but the last shell in the salvo failed to detonate and was still fizzing in the deep snow as we passed by.” 2 Ptn encountered less resistance as they were partially protected by buildings but still lost Pfc Ed Joint (1st Squad) and Pfc Brad Freeman (60mm mortar squad), who were both wounded.

  Quickly gathering momentum the platoon reached the tree line on the far side of the field and took refuge in the milking shed behind the church. After a brief respite, 3 Ptn went on the offensive and skirmished around the barn, neutralizing the few remaining pockets of enemy resistance as a flight of P-47 Thunderbolts arrived overhead. The attack ended as quickly as it had begun, with the enemy withdrawing northeast, leaving the area around the church clear. Minutes later Ed was somewhat surprised when a message came through on the radio: “Friendly armor on the right.” “Shortly afterwards,” he recalls, “we heard a terrific rumbling noise and I asked my radio operator Pvt Jim ‘Moe’ Alley to go outside with me and make contact.”

  So as not to become targets for the P-47s and because radio silence was still officially in force, the two men decided to leave their helmets, rifles, and equipment behind before walking around the corner into Route de Bourcy. Shames and Alley headed down the road a short distance to the crossroads, passing the stone wall belonging to the presbytery on their left. Upon reaching the main road, Shames looked both ways but saw nothing except for the Sherman, a German Stug SPG, and the half-track knocked out in December outside the church. Then Shames noticed the back of another tank parked between two gutted buildings on the right-hand side of the street in the direction of Houffalize. Thinking this might be one of the new M36s, Alley ran on ahead and yelled out a greeting to its commander.

  As the two paratroopers approached they could now clearly see the NCO standing in the turret. As the man turned around, Shames and Alley stopped in their tracks. The tank was not an M36 but a Panzer V armed with a powerful 75mm gun. It would appear that the vehicle and its five-man crew had been left behind, possibly due to some sort of communications breakdown.

  The enemy tanker panicked and immediately attempted to traverse his turret toward Shames and Alley. “It was a terrifying moment as we turned on our heels and ran for our lives,” recalls Shames. The tank reversed out and lurched forward in pursuit, firing its 7.92mm machine gun as the two men sprinted back toward the presbytery. Helpless over on the other side of the street, 2 Ptn looked on, open mouthed, while the 46-ton behemoth chased down their comrades. As the tank (which had a top speed of 38mph) was turning into Route de Bourcy, Shames and Alley took a leap of faith over the 5ft-high presbytery wall, which, luckily for them, tapered at that point into a small embankment. No more than a second later, as the Panzer turned the corner, it fired into what was left of the building before continuing westwards toward Bourcy. The concussive blast of the gun made everything shudder, and the resulting explosion lifted Shames and Alley bodily off the ground.

  Ben Stapelfeld’s 1 Ptn from F Co had been attached to E Co for the assault. Ben led his men in behind 3 Ptn, past a burned-out Mk IV Panther, toward the graves of the eight civilians murdered by the SD on December 21. Ben and his men were pinned down by enemy machinegun fire and forced to take cover in a nearby pigpen. Cpl Robert Stone was ordered by Stapelfeld to fire his 60mm mortar onto the enemy tank as it moved along the road toward Bourcy. Ben hoped that one of the shells might hit the commander but it was futile. Just when they were about to give up, the men cheered as one of the circling P-47s flew in low and destroyed the Panzer as it raced over a nearby hill.

  A perimeter defense was established shortly after midday when the cleansing action was complete. At this point F Co withdrew to the southern edge of town close to the newly established E Co CP. Everyone was convinced that this was the final objective of the campaign, but there was still more to come. Shortly after the town was taken, Maxwell Taylor and Gerald Higgins arrived to get a situation report from Col Sink and Capt Winters. Due to the continuous radio lockdowns over the last 30 hours, Divisional HQ had been for the most part unaware as to what was happening and where. Taylor was horrified by the state of the town and asked Sink what on earth he had done. Up until then, the general had had no real idea of the terrible damage previously inflicted against Noville.

  From his temporary command center in Recogne, Sink began preparations for the combined regimental attack on Rachamps before relocating the following day to Vaux. With all radio channels now reopened, full command and control was restored. The simultaneous move northeast to capture Rachamps, Wicourt, and Neuf-Moulin was supported by two companies of tanks from the 705th and 811th TD battalions.

  The main attack to push the enemy forces away to the east began on January 16 at 0930hrs, after 3rd Bn had advanced along the road from Fagnoux to Wicourt (supported by 3/501), while 1st and 2nd battalions put in their assaul
t on Rachamps from Cobru and Noville. North of Noville, Rachamps was situated in a gently sloping valley. 2nd Bn pushed forward along the N30 from Noville. After occupying the high ground north of the town, 2/506 made their advance on Rachamps, which fell on January 16. That same day, after 2nd Bn reclaimed Rachamps, First and Third armies were able to link up further north at Houffalize, spelling the beginning of the end of the German action in the Ardennes.

  Meanwhile 1st Bn had moved onto the left flank of 3/506 to launch its own assault back toward Noville. 3rd Bn advanced further west and then drove north beyond Noville toward Wicourt. With 11th Armored supporting the drive, 1/506 sent spearheads across the N30 north of Noville and above Rachamps. This action cut off the remaining enemy forces, which subsequently began to surrender in ever increasing numbers.

  It was late in the afternoon by the time 3rd Bn reached the high ground at Neuf-Moulin (2 miles northeast of Wicourt), as Alex Andros recalls: “The Germans had only just withdrawn and left most of their wounded behind for us to deal with.” The mass of churned up mud surrounding the recently vacated artillery positions led the men to conclude that horses had been used to move the guns. Andros continues his account:

  The abandoned dugouts were deep and well constructed, with plenty of headroom, so we selected one for our CP. Leaving Capt Walker, Willie Miller, Ralph Bennett, and a few other guys in the new position, I walked over to the edge of the wood to survey the valley through my binoculars.

  From where I was standing about 4 or 5 yards inside the tree line, I had a commanding view to the east, about half a mile across a shallow valley to the woods on the other side, where I could see what looked like tanks in the trees. Suddenly there was a blinding flash from the edge of the woods opposite and then everything went black. I awoke to find my helmet lying beside me with the fluorescent green identification flag that I kept inside the liner protruding through a ragged exit hole. Disorientated and bleeding – despite suffering from concussion – I realized that a shell fragment had ripped through the upper part of my helmet, narrowly missing my skull. I yelled for a medic but nobody came, so as it was getting dark, I crawled back to the CP where Willie Miller administered first aid and arranged for me to be evacuated.