by Griff Hosker
Chapter 14
As I ran back I told each group of men to take their equipment and head for the road. When I reached Sergeant Locatelli I took the dog tags from the three men who had died with him. The medics had already taken the wounded. I repeated it along the line. When I finally returned to the Colonel it was dawn and he had made a circle of the survivors. More had survived than I had expected. We had lost twenty men killed. I was desperate to see how Albert and the villagers had fared but we still had tanks along the road and goodness knew how many Germans left.
By 0900 hours no attack had materialized. I turned to the Colonel. “Let me take Barker and Powers and go and have a recce, sir.”
“Too risky, Tom.”
“We can’t sit on our backsides all day, sir.”
“Our job is to stop the armour.”
“They may have pulled out. Let me have a look sir and then we will know. From the tracks, there are a couple of hundred S.S. and paratroopers behind us.”
“I have been on the radio. The General already knows. He says to leave well alone for the moment.”
“A quick look sir. If we see any danger, we will be back here instantly.”
He nodded. He could see the sense. “And when this is over, Major, you and Sergeant Barker get back to your own unit! You have done enough here.”
“Barker, Powers, with me.” I had spare magazines now and I reloaded. We kept to the tree line. We passed the bodies of the Germans killed in the attack. Their bodies were already stiffening. The road twisted along the river. When we turned I saw, ahead of us, two Panthers. I ducked behind a tree expecting gun fire. The other two did the same.
Corporal Powers said, “Why aren’t they firing sir?”
“I have no idea. Let’s move through the woods. Use all the cover you can.”
We sprinted from tree to tree. I kept peering out at the tanks but there appeared to be no sign of life. When we were twenty feet from the leading Panther and it had not fired, I risked running towards it. I sheltered in front of it. Powers and Barker joined me.
“I think it is empty sir.”
“You might be right, Gordy. Cover me.” I jumped up and used the driving wheel to climb on to the chassis. The hatch was open. I was going to drop a grenade in but when I peered down I saw that it was empty. “It is empty. Check the other one. I will cover you.”
I swung the machine gun around and then saw that it only had four bullets left in it. Beyond the second one I saw a burned-out King Tiger and, beyond that three halftracks. Here was a mystery. I saw Gordy and Corporal Powers climb up and peer into the hatch. “It is empty!”
I climbed down inside. The dials were in German but I could see, straightaway, that the fuel gauge was on 0. They had run out of fuel. Everything that could have been used as a weapon was gone. There were just six shells left and there was no ammunition for the machine gun. I climbed out. I joined the other two and we headed towards the King Tiger. “No gas, sir. I banged the tank. Empty and no ammo either. That is why they stopped here and why they didn’t attack with them.”
I tapped the blackened and still warm hull of the King Tiger. “They burned this one so that it wouldn’t fall into our hands. I am betting that the halftracks are the same. Corporal, go and tell the Colonel that the Germans have gone. He might want to check out the village.”
“Sir.” He turned and sped off.
I was right. There was neither fuel nor ammo in the vehicles. They had taken the machine guns from the halftracks. We found a dozen bodies. They were all covered with their camouflage capes.
As we went back Gordy said, “Where do you reckon they went, sir?”
“Back to their own lines to join up with the rest of their army. It is what we would have done. I did it in 1940.”
“Then that is it sir, it is over.”
“Not necessarily. This was one regiment. What about all the others? This country can hide thousands of men. They will have to be found and captured or killed.”
“No, sir, I meant for us. It is over for us.”
“I reckon so.”
We headed back towards the hamlet. Bodies lay where they had fallen. There were more Germans than Americans. It could have been worse. The Colonel had left the last anti-tank gun and a dozen men to guard the road. The Lieutenant said, “Is that it sir? Will any more tanks be coming down the road?”
“I doubt it and, if they do then they will have to clear the road. We should be safe for a while.” We crossed the railway line and then the road. I saw the Colonel and Sergeant Major O’Rourke. They were deep in conversation outside Albert’s house. When they saw me they began to walk towards me. I saw their faces were filled with sorrow.
“What is it sir?”
“Don’t go in Tom. It is the old man and his wife. They have both been shot. It looks like the old guy put up a fight. There are two paratroopers he hit with his shotgun. He almost cut them in two.”
“But why? They couldn’t hurt them! They just wanted to be left alone.”
“All the villagers who stayed have been killed and their homes ransacked for food. The Krauts are starving.” He pointed to the bridge. “They have gone that way. The bridge guards were also killed. I am going after them as soon as the armoured cars and halftracks arrive. I will leave some men to see that they are buried properly.”
“We are coming with you.”
He shook his head, “No, you are not. Corporal Hewitt and the other wounded were evacuated last night. They are all safely on the road to Verviers. I am not disobeying the General. He gave you the jeep and told you to get back to your own unit.”
“But sir, it is not finished. This is an old fashioned blood feud. I have to have vengeance for Albert and his wife.”
“This is not a private war, mister! I don’t want to do it but I will have the pair of you put in irons if I think you are going to disobey me.” His harsh voice softened, “Look, Tom, you have done more than anyone could have expected and you have survived. The last thing the General needs is for you to be killed fighting for us. Monty would never forgive us. Go home. Enjoy your leave.” He held out a hand. “Go on, son.” He pointed north, “That is your road.”
Sergeant Major O’Rourke saluted, “And can I say, Major, that you have earned the respect of every man in this regiment!”
I knew when I was beaten. “Well good luck to you chaps. Hunt the bastards down! They are like mad dogs and the only way you deal with a mad dog is to put it down.”
“And we will.”
The Sergeant Major pointed, “Your bags and Corporal Hewitt’s are in the jeep.” He lowered his voice, “And a bottle of brandy we found.”
“Thank you Sergeant Major.”
“And a full jerrycan of gas sir. You don’t want to run out eh sir?”
It took some time to pack the jeep properly and stow all of our equipment. Then we had to wait for the road to clear as the relief column arrived with the new vehicles for the Colonel as well as another armoured brigade. It was afternoon by the time we headed down the road. All morning we had watched flights of Allied aeroplanes heading to what was now termed the Bulge. They were hitting the Germans before they could dig in and consolidate their gains.
Gordy drove and I sat back to contemplate the unfairness of war. Albert and his wife had lost everything in this war; their family, their home and their lives. I closed my eyes as I pictured what had gone on. The first attack had been to draw our attention to the forest. While that was going on the majority had slipped down the river and escaped. Blowing up the tank and the subsequent attack had been to keep our attention on the forest. The last attack would have been by the fanatics. The hard core killers who were determined to get glory in a last charge. The Colonel and his regiment would have a hard job to track them. They would have disappeared off the road into the forests which led all the way to Germany. That was why they had taken the food. They could evade the Americans but not hunger.
I must have dozed off for Sergeant Barke
r woke me. “Sir, Stavelot.”
I opened my eyes and saw that it was almost dusk and we had reached the town which was still a graveyard of armour. “We might as well stay the night here. We have missed Christmas and I don’t fancy risking the roads.”
There was a roadblock at the edge of the town. I did not recognise the unit but our papers allowed us to be admitted. “Is there a canteen, Corporal?”
“Yes sir there are three messes in the main square.”
“Thank you.”
We drove down to the main square. It looked different now. The burned out Tiger was still there. The wall of the house had given it a brick shroud. The rest, however, was filled with large tents. “Park it by the King Tiger eh?”
Gordy laughed, “Yes sir.”
We carried our side arms with us but left the rest of our gear in the jeep. I had no idea where we were going to sleep. I said, “I will try and get something to eat in the officer’s mess. See you at the jeep afterwards.”
“Yes sir.”
There was one thing about the American army; they knew how to recover. They might have been caught napping but like a bear woken from winter hibernation, once awake there was no stopping them. The tent was filled with uniforms and the smell of the food told me that they had meat! I could smell roast pork and chicken. A sergeant stopped me at the entrance, “Which unit sir? I don’t recognise it.”
Just then a voice from behind me said, “That, Sergeant Hofstadter, is a British Commando and this one is a real tiger!”
I turned and saw Colonel Cavender. His arm was in a sling. Not wearing my hat I came to attention without saluting. “Colonel, good to see you.”
“And you. We were listening to the reports of the battle at Trois Ponts like it was a ball game. We were battening down the hatches here in case they came this way.”
I shook my head, “No sir, they ran out of gas and ammunition. They headed across the bridges we had repaired.”
“Damned inconsiderate of them. Come with me, let’s get some food. After what you have been through you must be starving.”
In truth I was not. The last decent meal I had eaten had been cooked by Albert’s wife, Clothilde, but I could not be rude, “Starving sir.”
The cooks, seeing me with the Colonel, loaded my tray with food. A space was cleared for us and then the Colonel plied me with questions. The officers around all listened in. I was one of the first officers to return from the most recent battle and they were all anxious to know the details.
“If they had had fuel, Colonel, then they would have kept their gains. We would have lost too many tanks trying to defeat them.”
A Captain said, “Sir, there is a King Tiger across the square. They can’t be that hard to destroy.”
The Colonel shook his head, “Captain Taylor that tank was destroyed by men led by the major here and it was not easy was it?”
I shook my head. “We were in the building which has now fallen on top of the King Tiger. We were lucky. We used petrol bombs. When I was with Colonel Devine in his Greyhound we managed to destroy a King Tiger but we were twenty yards away and it took three shells into his rear. That was lucky too. Their Achilles heel is their fuel consumption. Your tanks drink as much fuel but we have plenty of supplies. The Germans do not.”
The Colonel waggled a finger at the officers around the table. “Do not underestimate the Germans. As we found out to our cost they are hard to remove from dug in positions.”
I nodded, “And the ones we are fighting are the fanatics. They think that Hitler can still win.”
The officers were all suitably subdued after we had finished speaking. It was not their fault. They had all been in reserve. The German blow had not fallen on them. They saw the results of the labours of the brave Americans who had stopped their advance. I now knew that our defence of the river and the Elsenborn ridge had been the decisive moments. I was not naïve enough to think that the battle was over but, with air power, I could not see how they could finish what they had started.
As I walked back to the jeep with the Colonel I said, “What they have done, sir, is to extend the war. I know your country has the ability to produce hundreds, nay thousands of tanks and guns but we have to get them across the Atlantic. With a smaller frontier the Germans will defend every inch.”
He nodded. “You are right Major and these Germans seem to enjoy war. I don’t understand them. I will have my Sergeant get you a couple of tents. I take it you are leaving in the morning?”
“Yes sir. Your general made it quite clear that I was to head on home. Colonel Devine also made that point quite clear too.”
“Well you have made an impression Major.” He pointed north. “Your chaps hold the country north of Malmedy. Montgomery sent 30 Corps to bolster the line. That is why we have so many of our troops here. They had been held in reserve. We can’t afford to lose Antwerp.”
“No sir.” He saluted and left me. As I picked up my Bergen I thought of Alan Crowe and Ken Shepherd. They had lost their lives taking Antwerp. We owed it to them and others like them to hold on to it.
The sergeant came over with two tents over his shoulders. “Here you are sir. I don’t know where you are going to camp though. It is cold as a witch’s tit tonight, sir!”
“Don’t worry sergeant, we had endured worse. I think we will camp by the river and the damaged bridge. The trees there will give us some shelter and make it a little warmer.”
“The Engineers have a camp there, sir. They have a brazier!”
“Even better.”
“Oh by the way, Major, keep the tents. We have plenty and you might need shelter before you get home.”
“Thank you, Sergeant.”
Sergeant Barker came along with someone in tow. “Sergeant Henry!”
“Hello sir. Good to see you still alive. Gordy here has been telling me about the S.S. Bastards.”
I nodded, “The guys we fought alongside at the river are mostly still alive though, sergeant. When you come through something like that it makes you stronger.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” He nodded. “Anyway, I am glad I saw you. They are shipping me Stateside tomorrow. First to Antwerp and then on a ship to England. Then home. I am sorry I won’t be here at the end.”
“What will you do now, Sergeant?”
“I was a regular sir. The life of a soldier was my life. I am not certain anymore. I have another two years before my enlistment is up. The Chaplain said that they are going to have me training new recruits for a while. I think I would enjoy that. If someone had taken me to one side before this offensive and given me a few tips then I might have saved some of the boys who died on my watch.”
“Never look back, Bud. Hindsight is always perfect. We do the best we can at the moment. If it is wrong then so be it. The only time you should regret is if you don’t do what you know is right.”
“Anyway I have Gordy’s address. We are going to keep in touch. If I ever marry then I might bring the wife to England. I like it. Gordy has said he will show me some decent pubs,”
“And if you do come then look me up. I shall be delighted to see you too.”
“Really sir? I would get a kick out of that. You being a hero an’ all.”
I shook my head, “Bud we fought together. All of you and your men were heroes and never let anyone tell you otherwise.”
Gordy said, “Told you what he was like.”
“Come on Sergeant Barker, we have tents to erect. See you, Sergeant Henry, and enjoy the sea voyage!”
The Engineers made us feel welcome especially when Gordy told them the story of how the bridge had been destroyed. They had the job of removing the tank before they could build a new bridge. The Lieutenant thought that the war would be over long before they had finished.
“Do not be too sure, Lieutenant. There are many twists and turns in this war yet.”
After a hearty breakfast, the Americans had bacon, Gordy and I set off towards Malmedy. I drove. Gordy was in refle
ctive mood. I think he and Sergeant Henry had become sentimental about the campaign. He was still in that mood as we headed north.
“You know sir it feels like we are the last two at a party. You know what I mean? Everyone else has sloped off during the night and there are just two of you left with the smell of stale beer and tobacco. That’s what this feels like. When Hewitt was with us it wasn’t so bad but he will be back in some hospital now and the other lads will be enjoying a leave. There are just the two of us left here fighting the Germans.”
“Very maudlin, Gordy. They will give us a two week leave; if we are lucky. Then it will be back to Falmouth to get the section up to speed and then they will send us somewhere else.”
“Germany?”
“Probably. That is where our expertise lies.”
“Bud was saying that the Americans will be sent to the Far East. They have the Japanese to fight.”
“I know. My Dad is there too. We could be sent there.”
“Jungle warfare? I wouldn’t fancy that. The cold is bad enough but at least they don’t have bugs and snakes and the like.”
I laughed, “I think that the Japs might be more of a problem than the bugs and snakes.”
We met our first British soldiers in Malmedy. They were Highlanders. Once again, our papers were scrutinised. The sergeant said, “We have had those German paratroopers pretending to be Yanks.” He shook his head. “Sneaky, very sneaky. He pointed to the north east. “The only road open is the one through Mont. Although I am not sure how long it will stay open. We have had more snow in this sector. I should watch out, sir. There are still pockets of Germans there.”
“Thank you Sergeant. If the snow stays away then we should be in Liège before dark.”
“Aye, mebbes but my bones tell me there will be snow. We have had a couple of days of blue skies. It canna last!”
As we drove off Gordy shook his head, “Why are the Scots such miserable buggers sir?”
“I think, to be fair to him, that he is right. There is snow in the air. Let us push on eh? I will give it a couple of hours and then we swap over.”
“Whatever you like, sir.”