No Victory in Valhalla Page 5

  3rd Bn and 3 Ptn E Co (Regt Patrols Ptn), led by 2nd Lt Ed Shames and S/Sgt Amos “Buck” Taylor, were ordered to advance 3 miles to Foy, along the main road (designated N30), also known as the Route de Houffalize. 3 Ptn was desperately under strength at the time and consisted of roughly two rifle squads and a 60mm mortar team. Shortly before leaving Mourmelon, Shames was given 2nd Lt Richard Hughes (previously 2 Ptn) as a temporary assistant platoon leader. “I don’t really know why they gave me Hughes because he had no experience with the kind of work we were now expected to be doing,” recalls Ed, who was well aware of the chaotic situation the Allies now found themselves in.

  The city seemed quiet and those civilians brave enough to remain were handing out scalding hot coffee along Rue de la Roche (N834). Leaving the holding area, 3rd Bn made their way to the N30 and began their march into history. Within minutes the men came across elements of the 10th Armored Division, who had by now been fighting their rearguard action in Bastogne for the last eight hours. A few hours before 2nd and 3rd battalions moved out of the city, 1st Bn, commanded by LtCol James LaPrade, was sent ahead to penetrate beyond Foy into Noville in support of Task Force Desobry.

  Crisis at Noville

  Situated in a geographic bowl, Noville (except for its western approaches) was surrounded by rolling hills making the town difficult to protect from 2.Panzer-Division. It was vital for 1st Bn to help stabilize Noville in order to give 3rd Bn more time to establish and strengthen its defensive positions at Foy. Since 0530hrs, 2.Panzer-Division had been attacking along the Houffalize and Bourcy roads. Subsequently, over 12 enemy tanks had been knocked out by Task Force Desobry between Vaux and Cobru. The heavy shelling and the rhetoric of retreating US infantry prompted Maj William Desobry (the armored task force commander) to ask Col Roberts (Combat Command B CO) for permission to withdraw.

  When Desobry discovered that 1/506 were preparing to leave Bastogne he decided to stay and sent a jeep to collect LtCol LaPrade. Thus the two men were able to discuss their critical but limited options. When Desobry learned about LaPrade’s lack of ammunition, he immediately ordered two trucks from his own service company to deposit caches at several points along the N30 between Foy and Noville. Later, as 1st Bn came through, the soldiers were able to help themselves to whatever ammo and grenades they could carry. Shortly afterwards, word came back down the line to halt and the men took cover in a nearby woodland while the company commanders were briefed by LaPrade on the forthcoming attack.

  Noville was just beyond the next hill as 1st Bn moved out under a protective cover of mortar and artillery fire. With A Co attacking north, B Co was sent west across the Cobru road to consolidate the high ground, as 2nd Lt Hubert Porter recalls: “1st Lt Ed Long and I took 1 Ptn and secured the high ground. While we were digging in the platoon came under heavy attack from three tanks and supporting infantry.” C Co moved east beyond the open marshy fields toward the heavily wooded ridgeline where the Germans were also waiting. A skirmish line was rapidly formed along the edge of the woods facing the enemy, who were equipped with seven tanks. Although one Panther was destroyed, C Co took heavy casualties. At 1400hrs the enemy stepped up their attack on the eastern flank of Noville, and after 2 hours of intense fighting both rifle companies were pulled back under cover from C Co’s support platoon, leaving the 155mm M-10 Sherman tank destroyers to hold off the Panzers. Knowing the enemy were heading west from nearby Bourcy, LaPrade and Desobry called in smoke from 321st GFA and 420th Armored Field Artillery Bn (part of Task Force Desobry) to help cover the battalion as it withdrew into Noville. A small party of FOs from B Battery had also moved forward with 1st Bn, as Pfc Jay Stone recalls: “My group comprised of 1st Lt Francis Canham, Sgt Bill Plummer, and our jeep driver Pvt Wendell Byrne. The wiremen did an amazing job under the circumstances and kept our communications open to the ‘Fire Detection Center’ – who relayed the information to the guns. Lt Canham had joined the outfit five months earlier and was a great guy who always mucked in with the team but never shirked his responsibilities.”

  During the evening Capt Barney Ryan (3rd Bn surgeon) was ordered forward from Foy by BrigGen Higgins along the N30 (which remarkably was still open) to assist 1st Bn at Noville. The medical facility belonging to 1/506 was situated in the first house on the right (owned by the Beaujean family) on the southern edge of town. Ryan took over the 1st Bn aid station to allow their surgeon, Capt Joseph Warren, to go out and collect the wounded who numbered around 50 men.

  In the meantime the 1st Bn XO, Maj Robert Harwick, had made his own way to Bastogne, after missing the recall notice while touring the American battlefields from World War I:

  I left Mourmelon on December 19 at 0800hrs, after hitching a ride on an ammunition truck. Across the Belgian border we encountered heavy equipment convoys moving to the rear. My driver and I started to wonder what was going on when we began passing small groups of men from the 28th IID – all heading the wrong way. Upon reaching Bastogne, 506th Regimental HQ told me that 1st Bn had already moved to Noville so I set off on foot without a helmet or weapon. The first 3 miles were quiet and I passed a few men stringing communications wire and an ambulance that had crashed into a tree. From here I could see mortar shells bursting on the hill up ahead. I carried on for another mile or so before the mortar fire forced me into a roadside ditch. The church steeple at Noville was clearly visible through the fog and parts of the town seemed to be on fire. As there appeared to be no sign of my battalion, I started back to check on the situation and ran into a patrol from 3/506 who confirmed that my outfit was actually in Noville!

  Dashing from cover to cover behind a number of large haystacks, Harwick cautiously made his way into town, careful to avoid several dead bodies that were lying in the road covered by white bed sheets.

  Noville is situated astride a crossroad with Bourcy to the east and Cobru to the west. Dominating the eastern side of the junction was a neo-gothic church. Built in 1882, the pointed steeple of l’Église St-Étienne could be seen for miles. Next door was a presbytery and home to 50-year-old Louis Delvaux, the priest of Noville and Bourcy.

  The impressive two-storey house was completely surrounded by a 5ft-high stone wall. Directly behind the presbytery was a farmhouse then owned by the Felten family (now Rigaux), which connected to a milking shed and barn. It was here that Maj Harwick found Capt Warren in the process of evacuating a number of wounded. The aid station for 10th Armored and Task Force Desobry had been located in a café immediately south of the church but was badly damaged by shellfire earlier in the day.

  Medical officer Capt John “Jack” Prior had been assigned to the 20th Armored Infantry Bn a few days before and was now attached to Task Force Desobry. He recalls: “An ammunition dump was located directly behind the café, which caught the attention of the German artillery spotters. At around 0900hrs the café’s large front window was blown out, forcing us to crawl around on the floor in order to treat the wounded. However, we did manage to load four priority patients onto one of our half-track ambulances, but it was then damaged by tank fire and rendered unserviceable.”

  At that moment the fog surrounding the town lifted, revealing a skirmish line of some 30 enemy tanks between Vaux and Bourcy. “Luckily the four casualties in the half-track were unharmed and we managed to bring them back to the aid station,” Prior continues. Despite the fact that Desobry had his CP in a schoolhouse, diagonally opposite the presbytery, LaPrade decided to establish his own HQ slightly further south along the main road at the DeMontigny house. At that moment the colonel believed that the sturdy property would afford him better protection against incoming artillery fire. The window of the “operations room” was immediately boarded up and barricaded for additional security.

  After picking up a helmet and an M1A1 carbine, Bob Harwick was directed by Capt Warren to LaPrade’s new CP. As the major walked away a mortar shell exploded nearby and Warren was hit in both wrists by shrapnel. “The main road was partially blocked by a huge tree and beyond tha
t two half-tracks were burning. Across the street, I noticed a jeep partially buried under a collapsed wall and several houses in flames. Mortar shells rained down through the smoke, sending rubble flying everywhere.” When Harwick reported for duty, Desobry and LaPrade were already in the poorly lit “Ops Room” desperately trying to coordinate B Co, 705th TD Bn and various company commanders, using a single, 1:100,000 scale map!

  As Harwick was setting up a message center in an adjoining chamber, the maintenance officer from 10th Armored Division, Capt James Rewell, pulled up outside in his recovery vehicle. Moments after the company commanders had left the building, a shell burst through the window killing LaPrade instantly. The blast also seriously wounded Rewell while Desobry was struck in the head and face by shrapnel. It would appear that Rewell’s vehicle might have compromised the CP after being spotted by one of the enemy FOs.

  Like it or not, Bob Harwick was now in command, and after a quick consultation with Maj Charles Hustead (who replaced Desobry as armored task force commander) he continued organizing the defense around the town. During the late afternoon, elements of C Co, 705th TD Bn were called forward from Foy to assist. At the time there was little or no communication between Combat Command B and 506th Regimental HQ.

  Word soon leaked about Desobry’s earlier request for withdrawal and confusion over the order only grew worse after the major was wounded, as Capt Prior recalls: “Since we had no functioning transport or litters [stretchers], I thought about surrendering along with my patients but apart from the café’s owners, none of my staff would agree to the idea.” Luckily, at that moment a platoon from the 705th TD Bn were outside on the road with their Shermans and Dr Prior grabbed his chance. “Using the doors from the café, we strapped all of our wounded [including Maj Desobry and Capt Rewell – who, after regaining consciousness, discovered he was wearing LaPrade’s helmet] to the tanks and headed for Bastogne.” Shortly after leaving Noville, the small armored force came under enemy tank fire causing further casualties. After a 3-hour delay the convoy eventually made it to a casualty collection point, possibly the main medical facility located at the Catholic Seminary in Bastogne, where the 501st PIR also had their Regimental HQ.

  After discharging his patients, Dr Prior established another aid station to serve the 20th Armored Infantry Bn, in a large commercial garage on Rue de Vivier. Two days later (December 21), due to lack of suitable heating, Prior was forced to relocate to a three-storey house (where a Chinese restaurant now stands) on the southern edge of town along the Route de Neufchâteau.

  Back in Noville, Bob Harwick sent a report to Regimental HQ outlining the situation and requested another doctor to replace Warren and Ryan. Harwick recalls: “The casualties were gathered up and I sent for a couple of 2.5-ton trucks and litters which duly arrived accompanied by our regimental dentist, Capt Samuel ‘Shifty’ Feiler.” As it grew dark the enemy shellfire decreased, making the job of loading the casualties much easier. Medic T/5 Owen Miller, who had been working diligently at the aid station, helped to load the wounded from 1st Bn onto the transport. “It was only when they had gone that I realized Captain Warren still had my very expensive Parker 51 fountain pen,” recalls Miller.

  As he was about to depart, Feiler, who hailed from New York, offered Ryan a lift to Foy – which he graciously accepted. During the short journey, Barney loaned “Shifty” his pristine Walther P38 pistol just in case he got into any trouble. The wounded were taken to the seminary (which later became the divisional hospital) before being evacuated to the 326th Airborne Medical Co Clearing Station near Herbaimont. “After the casualties had gone,” recalls Bob Harwick, “we used the lull in enemy activity to lay mines and flares in preparation for the inevitable final attack. However, we had lost all radio communications with the 506th Regimental HQ and were unable to inform them that we were now virtually surrounded.”

  Beneath the iron sky – Foy and Recogne

  Previously, on December 19, as 3rd Bn marched north during the early afternoon along the N30, they had been perplexed to see increasing numbers of troops from the 28th ID and remnants of the 9th Armored Division heading toward them. Many of the beleaguered troops were horrified when they found out the paratroopers were advancing north to close with the enemy. “These people had cold weather clothing and seemed far better prepared for a winter war than we were,” recalls Ed Shames. “The only extra garments we had at our disposal were either discarded by the ‘Keystone Boys’ or liberated later from the Germans!”

  Ralph Bennett remembers, “We wouldn’t let any of those soldiers pass by without taking every round of ammunition that they had in their possession.” Harley Dingman was unarmed except for a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver and managed to take a Thompson submachine gun from one of the retreating infantrymen. In contrast, other armored troops (belonging to Combat Command B) were handing out whatever spare ammunition they had, as Hank DiCarlo recalls: “Although these guys also looked exhausted they still managed to find a few positive words of encouragement. Lying beside a weapons carrier, in the middle of the road, was a pile of ammunition and I was able to collect enough .45 ACP to charge all nine magazines for my Thompson [270 rounds].”

  The battalion was now entering a region covered by dense spruce and evergreen woodland not unlike North Carolina, or the Brecon Beacons in south Wales. Dissected by the N30 and overlooked by undulating hills, the tiny farming community of Foy was built around a crossroad in a natural hollow and therefore a perfect staging area for the enemy to launch an attack against Bastogne.

  In 1944 the village consisted of 26 farms and dozens of barns with a total population of around 130 people. The close-knit community was dominated by the Bastin, Dumont, and Koeune families. Some individuals worked for the d’Hoffschmidt family who lived in the château at Recogne.

  Except for that belonging to the d’Hoffschmidt family there were no cars and the only method of transportation was either by horse or on foot. At the crossroad central to the village on the eastern side of the N30 was the dour gray stone Chapelle Ste-Barbe, originally built in the late 16th century. Today the chapel’s main distinguishing feature is a poignant inscription above the entrance that reads, “Hic Domus Dei Et Porta Coeli,” meaning “This is the House of God and the Gate to Heaven.”

  Close to the chapel and located on the same side of the street was the local school, run by Victor and Marthe Marenne. Although at the time Maguy Marenne was just six and a half years old she still has vivid memories of the period:

  My dad was the headmaster and we lived in private accommodation at the front part of the schoolhouse facing the main road. When the Germans launched their attack into the Ardennes, most of the men in the village over the age of 17 headed west, attempting to escape from the inevitable forced labor. Along with a nephew and many others my dad went to Recogne – leaving mom behind to look after my brother, two sisters, and me. The idea was to return after the Germans had passed by, but of course that never happened. On December 18, we watched the first American convoys [from Task Force Desobry] moving through the village en route to Noville. In the evening, as the sound of battle began to draw nearer, we went across the street to Jules Koeune’s house on the corner, diagonally opposite the church. The Koeunes (who were related to my mother) ran a successful fruit and vegetable business and allowed us to shelter in their substantial cellar.

  The large basement was accessed by a small flight of stone steps that led to a sunken doorway. The low, brick, vaulted cellar was divided into four separate areas where the Koeunes kept their market stock. The storage rooms were connected by a long corridor studded at regular intervals by four slit windows that faced east onto the N30 at ground level. The cellar ran the entire length of the impressive two-storey building. At its center was a concrete staircase that allowed access to the house. The basement quickly began to fill up with locals. “When the American paratroopers began to dig in around us there were about 45 people, predominantly women and children, sheltering in the basement,�
� recalls Maguy. “One of the younger girls, Ghislaine Bastin, was heavily pregnant, and despite the extreme circumstances, it didn’t stop the older women from socially isolating her because she was unmarried.”

  Other families such as the Roberts decided to abandon everything before the Americans arrived. As Jules Robert, who was nine years old in 1944, recalls, “On December 19, my parents (Arséne and Victoire) took the entire family, including my grandfather, Henri, to Recogne, where we found temporary shelter in the basement at Café Dominique.” The small hostelry owned by the Dominique family was attached to their farm and located along the road leading to Cobru, a short distance from the church.

  “After about three days, the fighting became so bad that we decided to leave the Dominiques and move west to my uncle who lived at Longchamps,” continues Jules. “As we were approaching Monaville, shells were flying over our heads, mainly from the direction of the Fazone Woods. When we got to Longchamps it was deserted so we headed southwest to Champs, where dad had a friend who he hoped would give us shelter. The heavy money box full of coins that I’d been carrying became a liability so my dad decided to bury it and come back later when things calmed down.”

  Shortly after the Robert family departed, the Dominiques also decided to leave. According to 21-year-old Roger Dominique, “It became so dangerous that my parents were forced to abandon their animals and escape further northwest to Bertogne.”

  When the Roberts reached Champs, the Germans had mined the road. Jules remembers:

  The soldiers ushered us through the roadblock and we found ourselves outside of the encirclement, although we didn’t realize it at the time. We stayed at Champs for two days before continuing on through enemy lines towards Houmont (southwest of Bastogne), where we found shelter in the basement of Sulbout Farm, which was being used by the Germans as an aid station. The French-speaking medics who occupied the other side of the cellar seemed unconcerned with our presence and even fed us from time to time. The wounded were constantly being brought in and many of them seemed to be teenagers screaming for their mothers.