Battle of the Bulge
I was reluctant to go back to my unit as I was having a good time in Paris. I came to like the people I met there…Michelle, her family, the GI’s and even the officers. I was glad to have helped rid them of the General. What a joke he was to wear the uniform of an officer. Oh well, he’s on his way home to face a mad wife. I hope I never hear of the man again.
When I got back where the 90th had been bivouacking, I was told by an MP the 90th Division and 359th Regiment were on the way to help close a gap the German 7th Army was trying to escape from in the Falaise Pocket. The Germans had been trying to cut off 12 American Divisions. The 90th was sent to stop the Germans. I had to catch up to them somehow.
I hooked a ride on a supply truck headed their way. After several more hitched rides, I found a Company of the 359th Regiment, 1st Battalion, herding German prisoners down the road, taking them to the rear.
I asked a GI if he knew where I could find “B” Company. He told me the company was down the road about two miles. He said “B” had been in a tough fight and had taken a lot of wounded. I hurried on as fast as I could. I was pointed into the forest where my company was supposed to be.
I found the company off the road several hundred yards and dug in. I reported to the CO. He was mad as a hornet and wanted to know where in the hell I had been. I tried to tell him, but I could see he was in no mood to listen to my story. The 1st Sergeant grabbed me and sent me on my way to my Platoon. He said, “The old man is upset losing so many men. This company has been shot to hell.” God, how I hated to hear that.
I found Sgt. Rocky, he was unhappy with me, too. I had been gone so long. I tried to explain but he wasn’t ready to listen either. He pointed me to Sgt. Good. My Platoon Sgt., Sgt. Rocky, told me to pick up a rifle, “They’re many lying around. Get your ass in a hole and be ready as we may have a counter attack anytime now.” I picked up an M1 on my way.
When Sgt. Jimmy saw me, he yelled, “Get in a hole. Where the hell you been? We sure as hell been needing you.”
I dropped into a hole with a young guy I had never seen before. I must have looked strange as I had no field equipment or helmet. I was still in low cuts and a class a uniform. I did have a field jacket on. I had picked up an M1 and a bandoleer of ammo. The guy said, “I’m Josh. Who are you?”
“I’m Al. I’m in this squad.”
“You must be the guy all the boys been talking about. You went to Paris and never came back?”
“That’s me.”
“You go A-WALL?”
“Hell, no.” What else could I say?
He told me he had joined the squad four days ago. “Man, I walked into a hell of a fire fight. These old boys are one hell for fight-n. I’m glad I got in with this bunch.” This guy looked to be in his early twenties.
I was tired. I sank down in the hole, laid the rifle against my shoulder and went to sleep. Josh woke me up and told me I had been asleep for over an hour. “Man, you must have been real tired to sleep like you did. Here’s a helmet I took off one of the dead guys.” I took it and thanked him. Looking at the headband, it read “J. Jones.” Shit, I remember the guy. We dug latrines together before. Jones told me he was from Oklahoma City. He had a gal he wanted to marry in the city soon as he got home. Now I’ll be wearing his helmet. This damn war is Hell.
After a while, Sgt. Rocky came to our hole. It was getting dark. He gave me two blankets, “I got-em in a hole over there.” He pointed to our left. “Them guys won’t be need-em anymore. You boys get ready, we’re going to get hit any time now.” He left on his hands and knees.
I took out a clip from the bandoleer and pushed it into the M1, rammed a round home, set the safety. I was ready. I had never fired this rifle. I said a silent prayer it would be okay and would function properly. I didn’t have long to wait.
I could see dark figures moving thru the trees toward us. Josh whispered, “They’re Germans.”
I pushed off the safety and said out loud, “Baby, do your work.” I squeezed off a round. I saw a figure drop. The one I fired at. “That one is for you, Hank, old buddy.” All hell broke loose. The darkness came alive with rifle and machine gun fire. Tracers were flying all over. When one hit a rock or glanced off a tree, they flew up or sideways. Somehow, it looked like the Fourth of July at home, only these fireworks were meant to kill me. I fired and fired. I don’t know how many times I did.
Then it was silent, not a sound could be heard for several minutes. I felt to see how many clips I had left. ONE! I didn’t know how many rounds I had in the M1. The guy Josh whispered, “You got any more Ammo?”
“No, all out.” We both pushed our bodies hard against the side of our hole.
It was so silent you could hear a pin drop. Then the wounded started moaning and groaning. It was terrible to listen to men you can’t help, even if they’re the enemy. There was no more sleeping that night.
As the morning light came, you could see the men laying to our front. A sight I still remember. Dead and dying lay all over. It wasn’t very damn pretty.
Sgt. Rocky came stooped over running to us, dropped down on his belly by our hole. “I think them boys has had enough. We sure took the fight out’a them.” Then he said, “Clean your weapons. Stay alert just in case.” He crawled a few yards away, turned and called back, “Stay in your hole. I’ll send some rations as soon as I get’ em.” He went on checking the other boys. Later, we found out we had not lost a man. That made me feel pretty damn good.
Josh and I started to get acquainted. He gave me a Lucky Strike. I told him, “I don’t smoke.” After a second, though, I took it and asked for a light. He pushed his Zippo in my face and lit my butt. I took a deep drag, inhaled and watched the smoke I blew go up and fade away.
He smiled and said, “You smoke now.” From that time on, I was a smoker, at least a pack a day.
Sgt. Jimmy came to our hole and dropped in. “Al,” he said, “I’m glad to have you back.” He shook my hand. I really felt I belonged. He took out a pint from his jacket. “How’s about a snort.” Josh took one, so did I. It was Old Granddad.
“Wow,” I said, “I could get to like that.” They both laughed. Jimmy crawled out to go check his other boys.
Josh and I continued to get acquainted. He said he was 26 years old and had enlisted six months ago. He asked about me. I told my story in five minutes. I asked why he had enlisted.
“To get away from my old lady, she was driving me crazy.”
“You’re Mother?”
“No, my god damned wife. That woman was running around with any man in pants. She was giving it away to any guy she was picked up by. All she did was get on my nerves. She’s a regular bar fly.”
“Why did ya marry her if she was that bad?”
He took a picture out and showed it to me. Here was a beautiful girl in a swimsuit leaning against a tree. He said, “Ain’t she a beauty?” I nodded my head, yes. She was beautiful. He said, “I had to marry her. You see, she said I had knocked her up. She lied, she was never pregnant.”
“You had to marry her?”
“I loved her.” I asked no more questions about his wife. I did ask where he was from.
“Ohio,” he told me. He had worked in a bakery on the night shift and his wife liked the bars. “She was good looking and an easy pickup. That drove me nuts.” I felt sorry for him.
That afternoon, the Germans had withdrawn. We were replaced by another outfit.
The 90th was ordered back to a rest camp again. We were only about five miles from the line. The area we moved into was all set up with squad tents, latrines and mess tents. This was really living.
I got a whole new draw of equipment and clothing. The weather was really turning bad…rain, sleet, wind and some snow. Our winter gear was kind-a pitiful. I did get a new set of long-johns, wool socks - three pair - and best of all, new rubber galoshes. I also got a brand new M1 rifle.
My squad got a three-day pass to go to a town called Nancy, more of a village than a town. The French people were more than cordial to us GI’s. I was told the village had been shot up pretty bad during the 1st World War. The town had been occupied by the Germans for the last four years. We GI’s were asked to stay with the town people in their homes. I got a nice room with Sgt. Jimmy and we could take a hot bath.
We didn’t have much entertainment, so we played with the kids. We played ball, soccer and made ourselves as friendly as possible. Our supply sergeant, Sgt. Max, showed up with a lot of food and candy. Boy-O-boy did that make a hit with the kids. We saw smiles and even laughter could be heard miles away, made me feel good to help these people.
The next thing that happened was that all our passes were canceled. We had to get back to our company pronto. Back at the company, there was much excitement. Sgt. Rocky said the Germans had launched a major attack en force and the 90th was ordered to stop ‘em.
He said, “Get your gear and ass together. We’re move-n out in an hour. Wear your long-johns, two shirts, two pair a pants and your field jacket. It’s gonna be damn cold where we’re going.”
I did as he ordered. I packed my duff, tagged and took it to the supply truck. My M1 had been in the rack and needed cleaning bad. Sgt. Jimmy said we all could clean them in the trucks on the way. We were loaded on duce and half’s. The trucks were packed like sardines. I had no room to do anything but sit. I’d have to clean my rifle at the first rest stop.
As the darkness came on, the truck behind us turned on his blackout lights. All the trucks that we could see did the same. It kind of looked eerie to me. It was pitch black in the truck. You could only see the guys’ faces when they lit a cigarette. I’m telling ya, I could see the anticipation on their faces. Going into combat is a feeling no one can explain. God, how I wish old Hank were here, I sure would feel better if he was. God, how I missed that son-of-gun.
We traveled what seemed like hours. My butt got so sore I could hardly sit still. I tried to sleep, but the truck kept hitting all the bumps in the road. Most of the guys dozed off in spite of the tough ride. It’s not fun to travel in the back of a covered truck. It was really cold. You couldn’t see anything except looking out the rear. Boring, boring. It got colder as the night got longer. PFC O’Dell said out loud, “Ain’t war fun.” Not for me. I couldn’t get Hank off my mind. Gosh, how I wished he was here. He’d make the trip a lot better just being here.
The convoy stopped in a small village just before daylight. The order came to dismount and to get into the houses. The street was narrow with shabby looking buildings on both sides. It was snowing hard. It was colder than a well digger’s you know what!. My squad filed into one of the private houses. It was nice and warm inside. Outside, the snow was coming down in earnest. We were all glad to have shelter.
The family living in this house, there was an older man wearing a shabby grey suit, a woman about thirty and two girls maybe ten or so years old. All four people acted glad to see us. Made me feel better to have invaded their home and to have the occupants friendly. All the guys found a spot and bedded down.
In a few hours, Sgt. Rocky came in and gave us each a box of c-rations. He told us we would be moving up to face the Germans soon.
“Clean your weapons!” He had a demanding voice. I cleaned my M1 as soon as I finished eating. To my surprise, I found my squad had only ten clips of ammo amongst all of us, I had but one clip {eight rounds}. It was kind-a scary to say the least…to be going into combat with no ammo.
I gave the candy bars to the girls. Most of the guys shared their rations with the family. We got a lot of Danker-Shanes from the family. Nice people, they spoke German mostly. I got along fine with them.
Sgt. Rocky said we were in Belgium. I had no idea where we were. We marched out on the road heading east. The snow was knee deep to a tall Indian. We went in single file on both sides of the road. A group of GI’s came up the middle of the road. A sorrier looking bunch I never saw. You could see with one eye they had had a bad time. They were almost in rags, unshaven and dragging their butts. They looked like the sad-sacks in Stars and Stripes newspaper.
We stopped to have a little conversation. WOW, what a story they told us. The Germans had them surrounded; they had fought their way out bringing their wounded with them. They told us to watch for MP’s as the Germans had on our uniforms and were acting as Military Police. They said a bunch of our guys had been captured at a crossroads and machine gunned down. It was pure murder.
I asked one private if he had any extra ammo. He started to load me down with two bandoleers. All the other s in our outfit started getting all kinds of ammo from these men. About that time, a jeep with a trailer came along the road giving out ammo. We got all the ammo we could carry…fragmentation hand grenades, bazooka, BAR, white-phosphorus and smoke grenades. All the machine and rifle ammo we could need. My Squad was ready.
After loading ammo, we moved on down the road. In several miles, we met an MP outfit bringing a bunch of German prisoners. I spoke to them in German. One young solider started to tell us his troubles. They hadn’t eaten in several days and said they were glad the war was over, at least for them.
I was never more proud to be an American that day. When I told our guys what the Jerry said about be-n hungry. Our boys started sharing our c-rations with them. You never saw such smiles and hand shake-n in your life. We gave them candy bars and smokes. I know we made a lot of friends that day.
We continued on down the road for several miles. Our company was ordered off the road to the right into deep woods. We were put into Platoon and Squad formations. 1st and 2nd Platoons were to lead 3rd Platoon in the reserve. We had to cross a railroad track and the snow was really coming down.
The forest was thick as hell and with the snow we moved slowly. All of a sudden, all hell broke lose. The Jerrys opened up with their terrible machine gun. If you ever heard one, it’s a sound you’ll never forget. Death lurks in its path. We all hit the ground and returned fire. I emptied my rifle and pushed in another clip.
The fire fight stopped as soon as it started. The Germans made a hasty withdrawal. Sgt. Rocky called for us to find a hole and get our butts in one. Josh and I found a hole with two dead Germans in it. We drug them out and pulled them a few yards away. The boys had dug a good hole.
I had never been so cold in my life, I couldn’t feel my feet. I was afraid I was getting frost bite. Just by luck we found a small stove in the hole. What luck?! Josh fired it right up. I began to feel human again. The warmth was wonderful.
Sgt. Jimmy came over and dropped into the hole with us. “You guys trying to hog this heat?” He took off his gloves, his hands were blue. He stayed with us on and off all night. Toward morning the stove ran out of fuel.
The CO came to our hole and asked if he could have the stove. What the heck, we had no fuel, so we gave it to him. He told us to get ready. “We are going to assault hill 490.” At least I was a little warm now. I was all ok, except I thought I had got a boil on my butt. Man-O-Man it was painful. I forgot my other miseries. I was afraid to tell anyone because I might get sent to the rear.
We moved out about 10 a.m. and took the objective without much trouble. We were ordered to push on and close a gap between the town of Bastogne and Wiltz. This move trapped 15,000 German troops. They surrendered without a fight. They were tired and hungry, and lost the will to fight.
That evening, we dug in again. That night turned out to be most unpleasant for me. My boil was killing me. I couldn’t sit or lay without pain.
The next morning, lo and behold, the sun came out. What a day! We hadn’t seen the sun in two weeks. By noon, the sky was filled with our aircraft. The Air Corp was on its toes. We got all kinds of air drops, even toilet paper. Hooray!
Our Battalion formed up back on the road. We moved back the way we had come. Some of our troops came out of the forest and joined us. One of the troops said they were the 82nd Airborne. Said they had been surrounded in Bastogne for days with no help. “The Battle of the Bulge is over,” one of them said.
“Battle of the Bulge, what the hell you talking about? We ain’t seen no bulge,” Sgt. Rocky sounded mad. I heard him say, “We gave them Jerrys a damn good butt kicking. The 90th sure as hell got ‘em on the run.” That man had a lot of pride in that outfit.
We had a hell of a fight to cross the Moselle River. The river had expanded to a mile wide because of flooding. I’ll tell you it took some real engineering to get us across. You got to give it to the combat engineer boys. They paved the way for us. God bless ‘em.
Next, we had to cross the Saar River. No bridges at all. We got across on the backs of the engineers again. Once across, we captured the city of Metz and the Fort of Koenigsmacher. We were told Metz was the first time it had been captured in modern times.
Now, we were to start the assault on the Siegfried line. Our platoon had been lucky as we hadn’t lost anyone in the fighting. A few guys had gotten sick and were sent to a hospital in the rear. I asked a private, Joel C. Stone, to see if he could find any word of my Jen. He said he would try.
Later, the company CO came by and told us the company field mess was setting up down the road a piece and the whole company would be getting hot chow this evening. You should have heard the cheers our guys made. We had hot chow that evening, shit-on-a-shingle. Boy-O-boy was it good.
The next morning, we were taken by trucks back where we had come from. We went into a quick rest camp. We were told we could get a shower and a change of clothing, then we’d go right back on the line, attacking the Siegfried Line.
The hot shower was wonderful. I felt my boil, squeezed the thing and it broke open and shot stuff all over the place. The damn thing wasn’t a boil after all, just a big old ripe pimple. God, I was glad to rid myself of that thing. I had a whole new lease on life, except we had to set up pup tents.
What a miserable way to have to sleep. The rain came in sheets and us in pup tents where a guy couldn’t roll over or even get undressed. All I took off in three nights was my galoshes. I’d get in the tent to change socks during the day out-a the rain. Worse yet, we had to eat in the rain. This whole deal was a little maddening.
Now I was ready for the Siegfried Line or anything else the Krauts could throw at us. Little did I know what was in store for me and the 90th.