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They Were in Bastogne in December'44
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| One was the Colonel of the 8th Tank Battalion, the other a Captain in the 37th Tank Battalion of the 4th US Armored Division of PATTON’s 3rd Army. With their respective battalions they took part in the liberation of Bastogne and the breaking of the siege of the town by the German troops. |
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| On Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 December 2006, one week before the commemorations of the 62nd anniversary of the Battle of the Ardennes [known to the Americans as the ‘Battle of the Bulge’], Albin F. IRZYK and James H. LEACH were back in the town of “Nuts” to remember and honor the memory of their brothers in arms. |
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| Albin F. IRZYK and James H. LEACH (Photo: Léon Lambotte) |
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| They will never forget when, on 19 December ’44, their division based in Lorraine was alerted and received the order to prepare to move off, in a ninety-degree turn to the north, towards Bastogne in the Ardennes, to go to the aid of besieged units of the 101st Airborne Division. |
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| They will never forget the unfavorable weather conditions, the state of the roads, and the harrying by the German troops that made the going hard and slowed down the advance of their armored units. Their men were exhausted and frozen to the marrow. |
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| However, following three separate routes, over roads with black-ice and through the forests, the three combat groups of the 4th Armored Division pushed inexorably forward. |
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| At the end of the afternoon on 26 December, elements of the 37th Tank Battalion went flat-out towards Assenois and took the risk of breaking through the German lines. Pushing ahead in a lightning and decisive offensive, they succeeded in linking-up with a unit of the 326th Engineer Battalion of the besieged 101st Airborne Division. This unit was established in a defensive position not far from Assenois near the small “Devèze” - type fort, so named after the Belgian Minister of War and forming part of a series of fortifications built around 1935 to ensure the neutrality of Belgium. |
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| The siege of Bastogne had been broken. |
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| The breach thus created through the German lines was immediately used by convoys of ambulances carrying the wounded from the town to military field-hospitals. |
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| The German army repeatedly tried to close this gap, while the American troops did everything possible to maintain and above all to enlarge this strategic “corridor”. |
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| Although liberated, the battle to take Bastogne was to continue until 17 January ’45. |
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| After the Battle of the Ardennes, the war moved eastwards, with its train of destruction and suffering, and battalion commanders Albin F. IRZYK and James H. LEACH also took part in the Germany Campaign until the final victory on 8 May ’45. |
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| During the years that followed, both of them continued their military careers in other theaters of operations, and retired from the US Army with the rank of Brigadier-General. |
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| Their return to Bastogne and the respect pay to them at the Mardasson Memorial was made possible due to Gilbert Stevenot. |
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| For information, once his village in south Province Luxembourg liberated by the 28th US Infantry Division on 9 September 1944, Gilbert Stevenot decided to join the US Army and was assigned to General O. Bradley's 12th US Army Group Head Quarter in Verdun (France). |
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| With the rang of 2nd Lieutenant, Gilbert was later transfered to Wiesbaden (Germany) until March 1947. |
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| Albin F. IRZYK, Gilbert STEVENOT and James H. LEACH (Photo: M. Lombet) |
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