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Memoirs
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After 54 years
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| After 54 years I have finally decided to finish writing my memoirs about my personal experiences during the Battle of the Bulge. These I am sure are of no importance to the overall picture, but they are some of the things that are forever etched in my memory. |
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| This area was also known as the Ardennes Campaign. Here my outfit endured 63 combat days that can best be described as a frozen hell. During this time it is said thay had their worst winter in 40 years. Most days the temperature hovered around freezing and at night dropping to zero and below F. At times the snow was so deep that both 4 wheel drive and track vehicles had trouble maneuvering. The weather coupled with the enemy made it a very unpleasant place to be, especially for the infantry who were exposed to it 24 hours a day. Our army is made up of about 6 to 8% infantry, but this small percentage of men suffers about 70-80% of all casualties. |
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| At this time I would like to go a litle more in details, included in my memoirs that I wrote back in 1996. (see Battle of Grand-Halleux n°1) Namelythe timeframe after we left Petit-Halleux on Christmas 1944 until we arrived in Theux, which is too important to be ignored. |
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| Right: S/Sgt Christensen |
Christmas day 1944
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| An incident happened on Christmas day that I have never forgotten. After we had checked into the company and were digging in at our new assigned positions, we hear this blood curdling scream for help. I question one of the men who had arrived earlier. He said he thought it was some wounded Jerry. He also said he was there when the company arrived. My men I can see are eyeballing me. What am I going to do about it? This I ignore. The guy quiets down for about 30 minutes or so and then starts up again. After awhile it is starting to get to me or at least I am giving this situation some thought. What options do I have. I could go down there, which by the sound of things, can't be over 100 yards out and put him out of his misery. The second choice is try to get him out of there. This I know I can't do alone and furthermore it is foolhardy to even give it any thought. It's a very good possibility you are walking into a trap. Someone could be sitting there waiting to ambush you, including the so called wounded one. This continues until early evening when the cries are getting weaker. After awhile it dies out completely, so I guess he has died off. This type of situation is not unique, it happens quite often. Someone always yelling for a medic. Maybe the reason I remember it, was because it went on for so long, plus being Christmas Day, but again nobody said things would be easy! |
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| A couple or so days later, while still in the same defensive position, the weather is starting to make a turn for the worse. Spitting snow and the temperature steady dropping. Things are pretty quiet. A few buzz bombs (V-1) flying over and an occasional artillery shell dropping. Nothing to get excited about until you hear one that you know is going to be close. This one exploded a couple of hundred feet behind me in the midst of the platoon C.P. area. I ran over there and I can see they have a mess. Andy Pirack, the platoon Sgt is blown to hell. Hogan, the platoon runner is hit bad. One leg is just hanging on. The whole knee and bones are completely exposed. The flesh all blown away, blood and gore everywhere. The platoon medic is working on Hogan. I feel no way is he going to make it. I question another guy who saw it happen. He said Pirack and Hogan were both down in this hole enlarging it, when in comes this lone shell and drops in the hole with them. There was another guy sitting outside of the hole talking and he did not even get a scratch. |
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| After this as I've previously written, I took over as the platoon Sgt. Never hearing anything on Hogan, I just assumed he had died. This was no uncommon. Once in awhile a guy gets hit and is evacuated out. Later he may write back to a buddy bragging about his million dollar wound, but for the most part you don't know if he made it. |
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| A few years ago I was going over the list of our casualties. This is listed in the book "Ready" which is the history of the 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment. I know this is not complete, but Hogan's name wasn't there. Knowing the town he was from and after a few phone calls, I was able to trace him down. He had survived all this and was about to retire from the Postal Service. We still keep in touch. |
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Another episode
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| I remember happening just about dark. One evening I get this call from the company C.P., there are sending me a new man, which is odd. Unlike the regular infantry, we never get a replacement while we are still on line. The only time this would happen was if a man had been wounded and was returning to his unit and this was not the case. Anyway, I sent my runner down to meet him coming up and to take him over to the Sgt. Of the first squad where he will be assigned. Also to relay the message that I would get back with him in the morning. About two or three hours later after dark, I hear this single rifle shot. This was followed a short time later with a call for the medic. I go on down with to find out what's happening. The first one I meet is the squad leader and he is livid. - On questioning him about what happened, he says the S.O.B. I had just sent him had shot himself in the foot and furthermore if I had anymore replacements for him what I could do with them. |
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| As far as I know this was the only time anything like this ever happened in our company. Actually this could not be proven that it was a self inflicted wound. I never heard anymore about it. Another thing "Combat Fatigue" never heard of that either in our unit. Getting back to this G.I., neither the squad leader or I had even gotten his name. "No loss". |
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| Before preceding further, I will attempt to familiarize you with the T.O. "Table of Organization" of a parachute regiment. "A", "B", "C" Companies, 1st Battalion. "D", "E", "F", 2nd Battalion. "G", "H", "I", 3rd Battalion. These will all be light rifle companies. Also each battalion will have a Headquarters Company. The T.O. of a company is 3 platoons plus Company Headquarters. Three squads make up a platoon. I was in the 3rd Platoon, "G" Company", 3rd Battalion. |
3 January 1945
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| The entire front will go over on the offensive, erasing the bulge. Occasionally I will refer to the book "Ready" for dates and locations. Also I will include map I showing the route of our withdrawal from the Salm River on December 25. It will also point out the general area of our defensive position near Basse-Bodeux plus our attack route from January 3-9. |
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| Again the weather will play a big part in this attack. With the heavy snow already on the ground and what is expected, we are told to leave behind our musette bags, sleeping bags, plus our overcoats. This is to facilitate faster movement. These were to be brought up to us that evening. |
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| Our battalion line of attack was "I" Company on the left, "H" Company on the right and my Company "G" will be in reserve. S-2 "Regimental Intelligence" has reported that we will be facing light opposition. "Volksgrenadier troops". In front of "I" Company is the small village of Fosse. They will get the honor of taking it. S-2 also reports that it is lightly held by less than a platoon. |
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| Prior to taking off, our artillery lays down a barrage, but a lot of this falls short and drops in on our troops. "I" Company has one or two men killed plus some wounded. I don't remember if "H" or "G" Companies received any casualties from this S.N.A.F.U. |
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| After this shakey start and the artillery lifting it's fire, we get started again. Incidently this is a bad luck day for "I" Company. They no more than move out of the woods in their attack on Fosse, when they realize they have walked into a hornets nest. A solid wall of fire greets them. In a very short time all their officers have been killed or wounded, plus two thirds of the men are casualties. It soon becomes apparent that this area is more heavily defended then originally reported. Also Jerry is firmly entrenched in these stone houses with ample mortar and artillery support from the rear. Again our artillery gives this area a thorough pounding. We then push through and overrun their positions. It was later determined that Jerry had a reinforced company dug in here. So much for intelligence reports. |
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| Leaving "I" Company to defend Fosse, both "G" and "H" Companies move out to reach our first phase line for the day. This is though going, wading through the snow and Jerry reluctant to give up any ground. Anyway we finally reach our objective after dark and are told to dig in. Our sleeping bags and other things we had dropped off that A.M. would not be brought up. Right then you knew you were in for a miserable night. To keep from freezing we would dig a hole large enough to accommodate two or three men. We would then line the bottom with brush that we would cut off of fire trees. This would help keep the cold from the frozen earth penetrating through your body. We would then get in together to share each others body heat. We would then have some evergreen branches which we would pull up over us. During all this digging in, cutting the branches, etc, you had worked up a sweat. You can imagine how this felt after you started to cool off. This freezing sleepless night may best be described as a "Night of Hell". |
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| To sum up this first day, I will refer to the book "Ready" Quote: The final official count of prisoners taken by the regiment that day was 382 and the softly falling snow was hiding from sight a probable equivalent number of German dead. It also states, in taking these positions, the 505 was destined to suffer more casualties on this one day than in any other single day in its combat history. |
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| January 4th dawned much the same as the previous day. Overcast, cold and you knew more snow was on the way. Without any prior warning we are told to get ready we are moving out. Anyother time this would have started some griping, but today this was a welcome relief. Maybe you could get thawed out. Like myself, I knew most of the men had spent a freezing sleepless night. Frost bitten feet was your main concern. Some of the men were already limping and complaining about their feet feeling numb. We were not dressed for this kind of weather. |
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| While I am on the subject of frost bite, other parts of the body you would have to keep protected as well. Anything exposed for even a short time could be trouble. One of the main concerns was the simple body functions. To urinate wasn't so bad, but a bowel movement was something else. First off the snow was about knee deep or better and noway could you squat your bare butt down in this. The answer was, clear out a hole in the snow large enough to get down in. Then you would have to remove all your equipment, overcoat and X number of clothing if you were fortunate enough to have them. "Squat down and hope for the best." Needless to say the faster the better. |
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| Getting back to the fighting, the opposition is much lighter today. We now have Jerry on the run and we will continue to keep pressure on him until we reach our final phase line. We don't want to give him a chance to regrup and dig in. |
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| On the first day of the offensive, the 1st and 3rd Battalions encountered the stiffest opposition. On the second day, the 2nd Battalion got their turn. They ran into much the same trouble the other two battalions had encountered the day before. |
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| This day we reached our second phase line early and was told to dig in. This was as far as we would be going today. We were getting too far ahead of the units on our flanks. As it was still daylight, we were able to light off small twig fires to melt some snow for water to make some coffee and eat a "K" ration. Water in our canteens was frozen solid. When we dropped off our equipment we were told to bring along two "K" rations. One I eat yesterday on the move and now the last one. I don't have to worry about over eating. The real slap in the face was when we were told our equipment would not be brought up again today. You knew you were in for another freezing and sleepless night. |
5 January 1945
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| January 5th started of much the same as the previous day. Everyone grumbling about how cold and stiff they are. Sometime during the night a jeep made it through and brought us up some much needed ammo and "K" rations. |
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| The weather to me is a bigger factor than the enemy. The latter you can cope with, but wading through the snow sure takes something out of you. You don't go very far before you are beat. Now we are down to about half strength, but are still lugging all our weapons and ammo which we would be carrying if we were still at full strength. We still are packing a lot of fire power. The resistance is slacking off. |
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| Again this day we reach our phase line early, which gave us a chance to dig in and get something to eat before dark. The engineers have finally bulldozed a trail through the woods and our overcoats, sleeping bag and packs were brought up. I don't think the men could have survived another night without them. The G.I. sleeping bag is not the best, but it is better than nothing. |
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| The next few days until we reached our final objective at the Salm River were much the same as before. The German resistance was much lighter. Still a lot of artillery and the enemy who were found, were in widely scattered pockets. |
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| The final official count of prisoners of war taken for the period of January 3rd - 10th inclusive was 987 and it was estimated they had at least as many in dead and wounded. About 50% of our regiment were casualties. Half of these were enemy inflicted and the rest were non-combat losses. Frost bite for the most part. We are looking at something like 11 or 12 hundred men. If we had the proper footwear and clothing, a lot of this would have been avoided. |
11 January 1945
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| On Janyary 11th we were relieved by the 75th Infantry Division and trucked over to Theux, Belgium for a much needed rest. Here for the first time in the history of the regiment, we were to be billeted in civilians homes. I was given two houses for my platoon. We were a bit crowded as there were only one or two rooms in each house that would be heated. In the Kitchen, you could depend on a big wood burning cook stove. Our house also had a pot belly stove in the dining room. Incidently, there were no complaints at all about the crowded conditions. We just spread our sleeping bags out on the floor and sacked out with a contented smile on our faces. After what we are just left, this was heaven. Also the cooks had set up a mess in a schoolhouse. We were to be fed three meals a day. The last hot meal I had was back in England on December 17th. Also I think I had slept inside twice since then. |
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| The people we stayed with were gems. It was a family of three. Husband, wife and a teenage daughter. They could not have treated us any nicer or made us feel more welcome. I can still remember many evenings sitting around having a friendly chat. They, not being able to speak Englishn nor us French or whatever they were speaking, we made ourselves understood though. One day the husband came home with a big grin on his face. He had found a dictionary. It was French words translated into English. It would have been more helpful if it was reversed, but it was sure used. One night he is tell us by word and hand gestures that someone is going to have a baby. The only two females present were the wife and daughter. The most logical one being the wife, so I get up to shake her hand to congratulate her. They go into hysterics laughing. Seeing I had made a mistake, I go to my other option and point out the daughter. With this, all three of them are cracking up laughing. He goes and gets a pencil and paper and draws a crude picture of a horse and cart. The cart he drives in his work and the horse is the one that is pregnant. These converations did not mean a thing, but it was such a pleasure just being around and being accepted into a family again. |
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| Daily, there were many buzz bombs flying over. Most of these were mighty low, as some were targeted for Liege, which was a short distance away. The wife was petrified of them. She must of had a built in radar system to detect them. Whenever she heard any approaching, she would make a beeline for the basement. Hearing the distinctive putt-putting, there was no mistaking the sound. If you heard it pass over you were okay. It was when the motor cut out that you knew you were in trouble. It and its 1000lbs warhead would be dropping straight down. They could do a lot of damage, but I understand the Germans could never perfect their erratic flight path. On Christmas day 1944, the Germans dropped 22 of them on Liege. You can just imagine the number that was off target. You did know though, on or off target it packed a big wallop and was coming down somewhere. Getting back to the wife, whenever she knew the thing had passed, she would come back upstairs, always having a big sheepish grin on her face and be carrying an armful of firewood. We would all give her a big laugh, but I knew how she felt. Maybe we could control our fear better than she. Anyway, we were never short of firewood. |
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| About a couple days after we moved in, they brought up our "B" bags. These contained a change of uniform, plus extra socks and underware, etc. It give us a chance to get cleaned up. We were also issued a pair of galoshes, new gloves and anyother item we were short of. This would squash all rumors about us bieng pulled out for good. Also we would begin a training program about a two or three hour hike everyday carrying your full field pack. Wading around in this deep snow would take a lot out of you. You had to stay in condition though. They also had weapon inspections or anyother thing they could dream up. No rest for the weary. |
26 January 1945
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| On the morning of January 26th, I received orders to have my platoon outside, formed up and ready to move out that afternoon. We would be leaving for good. At the designated time I was loading the men on the trucks that were waiting to haul us out, when I happened to see the wife standing on the sidewalk. Before I got on myself, I went over to thank her and say goodbye. She burst out in tears, also she was desperately trying to tell me something. I always was sorry that I could not understand what she was saying. Regretfully I never got back to Theux again. Incidently I have never met any nicer people anywhere. |
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| Our next mission was in the heavily forested Omer Wald section. "See map 2". The location was N.E. of St-Vith and was virtually a trackless snowbound area, being pratically impassable for most vehicular traffic. Here we were to clean out this area and push through to the German border. Moving through here was unbelievevably slow. Not so much the enemy as the terrain and the deep snow. |
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| Since moving into Theux until now, I think the temperature during the day was warming up. You would think this would be a welcome relief, but it was just the opposite. The snow on the surface would begin to melt and walking through it, your pants from the crotch down would become soaking wet. Couple this with the sweat you would work up wading through the snow, it was anything but pleasant. You can imagine what this would be like when the sun went down and things started to freeze again. It made for another miserable night. |
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| The platoon strength was steady dwindling. I don't think I had over about 10 or 12 able bodied men left, so all duties regardless of rank we were sharing. The worst position was the point, he would be the one breaking the trail. Under these conditions, this was very exhausting plus very dangerous. If the enemy, while retreating wanted to slow your advance down, this was the man he would pick off. Anyway, I took the first shift out front. We are moving down this firebreak and I am about a hundred yards or so out in front when I come to this intersection. As I was approaching very cautiously, I glance to my right and there is this German sitting there. A more gruesome sight you can't imagine. He is sitting with both arms extended, but missing his head. Along side of him was a blacken area where a shell had exploded. I figured this shell had taken his head off. Then he fell to the ground and rigormortis set in and brought him to that position. I remembe I did not stay around to investigate. |
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| The next day we were in a night attack and my platoon would be rear guard. It was a full moon and with it shining on the snow, it was a bright as day. We were following a tril just inside the tree line, when I see a group of soldiers coming down the trail. I couldn't make out if they were G.I's or Krauts, so I stopped and waited. Sure enough it was a Jerry patrol of about a douzen men. At point blank range we opened up on them. It is safe to say we never had to contend with them again. |
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| Another night we are movig along this trail in dinglr file and this time we are out in front. There were about 10 or 12 men behind the leader following in the same path, when comes this loud explosion. You knew somebody had stepped on a mine. This brings everyone to a halt, as it is highly unlikely Jerry would have planted just one mine. Most likely we were standing in the middle of a mine field. You also knew that this field would have to been sewed before the snow began falling. Furthermore, I feel what saved us was the snow acting as a cushion. These Schu mines you would have to step directly on before they would detonate. We proceded gingerly on through without anymore mishaps. The man who stepped on the mine had his foot blown off. He survived this ardeal and now reside in richmond, Virginia. We keep in touch. |
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| The next morning we take off again advancing down through this clearing. Directly in front of us is this giant size, well concealed camoflaged concrete pillbox. You knew you had reached the German border and was now entering the dreaded Siegfried Line. Thes pillboxes we found to be heavily manned and had fire lanes cut where one pillbox supported the next. Before the day was out, our company was credited with knocking out 4 or 5 of these. This was not done without paying a price, as we are now down to about one third strength. At this time you can see that the German soldier is putting up a much weaker resistance than he had just a few weeks prior. No reason he should have surrendered even the first pillbox. There we took about 50 prisoners who were well protected and armed. At this time we were well under strength and out of ammo. I had one clip left (8 rounds). The heaviest thing we were carrying was the bazooka and this wouldn't even chip the paint. This is not the German soldier we had been fighting since we landed in Sicily back in July 43. For the most part we found him to be a though opponent. |
4 February 1945
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| The next day, Febraury 4th, 1945, we would be relieved. Officially this costly campaign was to have ended on January 28th. This would be the largest battle the American Army had ever fought in. When Hitler kicked off this large scale offensive on a 60 mile front, we had only three Infantry Divisions and one Armored Division to protect this front. Before it ended, there would evntually be 600,000 men involved. We would suffer about 81,000 casualties of whom 19,000 were killed. The Germans were to have employed close to 500,000 men and lost at least 100,000 killed, wounded or captured. |
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| There has been much resentment during and after the war from many G.I's about only one division getting all the credit for winning this campaign. I will not dwell on it as Al Langdon in "Ready" has best described it. Quote, much publicity was given then (and since) to the 101st Airborne Division's gallant stand at Bastogneand deservely so, but it reached the stage where Bastogne became the symbol of the defeat of the Germans in the "Battle of the Bulge". A surrounded unit is always a newsworthy object and newspaper editiors, eager to find any kind of good news in the midst of numerous set-backs, seized upon Bastogne and thus it got most if not all the headlines and the symbolism. However, the facts speak for themselves. |
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| Bastogne was neither astride the main route of the projected advance of the German armies to Antwerp, nor the key to the defeat of the Germans in the Ardennes. When General Manteuffel failed to capture it easily, he bypassed it and continued on to the west as ordered. The big battles for Bastogne occured after December 26th, by which time Patton's Third Army had reached it, and only because Hitler wanted it taken as a prestige object in the face of his numerous set-backs elsewhere. By that time he and his generals had given up all hope of reaching Antwerp. |
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| The thing that defeated the Germans, more than anything else, was the unyielding defense pu up by American Divisions on the northern shoulder. When General Dietrich's Sixth Panzer Army, which had the primary mission of reaching Antwerp, was stopped cold, it so upset the German armies timetable that thereafter the attack was doomed to failure. Certainly the 82nd Airborne division can take its fair share of the glory for stemming that advance, but it was only one of eight American Divisions involved initially, and others soon joined the battle. It was a joint effort and a magnificent feat of americans and American arms that defeated the Germans in the Ardennes and not one lone division in on small city. |
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| After being relieved we were trucked back to the town of Salmchateau (Belgium). Here the next couple days would be spent getting cleaned up. Both our weapons and equipment were in a deplorable condition. Also for the first time while in combat we got a few replacements. I my platoon, I think I received about 6 or 8 men. These were a welcome addition, but you also knew the higher brass had something else in mind for you. |
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