|
740th Tank Battalion Diary of a Medic
|
| |
| Preserved by S/Sgt Howard E. Small |
| |
|
We heard over the radio of the German breakthrough and we knew we were going to go into battle. The night the German breakthrough started, we saw and heard German planes and they dropped flares and we thought for sure they were parachutists, so we didn't sleep much.
|
| |
| Our companies started leaving (Aubin-Neufchateau) as soon as possible and left at 10:25 a.m., December 19, 1944, not knowing when or where we would meet the Germans. We arrived at Sprimont, Belgium, 19 December 1944 at night and everyone was retreating and rumors were that the Germans were still coming our way, all the ordnance companies were pulling out and leaving their vehicles so we got whatever tanks, peeps, armored cars, and anything we could find and rushed into battle. |
| |
| We set up our first combat-aid station in a dry goods store, run by Marcella. Our first casualty was Maddox, we treated him and kept him with us. We moved to a chateau in Sprimont and on Christmas Eve we saw a tremendous air battle and a lot of American bombers and fighters were knocked down. Left Sprimont 26 December 1944 and arrived ½ mile northeast of Spa, Belgium, for a rest but we left 9:00 in the morning on the 29th of December, 1944. We fought with the 30th Infantry Division but on the 29th of December we were sent to the 82nd Airborne Division and we arrived out in the open field near a wooded area near Chevron, Belgium, on the 30th of December 1944. We lived in a house that had a large wood shed and it and it was so cold and Germans were just over the next hill. The 82nd Airborne fellows were in fox-holes all around us. We finally found an old farm house for the aid-station, near an artillery battery and we thought by the sound were past the front line. |
| |
|
…We were in a lot of battles in this area with the 82nd Airborne Division. This is where Small & Holman rolled their weapons carrier over a cliff, the roads were so icy on the way to the clearing station.
|
| |
| We left Chevron, Belgium, 10 January, 1945, and arrived at Winamplanche, Belgium, for a rest. We had movies there, but it was awful cold. We went to Spa several times and took a mineral bath. Left Winamplanche, Belgium, and arrived at a little village near Stavelot and were shocked at the sights of things the Germans had done. |
| |
|
We fought around La Gleize, Stoumont and the surrounding area. We moved to a shot up old hotel in Recht, Belgium, 28 January 1945. Artillery nearly shook the place down-- we were the first Americans to occupy this little pro-Nazi town. We moved to Anderstrasse, Belgium, 30 January 1945, and there were dead Germans everywhere, they were still fighting hard but we were gradually pushing them out of the Bulge. The weather was so cold, snowy and bad it was as hard to fight as the Germans.
|
| N.B. Anderstrasse is located between St Vith and Medell. |
| |
|
Left Anderstrasse 1 February 1945-- arrived at Medell, Belgium. Fierce fighting went on at Udenbreth and Germans were killed by large groups at a time. We entered Germany for the first time and pushed through the Siegfried Line near there. We pulled back to Hebronval, Belgium, for a rest 5 February 1945 and we were detached from the 82nd Airborne Division.
|
| |
|
We left Hebronval 8 February 1945, and went to Kornelimunster, Germany, near Aachen, Brad and Stolberg.
|
| |
| Source: Bulge Bugle August 2007 |
|
| By: Author Unknown |
 |
|
"HQ" Company
740th Tank Battalion
 |
Campaigns
Battle of the Bulge,
Belgium
|
| |
|