Battered Bastards of Bastogne

by George Koskimaki

  Up ahead, ‘Easy’ and ‘Fox’ had been committed along the rim of a plateau beyond the village which nestled in a small valley. They were engaging approaching German infantry still some hundreds of yards away. ‘Dog’ Company was halted in defilade where the road dipped into the village. The road there was occupied by twelve or more armored vehicles which had managed to escape the German trap and exfiltrate to that point. The commander was a bird colonel who bore a striking resemblance to movie star Frank Morgan of that era.

  Being the senior paratroop officer in the immediate vicinity, I reminded him that his congregation of vehicles was quite apt to draw fire on my unarmored troops and that I’d appreciate it if he would move along in the direction he had been headed. The sounds of the developing firefight apparently made my request quite persuasive, because the little column was soon crawling up the road toward Bastogne.

  A single German gun of about .57mm caliber started pecking away at the vehicles from somewhere off on our left flank and our ‘Geronimos’ were making bets as to which would be the first one hit. Despite the goodly number of near misses, the column was still intact when beyond our sight.

  The assignment as platoon leader didn’t last very long for 1Lt. Sefton. Later in the day he was called to the company CP and told he was now the executive officer. Sefton wrote:

  I was called up to company headquarters to take over as executive officer from 1Lt. Denver Bennett. He was lying on the floor of the small house being used as the command post, his cheek matted with blood and face already the gray-green color presaging imminent demise. An hour or so earlier he had cadged a cigar from me in lieu of a chew of tobacco, biting it in two and tucking half between cheek and molars while pocketing the remainder for future use.

  I was surprised that he spoke in rather strong voice, ‘Well, Bill, it looks like they got me.’ And he was still alive when a jeep arrived to evacuate him. When we heard, two days later, that the division hospital had been captured, we figured Bennett would not have lasted that long anyway. (Editor’s note: as of 1990, Bennett was still alive.)

  Meanwhile, the firefight had stalemated, with both sides digging in as darkness fell. We were told to expect a German armor attack at dawn.

  The troops of “F” Company were the most heavily engaged of the 2nd Battalion units as night fell. Major Homan had notified Colonel Ewell that his troops were fully engaged along the 2nd Battalion front. Reaching Mageret at this time was out of the question for 2nd Battalion. The fight would continue for many days.

  Mission to Wardin

  With both 1st and 2nd Battalions committed along his assigned front, Col. Ewell wondered why 3rd Battalion hadn’t appeared on the scene. He drove back to Bastogne to find that the troops were caught in a huge traffic snarl on the west side of the city. By 1200 they had barely moved at all. As the troops jockeyed to get through the maze of retreating troops, some of the men who were poorly equipped. managed to pick up helmets, rifles and ammunition from those who were bent on departing the fray.

  Colonel Ewell ordered LTC. George M. Griswold to move his 3rd Battalion troops to Mont, a small hamlet lying south of the Neffe road. Griswold was also directed to send one of his companies down the Wiltz road to serve as cover for his 3rd Battalion right flank. It was Ewell’s plan to send the 3rd Battalion against Neffe from the southwest after it reached Mont but his directive did not include that possibility just now.

  To the west and northwest of Wardin were three large evergreen tree lots where enemy troops might be concealed. Company “I” was given the assignment to check out the woods as part of their flank guard assignment. As “I” Company entered its third combat campaign, it was handicapped by a sudden change in leadership. Three of its key officers had been killed in Holland and a few days before departure for Bastogne, the first sergeant and all three platoon sergeants had been ‘busted’ and sent to other units in the regiment. The new leaders were unfamiliar with the capabilities of their men.

  After reporting in to regimental commander Colonel Ewell at 1330 that the three wooded areas were clear of enemy soldiers, Captain Claude Wallace was directed to move into Wardin and make contact with friendly forces which were supposed to be there manning a roadblock.

  The actions are described by survivors who participated in the attack on December 19.

  There was one benefit from all the foul-up witnessed as the troops moved through Bastogne on their way to the front as remembered by PFC. William B. McMahon of “I” Company. He wrote:

  We did receive one benefit from all this, as our guys got weapons and equipment from the guys who were retreating. We moved down the main street of Bastogne and through to the edge of town. When we came to a halt, the word came down that ‘I’ Company was to turn east and search all the woods in its front.

  We searched the woods and they were empty. Apparently, we were ordered into Wardin so that is where we headed. Captain Wallace was in command of the company. We could see Wardin across the small valley and everything looked quiet. This valley was approximately five hundred yards across with a stream running through it which was closer to Wardin than to the woods from which we were observing the town.

  Platoon sergeant Robert J. Houston had been transferred from “H” Company to his new assignment. He was a seasoned warrior, having been decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross for actions in Normandy. From a narrative he wrote of his wartime experiences,19 he relates what it was like moving into Wardin:

  We put scouts in front of the company and hiked along the road from Bastogne toward Wardin. After a mile or so, the road slopped down toward the village of about a dozen houses and barns clustered around a crossroads. We didn’t make contact with the combat team of the 10th Armored Division but saw them moving back toward Bastogne along the ridge to our right.

  MAP 3—Wardin Company I enters Wardin and is confronted by seven tanks and a battalion of infantry from the 901st Panzer Regiment.

  Everything was quiet when we arrived at the crossroads at the center of the little village. Most of the houses were made of stone and those belonging to farms had the barns attached to the houses. Some of the houses were deserted. People in this section of the Ardennes had been in the path of invasions in both world wars and were evidently trying to get out of the way of this one.

  In a letter Frank Guzy wrote to Andre and Monique Meurisse in April 1982, the following information came to light concerning the actions in which he was involved at Wardin:20

  As the SCR-300 radio operator for the company (communications between Battalion and ‘I’ Company), I was unable to reach Battalion Headquarters because of the dense forest. When the company started for Wardin, I asked Captain Wallace for permission to break away from the formation to seek high and open ground. Wardin was in a deep valley. Unknown at the time, I was within a short distance of the Germans. They were observing “I” Company moving into Wardin.

  As a replacement officer in Holland, 2Lt. Leonard E. Witkin was assigned to 3rd Platoon of “I” Company. He describes the arrival in Wardin and a move by some of the men in the platoon to take a short cut into the area of houses. Some got wet for their efforts. Witkin wrote:

  As we entered this small town of Wardin, we left the main road and had to cross an open field to get into the small village. A stream crosses this open field and when men tried to jump across, some of them landed in the water.

  One of those soldiers who crossed the stream was Pvt. Richard Hahlbohm who spotted a well as he approached the outskirts of the village. He wrote:

  Half way up to Wardin, I realized my canteen was empty. I asked Sgt. Gus Gaxiola to take my .30 cal. LMG while I ran to a farmhouse to fill it. Me and three more troopers went to get water.

  As a member of 3rd Platoon, PFC. William McMahon wondered why American tanks positioned on a hill six hundred yards away didn’t give support to “I” Company. He wrote:

  The 1st and 2nd Platoons entered the town and we moved in behind them. This is the part that has alway
s mystified me. There were American tanks sitting in the field across the stream. Apparently Captain Wallace made no effort to coordinate with the tanks. We got no support from them though they were less than six hundred yards from the fighting. Maybe the Captain wasn’t expecting anything in Wardin or maybe he decided he could handle anything that we would meet. Who knows what’s in a man’s mind at a time like this.

  3rd Platoon crossed the little bridge over the stream and entered Wardin—even today I can see the sign saying ‘WARDIN’ on the right side of the road as you enter.

  S/Sgt. Robert Houston describes how the company was positioned and goes into detail on the way his platoon was placed shortly after arrival:

  Our 1st Platoon went out the road running east and the 2nd started out the road to the right, to observe from the ridge. Both of them were to go out a few hundred yards and dig in. Our platoon, the 3rd, set up at the crossroads, with a deserted house on the northwest corner for our CP. The company CP was directly across the road that we had come in on. I took the 1st squad, with Will Gauthier’s machine gun, a few yards up to the right and told them to dig in where the gun could cover the crossroads. Cpl. Eldon Crotts set up the 2nd squad behind a house along the east road, where they could be out of the line of fire of Gauthier’s machine gun. The 3rd squad set up by the farmhouse to the left of our CP. Everyone was told to dig in and be prepared for whatever the 1st and 2nd platoons found.21

  As sergeant of the 1st Platoon, S/Sgt. Erminio Calderon’s group was most likely the first to receive enemy fire. He describes the positioning of his men:

  We moved out to this place called Wardin, getting into town around noon and everybody got off to the right side of the road.

  There was a church at the edge of town. We weren’t there very long when the lieutenant came back and said he was going to post a squad of men up around the church. Being the platoon sergeant, I wanted to be sure I knew where he’d post these men so I’d know where they would be.

  As soon as “I” Company reached Wardin, Captain Wallace sent PFC. Marvin C. Wolfe, one of the combat veterans of both Normandy and Holland, on a scouting mission. Wolfe was the first to learn of the approach of enemy soldiers. He wrote:

  When we reached Wardin, Capt. Wallace sent me and two other men to scout out the enemy. As we entered the village square and using buildings for cover, we noted a large force of Germans with many tanks and men. We immediately started back to report our findings to Captain Wallace, but before we could get back, the Germans started advancing and came across our command post, which they attacked and totally destroyed.

  As one of the platoon leaders, 2Lt. Leonard Witkin had gone down to the company CP to get some extra shovels so his men could dig in quickly in their rather open positions. He turned down a coffee break. He wrote:

  I was uneasy about being out in the open so I went to the CP to see if I could get some extra shovels so we could start diggin in. My C.O. asked me if I wanted to stay and have some coffee. I told him ‘No thanks’ and started back to my platoon. As I got half way back, I saw these German tanks come out of the woods and fire point blank into the stone house CP.

  Pvt. Richard Hahlbohm had given his machine gun to his squad sergeant so he could more easily jump the stream to refill his canteen from a farmhouse well. He got quite a surprise on his return. He wrote:

  I started back to get my machine gun and about that time I heard a mortar shell hit in Wardin. As I reached the edge of town, I asked the lieutenant where my gun was located. He told me ‘by the house, the last one on the left’. All hell was starting to break out on the main road. As I rounded the outside of the house I saw a heavy wood pile. I laid behind it and saw Sgt. Gaxiola and another trooper in the middle of a small field with the gun in a shell hole. I thought it was a dumb place to position a machine gun. I called to the sergeant and asked if he wanted me to take over on the gun. He motioned me to stay put.

  It wasn’t long before Sgt. Gaxiola was hit and he ran to the shelter of one of the houses where a trooper put a bandage on his bullet-punctured buttock. In the meantime, enemy tanks and infantry were appearing in the village streets.

  Shortly after PFC. Frank Guzy entered the company CP and informed Captain Wallace that he had been unable to contact 3rd Battalion with his radio, enemy fire hit the building. The enemy sensed it was some sort of command post. Guzy wrote:22

  Within a minute, there was a large explosion in the living room. The German attack was on. The leading tank sent one shell direct at the target, right through the living room, wounding several and penetrating a second wall, a barn and killing the first sergeant and a cow.

  All hell broke loose, men were coming in and out of the company CP with reports and requests for more weapons and ammunition. We had to leave and go to the back of the house.

  From his vantage point out in the street, S/Sgt. Erminio Calderan has this description of how his group just missed being the target of the first volley:

  There were 14 men on the road, the lieutenant, 12 platoon members and myself at the rear. All of a sudden, a ball of fire passed over us on the left. Everybody ran to the right side of the road. For some stupid reason, I broke and ran over to a house. I wanted to see where the fire was coming from. I didn’t see anything on the road when I crossed but when I got to the house, I looked up and found myself starting down the barrel of an 88—that S.O.B. had me zeroed in! He must have seen me from somewhere. I did a fast turn and got behind a small outhouse. A shell struck the front. The tank was either in the church or alongside it and the gunner was unable to move his gun to line up with the men on the road. If he had, I wouldn’t be here now recording this for you.

  I was badly shaken. From this position, I went to another house with a barn attached and the doors were open. There, inside, were a couple of men with a Lt. Mulligan (1Lt. Ray Mulligan) working on a .45 cal submachine gun. I asked a radioman if we had artillery support. He responded that Battalion said we had support. I asked where the hell he was going to put it … no answer.

  After the tank fired at the men, it fired three times at one individual going zig-zag in the direction from which we had come. I couldn’t believe my eyes—three 88mm shells for one man! I don’t know how many more shots he fired at the man.

  PFC. William McMahon hadn’t been in Wardin more than a few minutes when the firing began. He lost a lot of cold-weather gear when he set it aside so he could move about more freely. McMahon added to his narrative:

  We were standing in the road waiting for orders when firing suddenly broke out further down the road. I immediately ran into the front yard of a house, took off my overcoat, galoshes and my musette bag—all my dry socks, gloves and rations were in the bag, which I never was to see again.

  I got the order to take seven guys to the top of the hill and set up a machine gun as a German company was trying to outflank us. We got to the top of the hill without difficulty and set up the gun covering the flank. Firing was becoming heavier behind us, but we couldn’t leave and let them flank us.

  The movement of two tanks toward his position now occupied the thoughts of 1st Platoon S/Sgt. Erminio Calderan. He wrote:

  By this time I was occupied with Tank #2, which had come down the little road. He was firing at the house on top of the hill and I could see holes appearing in it. If I had had anything to throw at that tank, it would have been very simple for me to put it out of action.

  When I took my eyes off Tank #2, I looked up at Tank #1 again. A man was crawling along the road with a bazooka. He got almost beside the tank before he fired his bazooka. The explosion was so great he came tumbling down the hill. I don’t think he was hurt because he got up and yelled, ‘I got it—I got it!’ With that tank out of action, I didn’t see anyone come up to push this one off the road.

  With Tank #1 out of action, Tank #2 went back. When it came up again, it had infantry support. I’m still down in position #4. I’m looking at the company CP and thinking we should go up to higher ground where the
rest of the company is positioned. We were isolated down here. Just then I saw a German stick his head out of the company CP window. I saw that Kraut put his machine pistol to his shoulder and fire. I saw five bullet holes in the door starting from where my belly button would be and going up to my head. I was half in and half out of the door. I know he was aiming at me. The rest of the men were over to my right. I stood there—frozen. The others opened fire and got him.

  3rd Platoon sergeant Robert Houston was viewing the various battles from a different perspective. He now needed to check on the positions of the various squads. He wrote:23

  I was with the 3rd squad down by the barn and decided to go check on Crotts’ squad, which was in a spot where the attack would hit us if the tanks stayed on the road. I ran across the road and hit the ground as I heard Gauthier’s machine gun open up. Crawling up to the edge of the garden, I saw a tank and German soldiers about 30 yards away, where Crotts and his squad were supposed to be. The tank swung its big gun to the left and fired; Gauthier’s machine gun stopped. Other tanks moved ahead. They were in the middle of our company and seemed to have plenty of infantry soldiers with them.

  They saw me and began firing, but luckily there was a little swell in the ground between us, so the bullets went over as I flattened myself to the ground. All through training we had been told that our rifles were our best friends, but now a ridge of earth hardly big enough to see kept me alive; the ground was my best friend. My rifle was in my hand but not of any use at that moment.

  In a few moments our 2nd Platoon hit them from the other side and that took attention away from me. I went back toward the farmhouse, keeping low for concealment by the bushes in the garden. A tank left the road and started to turn toward me. There wasn’t time to get behind the building, so I pounded on the front door. A man let me in and just as he closed the door, a shell hit the wall behind me. I was thankful for the sturdy stone house. There were a few civilians huddled in the room and since that fleeting glance, I have always wondered if they survived that day and the next two weeks.