Sgt. Hollingsworth was drunk but not bad drunk. He went on to relate how the enemy had taken his squad with no shots being fired. Sgt. Black adds to the story:
I asked, ‘Where are the rest of your men?’ He started in slowly, ‘Those damn Germans walked right up to each one of my foxholes and stuck their bayonets in on us. We didn’t have a chance Sgt. Black. We couldn’t see them—they were all wearing white uniforms. You know it was still snowing, not quite daylight.’ I said, ‘You guys must have been asleep. Couldn’t you hear them coming?’ ‘No sir—they did not make a sound. It’s damn scary the way they can creep up,’ said Holly. ‘Why didn’t they take you?’ I asked. They did,’ he said.
Holly said that about a squad of big German S.S. soldiers started to take them back down the hill toward their lines. ‘For some reason, the Germans stopped for a while.’ (My feelings have always been that maybe they stopped to await the burning down of the haystack fire because of its flare-like glare.)
Holly went on to say that after they moved out again and were part way down the long hill, they were stopped again. This time it was by our 101st artillery. He said it came right in on top of them and everybody hit the ground. Holly saw a bush near by and dove under it for protection from the shelling. It was devastating and seemed to last a long time.
‘When our guns let up, the Germans all jumped up and started to hurry off the hill. One of them who could speak good English told us GI’s to get up and hurry down the hill before more shells came in on them. Everyone but me got up and ran down the hill with the Germans. They never missed me for some reason,’ Holly said. ‘1 guess they couldn’t count too good,’ added Holly as an afterthought.
When Hollingsworth was certain there were no more Germans in the vicinity, he headed back up the hill toward his own position to retrieve his rifle. His arrival at his foxhole had occurred in the nick of time for Lt. Jim Robinson who had gone forward from his observation post to get a better look. His vision was being affected by snow squalls.
A Head-On Encounter
A description of a head-on encounter between Lt. Jim Robinson and a German officer is related first by Robinson and then by the trooper who came to his aid in the nick of time. First by Robinson:
Off and on we were getting snow flurries and now they had increased somewhat. Dressed in full-length white shroud-like sheets and almost invisible in the snow, I felt I could use the cover of the snow storm to advance unobserved. I left my radio operator at the dugout position, elated with the chance to punish the people to our front, and I made it to the top of the ridge, crossed it and went downward into a small saddle-shaped swale where I could shoot observed fire on the enemy held positions. The snow fall had become heavier, or perhaps it was the sensation of the hillside funnelling the breeze upward and seemingly carrying the soft snow flakes almost parallel to the ground and right into my eyes. I was making haste, for no artillery observer holds up a battalion radio network on an approved fire mission. I had a cloth sling over one shoulder carrying an extra battery for my radio. I was moving downhill with momentum and wham!, as in basketball, I made a stand-up offensive body block against a German officer coming up the hill. We met head on, helmet to helmet, breast to breast. He, too, was dressed in the fashion of the day—solid white covering. The impact and the imbalance of the spare battery versus radio turned me I completely around, facing the rear with my arms flailing about, catching myself in a crouch.
Some distance away, a G.I. wearing the old familiar Army O.D. wool knit cap, without a helmet, went down in kneeling position. As the shot rang out, the German appeared to bow deeply at the waist and slid silently, feet first, into an abandoned foxhole. I slipped a newly knit wool balaclava from his head and a belt from his waist. Of all things, I needed a belt—a converted German rifle sling, leather, with leather-covered buckle. The balaclava I immediately put on against the bitter cold.
The battalion gave us massed support on the hill, on the slopes and onto the fields beyond. The snow flurries were timely, but Sgt. William T. Hollingsworth, with the wool knit cap, from Horseshoe, North Carolina, had made the difference.
MAP 17—New Year’s Eve, Robinson
The moves and actions of forward artillery observer Lt. Jim Robinson are provided to illustrate the actions which took place on New Year’s Eve in the Champs area. #1 is his move to a position near Sgt. Layton; Black’s squad on the hillside. #2 is approximate location of his encounter with the enemy officer. #3 is his move to the original “tree patch” OP from which he calls down artillery barrages on targets of opportunity.
The story of the above incident as experienced by Sgt. William T. “Big Holly” Hollingsworth was related to Sgt. Layton Black a few hours after the episode as the two men trudged up the long hill. Black wrote:
Sgt. William T. Hollingsworth then told me of an unusual happening as he wound his way back to our lines. Since the German attack was still in progress, and he could see a stray Jerry on the hillside here and there, Holly made his way to his foxhole for his rifle. He then worked his way back over to the tree patch area. As he came by a small drop-off area, (mound of dirt) Holly ran smack into a German soldier with his rifle aimed at a fellow trooper. Sgt. Hollingsworth was to fire first—the German fell dead. (The American whose life was saved, I learned forty-two years later, was Lt. James Robinson of the 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, the same officer I had accompanied up the hill earlier.)
After the heavy fighting they had experienced in and around Champs on Christmas Day, the men of “A” Company had been relieved by “C” Company at the tree patch site. Lt. Robinson had continued to observe from the “C” Company positions on the hill top. Captain Wallace Swanson of “A” Company also provides verification of the story:
Our forward observer, 1Lt. Jim Robinson, moved back up there with ‘C’ Company along with his radio operators. The team tried to pick out enemy targets that they put artillery on. Lt. Robinson moved out forward of the ‘C’ Company positions to get a better view of the enemy area. He headed for a clump of trees in a ravine that was toward the enemy lines. As he entered the trees in the ravine, he encountered a German soldier in the same clump of trees and the enemy soldier had the drop on him and was taking him prisoner. One of the ‘C’ Company men had a good view and he was a good marksman. He took aim and shot the German. Robinson cleared the area quickly and returned to the team position and continued to call for artillery support from this vantage point.
Schnaaps
Returning to his earlier story of meeting Sgt. Hollingsworth after he had returned from his sniping episode far down the hillside, Sgt Black sensed that his friend was drunk and asked for an explanation:
I said to Holly, ‘You must have stopped at a bar on the way back.’ He said, ‘Yah, in a way I did. Here, have a drink!’ and he handed me a German canteen filled with Schnaaps (which is a very strong German drink made from potatoes).
As I took a drink I asked Holly, ‘Where did you find this?’ He said, ‘Over in front of your tree patch outpost! Those dead German soldiers lying over there had their canteens filled with Schnaaps!’ then continued, ‘They sure were not going to need it anymore and it seemed a shame to see it go to waste. I brought back three full canteens. See them down there in my foxhole?’ he said, pointing down into his hole.
I took another drink from Holly’s canteen and remarked, ‘Well, its no damn wonder those Jerries came up that long hill straight at us into Bird’s and my great field of fire, with as strong as Schnaaps is, a few drinks and a soldier wouldn’t care if he lives or dies.’
Bill Haddick is Dead!
As a sergeant in the 1st Platoon of “Charley” Company, Kenneth Kochenour was also in position along the MLR on New Year’s Eve. He spent a lot of time on a .30 caliber machine gun and, as previously mentioned by Sgt. Willis Fowler in describing Christmas Day actions, machine guns tended to freeze up in cold weather. Kochenour also remembers the day as one of his close buddies was killed on the 31st of
December. He tells his story:
The day PFC. William F. Haddick was killed, the 1st Platoon was on line just west of Longchamps. My squad was down to five men and we dug two-man foxholes. I was teamed with a new replacement. We had part of our implacement covered with logs and earth. We were manning a .30 cal. light machine gun on a small hill top. The platoon was standing two-hour shifts during the night. I took over just about dawn and as I was wiping the sleepy dirt out of my eyes, looking at the vast snow-covered no-man’s land, a platoon of Kraut infantry was advancing on us. They were just about a hundred yards out. I was no longer cold, the blood was rushing through my body as I grabbed the handle of the machine gun and started firing. The Germans seemed to be surprised and ran in many directions. The gun froze up and stopped just as my buddy came crawling out of his sack. I hollered, ‘Piss on it!’ and he did. The gun started spitting out death again till I expended the better part of 250 rounds. Only a few stray shots of small arms fire hit around our position. I expected some 88mm shells or at least some mortar fire. Company ‘B’ was on the 1st Platoon’s right flank in the town and the Germans were able to infiltrate during the night
At daybreak they started their attack and Bill Haddick was firing on them with his machine gun when he was hit in the head. He was killed outright. It wasn’t until nightfall that I found out he was dead. He had taken basic with me at Camp Wheeler, Georgia. Somehow, we never expected him to get it.
With Sgt. William “Holly” Hollingsworth back with members of his own platoon as the only one who had eluded the enemy patrol which captured them earlier, Sgt. Layton Black wondered if it was time to break some bad news to “Holly”. Black added to his story:
I told ‘Big Holly’ that I was truly glad he had made it back to our lines and very sorry that his men had not. I even said, ‘With all the old timers gone now this war isn’t going to be any fun’. Then I thought about the loss of William Haddick, which Holly didn’t know about yet.
I sat on the edge of the big sergeant’s foxhole and wondered if now was the time to tell him. The two men deeply liked each other. They had been together as far back as basic training and had come into the 502nd PIR back in the Alabama days. Both had been machine gunners and two of the regiment’s best They were two of ‘C’ Company’s best liked men.
I decided now was the time to tell Holly. I thought about how to do it. Suddenly he said to me, ‘What’s the matter with you Sergeant Black? You look like you need another drink.’ (He always liked to get me drunk.)
At last I said, ‘Yes, I do. I’ve got to tell you something. Take one more drink with me.’ We drank one last drink together, (and I remember how awful it tasted).
‘Okay, I’m ready—tell me the bad news. I can tell when you’re not kidding,’ Holly said.
I began, ‘We in ‘C’ Company lost two of our best men today—one from the 1st and one from the 2nd Platoon. We here in the 2nd lucked out. We got you back. But the boys over in the 1st were not so lucky. They didn’t get a second chance. William Haddick died today Holly—shot straight through the head. He didn’t know what hit him. It was a clean shot, they said. We can thank God for that.’
It was a terrible blow to Holly because they had been such good friends. I just didn’t know how else to tell him about Haddick. Tears streamed down ‘Big Holly’s’ face and he said only, ‘Not Haddick, Black—not Haddick—not William Haddick—oh God, not Haddick!’
I got up and walked back to my foxhole in the tree patch outpost. It would surely be a sad New Year’s Eve for Company ‘C’.
“Able” Company
Company “A” had been relieved on December 28 from the tree patch position by “C” Company and was now enjoying the relative warmth in some of the less damaged houses in Champs on New Year’s Eve. Sgt. Louis Merlano recalls experiencing the heavy artillery shelling which the “C” Company commander had been so concerned about. Merlano describes the action which took the life of one of his friends:
We now had solidified our position around Champs and along about the 28th of December, we were relieved by ‘C’ Company and took positions in a wooded area and had four houses in which we could shelter some of the fellows. I recall that the house I was in was hit with many artillery shells and we were in the back trying to get out. At one point, John Kleinfelder was in front of me and attempted to make a dash through the door when a shell hit right smack in front of him and it was sickening to see and he died in my arms. I believe that was December 31st.
After a period of relief in town, as was described by Sgt. Merlano, men in “A” Company were rushed forward to fill a gap in the “C” Company lines. Pvt. Ted Goldmann continues his story:
On New Year’s Eve a strong German combat patrol overran and knocked out the center of the middle platoon of ‘C’ Company on the hill directly under the high line and about half way between our positions of December 25th and 26th. The remainder of 3rd Platoon was elected to plug this gap. Our major order at night was to have one man of each two-man foxhole awake at all times. We moved up under a mortar and 20mm barrage on the position. The holes were one-man trenches and we enlarged them as best we could. Some of the holes had dead Germans lying right beside them but they were frozen so nobody paid any attention. Nothing much happened except more snow and bad weather and a lot of barrages which were very irritating but hit nobody. It scared one boy when the cable on the high line came down with a crash across his hole. Luckily he was lying down and it didn’t touch him.165
Replacements
Arriving with the first group of replacements after the highway to Bastogne was reopened, Pvt. Gerald B. Johnston was back with his old unit in the 1st Battalion. He had been wounded during the first hours of the assault on St. Oedenrode in Holland on September 17. He had arrived at Mourmelon too late to be part of the December 19 move. Johnston wrote:
Several of us were delivered to ‘C’ Company in Champs, a tiny village of stone buildings with several tanks parked on the backside of the buildings. Here I joined up with 2nd Platoon again. Troy Wall was still the platoon leader. I was assigned to Sgt. W. O. Bird’s squad again, just as had been the case in Holland. The village was behind and below the foxhole line. Men were coming down from the line to warm up and heat their K- rations. I specifically remember ‘Holly’ Hollings worth being there because he was talking about his escape from the Germans who attacked the hill above the town the night before, or perhaps the previous night. Apparently Holly’s squad occupied the front slope of the hill and most of them were captured, including Holly. While being marched back to the German lines, Holly decided to make a break for it and ran back through the darkness to our lines, a clean escape despite being shot at. (One of the men captured was recovered later by the American advance in February or March and was at Mourmelon in March when we returned from Alsace.)
W. O. Bird took me up on the hill and showed me the positions and foxholes, all just on the back of the crest. Everybody was already doubled up in foxholes so I got my own private one, just down a hedgeline from the machine gun. We dragged the German body away and there I was, back in the war again. At this time it was totally quiet, no booms or bangs. It was hard to believe this was the front except for the bodies and Holly’s story indicating anything could happen here at any time.
44th Combat Team
After slipping and sliding over snow-slick by-ways, the 44th Armored Infantry Combat Team of the 6th Armored Division arrived in the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment’s Neffe perimeter. Their trip had been impeded by a heavy snowstorm and crossing paths with elements of the 11th Armored Division south of Bastogne.
Sgt David Reich of the Reconnaissance Platoon has always remembered the welcome given his group by the cooks at a battalion kitchen. He wrote:
At first light, we were entering Bastogne under cloudy skies. Cold, tired and hungry, we were approached by a man from the kitchen of the 501st and he invited the fifteen of us from the Recon Platoon to share in a pancake breakfast.
The o
ld farmhouse sat on the backside of a knoll and as we approached, the odor of hot coffee and food filled the air. We were warmly greeted and mess kits were filled to overflowing with the best darn pancakes I’ve ever eaten.
While waiting in line by a window, I could look out onto a large field where our mortar platoon was digging in at the time. As I stood there, a mortar round landed and killed a man I knew only as Littlejohn. The round landed far from him but the ice-hard snow caused the rounds to cover a wide area.
Near noon the 44th Combat Team moved out on the attack. Division Artillery of the 101st provided support. The 44th suffered heavy losses but the objectives were all taken. Neffe was taken but the woods southeast of Wardin were still in German hands.
New Year’s Greetings
A surprise visit to the front line posts of the troops by the regimental commander was a pleasant encounter for sergeants Sam D. Hefner and Charles E. Richards. Hefner wrote:
Charles Richards and I were in our foxholes when a jeep pulled up. In it was Colonel (Robert) Sink and he said, ‘Back home in North Carolina on New Year’s Eve we always celebrated with a drink.’ He gave each of us a bottle for our squad. That was a morale booster—even if some of the guys were afraid to drink it.
CHAPTER 15
JANUARY 2, 1945
The new year arrived with a little fanfare from either side. All of the artillery pieces of the 3rd Army units positioned on either side of the German salient spoke as one voice in ushering in the new year. A few enemy bombers appeared over Bastogne to drop missies, which did little damage. The 101st Division artillery fired throughout New Year’s Day in support of the 6th and 11th Armored Divisions which were moving up on the flanks.
Battered Bastards of Bastogne Page 49
