No Victory in Valhalla

by Ian Gardner

  Gene Brown was tasked by Col Sink to lead I Co for the second phase of the assault. He was assisted by Tinsley and Dingman – the idea was to advance down the eastern (right-hand) edge of the N30 and link up with Ed Shames’ platoon at the crossroad. As the only medical officer available, Barney Ryan was attached to Brown along with medics Walter Pelcher and T/5 Eugene Woodside. Shortly after 1015hrs, as Brown’s small force got to within sight of the crossroad, his drive came to an abrupt halt.

  Dozens of booby traps had been scattered by the Germans across the N30. Moments later, the leading elements of Brown’s column came under intense machine-gun fire, forcing the men to take cover along the embankment on the left side of the road. Doctor Ryan, who was following behind, received word that a number of casualties were now gathering up ahead around a three-storey house (owned by Albert Koeune). “I decided that this building would become our aid station and ominously upon entering discovered abandoned German equipment, including grenades and a Panzerfaust [antitank grenade launcher] stashed in the kitchen. There were also a number of mattresses lying around which came in useful for the wounded.”

  Dead ground

  Bypassing the “minefield,” Pvt Al Cappelli (2 Ptn I Co) was sixth in line moving down the edge of the road when the first scout became pinned down by the machine gun from the Mk IV Panzer. From here the road beyond la Vieille Forge (meaning “the old smithy”) dropped away to the crossroad at Foy where the tank was waiting in the hollow outside the Koeune house. Cappelli was called forward and adopted the prone position on the steep snow-covered bank directly opposite a large house owned by the Collard family. “Suddenly I felt a burning sensation in my left knee and looked down to see two blood-soaked holes in my pants.” After being instructed to outflank the Panzer, Cappelli limped back across the road, clutching his bazooka, toward the Evrard house. Moving behind the property and over a connecting footpath, Al found himself virtually opposite the well and close enough to get a clear shot at the tank. The first rocket struck the target (which immediately lost power), but before he could load another round Cappelli was hit again. A few yards away, at the Evrard house, a German soldier with a 9mm Walther pistol was watching from a ground-floor window. “I couldn’t believe that one of the bullets from the P-38 hit me 6in above the wound I’d received moments earlier!”

  Lt Tinsley saved Cappelli’s life when he charged the window and killed the enemy soldier. The now-stranded tank was eventually overrun after it ran out of ammunition. Leaving the barrel of their 75mm gun pointing toward Bastogne, the crew evacuated through the rear escape hatches. The turret was later blasted by one of the American TDs, making sure it was no longer serviceable.

  A colleague helped carry Cappelli back across the road to the aid station, and with help from Pelcher and Woodside many more casualties were collected and brought in. However, the wounded could not be evacuated by vehicle due to the mines blocking the road opposite the aid post. S/Sgt Joe “Shorty” Madona, who was now platoon sergeant for 2 Ptn I Co, arrived and moved to the rear with Dr Ryan hoping to get a situation report from Capt Brown.

  Gene had broken radio silence and was sheltering behind a nearby stone barn. Ryan and Madona listened intently as Brown told Col Patch that I Co had hit a “hornet’s nest” and he needed immediate back up. As Madona and Ryan walked back toward the doorway they were hit by a sudden burst of machine-gun fire. “It felt like I’d been struck in the chest with an axe,” recalls Ryan. “S/Sgt Madona was killed instantly and crumpled to the floor. The burst ricocheted off the solid stone frame surrounding the door, striking me in the chest and Joe (who was much smaller than me) in the forehead.”

  Later Madona was awarded a posthumous Distinguished Service Cross for his actions at Bastogne. He had developed into a fantastic leader and was greatly admired by everyone, especially Ed Shames, with whom he had been best friends since the early training days in the USA.

  “I felt myself breaking into a cold sweat,” recalls Ryan, “and although weakened, I managed to walk into the house and lie down beside the others. Blood had begun to trickle down my back as Woodside cut away my British tanker overalls (given to me on January 9 by Charlie Shettle) and applied a Carlisle bandage. Surprisingly there wasn’t that much pain, so I refused morphine.” Shortly afterwards, Ryan sent word to Capt Brown, who notified the regiment that the battalion needed another medical officer and Louis Kent was sent forward to keep things under control.

  Unbeknown to Ryan, four Germans had been trapped in the cellar when he occupied the house. Uncertain of what to do next, the enemy soldiers remained silent as blood from the wounded lying on the floorboards above began to drip through the cracks. In the darkness one of the young Volksgrenadiers started to panic and knocked over a shelf. “On hearing a German voice, Walter Pelcher sent someone down into the basement with a weapon, and 30 seconds later the four young men appeared with their hands raised in surrender,” recalls Ryan. “I heard someone say, ‘Let’s shoot the bastards.’ ‘Hell no,’ I screamed. ‘We’ll use them to carry the wounded back up to the MLR’ (no doubt thinking of my own self- preservation at the same time!). Pelcher put the prisoners to work carrying the more severely wounded out on stretchers through roadside ditches to a hastily organized jeep collection point.”

  Ryan was taken to Bastogne before being evacuated by ambulance to the 60th Field Hospital at Neufchâteau. By the time he arrived, Barney was in deep shock and underwent immediate surgery. “I awoke the next morning to find myself under the care of an old classmate from medical school, Larry Kilham, who presented me with a battered 7.92mm bullet that the surgical team had removed from my lung.”

  Last gang in town

  On the MLR, at around 1100hrs that same day, just like a scene from the Alamo, Bob Sink and Lloyd Patch ordered Andy Anderson and Jim Walker to gather all available spare manpower and join forces with 1 Ptn F Co to relieve the pressure on Gene Brown. The enemy shelled the woods while the composite group was being assembled behind the “Eye” on Route Madame. The intense barrage delayed the relief mission and wounded several people, including S/Sgt Richard “Red” Falvey from HQ Co 2nd Bn. Shortly before the relief force left the woods, Capt Dick Winters (who had just taken over as 2nd Bn XO from Charlie Shettle) ordered 1st Lt Ronald “Sparkey” Speirs to go on ahead with a handful of troops to personally inform Norman Dike what was about to happen. At the time Speirs, formerly with D Co, was temporarily un-assigned. However, steel and fortitude were now needed and clearly “Sparkey” was the best man for the job.

  After being attached to 3rd Bn, F/506 took over the positions vacated by H Co as Walker ordered Alex Andros to take 3 Ptn and make a flanking movement across the N30 along the outskirts of the village (the same route previously taken by Ed Shames and his men). Walker then split his 1 Ptn equally on either side of the main road and was about to move out when Fred Bahlau ran over to offer assistance. Moving forward, the men passed a dead German frozen in the snow, who looked like some ghoulish form of traffic calming measure. Before reaching the edge of the minefield, Walker’s team came under heavy artillery fire and ran for cover.

  Down in Foy it was complete chaos – Brown and Tinsley were now desperately trying to coordinate I Co, who numbered fewer than 20 men, including replacement Pvt Alvin Viste: “Our ‘squad’ was on the right flank next to H Co, when we came up against stiff resistance from a machine gun near the aid station, which was now clearly marked by a large Red Cross. There was another German MG firing from a nearby farm building. Using our light machine gun, Cpl Wilbur Fishel began pouring fire into the enemy position until his weapon jammed due to a stoppage in the feed tray. To enable Fishel to safely sort out the malfunction, Florensio Valenzuela and I agreed to swap positions with him. As we began to move forward, a mortar shell exploded on the spot I had just vacated, killing Valenzuela (who was just behind me) and seriously injuring Fishel.”

  Nowhere was safe from enemy machine-gun fire, and without Harold Stedman around to watch his back, Cpl
Jim Brown was killed after being struck in the left eye. Both Cpl Harry Watson and Pvt Wayman Womack (Harold’s Number Two on the 60mm mortar) were badly wounded, and T/5 Gene Kristie and Pvt Howard Cleaver captured.

  After Joe Madona was killed, Alvin Viste and his squad overran the enemy machine-gun team who then tried to surrender, as Viste recalls: “Pumped up with anger we took no prisoners and finished the crew off with our trench knives. We then began to work our way toward the aid station, joining with other troopers from H Co who were now coming in from the east, where, for most part, the cleansing action was complete. While clearing one of the buildings we came across a German sitting bolt upright in a chair and fired several rounds into him before noticing that the guy was already dead. ‘Dopey,’ our company runner, burst out laughing and it was then we realized it was a sick joke … needless to say the rest of us weren’t very amused.”

  As I Co were still attempting to clear the houses along the southern edge of town, 1st Lt Alex Andros and his men were halfway around Foy. Earlier the main relief group led by Andy Anderson, including 2 Ptn H Co and 1 Ptn F Co, headed down into the village from the Bois Champay. Hindered by the radio lockdown, Anderson became embroiled in crossfire with E and I Co plus the enemy machine guns based at Koeune and Cordonnier farms. Both companies were now under heavy mortar fire and struggling to maintain their individual missions. Something had to be done before somebody was killed by friendly fire. Taking a deep breath, Speirs ran across open ground and spoke directly with Roger Tinsley, who immediately instructed his men to stop firing. As Speirs was returning to E Co he looked around and saw Tinsley hit by a burst of enemy machine-gun fire.

  Just up ahead, Fred Bahlau, who was now with the H Co group, could see the medical collection point close to the southern edge of the minefield and watched as two men from 326th Airborne Medical Co loaded an evacuation jeep with wounded. As more shells began to explode, one medic dashed into a nearby house, while the other hid under the jeep leaving their two wounded charges strapped helplessly on stretchers. “Incensed, I ran over and kicked the guy cowering underneath the vehicle and jumped into the jeep,” recalls Bahlau. Driving back up the road away from the danger area, “Fast Freddie” was flagged down by six men from I Co who asked if he would be kind enough to evacuate Roger Tinsley.

  Being a recent replacement, the young officer was unfamiliar to Fred. Tinsley’s combat jacket was hanging open and Bahlau could see a steady stream of blood pulsing from his chest. Tinsley had also been hit in the head, but at that moment in time it seemed the least of his worries. The chest wound was quickly sealed and dressed before Tinsley was leant across the hood. Bahlau instructed two of the lieutenant’s men to climb onto the jeep and hold their platoon leader down before heading to Bastogne – where, the following day, 2nd Lt Tinsley died.

  During the next hour or so, 1 Ptn from F Co played a vital role in mopping up. This was illustrated by the fact that 2nd Lt Ben Stapelfeld, who had been deafened by concussion, personally dispatched two enemy soldiers hiding in a cellar. Further east, 3 Ptn H Co came under heavy shellfire near the church. “I concluded that the rounds must have come from a wooded area we could see in the distance,” recalls Alex Andros. As 3 Ptn maneuvered to envelope the buildings on the western side of the road, the intense shelling suddenly lifted. Realizing the enemy must have been communicating with their own artillery from the basement of Jules Koeune’s house, “Dud” Hefner moved forward past the Panzer (which had been abandoned earlier) with a couple of men. Hefner approached the property and fired a burst from his submachine gun through one of the 2ft-wide slit windows near the entrance.

  Hearing the challenge issued by Hefner, the enemy troops sheltering in the cellar moved back to another compartment, as the bullets tore into the wall and ricocheted across the ceiling adjacent to the door. “Moments later, around 20 Germans emerged, hands on heads, and surrendered. As we double-timed the prisoners back to a temporary compound, our medic, Irvin ‘Blackie’ Baldinger (who spoke German), came over and told me that one of the younger Krauts was being particularly difficult and kept swearing at me. I wasn’t in any mood for this nonsense and ran over to the kid, cocked my Thompson, and tapped a few rounds into the ground around his feet. I’m pleased to say he sprinted away like his life depended on it … and truthfully it probably did.”

  Later in the afternoon Alvin Viste encountered a couple of unidentified civilians who were protesting about what they thought was indiscriminate American gunfire during the attack. “This was totally untrue and I believe that these people, whoever they were, may have actually contributed toward the deaths of my comrades. At that point I felt that there were far too many troops milling around and decided to move away and find cover before we all became a target for further enemy mortar fire. Not long afterwards I learned that Cpl Fishel had been dragged to safety and subsequently evacuated.”

  2 Ptn H Co had cleared one particular house and were now using it for an OP. It would appear that after the village was back in American hands, radio silence was briefly lifted, as Frank Kneller recalls: “Two hundred yards or so further to the north, we observed smoke rising from the chimney of a small farmhouse. Within seconds, I’d been patched through via our phone network to the Air Force. To me, as a lowly 7745 [payslip code for a private soldier], it seemed amazing that I was now talking directly to the pilot of a P-47 Thunderbolt circling overhead.” Kneller tried his best to direct the aircraft toward its target but the last bomb fell short and blew him down a flight of stairs.

  The wrecks of several burnt-out German tanks and fighting vehicles lay scattered through Foy. Although the Germans continued to shell the village the area was now clear of enemy troops. In total around 70 prisoners were taken during the 7-hour operation. By 1630hrs, shortly after 3rd Bn regained control, E Co returned to 2nd Bn, leaving H and I companies in defense, with F Co on the far northeastern edge of the village.

  At this point Norman Dike was promoted and Ron Speirs given charge of E Co. F Co were now firmly connected to the left flank of 3/501 (along the old drover’s road), who were still occupying the Bois des Corbeaux. H Co secured an area around the center of the village, while I Co held the northern approaches near the two concrete bunkers on a line between the properties belonging to Leon Dumont and Joseph Bastin. Lou Vecchi recalls a few of his guys from 1 Ptn sheltering inside the church for warmth, which was one of only a few buildings left standing that still had a roof.

  Later on the afternoon of January 13, the remainder of the wounded were evacuated. Behind Joseph Gaspard’s house on the eastern side of the main road, Alex Andros discovered a ruined barn containing dozens of frozen corpses, both American and German. “I suppose the Krauts must have used the place as a temporary morgue, but what took me by surprise was the way in which the bodies were so neatly stacked and separated.” Ralph Bennett remembers seeing a number of starving pigs feasting on recently deceased German bodies.

  Under cover of darkness the assault pioneers cleared the main road of mines to make way for the Sherman TDs and Hellcats from 11th Armored. F Co established its CP at the Evrard house and set up a defensive line facing east toward Bizory. Adjacent to the “minefield” in the back garden of Marcel Dumont’s house, the engineers made a gruesome discovery. The bomb squad came across the corpses of Héléne Gaspard and her two-year-old son Guy in makeshift coffins. Héléne and Guy had been killed by shellfire almost three weeks earlier. Despicably, their frozen corpses had been booby-trapped by the Germans.

  Lift up thine eyes – January 14, 1945

  All three remaining companies (F, H, and I) prepared to spend a cold night in Foy. The remains of the village seemed peppered with abandoned enemy trenches and defensive positions full of lice and human feces. That night, on the northern edge of town, Alex Andros was trying to get some rest in a barn behind one of the farmhouses when Pfc Tom “Pat” Fitzmaurice, who had been on outpost duty, informed him that he could hear enemy armor gathering on the edge of the village: “I grab
bed a couple of guys and went forward with Fitzmaurice to the OP and sure enough we could hear about four enemy tanks trundling around no more than 50 yards away. For some reason the crews decided to open up with machine guns but every round they fired went way above our heads.” The German tanks were attempting to draw fire and ascertain American strength. Andros reported the build-up and before the regiment had a chance to react, German artillery activity began to intensify.

  Around 0415hrs the enemy counterattacked with six tanks, each supported by six or seven infantrymen who bayoneted every foxhole they came across. Emile Dumont’s house (on the northeastern edge of town) had become the CP for 1 Ptn F Co. Ben Stapelfeld and one of his NCOs, John Taylor (who was later awarded the Silver Star for his actions), were watching a side road from the kitchen window when they saw a tank and around 12 infantrymen heading their way. After a brief exchange of fire (which killed four enemy soldiers) Stapelfeld and his colleagues escaped through a rear window and made their way back to the church where they hooked up with H Co.

  Sgt Harley Dingman was ordered to report to the forward CP, located near the crossroad, most probably at the Gaspard house. As Dingman walked in, Gene Brown, Jim Walker, and Alex Andros were weighing up their options. After a brief discussion Brown told Dingman in no uncertain terms that he was volunteering his eight-man squad to cover a controlled withdrawal. “It wasn’t up for discussion,” recalls Harley. “The rifle companies were then ordered to bring all their remaining ammunition and medical supplies to the CP.” After Dingman and his squad had “bombed up,” he split his men into four two-man teams and deployed them on a line in the Wilkin, Gaspard, Koeune, and Cordonnier houses. Over the next 2 hours, under cover of darkness, the men kept up a continuous volley of small-arms fire as Dingman ran from house to house shooting into the air. “I had my guys moving between windows firing randomly on a low trajectory toward the oncoming threat,” recalls Harley. “The diversionary rearguard action worked and fooled the Germans into thinking we still had a sizable combat presence in the village.” However, this did not stop the enemy tanks from carefully advancing in parallel down the N30 and along a side road leading into Foy.