BATTLE OF ST. VITH - PART II
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- Опубліковано 14 чер 2010
- BATTLE OF ST. VITH - PART II - Department of Defense 1965 - PIN 30183 - ROLE OF 84TH INFANTRY DIVISION IN FIGHTING GERMAN ARMY IN WORLD WAR II - PENETRATION OF SIEGFRIED LINE NOVEMBER 1944, AND MOVE INTO BELGIUM DECEMBER 1944.
My dad was a Tech Sargent with the 7th Armored Division. He set up a communication line for one of the commanding officers to speak with his troops over loud speakers. My dads Staff Sargent told the commander it couldn’t be done. My dad volunteered that he could do it and he did. The commanding officer was so impressed with his bravery to do this under serious fire that he gave my dad a Bronze Star for it. Apparently the destruction of a lot of communications equipment and lines was a big problem for the US and was a significant factor in the battle.
Carol Steinhauer nice
Wow. Just wow.
Thank you to EVERYONE who made this video possible !! Very well done, a fine tribute to the incredibly brave men who endured these hellish conditions !!!
Pretty sure everyone who made this is long gone.
Go look at the aerial views of the elevated railroad embankment and the partially broken down massive masonry railroad bridge starting at the 6:47 mark. My Dad dug, and fired from, two successive foxholes that were within a hundred yards of the southern end of the bridge. He was ordered to dig his first foxhole in an open field on the forward slope of the embankment. He shared this foxhole with a buddy. They fired their M1 rifles from this foxhole at German forces advancing on them from out of the southeast along a road that left the southeastern side of Saint Vith and headed off to the southeast. The foxhole my Dad shared with his buddy was one of a line of such two-man foxholes spaced about fifty yards apart. The attacking German forces were probably the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division. The American thin foxhole line in this sector did not achieve much more than to define the front line. What was really holding the Germans away from overrunning the foxhole line was the American artillery fire that was fired from somewhere behind my Dad, came flying over the back of his head, and landed on the Germans to his front. After a couple days and nights of this situation, a lieutenant came along collecting one G.I. from each foxhole pair of G.I.s. Soldiers were needed somewhere else for some other purpose. The lieutenant took my Dad’s buddy, leaving my Dad in the foxhole. The foxhole line now consisted of one-man foxholes spaced about fifty yards apart. At this point, my Dad took it upon himself to move back about thirty to forty yards to the very top of the railway embankment where the tracks were laid. He dug his second foxhole down between two crossties and between the rails. He made an embrasure on the enemy side of the foxhole such that he could aim and fire his rifle *under* the steel rail on the enemy side. In so doing, the rail protected the top of his head from enemy fire. German attacks continued for another couple days and nights, but then, the American artillery fire ceased and never started up again. Then, the final German assault consisting of infantry and combat vehicles started to collapse the American foxhole line from right to left, that is to say, from south to north. A G.I. came running from south to north past Dad’s foxhole and shouted to him, “Buddy, you better get out of here quick.” Dad took the hint, got out of his foxhole, and headed north at speed. He hid in the basement of a house that was near the huge, partially broken down stone railway bridge that carried the railroad tracks over the normal road. Purely by chance, Dad met two other G.I.s in the basement of the house. When they looked out the basement windows, they saw pairs of German boots walking by within a few feet of them. When darkness fell, they left the basement, ran into the forest, and started heading west. On several occasions, they had to cross a road, but, the road was crammed with German troops and vehicles. They had to lie motionless in the cold until there was a gap in the German traffic and they could dart across the road. After a couple days and nights of this business, they were close to death from hunger and the cold. They had nothing to eat but snow. At dark, they knocked on the door of an isolated farmhouse. For all they knew, there could have been German soldiers inside. An elderly woman opened the door, pulled them inside, and hustled them down into the cellar. She served them hot soup and bread. German soldiers could have entered the house at any time. Before it got light again, Dad and his two comrades left the farmhouse and resumed heading west through the forest. Eventually, they came out on the new American lines. They were able to identify themselves to the American soldiers they met, so, they were able to pass back through the American lines without being inadvertently shot by their own side. They found safe refuge behind American lines and realized that they had survived. It was Christmas Day. By a typically American feat of logistics, they were served a big Christmas dinner with all the fixings. It was too much for Dad. He promptly puked it up. During the late 1980s, Dad and I went to Saint Vith. The whole area was remarkably unchanged from 1944. We identified where he dug his foxholes within a few yards left or right and we identified three old houses in a row, one of which must have been the house where he and the two other G.I.s hid out in the basement watching German boots walking buy. I went back to Saint Vith myself in the summer of 2015. The entire area of my Dad’s adventure had been obliterated by recent commercial development. The railroad track and the huge stone railroad bridge had vanished. The meadow in which my Dad dug his first foxhole is now a parking lot.
I was born 1960, however your story had me next to your dad. Great story. Thank you both.
So glad your dad made it back, & and was able to share his experiences with you.
Stephen Richey dude u wrote a novel
Incredible story, and well written !!! Cannot thank you enough for sharing this !!!
Thank you for sharing your father's experience. My dad also survived WWII, serving in the 5th Infantry Division, 2nd Infantry Regiment in France, Germany, etc. He passed away 3 1/2 years ago at the age of 96.
My dad was a combat engineer 168th Battalion company C ..he and his buddy ,after 7 days made it out alive amazingly.he rarely spoke of it.too much for words I think.Dad lived till 92.
Great British effort indeed.
6:00 My grandfather (1LT Frederick A. "Fred" Pope (Jr.)) was, as far as I know, Clarke's only ADC during the defense of St. Vith, so this is presumably a reference to him. Because Clarke had moved his CP a little to the rear, my grandfather was sent back into St. Vith with radio equipment to maintain communications with the front lines. This led to a darkly humorous incident:
As my grandfather evacuated St. Vith, he was about to exit out the back of a building carrying the radio when a German soldier, apparently not expecting anyone to still be there, walked into the same room. My grandfather managed to drop the radio, draw down on the German, and shoot him. The radio broke when it hit the floor, of course. Upon returning to Clarke, the general gave my grandfather the distinct impression that he would have preferred to have had a working radio than a working ADC.
(My grandfather would go to to exit the Ardennes with half a shell's worth of shrapnel in him and Clarke's recommendation for a Bronze Star.)
Thank god for the British who came and bailed you Yanks out of this mess. 🇬🇧🎯🇺🇸
What absolute drivel!