T/Sgt.
Chris Christensen
Co. G 505
Parachute Infantry Regiment
82nd
Airborne Division
This story will begin Dec.
16,1944, while not over in the Ardennes where the
Battle of the Bulge had just
begun, but in England. Here some of us troopers who
had been wounded in Holland
(Market Garden) had been evacuated to. On my
release from the hospital
where I had been treated, I would return back to Quorn,
where part of our rear echelon
still were. The main body of the 505P1R had by
now been relieved after
continuous fighting in Holland (63 days). They would now
be quartered at Suippes,
France, in Army Reserve.
The next day being a Sunday
and with the day off, I had ventured out into town to
visit my favorite pub. Here I
hadn’t much more than got settled in when some 505
officer enters with the
instructions that all passes had been canceled and to
report back to camp. Here we
were told to get packed, as we would be moving
out that evening.
Later about 50 of us veterans
along with about the same number of rear echelon
service troops would take a
train down to Southampton. There we would board a
LCT (Landing Craft Tank) for
our journey across the channel. From there we
would be trucked down to
Suippes. About now we would being hearing some
rumors about the German break
through. On arriving at the camp it was only to
find the regiment had pulled
out a couple of days prior, heading for the Ardennes.
None of us had any equipment,
so the rest of the day and into the night was
spent being resupplied from
the meager supplies available.
Early the next morning would
find us boarding trucks again and heading out to
rejoin our regiment, Much
later in the day we would finally reach our destination
where we would be split up and
would join our companies.
On reporting in to my company
where I was a Squad Leader (S/Sgt) I was finally
able to find out what was
happening. It seemed the Germans had mounted a
huge offensive along a broad
front in this lightly defended area. The 505 would
be in a defensive position and
dug in along the Salm River. G Company had the
responsibility of guarding the
bridge separating Petite and Grand Hallaux. No
way was this small wooden
bridge to fall intact into the enemies hands. Of course
these two villages were also
our responsibility also if possible. The entire
regiment would be stretched
out very thin. Mostly where it was thought the
enemy might be crossing were
we able to guard.
The deployment of the company
would be, one platoon across the river in Grand
Halleux with an outpost
further up the hill, in the outskirts of town on the road
leading toward Wanne. The
other two platoons would be dug in on the Petite side
of the river. As a safeguard,
some of the 307 Engineers had placed charges to
blow the bridge. On taking
over my squad, I would find it dug in a line running
parallel and about 50 yards
above the railroad leaving town. Further back up the
hill would be the mortar squad
and off to the left would be an machine gun
section from the 3rd Battalion
Hdq. Co. Also attached to the company would be a
TD (tank destroyer) set up to
fire down the road and over into Grand Halleux if
the enemy got this far.
The Salm River, although
narrow and shallow was a natural barrier for bath tanks
and vehicular traffic with its
steep banks and questionable ground being solid
enough to support the weight.
Furthermore, most roads somewhere would be
going through dense forests,
so to move the Germans would have to control the
roads.
For the next couple of days
things were relatively quiet. You could hear the big
guns in the distance and at
night the muzzle flashes. These you could see were
moving ever closer to your
position, also when you began hearing small arms
fire, you knew Jerry wasn’t to
far off.
A little after dark on the
night of Dec 23-24 we begin to take a few small caliber
mortar shells into our
position. This is telling me a couple of things. He knows
where we are dug in and that
infantry is close by and get ready as an attack is
about to happen.
Shortly afterward this
shelling would let up and there can be heard rifle fire in
the
vicinity of where our outpost
is. When only Jerry’s weapons can be heard, you
knew the outpost had been
overrun.
Earlier in the day I have
reminded my squad about our troops across the river
over in Grand Halleux, so
don’t fire until I give the signal. About now it is hard to
withhold your firing as Jerry
has made a charge into town as you can tell by the
intense firing and them
screaming to the top of their lungs as they advanced.
They were out to take this
bridge at all costs. While all this was going on we
were still holding our fire
until by prearranged plans the platoon in Grand Halleux
would pull back across the
river. When the bridge was blown, it was the signal to
open up. The ones who hadn’t
made it back by now probably wouldn’t be
coming. When we finally opened
up, I think everything started firing at the same
time. I had never seen
anything before or after that could equal such a
concentrated wall of fire that
we laid down on them that evening. There was fire
coming from support groups I
wasn’t even aware we had. After awhile the firing
stopped almost as quickly as
it had started. At this time there was a hush that
fell over the valley that was
real eerie. There wasn’t a sound from either side for
a few moments. When the
silence was broken you could hear them screaming in
pain, begging for help,
moaning, pleading, some I even remember cussing us in
English. We must have
massacred them. I can’t believe Jerry would make such
stupid mistakes as he has made
tonight. Over the years, I have given this a lot
of thought and the only
solution I have come up with was, he thought he was
facing some green troops and
this would scare them into breaking and running.
Shortly after the fighting had
stopped, I was given orders to move my squad out
of my present position and set
up a defensive line between the railroad track and
the river running parallel in
between. I had the men dig in about 50 foot apart
and I stayed in the center
with my assistant down on the far end. We hadn’t
much more than got dug in when
our artillery starts shelling. Luckily this doesn’t
last too long as I am not too
sure we aren’t getting as much as Jerry. Anyway,
things quieted down for the
rest of the night. You can still hear them on the other
side of the river tending to
their wounded and carting them out. A lot of vehicular
traffic also. In this present
position, it feels like you can darn near reach out and
touch them. To make things
more eerie, there is now a fog beginning to settle in.
I can’t see much, but sound
sure travels. All night I am thinking about this
exposed position and the
trouble we will be in come daylight, but I am sure we
will be pulled out before
then. As things start to get a little lighter, I begin to
get
concerned. The Jerry’s on the
hill at Grand Halleux are going to be looking right
down our throat. If not
picking us off, he could at least keep us pinned down.
The fog is beginning to lift
and I realize it is now or never. I send word, passing it
down the line from man to man
for them to stay down. I am going to try and
break out and get help. My
hope is Jerry will get caught napping. My luck runs
out just about two thirds the
way from where there is some cover. One guy
opens up on me, but his aim is
off and I am able to jump in a hole with one of my
men who is dug in there. I
stay here in this position as long as I dare and I try to
make it the rest of the way.
Either luck was with me or he was a bad shot,
because I made it to cover
without getting hit.
Alex Jones in the next hole
sees me make it out, so he tries the same stunt. He
doesn’t go ten steps before he
is hit and is down. I crawl back as close as my
cover allows and call out to
him. Getting no response, I do not know if he is alive
or dead. About this time I
look over to the railroad embankment and I see one of
our medics “Chris Perry”
standing on top holding a Red Cross Flag. One man
starts firing at him, but his
aim is off and the bullets kick up dust at Chris’s feet.
He stands perfectly still and
the guy quits firing. Chris then walks down off the
embankment and over to Jones.
He rolls him over and patches him up. He then
precedes to get Jones to his
feet and helps him off the field into the house where
the platoon C.P. is. I can’t
believe the Germans letting him get away with this. I
suppose we let them get their
wounded out last night, so maybe they were
returning the favor. About
this time I made it up to the C.P. Col. Kaiser, the
battalion commander is on his
way. He no more than comes in when he sees
and understands my
predicament. He will call in some smoke. I was told to go
back and alert the men what to
expect and to get ready. I hadn’t much more
then gotten back when I could
hear the shells coming. It was a perfect drop.
Anyway, that was the night of
the 23rd and morning of the 24th “Christmas Eve.”
After the last ordeal, we would
move back to our original positions. Nobody had
slept last evening, so most
were catching a few winks. All day there had been
rumors circulating that we are
pulling back that night. This I do not pay much
attention to. Anyway, this one
proves true. The company is to pull out very
quietly at midnight so as not
to alert Jerry and move to a new position. In fact the
entire regiment is pulling
back. It seems the whole front in our area is over
extended. A short time later I
get called down to the C.P. and am given some
special instructions. After
dark I am to move my squad back to the position we
had just gotten out of this
AM. Furthermore, when the company moves out at
midnight, we are to stay until
5 o’clock the next morning, acting as the rearguard
for the company. I was also
briefed on where we were to meet the next day. On
returning to my squad, I got
them all together and explained everything I knew,
putting special emphasis on
where the company would be and how to get there
in case we become separated.
That evening about 8 o’clock
or so, we resumed our positions down by the river
for what we knew was going to
be a long night. On schedule at midnight you
could hear the company pulling
out. I immediately changed things around. One
man I pulled out of line and
placed on the street in front of the house where the
platoon C.P. was. I didn’t
want any surprises coming from that direction. I
moved out in back of the C.P.
From here I thought I could control things better. I
knew in my mind if we got hit
down here that I would pull them back to our old
positions. There I thought we
could hold them off for awhile at least. Down here
we wouldn’t last five minutes.
The company had been gone only
an hour or so when I started hearing heavy
firing from the direction they
would be traveling. From the sound of things this
did not sound like an isolated
pocket of the enemy either. This went on for
awhile and then finally faded
out. There was also big guns firing, which seems
from every direction. My
position remained quiet though until about 3:AM when
one of my men came up and told
me he had just heard Jerry crossing the river
just below him. On further
questioning, he said it was only a small group, so I
knew it could only be a
reconnaissance patrol. This I knew wouldn’t give us any
trouble unless they turned
around and came back into the town from the other
end and found it empty. I knew
Jerry would then move in and occupy it. I hoped
they would wait until after
daylight, as we would be long gone. The rest of the
night proved uneventful.
Promptly at 5 AM we vacated our positions and started
out. I had already briefed the
men to stay well spread out and we would be
moving at a brisk pace, also
we would stay on the road. Up until now I don’t
remember any snow, but the
weather is getting colder. It must have rained or
hailed sometime during the
night, because the road in places was icy. Along this
route I felt at anytime we
would be ambushed, but we lucked out. It was sure a
welcome relief when I pulled
into the new position where the company was now
dug in. I reported to my C.0.
Capt. lsaacs and the first thing he said when he
saw me was “I didn’t expect to
see you again.” The Germans the battalion had
encountered last night he
thought I would run into this morning. “Pleasant
thought.”
In this new position we were
dug in on the forward slope of a high hill. One of the
things that stands out in my
mind were the Buzz Bombs. I had seen them
before, but never this many or
so low. At times it seems they are barely clearing
the top of the hill. Around
this time my platoon sergeant and very good friend,
Andy Piriak was killed. He and
I went back a long way. Like myself, he was one
of the original group. There
are very few of us left in the 505 anymore. After
Andy’s death, I would take
over his job as Platoon Sergeant.
Up until about now the weather
hasn’t been all that bad, but things are beginning
to make a turn for the worst.
It would be later said that this was the worst winter
the Ardennes had seen in 40
years. Most days the temperature hovered around
freezing and at night dropping
to zero and below F. At times the snow was so
deep that both 4 wheel drive
and track vehicles had trouble maneuvering. The
weather coupled with the enemy
made it a very unpleasant place to be,
especially for the infantry
who were exposed to it 24 hours a day. Our army is
made up of about 6 to 8%
infantry, but This small percentage of men suffers
about 70-80% of all
casualties.
Before preceding further, I
will attempt to familiarize you with the T.O. “Table of
Organization” of a parachute
regiment. A, B, C companies, 1st Battalion. D, E, F companies,
2nd Battalion. G, H, I companies
3rd Battalion. These will all be light rifle companies. Also each
battalion
will have a Headquarters
company. There will also be a Regimental, Headquarters company and a
Service Company. The T.O. of
these 142 men companies will be, 3 platoons plus
Company Headquarters. Three squads make
up a platoon. I was in the 3rd platoon of G Company.
On January 3rd the
entire front will go over on the offensive, erasing The
Bulge.
Occasionally I will refer to
The book “Ready” for dates and locations.
Again the weather will play a
big part in this attack. With the heavy snow already
on the ground and what is
expected, we are told to leave behind our musette
bags, plus our overcoats. This
is to facilitate faster movement. These were to be
brought up to us that evening.
Our battalion line of attack
was I Co on the left, H Co on the right and Company
G will be in reserve. G-2
“Regimental Intelligence” has reported that we will be
facing light opposition.
“Volksgrendier troops.” In front of I Company is the small
village of Fosse. They will
get the honor of taking it. S-2 also reports that it is
lightly held by less than a
platoon.
Prior to taking off, our
artillery lays down a barrage, but a lot of this falls short
and
drops in on our troops. I
Company has one or two men killed plus some
wounded. I don’t remember if H
or G Companies received any casualties from
this S.N.A.F.U. or not.
After this shaky start and the
artillery lifting it’s fire, we get started again,
incidentally this is a bad
luck day for I Company. They no more than move out of
the woods in their attack on
Fosse, when they realize they have walked into a
hornets nest. A solid wall of
fire greets them. In a very short time all their
officers have been killed or
wounded, plus two thirds of the men are casualties.
It soon becomes apparent that
this area is more heavily defended then originally
reported. Also Jerry is firmly
entrenched in these stone houses with ample
mortar and artillery support
from the rear. Again our artillery gives this area a
thorough pounding. We then
push through and overrun their positions. It was
later determined that Jerry
had a reinforced company dug in here. So much for
intelligence reports.
Leaving I Co. to defend Posse,
both G and H Company move out to reach our
first phase line for the day.
This is tough going, wading through the snow and
Jerry reluctant to give up any
ground. Anyway we finally reach our objective after
dark and are told to dig in.
Our sleeping bags and other things we had dropped
off that A.M. would not be
brought up. Right then you knew you were in for a
miserable night. To keep from
freezing we would dig a hole large enough to
accommodate two or three men.
We would then line the bottom with brush that
we would cut off of fir trees.
This would help keep the cold from the frozen earth
penetrating through your body.
We would then get in together to share each
others body heat. We would
then have some evergreen branches which we
would pull up over us. During
all this digging in, cutting the branches, etc, you
had worked up a sweat. You can
imagine how this felt after you started to cool
off. This freezing sleepless
night may best be described as a “Night of Hell.”
To sum up this first day, I
will refer to the book “Ready” Quote: The final official
count of prisoners taken by
the regiment that day was 382 and the softly falling
snow was hiding from sight a
probable equivalent number of German dead. It
also states, in taking these
positions, the 505 was destined to suffer more
casualties on this one day
than in any other single day in its combat history.
January 4th dawned much the same
as the previous day. Overcast, cold and you
knew more snow was on the way.
Without any prior warning we are told to get
ready we are moving out. Any
other time this would have started some griping,
but today this was a welcome
relief. Maybe you could get thawed out. Like
myself, I knew most of the men
had spent a freezing sleepless night. Frost bitten
feet was your main concern.
Some of the men were already limping and
complaining about their feet
feeling numb. We were not dressed for this kind of
weather.
Getting back to the fighting,
the opposition is much lighter today. We now have
Jerry on the run and we will
continue to keep pressure on him until we reach our
final phase line. We don’t
want to give him a chance to regroup and dig in.
On the first day of the
offensive, the 1st and 3rd battalions encountered the
stiffest
opposition. On the second day,
the 2nd battalion got their turn. They ran into
much the same trouble the
other two battalions had encountered the day before
This day we reached our second
phase line early and was told to dig in. This
was as far as we would be
going today. We were getting too far ahead of the
units on our flanks. As it was
still daylight, we were able to light off small twig
fires to melt some snow for
water to make some coffee and eat a K ration. Water
in our canteens was frozen
solid. When we dropped off our equipment we were
told to bring along two K
rations. One I ate yesterday on the move and now the
last one. I don’t have to
worry about overeating. The real slap in the face was
when we were told our
equipment would not be brought up again today. You
knew you were in for another
freezing and sleepless night.
January 5th started off much the
same as the previous day. Everyone grumbling
about how cold and stiff they
are. Sometime during the night a jeep made it
through and brought us up some
much needed ammo and K rations.
The weather to me is a bigger
factor than the enemy. The latter you can cope
with, but wading through the
snow sure takes something out of you. You don’t
go very far before you are
beat. Now we are down to about half strength, but are
still lugging all our weapons
and ammo which we would be carrying if we were
still at full strength. We
still are packing a lot of fire power. The resistance is
slacking off.
Again this day we reach our
phase line early, which gave us a chance to dig in
and get something to eat
before dark. The engineers have finally bulldozed a
trail through the woods and
our overcoats, sleeping bag and packs were brought
up. I don’t think the men
could have survived another night without them. The
G.l. sleeping bag is not the
best, but it is better than nothing.
The next few days until we
reached our final objective at the Satin River were
much the same as before. The
German resistance was much tighter. Still a lot
of artillery and the enemy who
were found were in widely scattered pockets.
The final official count of
prisoners of war taken for the period of January 3rd-10th
inclusive was 987 and it was
estimated they had at least as many dead and
wounded. About 50j% of our
regiment were casualties. Half of these were
enemy inflicted and the rest
were non-combat losses. Frostbite for the most
part. If we had the proper
footwear and clothing, a lot of this would have been
avoided.
On January 11th we were relieved
by the 75th Division and trucked over to Theux,
Belgium for a much needed rest
Here for the first time in the history of the
regiment, we were to be
billeted in civilian homes. I was given two houses for my
platoon. We were a bit crowded
as there were only one or two rooms in each
house that would be heated. In
the kitchen, you could depend on a big wood
burning cook stove. Our house
also had a potbelly stove in the dining room.
Incidentally, there were no
complaints at all about the crowded conditions. We
just spread our sleeping bags
out on the floor and sacked out with a contented
smile on our faces. After what
we had just left, this was heaven. Also the cooks
had set up a mess in a
schoolhouse. We were to be fed three meals a day. The
last hot meal I had was back
in England on Dec 17th Also I think I had slept
inside twice since then.
On the morning of January 26th, I
received orders to have my platoon outside, formed
up and ready to move out that
afternoon. We would be leaving for good. At the
designated time I was loading
the men on the trucks that were waiting to haul us
out, when I happened to see
the wife standing on the sidewalk. Before I got on
myself, I went over to thank
her and say goodbye. She burst out in tears, also
she was desperately trying to
tell me something. I always was sorry that I could
not understand what she was
saying. Regretfully I never got back to Theux
again. Incidentally I have
never met any nicer people anywhere.
Our next mission was in the
heavily forested Omer Wald section. The location
was N.W. of St Vith and was
virtually a trackless snowbound area, being
practically impassable for
most vehicular traffic. Here we were to clean out this
area and push through to the
German border. Moving through here was
unbelievably slow. Not so much
the enemy as the terrain and the deep snow.
Since moving into Theux, until
now I think the temperature during the day was
warming up. You would think
this would be a welcome relief, but it was just the
opposite. The snow on the
surface would begin to melt and walking through it,
your pants from the crotch
down would become soaking wet. Couple this with
the sweat you would work up
wading through the snow, it was anything but
pleasant. You can imagine what
this would be like when the sun went down and
things started to freeze
again. It made for another miserable night.
The platoon strength was
steady dwindling. I don’t think I had over about 10 or
12 able bodied men left, so
all duties regardless of rank we were sharing. The
worst position was the point,
he would be the one breaking the trail. Under these
conditions, this was very
exhausting plus very dangerous. If the enemy, while
retreating wanted to slow your
advance down, this was the man he would pick
off. Anyway, I took the first
shift our front. We are moving down this firebreak
and I am about a hundred yards
or so out in front when I come to this
intersection. As I was
approaching very cautiously, I glance to my right and there
is this German sitting There.
A more gruesome sight you can’t imagine. He is
sitting with both arms
extended, but missing his head. Along side of him was a
blacken area where a shell had
exploded. I figured this shell had taken his head
off. Then he fell to the
ground and rigormortls set in and brought him to that
position. I remember I did not
stay around to investigate.
The next day we were in a night
attack and my platoon would be rear guard. It
was a full moon and with it
shining on the snow, it was as bright as day. We
were following a trail just
inside the tree line, when I see a group of soldiers
coming down the trail. I
couldn’t make out if they were G.l.’s or Krauts, so I
stopped and waited. Sure
enough it was a Jerry patrol of about a dozen men. At
point blank range we opened up
on them. It is safe to say we never had to
contend with them again.
Another night we are moving
along this trail in single file and this time we are out
in front. There were about 10
or 12 men behind the leader following in the same
path when comes this loud
explosion. You knew somebody had stepped on a
mine. This brings everyone to
a halt as it is highly unlikely Jerry would have
planted just one mine. Most
likely we were standing in the middle of a mine field.
You also knew that this field
would have to been sewed before the snow began
falling. Furthermore, I feel
what saved us was the snow acting as a cushion.
These Schu mines you would
have to step directly on before they would
detonate. We preceded gingerly
on through without anymore mishaps. The man
who stepped on the mine had
his foot blown off. He survived this ordeal and now
resides in Richmond, Va. We
keep in touch.
The next morning we take off
again advancing down through this clearing.
Directly in front of us is
this giant size, well concealed camouflaged concrete
pillbox. You knew you had
reached the German border and was now entering
the dreaded Seigfried Line.
These pillboxes we found to be heavily manned and
had fire lanes cut where one
pillbox supported the next. Before the day was out
our company was credited with
knocking out 4 or 5 of these. This was not done
without paying a price, as we
are now down to about one third strength. At this
time you can see that the
German soldier is putting up a much weaker resistance
than he had just a few weeks
prior. No reason he should have surrendered even
the first pillbox. There we
took about 50 prisoners who were well protected and
armed. At this time we were
well under strength and out of ammo. I had one clip
left (8 rounds.) The heaviest
thing we were carrying was the bazooka and this
wouldn’t even chip the paint.
This is not the German soldier we had been
fighting since we landed in
Sicily back in July 43. For the most part we found him
to be a tough opponent.
The next day, February 4~, we would
be relieved. Officially this costly campaign was
to have ended on January 28th”.
This would be the largest battle the American Army
had ever fought in. When
Hitler kicked off this large scale offensive on a 60 mile
front, we had only three infantry
divisions and one armored division to protect this front.
Before it ended there would
eventually be 600,000 men involved. We would
suffer about 81,000 casualties
of whom 19,000 were killed. The Germans were
to have employed close to
500,000 men and lost at least 100,000 killed,
wounded or captured.
There has been much resentment
during and after the war from many G.l’s about
only one division getting all
the credit for winning this campaign. I will not dwell
on it as Al Langdon in “Ready”
has best described it. Quote: Much publicity was
given then (and since) to the
101st Airborne Division’s gallant stand at Bastogne
and deservedly so, but it
reached the stage where Bastogne became the symbol
of the defeat of the Germans
in the “Battle of the Bulge.” A surrounded unit is
always a newsworthy object and
newspaper editors eager to find any kind of
good news in the midst of
numerous set-backs, seized upon Bastogne and thus it
got most if not all the
headlines and the symbolism. However, the facts speak for
themselves.
Bastogne was neither astride
the main route of the projected advance of the
German armies to Antwerp, nor
the key to the defeat of the Germans in the
Ardennes. When General
Manteuffel failed to capture it easily, he bypassed it
and continued onto the west as
ordered. The big battles for Bastogne occurred
after December 26th, by which
time Patton’s Third Army had reached it, and only
because Hitler wanted it taken
as a prestige object in the face of his numerous
set-backs elsewhere. By that
time he and his generals had given up all hope of
reaching Antwerp.
The thing that defeated the
Germans more than anything else, was the
unyielding defense put up by
American Divisions on the northern shoulder.
When General Dietrich’s Sixth
Panzer Army, which had the primary mission of
reaching Antwerp was stopped
cold, it so upset the German armies timetable
that thereafter the attack was
doomed to failure. Certainly the 82nd Airborne
Division can take its fair
share of the glory for stemming that advance, but it was
only one of eight American
divisions involved initially, and others soon joined the
battle. It was a joint effort
and a magnificent feat of Americans and American
arms that defeated the Germans
in the Ardennes and not one lone division in
one small city.
Airborne,
Chris
