John P. Dimeglio 424/I
Dec.
20 toDec 30
The weather turned freezing
cold. Two men and myself were picked to man a 50 caliber machine gun. We
had never fired a 50 caliber machine gun. The machine gun was located up
front. It was located in a makeshift position, in a hole about 18” deep.
A soldier placed my hand on the trigger and then left saying he had to
go back. It was a dark night, we heard and saw the outline of Germans in
front of us but dared not fire the gun. Our relief was to come in the morning.
We waited a few hours after daylight, now we had no choice but to leave
the heavy gun there and move back in search of our company. We then started
back through the woods.
Dec. 21 We
found a road and started again to move back. A tank from the 7th Armored
moving back asked us to climb on top of the tank. They started moving fast
because now we were under artillery fire. On the first fast turn I was
thrown off the tank onto the road. I laid unconscious for a short time.
A Belgium civilian helped me to my feet. He gave me an apple, looked at
my face, then fled. I was now alone. I started walking back on the side
of the road. Men on an American M8 vehicle spotted me and ordered me to
put my hands up. After some questions, they told me to hop on for a lift
back
Dec. 22 I left the
M8 vehicle and joined a group of men moving back on foot through the woods.
That night we fell under intense artillery fire. All we could do was lie
down on the ground and pray. We huddled in groups trying to get some protection
from the terrain. Men were moaning and praying from fear. We could see
the fires in the town of St. Vith. We talked about surrendering, I guess
our prayers held us together.
Dec. 23 I
found my way back to my own unit Co. “I” 424 Infantry. The cold and wind
was unbearable. Three enlisted men and myself were ordered into a foxhole
overlooking the Our River. (I am guessing this is the Our River.) Lt. Joseph
had a command post in a farm building behind us, on the other side of the
road. An armored half track drove over a bridge that was between our foxhole
and his command post, and racked the foxholes with machine gun fire. The
half track was an American vehicle manned by German soldiers. I could still
see the White Star on the armored plating. That night in that foxhole one
man shot himself, he blew off some of his toes. I called for the medics
and they took him back to the First Aid station. On another day another
man went crazy, I again called the medics and they took him back to the
Aid Station. This all was going on in the freezing cold... we had no blankets
and very little food... we were slowing freezing to death. We abandoned
this position to move back on foot once again
Dec. 25 My
boots were starting to fall apart. My hands and feet were frozen. My body
was bruised and cut from the tank fall. It was Christmas night, we had
not eaten a hot meal in all the time we were in the Bulge. Lt. Joseph made
some kind of an arrangement for the platoon to sleep in the home of a Belgium.
We had a hot bowl of soup from the Belgium civilians. It was hot and good.
We all laid down on the floor almost in a heap, fully clothed with all
our equipment on. This was the first time we slept indoors.
Dec. 26 We
again pulled back on foot. Now there were long lines of frozen men retreating
down this road. The wind and cold was terrible. As we marched back men
began to fall like frozen tree branches with too much ice on them. We stepped
over the men that fell - and prayed that a truck behind the long column
would pick them up. That night again we all slept on the frozen ground.
My hands and feet were swollen from the cold - my body could not stop shaking.
We moved to a position on a small hill and were told to dig in. We had
no entrenching tools so we stacked stones in front of our position and
waited for the end. We now saw a long German column coming up the road.
It was a freezing clear
cold day, suddenly American planes came down and strafed and bombed the
German columns time-after-time. After many attacks, the planes left leaving
horses and men dead - trucks and armored equipment burning. At last hope
was near.
Dec. 28 I was assigned
to help with a half track unit that was laying mines on roads. We set mines
during the day, at night we slept under the half track in the freezing
cold. The driver gave us some K-rations to eat. In January I returned to
my own unit.
Milton J. Schober, 424/H
, Dec 22 - Dec 30
On the 22nd we continued
our retreat until late afternoon when we came to a village where we were
told to set up a perimeter defense. I had long wondered the name of this
village, and thought it was either BRAUNLAUF or CROMBACH. It wasn't until
my CRIBA friend, Joseph Dejardin, furnished me with a number of interviews
with 106th Division people that I found one with Lt. Robert Logan, S-3
of 2nd Bn. stating the perimeter defenses were set up by E Company around
ALDRINGEN, F Company around MALDINGEN and G Company west of BRAUNLAUF.
So now I knew it was MALDINGEN that we were defending on the morning of
December 23. At a very early hour on this date there was a bumper-to-bumper
assembly of tanks, half-tracks, jeeps, you name it. Where they had all
come from I had no idea, but they were all lined up on the road out of
MALDINGEN. Someone yelled “Get on board” and in short order most of F Company
was clinging to some form of transport. I climbed on a half-track. About
this time our Company Captain protested to the Armored Officer that his
orders were to defend the village, to which the response was, “You can
stay if you want to, Captain, but were getting out of here!”
It seemed an eternity for the column to move as the troops sat unprotected while some German shells landed in the vicinity, with wounds resulting. I remember seeing men with the 28th Division's Bloody Bucket shoulder patch placing charges on trees to create a road block. Finally, to our immense relief, we began moving, and speed picked up when we reached the hard surfaced road running through BEHO and toward SALMCHATEAU. We passed a handful of Belgian civilians, some on bicycles, most with luggage, moving in our direction. It certainly wasn't a moral builder for them to see us pulling back, but I know I felt exhilarated in getting out of what seemed a hopeless situation. I had the impression that we were putting miles between us and the Germans but in reality we were running parallel to their thrust. I donut know where we crossed the Salm River, but we came to one point where a bridge had already been blown, probably at SALMCHATEAU. When we did dismount we were in the midst of 82nd Airborne troops and we felt we were in good hands. Now we commenced a march to an unknown destination. The air was frigid and once the sun disappeared temperatures plummeted. I remember that the water in my canteen was frozen in a solid block when we reached our destination north of Manhay in the WERBOMONT area.
We had a peaceful day on
Christmas Eve watching heavy bomber formations flying east. I've written
previously about our disastrous attack Christmas Day at Manhay. F Company
suffered many casualties from German tank machine gun fire and apparently
our own artillery. We maintained a defensive posture in the Manhay-Grandmenil
area until December 30, when we were trucked back to the small Belgian
village of WARZEE, billeted in the warm homes of residents until January
7. Rumors had us going on line near Stavelot when we started our move.
However, heavy snows were falling making driving treacherous, which probably
was the reason for stopping in LA REID were we stayed several days as the
snow stacked up. Our rest came to an end when the snow stopped and the
temperature had a deep freeze feel. We trucked to the small community of
AISOMONT, a short distance east of TROIS PONTS, on January 10 where we
joined the rest of the 2nd Battalion as regimental reserve. I remembered
unattended cattle roaming about in areas where strings of American antitank
mines were placed; I flinched when cattle hoofs came ever so close to sending
them to eternity, but I never saw it happen. However there were frozen
dead cattle, artillery victims lying about, and one enterprising soul chopped
beef off the hindquarter of one and warmed it in his mess kit. It may not
have been a medically sound decision, but it tasted a lot better than the
“’C” rations we had. Buildings in AISOMONT were badly torn up by shells
and provided us no protection from the extreme cold. Several dead German
soldiers were lying about, one near where we had set up sleeping space.
I remember staring at the wax like face and speculating on the background
of this unfortunate soul. . ###- Schober
Battle
casualties:
At
the end of the first three weeks of combat for the regiment, the casualty
figures as of 1 January, 1945, stood:
Officers
17
Enlisted
Men 233
KIA
Officers
3
EM
9
Battle
and Non Combat
Officers
28
EM
534
MIA
Officers
14
Enlisted
Men 502
Total
Losses Officers 62
Enlisted
Men 1,054
The three officers officially listed killed were: Captain Oscar G. Krieger, Dental Surgeon, 20 December; 1st Lt. Leslie C. Struble, 3rd Battalion S-2, 21 December; and 1st Lt. Harry B. Stokes, executive officer, Co. F. 28 December, all by artillery fire.
The date of this report was January 1, after many days of sustained battle and movements. It is assumed that the large number of Missing in Action (MIA) was due to separation of units. Undoubtedly these numbers diminished on later reports.