Chapter VII


[1] These were the 770th, 96sth, 333d, 771st, 559th, 561st, 578th, and 740th Field Artillery Battalions.

[2] It will be recalled that the lo6th had noticed unusual vehicular noise. See above, p. 59.

[3] See also ch. XVII.

[4] These troops were armored infantry from the 1st SS Panzer Division whose commander finally thrown them in to get the attack rolling.

[5] Three members of the 18th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron were awarded the DSC for gallantry in the battle at the villages: 1st Lt. A. L. Mills, S. Sgt. Woodrow W. Reeves, and Cpl. c. E. Statler.

[6] Withee was captured after his lone fight. He was given the DSC.

[7] Combat Interv with Middleton and Evans; also Ltr, Middleton to Theater Historian ETO, 30 Jul 45.

[8] This according to the FUSA Inspector General report.

[9] Probably this message referred to the Amelscheid "cut-off" through which Americans had been attempting to evade the enemy.

[10] Lt. Col. William Craig, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, died of wounds on this day.

[11] 1st Lt. R. H. Thompson personally destroyed two enemy machine guns and their crews in this series of actions; he then made a lone attack on an enemy assault gun and was seriously wounded. He received the DSC.

[12] Much effort has been made to trace this story through the numerous headquarters which were involved but there are great gaps in the journal files. Interviews with officers concerned have only compounded confusion, yielding bits and pieces of information which, lacking in written record, cannot be put together in sequence. Royce L. Thompson made an exhaustive search of the records and conducted a number of personal interviews with officers involved in staffing the 106th requests. See his Air Supply to Isolated Units; Ardennes Campaign. OCMH, 1951.

[13] Dupuy (St. Vith: Lion in the Way, page 134f.), goes no further than the First Army headquarters to find a culprit, following in this the combat interview with Colonel Towne, 16 January 1945.

[14] First United States Army, Report of Operations, an. 2, G-4 Sec, p. 120f.

[15] Headquarters, IX Troop Carrier Command, Operation Repulse, Resupply by Air, Belgium, December 1944 (January 1945); 435th Troop Carrier Group Unit History, MS dated 1 January 1945.


Table of Contents


Search CMH Online
Last updated 13 December 2005