We Beat a Hasty Retreat

Back in Barenthal, on January 1 the New Year was ushered in with two bottles of PX beer and a chorus of Auld Lang Syne on New Year’s Eve and a hail of flying bullets the next morning. The Germans, their offensive in the north halted and turned back by the Third Anny, now struck southward and our 14th Armored task force was among the units that absorbed the initial fury of the attack. Tracer bullets carved fiery paths through the first light of dawn and artillery and mortar shells struck the main street in front of the building where I was sleeping. Rudely awakened by the explosions, all available personnel were sent out to man roadblocks and machine gun outposts.

At noon, just as our New Year’s Day turkey was browning on the stoves in the school house, the first white-cloaked Germans burst from the snowy woods that surrounded the town.

The Battery half-tracks turned their multiple machine guns and cannons on the enemy infantry and inflicted heavy casualties. Their action gained precious time for the rest of us to begin an orderly withdrawal. I hopped into the Battery Headquarters half-track and we pulled out without taking time to hitch-up the trailer that contained all of our barracks bags and personal belongings. At the road fork at the edge of town, a full bird Colonel of the 14th Armored was directing traffic to move the vehicles out as orderly as possible. As I looked back, I saw two white-clad Germans entering the school house where our New Year's turkeys were nearly ready to be served.

In the course of this engagement, Pvt. John O’Malley was creased between the eyes by a bullet fired by a civilian woman, T/5 Tom Creegan added a cluster to his Purple Heart medal when a bullet struck his hand as he trained the half-track’s guns on the attacking enemy, T/5 Nathaniel Rushing had a piece of shrapnel pierce his ear while defending a road block, and Pvt. Walter Sadler was shot in the arm by one of our own men who mistook him for an enemy in the early morning confusion. As the battery pulled out of town, Pvt. Arthur Crochiere was injured when the tank on which he had hitched a ride was overturned. Yet, considering the ferocity of the engagement, casualties were relatively light.

For their outstanding work in standing by their guns and helping to smother the attack, Bronze Stars were later awarded to Sgt. Elton Johnson, Sgt. Gus Sherwinsky, Cpl. Jake Mandel, Cpl. Charles Moalli, and T/5 Jewel Sharp.

Eventually reinforcements in the form of more armor and infantry arrived and the Wehrmacht failed to break out of the mountains to the flat plains of Alsace.