Task Force Hogan by William R. Hogan

Author:William R. Hogan [Hogan, William R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

7

Not a Quiet Christmas

NOVEMBER 1–DECEMBER 22, 1944

The end of October and first half of November saw the Ruhr turn into a quagmire as persistent rains saturated the soil and grounded the Air Corps. German Landser and American GI settled into an uneasy standoff to Spearhead’s front. Before the Americans could even think of taking Cologne and its bridge across the Rhine, they needed to conquer a crossing on the tributary shielding it, the Roer. Third Armored Division units fought hard for every inch of ground, much of which was mined. The Germans then blew a dam on the Inde River, flooding the battle zone with up to five feet of water in some places. With the First and 104th Infantry Divisions also bogged down in the Hürtgen Forest, the stalemate held.

Frozen turkeys arrived at the front line ahead of Thanksgiving as Task Force Hogan paused to rest and refit after the grinding slog toward the Roer River. The objective of capturing Cologne was forgotten for the time, as the allies were forced to stockpile fuel and ammunition in preparation for the last big push. Units settled in for an expected quiet Christmas. The hope remained among some troops that the Germans might even surrender, that the GIs could still make it home for Christmas. But this soon proved overly optimistic.

The companies spread out around the recently liberated towns of Büsbach, Mausbach, and Stolberg. Soldiers kept to their roadblocks and occasionally exchanged gunfire with German patrols. The tense deadlock continued between the exhausted men and machines facing off under the low, gray clouds that portended a frigid winter.

On December 10, Task Force Hogan, with G Company in the lead and H Company in support, attacked the German town of Geich. From pillbox positions hidden within a barn and covered with hay, the Germans waited patiently for the advancing Americans to get in range. The platoon of tanks moved quickly but slowed down as alert tank commanders sighted the dark gray splotches of a minefield. “Minefield ahead, get ready for contact—over.”

The German gunners opened fire from two directions, tracers crossing toward the Sherman tanks. With a series of loud crunches, the well-emplaced mines covered by antitank fire took out five G company tanks in the space of minutes. Radio queries of “What’s going on, George element?” went unanswered as crews rapidly bailed out of smoking tanks. Miraculously, nobody was killed, but spalling fragments wounded Tech 5 Harold Stearns and Lieutenants Fred Matzenbacher and Robert Miller.1

Sam, situated between the two columns in his command tank, advanced to the sound of explosions and the last position of G Company. The radio traffic reported mine strikes ahead when, thirty seconds later, Sam felt a loud explosion and crash of metal but with no obvious penetration of the armor. The tank shuddered as driver Elmer Johnson attempted to steer, with no effect. Two mines ripped out both of the Sherman’s tank treads. Sam knew from experience that the explosion was not from an antitank gun.

He slowly

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