The Tigers of Bastogne: Voices of the 10th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge by Michael Collins & Martin King

Author:Michael Collins & Martin King [Collins, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: HISTORY / Military / World War II
ISBN: 9781612001821
Publisher: Casemate
Published: 2013-06-08T04:00:00+00:00

THOMAS HOLMES, INTELLIGENCE AND RECONNAISSANCE PLATOON, 54TH ARMORED INFANTRY BATTALION

We were told to patrol on a road that was south of Bastogne and Marvie. O’Hara wanted us to take that road and see how far they [the Germans] had come. We went down that road and one of the first things we ran into was a gas truck coming alone, actually he was behind us, he had a trailer as I stopped and was looking at him, and I hailed him to stop. In the process he had another truck that was following him and I don’t know if the brakes failed or whatever but they ran into the back end of the deuce-and-a-half that was in front. We had to get them straightened around and I said to them that they could not go down the road. They told me that they were on their way delivering gasoline to the 28th [Division]. I told them they’re falling back. We left them and about fifteen minutes or so, further down the road we ran into Gen. Norman Cota. Because of what we had heard and everything, my machine gunner radio operator, he was nervous and jerky, he said this guy is one of those damn people going through lines in American uniforms. I told him to cool it, just cool it, “Let’s find out.” Here he is, the general of a division. He was spent; the man was tired obviously and distraught. He said to me, have you seen any of my men? I said, what men are you talking about, sir. He replied, the 28th Division, I am the commander of the 28th Division. At the time I didn’t know him from a barrel of hay, he had one man with him, his driver. The machine gunner, Garrity, he’s got his arm draped on the 30 cal. pointing right at the General. We’re asking him for some identification, and he’s fussy about it, he said I am who I am. He whipped out something that was an identification thing. I told him, “Okay sir, but we have to be careful. We’ve had a lot of your men come through here.” He said, “That’s what I want; I want to know what you can tell me about my men” I told him that I had been down to Wiltz on the 19th. He had left there sometime in the morning of the 19th, and he went to a town called Sibret. He had established it as his headquarters. He asked me to send any of his men who I run into over to Sibret. He asked about Colonel Roberts and the 101st Airborne people. I told him that I didn’t know about the 101st Airborne people but I know that Roberts maintained his own headquarters and they had theirs. Cota told me that he wanted to talk with Roberts, that he wanted any of his 28th men to be sent down to Sibret. I told him how to get to Bastogne and that there were MP’s there who could direct him to Colonel Roberts.

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