Saint Vith by Michael Tolhurst

Author:Michael Tolhurst
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473818538
Publisher: Leo Cooper

Communications were erratic to say the least. The Germans were jamming all radio frequencies and it could take hours for a message to get through. One such message was sent by General Jones around about mid-morning to the two trapped regiments. It read, ‘Expect to clear out area west of you this afternoon with reinforcements. Withdraw from present positions if they become untenable. Save all transportation possible.’ Lieutenant-Colonel Cavender of the 423rd received this message at approximately 1500 but did not manage to relay it to Descheneaux until just after midnight. Also an airdrop of supplies and ammunition was promised to the beleaguered units and the drop co-ordinates given.

Descheneaux at 1610 sent a situation report to Division giving exact details of where his 422 Regiment was now placed. It did not arrive at St Vith until 2040.

The two regiments tightened themselves up and waited for the relief column to break through and the airdrop to materialize. Neither happened.

In Schonberg early that morning the Divisional Signal Officer Lieutenant-Colonel E. Williams and his wire chief, Master Sergeant C F Foster, were at the forward switching centre when the Germans suddenly appeared. They succeeded in sending a message back to Division reporting their plight before Williams had the switchboard destroyed. He sent his men west to St Vith after making sure everything was inoperative. Then he and Foster left under a hail of small-arms fire. They proceeded to Heuern where they found a mixture of personnel and a tank destroyer. Williams took charge and had the tank destroyer take up position to face in the direction of the pursuing German armour. As the first tank came into sight the tank destroyer let loose and stopped it dead. ‘Time to go!’ yelled Williams. They moved further west along the road, put the tank destroyer into another good position and began constructing a road-block with felled trees. They noticed that their own communication wires were still in place on posts beside the road and tapped into the phone line. Contacting 592nd FAB Williams called for artillery fire onto co-ordinates targeting the road down which the squeak and rattle of tank tracks could be heard. Only minutes passed before salvoes of 155mm shells screamed overhead and began saturating the road with high explosives between Schonberg and Heuern.

Colonel W Slayden, the assistant VIII Corp intelligence officer, had taken it upon himself to go out and find out exactly what was going on. His jeep had got as far as Heuern when he came under enemy small-arms fire. Turning around and heading back he joined up with Williams and his small party. This time Slayden tapped into the line and reported back that he was the last man between St Vith and Schonberg. All that morning they withdrew in a series of short hops carrying out a delaying action at each stage. The Volksgrenadiers kept up relentless advance.

That morning in St Vith, General Jones ordered Riggs to organize a task force and defend the town. At the same time he was given a reserve force in the form of the 168th Engineer Combat Battalion.

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