From the
106th Infantry Division Association quarterly magazine dated Jan-Feb-Mar 1989.
The CUB has been published every three months
since August 1946
John Kline, editor (posted
to the Web October 5, 1997)
(C) Copyright, The 106th
Infantry Division Association
Lt. Donald W. Beseler
"A" Company, 424th Infantry, 106th
Infantry Division wrote:
Editor's note— Lt. Donald W. Beseler, former 424/A officer, who after the death (KIA) of his company commander, Captain Robert McKay , led "A" Company into LeVaux and then on to Coulee wrote to me in October of 1988 -
"John, We are home - back from a wonderful trip to
"During our visit we were introduced to Jules Herdebise whose address
is given in the narrative report. He is working to establish a memorial for the
424th at SPINEUX. It is to be dedicated during August of 1989. He has, as now a
small stone statute made by Guy Winand, Rue Capitaine Lekeux, 6698 Grand
Halleux,
(Editor's note, 9/97 - That monument was
dedicated in 1989. It sits on a crossroads in the little
"During a conversation with Jules he mentioned a need for an American Flag of a specific size for this statute which I will provide. He can also use artifacts from the members of the 424th which can be displayed in the memorial museum. Donors can maintain ownership of the material or they can be given directly to him. He mentioned that he had discussed the details of the memorial with Bill Mueller, M Company, 424th, during Bill's visit to the area. I intend to contact Mr. Mueller later.
“It was a great trip and an experience that my wife and I were happy to share. As I look back at the days we spent in the battle area, I have mixed emotions as to just how far I want to follow up on these experiences. Some were gratifying to be relived and others were better to be left in the recesses of the mind. Many thanks for your help.”
Sincerely,
Donald W. Beseler
1624 Highway
St.
His Story follows:
(Editor's Note - Photographs that appeared in the original article are not included.
This is a narrative report of our trip in September, 1988 to the battlefield
area of the 106th Division in
Prior to our departure, I contacted Serge Fontaine of Stavelot. He offered to serve as a guide during our all too brief visit to the area. My first thoughts were to follow the trail of the 424th through the entire battle, but I soon realized that time would not permit such a detailed trip. For this reason the following narrative will not be in chronological battle order, rather it will be in the order in which we visited the various battle areas.
We arrived in Stavelot at
After our lunch our first stop was Spineaux. I had an experience similar to
Ed Prewett's as described in his letter to John Kline, our CUB editor, in
December 1987. We were able to find the house we used as platoon headquarters
from
One of those days I shall never forget. Our first mail since December 15th caught up with us. Several of us spent hours going through the sacks of mail and all the letters addressed to men lost during the preceding days had to be marked “Return to Sender, MIA Dec. 16, 1944.” It was a most difficult and painful duty.
The day before the attack, I led a patrol to the outskirts of La Vaux. We strung telephone wire along our route and upon reaching the edge of the town overlooking the village, we directed artillery fire on the village and into the wooded area near the crest of the hill to the east of the village. I remember asking that the artillery fire a round into the village using map coordinates and that I would direct the fire from that point. Their first round was short coming through the trees in which our patrol was located and landing within 50 yards in front of us. We all dove for cover and as a result jerked the powered phone from the line. After repairs to the phone I remember telling the artillery that they had damned near shot our hats off and to increase their range by 500 yards and we would work from there!
Once the line of fire had been established it was relatively easy to zero the guns in on the village and the tree line to the east. All this was in preparation for the attack the next day.
While the patrol made its way parallel to the road leading from Spineaux to La Vaux, we found a GI Parachute and other gear that had been hidden there after an apparent successful bailout. We also found several boxes in the woods near La Vaux with German military documents. All this was returned to the Battalion when the patrol returned.
A copy of the article published in The Stars and Stripes” regarding that day is enclosed. (See Below)
The attack on the
It was on this trail that the German tank was located. Fire from this tank killed Lt. Robert McKay, our company commander (424/A). The tank moved north along the trail a short distance. Many of us were in the small evergreens along the trail. We called for bazooka and rifle grenade but to no avail. The tank finally withdrew.
1st Sergeant Wallace Rifleman,
For this action he received the Silver Star.
The advance continued across the crest of the hill to the down slope leading into Coulee. At that point the trees were much larger and incoming artillery and mortar fire took heavy toll. We withdrew at dusk to a field on the crest of the hill overlooking Wanne. The night was spent there in foxholes. It was there that we learned of the death of Lt. Huddleson, 1st Battalion S-2. The next day we pulled back into Wanne. We spent the day and night there. I cannot remember what happened during the next few days.
We continued our tour with Mr. Fontaine to the area near Grandmenil and Manhay. This was the area where the 1st Battalion of the 424th spent Christmas of 1944. We were originally on the ridges to the west of this area. Contact patrols were made on an armored column coming into Grandmenil from the west. The patrol went on into Manhay which was in our hands at that moment— it changed hands several times the next few days.
On Christmas Day Herman Van de Bogart of
The 1st Battalion gradually moved forward to the edge of the forest overlooking Manhay. At this point I was able to point out to Mr. Fontaine our position. Here we found the original foxholes. Our casualties at this point were mainly from incoming artillery and screaming meemies (rockets).
A day or two later several battalions of artillery hit Manhay with a heavy “ Time On Target” barrage. Following that barrage, Manhay was taken by elements of the 424th, the armored unit advancing through Grandmenil, and another unit to our left (north side).
On the second day of our guided tour with Serge Fontaine, we went to St. Vith where we visited the 106th Memorial.
From there we went to Lommersweiler which is about 6 miles southeast of St.
Vith. Company A of the 424th was in reserve position there on
On the morning of
We were transported to a position just west of Winterspelt. We continued on into the village on foot. Company A started to dig in on a hillside on the North side of the village. A 75mm antitank gun was already in place on the hill. As I recall that day, the gun was able to fire several rounds at the advancing Germans before taking a direct hit. Company A took several casualties here from artillery fire while digging in. We were under constant artillery fire and small arms fire for the remainder of the afternoon. Just before dusk I was ordered by Cpt. Cashin, C.O. of Company A to go to the South side of the village to try to reorganize the men there and set up a defense on the road leading into Winterspelt from the Southeast.
By nightfall we had taken up several positions within the buildings. After
dark German troops made their way into Winterspelt along the roads leading into
the village. When dawn came we found ourselves within the German lines. Several
of us were in a small stone shed on the very edge of the incoming road. No
automatic weapons were available. We did have a good supply of hand grenades
which we threw in volley over and into the surrounding buildings. We then made
a run to a stone barn about 75 yards across the field and from there into the
woods southeast of the village. All the men that left Winterspelt at that time
were accounted for on reaching the woods. Other GIs were also in the woods. We
stayed in that position for the remainder of the day and that night moved to
the Southwest down the hill. Sometime the next night we found elements of the
1st Battalion, 424th near the
There are some places and times that seem to be forever implanted in memory. Such was the situation at Winterspelt and Maspelt. As we toured that area with Serge Fontaine, I described the stone shed where we had been surrounded and as we neared the edge of the village it came into view.
Before proceeding any further I told him I was sure we would find a very small window on the opposite side of the shed through which fire had been directed down the road. Also beyond the shed I said we would find the stone Bernhard such was the case.
We took up a defensive position on the hill above Maspelt and during the course of the next 36 to 48 hours we fought off several advances by the German troops coming up the crest of the hill.
At this time on our tour with Serge we were parked about three quarters of the way up the hill at a shelter used by hikers. I was describing the position to Serge when another vehicle approached with a man and a woman. I assumed they were American tourists such as we were. But when we greeted each other I found he was an English speaking German that had been in the area in 1944 as a member of one of the attacking German divisions. He too was on a tour of the battlefield. With his help it was possible to further verify the location of our unit and landmarks within the village. His family still owned land in that area.
Another area that was on my agenda, was the area between Losheim and
Losheimergraben. We were able to drive several of the logging trails through
the wooded area, crossing the dragon teeth of the Siegfred Line from the German
side. Unfortunately we could not get into the actual Company A positions
because of locked gates across the trails. As I recall, we were in this area
for a week or more before the push for the
On
On this trip back to the battle field I took with me three original battle maps hoping that they would be useful in locating various positions of our units. Mr. Fontaine had current maps of the area. A comparison of the maps revealed an astounding similarity. Where there were field, forest and trails in '44 and '45, they still existed in 1988. The trees of '44 had been cut but new ones had been planted in their place. Foxholes and other evidence of the battle had been removed from the fields, but they were still evident in the woods. While viewing these emplacements it brought back some very vivid memories. Memories that had been stored deep in my mind. These memories of a few men by name and so many more who will be ever nameless but whose gaunt faces will always be in my memory.
My wife and I will forever appreciate the hospitality shown to us by Serge Fontaine, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Graff (our Belgian hosts) and Jules Herdebise. Jules is the man responsible for establishing the 424th Memorial at Aismont to be dedicated in August, 1989. All of these people are members of the Comite D'Accuil des U.S. Airborn” which is a group formed to aid the Battle of the Bulge veterans during their visits to the battle field. Mr. Fontaine and Mr. Herdebise are especially interested in the 106th Infantry Division and would appreciate all the information and help they can receive from the division members.
Their addresses are:
Serge Fontaine
Chemin de Ster 11
B4970 Stavelot,
Jules Herdebise
Aismont 66
4980
We were able to visit the Battle of the Bulge museum at LaGleize and the Memorial at Malmedy. The museum has German and American equipment, many battle photographs some of which were taken by Mr. Fontaine. The curator of this museum is a very knowledgeable and a congenial gentleman. I would recommend that it to anyone making a visit to the area.
signed Don Beseler
From STARS and STRIPES,
With the 106th Infantry Division:
It was a grudge fight for A Co. all the way - a grudge fight founded on the death of a leader.
They started of on the attack like the other members of the 424th Infantry
Regiment of the Lion Division methodically cutting slices out of the Bulge,
methodically cutting down Von Runstedt's "grab plan" troops. They had
a score to settle, for many of their buddies had fallen in the initial
The first objective was the
The first objective taken, the company advanced across country toward
Coulee. They were skirting a woods, moving fast, when out of the woods came
mortar, machine-gun and small arms fire. CO 1/Lt. Robert G. McKay, jumped into
action. His men knew what to expect. Into the woods went the men from A
Company. Sgt Everett S. Hilliard, of
Pvt. Edgar H. Stoopes of
The advance rifle platoon found itself pinned down with heavy machine-gun fire. An armored self-propelled 88, at the bend of the road had grazing fire across the whole area. When the fire stopped, several of the men started across the road to get into to position to return the fire. McKay saw the gun swing around.
Jumping to his feet, he let go with his M-1. Back swung the machine-gun full blaze. McKay succeeded in drawing the fire away from his men, but gave his life to do it.
To a man the doughboys let go with their weapons. The armored vehicle streaked off.
A Company had another score to settle.
The ground in front of Coulee was the next objective. The Germans had
assembled a large force there. Artillery and mortar fire covered the area. A
Company went into the attack like men possessed. I guess every one of us kept
thinking about Lt. McKay all the time. We were just plain mad. Pvt. Millard
Stokes, of
Nothing could hold them back. 1st Sergeant Wallace G. Rifleman, of
end of Stars and Stripes article
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Copyright © 1996- John Kline