The FReeper Foxhole Revisits John Kline & The Bulge (Dec. 16-19, 1944) - December 17th, 2004

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


...................................................................................... ...........................................

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

Our Mission:

The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.

The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer.

If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions.

We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.

To read previous Foxhole threads or
to add the Foxhole to your sidebar,
click on the books below.

The FReeper Foxhole Revisits
John Kline & The Bulge
(Dec. 16-19, 1944)

The following story is from the "War Diary" of John Kline, a nineteen year old Squad Leader, Heavy Machine guns, 2nd squad, 1st Platoon, M Company, 423rd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division.

12/11/44

We left the woods near St Vith for front line positions. Our destination was a defense line in the Ardennes forest atop the Schnee Eifel (Snow Mountain). The positions were 12 miles east of St. Vith and were in Germany.

A name we would learn to remember, Schönberg, was 9 miles east of St Vith and 3 miles west of our positions. We were facing the German troops from emplacements on the East slopes [reverse slopes] of the German Siegfried Line, known as "The German West Wall." We took over positions held by the 2nd Infantry Division and exchanged much of our new equipment for their old. The exchange was to be made as quickly and quietly as possible. The 2nd Division was being transferred to Aachen to participate in an attack on the Roer Dam area. My machine gun position was a log bunker with field of fire obstructed by dense forest. Conditions were quiet. Excellent chow was served twice a day. Historians and military strategists, argue that the Schnee Eifel positions should never have been occupied. They say that it was impossible to launch an offensive from there. They argued that the positions presented no defense against an assault from the east. This the Germans proved, on Dec 16, as they cut off our positions by attacking around the north and south ends of the Schnee Eifel. They, the crystal gazers, were right. A static defense line was not the answer for a thinly spread force. Any penetration through our lines would result in disaster.



M Company, 423rd Regiment, was assigned positions along the front line to support the rifle companies. An Infantry heavy weapons company, like ours, is equipped with 81 mm mortars and water cooled 30 caliber machine guns. A rifle company, is equipped with automatic weapons and mortars, but they are 60 mm mortars and air cooled machine guns. Our duty is to support the various rifle companies of the 3rd Battalion, 423rd Regiment. They are, I, K and L Companies. Such was our deployment along the tree covered ridge atop the Schnee Eifel.

The Ardennes forest is, for the most part, heavily wooded. It is interlaced with many small logging trails, fire fighting lanes and streams. We slept in rough, but warm dugouts and enjoyed solid gun bunkers. Built by the 2nd Division, they were built of logs, with a log and earth roof. We completed our changeover with the 2nd Division as darkness came. We had no time to become acquainted with the territory around our new positions. Because of that, and since were fresh and inexperienced troops, our first night was unforgettable. We were facing, for the first time, an enemy that we only knew from newsreels and training films. It was a sleepless and anxiety filled night.

I can personally confirm that a snow covered tree stump will actually move. That is, if you stare at it long enough - and if you are a young, nineteen year old machine gun squad leader peering, into the darkness, towards the enemy through a slit in a machine gun bunker. Every sound is amplified, every bush could be an enemy crawling towards you. Your eyes grow bleary from staring into the darkness. You are happy when the relieve crew shows up. The next day, you take a good long look at the stump that moved during the night. You take note of all unusual objects, and then things start to settle down.



There were two gun emplacements (bunkers) for my machine gun squad. One was higher on the hill, and the other a couple of hundred yards down the slope. When we first moved in, our gun position was in the lower bunker. After the first night we were asked to move back up the slope, to the alternate bunker. For what reason, I don't know. We did appreciate the move, for the alternate bunker was much warmer and drier. As in the lower bunker, there were "trip lines" running from the bunker down into the forest and through the barbed wire. The lines were attached to hand grenades and flares that were placed in their shipping containers attached to the trees. If we detected movement in the area beyond the barbed wire we could pull a trip line. This would cause a grenade to explode, after it was pulled from its container. A flare could be ignited to light up the area in the same manner. Our field of fire was good, but very limited. The 2nd Division had cut down a lot of trees and cleaned out the brush. However, the forest still offered the enemy excellent cover.

I remember one day being convinced that I could see a vehicle, in the woods, several hundred yards down the hill. The contours of the hill and the thick forest were playing games with my imagination. When I looked at it from another vantage point, the illusion disappeared. There was one rifleman to the left of my bunker. He was entrenched in a log covered foxhole. According to members of the patrols, this rifleman was the last person between my machine gun emplacement and the 422nd Regiment. The 422nd Regiment was reported to be five miles across a valley. The two regiments sent alternate patrols across the unoccupied space each half hour. They reported very little German activity.



The first days passed without incident. The most excitement we had in my bunker area was when a nearby 50 caliber machine gun started blasting away. The gunner had become bored and decided to kill a deer. We left the bunker area twice daily to eat our meals in a mess tent. It was back of us, to the West, on the opposite side of the hill. To get to it we had to walk along a trail, through a clearing, and down the other side. The Germans had the clearing zeroed in. As we crossed the clearing, we had to be prepared to hit the ground in case they decided to harass us. The 2nd Division's squad leader that I relieved, said two men had been killed crossing the clearing a few days ago. Our daily trips to the mess tent were something to look forward too. The food was good and the Mess Sergeant seemed to be friendlier since we have moved up to the front lines. I did enjoy those meals, there were generous portions and we could chat with the others and get brought up to date on the local news.

12/16/44--12/17/44

History shows "The Battle of the Bulge" started at 0530 on the morning of December 16, 1944. Because we were high atop the Schnee Eifel and out of the mainstream of the German Offensive, we were probably the last to know that it had been launched. I cannot remember any evidence or any sounds that would have indicated to us the size of the battle that was to take place. A battle that was to become one of the largest battles in the history of World War II. The 40 days that battle raged were the coldest and snowiest weather remembered in the Ardennes Forest area. More than one million men, 600,000 Americans and 500,000 Germans and 55,000 Englishmen fought in this battle. 32 American, 3 British and 29 German Divisions were in the battle before it ended. The Germans suffered 100,000 killed, wounded or captured. There were over 81,00 American casualties, including 23,554 captured and 19,000 killed. The British suffered 1,400 casualties and 200 killed. Each side lost 800 tanks and the Germans lost 1,000 aircraft. The Malmedy Massacre where nearly 90 American Soldiers were slaughtered was the worst atrocity, against the Americans, during the European Campaign.



My division, the 106th Infantry Division suffered 416 killed in action, 1,246 wounded and 7,001 men missing in action. Most of these casualties occurred within the first three days of battle when two of the three regiments were forced to surrender. In losses - the German Ardennes Offensive, later to become known as "The Battle of the Bulge," was the worst battle for the Americans in World War II.

Our company commander set up his headquarters in one of the enormous Siegfried Line bunkers. The bunker was not completely demolished, as they usually were. The underground rooms were intact and accessible. He had taken a room several flights down. The command bunker was on a crest of a hill. The firing apertures faced west towards Belgium, the backside towards the present German lines. There were steep slopes on either side, with signs and white caution tape warning of "Mine Fields." There was a pistol belt and canteen hanging in one of the trees on the slope. Apparently, some GI had wandered into the mine field.

German activity was reported along our front on the 17th (remember the Bulge started on the 16th). The commander called me back to the command post. He informed me that I should be prepared to move my gun to his area to protect the commandpost. While visiting with him, I noticed that he was very nervous. His 45 Colt pistol was on the table, ready for action. Our Master Sergeant who was also present, seemed equally concerned. Later I was to learn the reason for their anxiety. I suspect, in retrospect, that they had been made aware of the German breakthrough. Yet did not yet know the importance of the news.



While in the vicinity of the command post bunker, I watched a U.S. Army Air Corps P-47 Thunderbolt chase a German Messerschmitt (ME 109) through the sky. They passed directly in front of us. Our area being one of the highest on the Schnee Eifel, gave us a clear view of the surrounding valleys. The P-47 was about two hundred yards behind the ME-109 and was pouring machine gun fire into the German plane. They left our sight as they passed over the edge of the forest. We were told later, that the P-47 downed the German ME-109 in the valley.

As it turned out, my machine gun was not moved to the command post. During the night of the 17th we heard gunfire, small arms, mortars and artillery. We also could hear and see German rocket fire to the South. The German rocket launcher was five barreled and of large caliber. The rocket launcher is called a "Nebelwerfer." Due to their design, the rockets make a screaming sound as they fly through the air. Using high explosives, but not very accurate, they can be demoralizing if you are in their path of flight.

12/18/44



On the morning of the 18th I was instructed to report to the mess tent for a briefing. As I was walking to the tent I noticed two German prisoners being guarded by an American GI. They were setting under a tree near the mess tent. During the briefing we were told that the Germans had broken through our supply lines. This turned out to be true, however, we were not informed of how grave the situation was. The facts were ,as you will read later, that we were cut off from the rest of the division early in the morning of the 17th. The artillery and rockets that we had heard to the South, were sounds of the battle that was taking place at Bleialf, a small village on the road between Prüm and Schönberg. The 423rd Anti-Tank Company who had that defensive area had been thrown out of Bleialf on the 16th. They used all available troops in the area and pushed the Germans out of Bleialf, only to be overrun again on the morning of the 17th. They were overpowered by the tremendous numbers of German troops heading northwest up the Bleialf-Schönberg road. The Germans had closed the pincers behind us, at Schönberg. We were like a boulder protruding from the middle of a stream. This proved the military strategists to be correct. A mountain is not the place to be when you have no support.

But, I am getting ahead of my story....

---

---

FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[SAMWolf]

Keep an eye on your mail in the next few days. ;-)

[SAMWolf]

On this day...
Just one thing after another.

I just hate days like that, for one, they're usually Mondays.

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS John M. Bermingham (DE-530)

Evarts class destroyer escort

Displacement. 1,140
Lenght. 289'5"
Beam. 35'1"
Draft. 8'3"
Speed. 21 k.
Complement. 156
Armament. 3 3", 4 1.1", 9 20mm., 2 dct., 8 dcp., 1 dcp.

USS John M. Bermingham (DE-530) was laid down by Boston Navy Yard 14 October 1943; launched 17 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. J. M. Bermingham, widow of Lt. Comdr. Bermingham; and commissioned 8 April 1944; Lt. M. Beerman in command.

The new destroyer escort conducted shakedown off Bermuda and arrived Charleston 9 June to begin her vital convoy escort duty. Departing 14 June, she escorted the ships to the English Channel; and, after steaming to Belfast 23 July, she returned to Boston 2 August 1944. She then underwent further training in Casco Bay before arriving New York 28 August to join an unusual convoy.

John M. Bermingham sailed 19 September with other escort vessels to convoy a large group of Army tugs and barges for use in the important captured ports of northern France. During the arduous crossing, rough weather claimed several tugs and many of the vitally-needed harbor barges. Only a heroic effort on the part of escorting ships brought the remainder of the convoy to safety at Plymouth 20 October. After a week of searching for straggling barges, the ship joined a return convoy and arrived New York 21 November.

After training, John M. Bermingham was assigned to regular convoy runs between American ports and Oran, Algeria, in support of the giant land offensive underway in Europe. She made three voyages to Oran in the month that followed, arriving New York 29 May 1945. Her mission in Europe completed with the fall of the Axis, the ship arrived Miami, Fla., 20 July for duty as a school ship at the Naval Training Center.

John M. Bermingham sailed to Charleston after V-J Day, arrived 9 September, and decommissioned 12 October. She was scrapped in March 1946.

---

John Michael Bermingham was born in New York City 5 July 1905 and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1929. During the 1930's he served in many ships, including Wyoming, Utah, and Augusta, and at various shore stations. In 1940 he was assigned as Executive Officer of destroyer Stewart and at the outbreak of the war in the Pacific was second in command of the four-piper Peary. During the first Japanese attack on Cavite 10 December, Peary's commanding officer was wounded and Lt. Comdr. Bermingham took command. The ship was assigned to offshore patrol and came under heavy air attack many times in the days to come. Only brilliant seamanship during bombing and torpedo attacks 26 and 27 December saved her from destruction. Despite the Japanese air superiority, Bermingham succeeded in bringing his ship to Darwin, Australia, to operate with allied forces attempting to hold Malay Barrier. Peary operated with cruiser Houston in February, and was anchored at Darwin when the Japanese attacked with bombers 19 February 1942. Bermingham got his ship underway and attempted to maneuver in the restricted waters; but, despite valiant antiaircraft fire, his ship was hit with five bombs. Lt. Comdr. Bermingham and about 80 of his crew went down with the ship. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his courage and leadership while commanding Peary during this crucial early period of the war.

[Valin]

Mondays, I suggest calling it either Sunday partII or Pre-Tuesday. It's worth a shot.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning FOXHOLE!!

[SAMWolf]

The story of the American Asiatic Fleet in 1942 is a heartbreaker.

[SAMWolf]

[SAMWolf]

Morning Feather

[Professional Engineer]

hIYA sAM

[Iris7]

The Wrights were something else. Those boys did not mess around.

[Iris7]

Not as bad as getting the lads mangled, that is for sure, but real irritating none the less, is that McCain fellow trying to make political hay out of this thing. What a vulture.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks aomagrat. I will look for information on Lt. Comdr. Bermingham and see if I can find enough to do a thread on him.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning PE.

[snippy_about_it]

Morning alfa6.

[snippy_about_it]

You and "archy" would do a fine job. ;-)

[Professional Engineer]

Hi miss Feather

[snippy_about_it]

Clear today and cool. Yesterday we had a fog that never lifted. Gloomy all day.

[Professional Engineer]

Howdy ma'am

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning EGC. We have a potluck today with our business neighbors next to our store. Our first holiday party as capitalist pigs.

[E.G.C.]

Have fun with your day's activities. Sounds like things are going well with the store.

It toook several minutes to get the frost off the windows this morning. Temps went down into the upper 20's.

They're saying there's another artice blast on the way so we have to prepare for it.