LOSHEIM

Our time at the front was relatively quiet for a number of days. Both sides engaged in extensive patrol activity and I went on several. On one I remember we were just across the railroad tracks from a German encampment with only a hedgerow for cover and we could hear them talking. On another patrol I walked right through a mine field and have written of that incident in my prior Post called "Walking". Most of the time I was in a dugout in the main line just a mile or so from Lanzerath a village of only 2 or 3 hundred people. The weather was wet and the dugout flooded soaking the wool blankets. I learned that wool will keep you warm even when it is wet.

About Dec 10 or 11 our squad, consisting of 9 men with a Sgt in charge were assigned the outpost located about 800 yards in front of the main line. It was in a V created by the Losheim - Losheimergraben road and the railroad, with the tip of the V pointing east. The road ran by on our left and the railroad down in a ravine on our right. We were about 100 yards from the apex of the V in 4 dugouts in diamond formation. We were out in front. Losheim was to our right front and the woods (Black Forest) ended at about where the road crossed the railroad. There had been an overpass but it had been blown up.

Just a day or two before Dec. 16th our Co. Executive officer and a Sgt. visited our site. The Lt. went to the edge of the woods and was looking out over the fortifications of the Seigfried line with binoculars. They apparently had the area zeroed in because they dropped an 88 shell in the trees above them killing the Lt. and wounding the Sgt. Our Batallion commander Lt. Col. Douglas also visited our outpost and advised us to hold fast no matter what happened. He must have had some kind of a premonition. At his suggestion we spent the day reinforcing our dugouts with more logs and earth on top. We had noticed activity during the nights. Lights were often visible in the woods. We thought they were trying to draw fire to see if anyone was there but we only watched.

At about 5 a.m. on the morning of the 16th the artillery barrage started. It was so heavy and concentrated that it obliterated all trace of the snow that had fallen the day before. The concussions raised us off the floor of the dugout. We were thankful we had reinforced the roof or we never would have lived through the barrage. After what seemed to be a long time daylight came and the artillery stopped. We looked through our 8 inch. firing slit and saw a German patrol of about 10 men in camoflauge uniforms pass about 50 yards in front of us and down into the railroad ravine. They apparently thought out site was abandoned or we had all been killed because they did not investigate

We could hear tanks coming up the road to our left front but could not see them. Later we learned they were part of the 1st SS Panzer Division. Soon we could hear much shouting and a large number of infantry approached us throught the woods. We waited until they were no more than 50-100 ft. away when we opened fire. There was a group of 10-15 in front of our dugout and they all went down. I was firing the BAR as fast as I could and Alan Gold was firing his M-1 rifle as well. Warren Ivie was loading BAR magazines for me. The fire fight continued for some time. We kept firing whenever we could see someone and soon got low on ammo. Suddenly a light machine gun opened up from our right front and the bullets were coming through our firing slit. We crouched down to avoid them. When the firing stopped I raised up with my BAR in my hands and found myself looking into the muzzle of a burp gun no more than 4 ft away held by a German soldier. Rather than fire he moved the gun sideways and said, "oust". We got out leaving our weapons behind and found ourselves surrounded by dozens of soldiers. The other six of our squad were also captured. Mike Lane, in the dugout behind us said that he rose up and killed a German approaching our dugout from the rear early in the fight. It was apparent that they wanted us alive as their first contacts at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge.