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Battle of Mons
Elements of the Division crossed the Belgian border on September
2, 1944. The objective west of Mons was reached within an hour.
At about 1700, Combat Command A reached its objective at Mons
and Combat Command R reached its objective to the east of Mons.
Combat Command R was then disengaged and moved west into zone
of Combat Command A. Road blocks were set up all around and covered
well with fire. The prisoners were beginning to come in, first
in trickles, then in droves, and it got worse.
Mons was a battle so involved and with so many facets and
so many prisoners taken that one account would not give a rounded
one of the confused action. Therefore, four are used, with a
supplemental one.
First consider this excerpt from Martin Blumenson's Breakout
and Pursuit for the big picture, then to Sergeant Frank Woolner's
perception from Spearhead in the West, followed by Major
Murray Fowler's one from the G-3 Supplement to Spearhead
and then topped off by some personal recollections as contained
in George Bailey's book, Germans: Biography of an Obsession.
And, finally, one is reminded that this action was well covered
by war correspondents with us at the time. But there was one
thing missing in their accounts and that was who did it. We were
not taken off the secret list for publicity until 7 October.
In the meantime the Germans knew where we were and we knew they
knew where we were and they knew that we knew they knew where
we were. It was Stolberg.
During the period of confusion of Mons, either just before
or shortly after, we attempted to pass a line-crosser, in this
instance a Belgian officer, behind the German lines. He came
back alive.
Mons was the decisive battle of the west. As a result of this
battle, troops that should have manned the Westwall never got
there.
On the morning of 3 September, the 3rd Armored Division and
other elements of VII Corps were disposed south and southwest
of Mons. Roads north and west of Mons were blocked and defended.
For two days remnants of several German divisions and an assortment
of Corps, Army, and German Headquarter troops had been marching
north parallel to VII Corps's advance and just to the west of
the 1st Army forces. On the morning of 3 September they turned
east and headed straight through Mons to the relative safety
of the Siegfried Line. Supporting aircraft picked up the close-packed
columns early and destroyed vehicles by the hundreds, but still
they came. Double and triple columns jammed the road. All road
blocks held firmly, and soon the confused German columns began
to filter both north and south of Mons. To the south they were
passing between the 3rd Armored and the 1st Infantry Divisions
which was advancing north, and struck the retreating columns
full in their long, soft flanks.
3AD Perimeter: No Front & No Rear
Within the 3rd Armored Division's perimeter at Mons there
was no front nor rear. The enemy was on all sides. At Ranes-Fromentel
it had been a matter of days; here it was a matter of hours.
The division's total bag of prisoners at Mons was 8000 including
three general officers.
The division command post was not in Mons, but was set up
about five miles south of the city. A tank company and an infantry
company were employed as command post protection. This force
was deployed in a complete defense perimeter around the command
post. Even such a system did not prevent the enemy from infiltrating
in considerable numbers to the vicinity of the command post proper.
Over 600 prisoners were taken.
Many thousands of prisoners were still to be had for the taking
when the 3rd Armored was relieved by the 1st Division on 4 September.
The dead could be counted in the thousands.
What follows comes from George Bailey's book, Germans:
Biography of an Obsession, and the author's recollection:
"The division command post was set up at the Chateau
de Warelles, belonging to the Waiters de Besterfeld family, about
nine kilometers south of Mons.
"It was a hot, swaying battle with no quarter given on
either side, as Sergeant Frank Woolner expressed it, with clerks,
drivers, signalmen and officers of all the staff sections helping
to capture or slaughter the disorganized remnants of the enemy
force.
"Back of the command post and within easy sight was the
prisoner of war enclosure of Major Charles H. Kapes and his 16
M.P.'s, reinforced by infantry from the Big Red One. They kept
more than 4,000 prisoners while fighting off attacks. Master
Sergeant Phillip Zinner of the division IPW team interrogated
prisoners and then turned to capture more.
We had our casualties, too. Major Charles E. Gravely, Alabama,
the division A/T officer, sent to contact the following 1st Infantry
Division, was not seen again. It was said that a German soldier
found with his field jacket never reached the prisoner of war
cage. Lieutenant Herman Huni, Swiss born and in the cheese business
as a civilian, also disappeared, missing in action."
Bailey, in his book Germans, lists 1st Lieutenant Jack
E. Peterson as killed in action and Lieutenant Andrew J. Nolte
as being taken prisoner, Nolle being a former Spearheader. Bailey
was an enlisted man at this time, fluent in several languages,
and later as an officer was translator for General Eisenhower
at the Rheims, France, surrender ceremonies.
This account of one part of the Mons action, with which most
division members are not familiar, comes also from Bailey and
relates to the G-2 intelligence teams, particularly the prisoner
of war interrogators:
"We were all pretty much huddled together in the barn,
the German Legion of the American Army with their German prisoners
of war. One of the 'legion' present was Sergeant Wemer Neu, a
short, stocky -- not to say fat, because he was a very strong
-- German-Jewish refugee immigrant. Neu had fled Germany in the
mid-1930s to escape the concentration camp where most of his
relatives were ultimately doomed to die. He had found haven in
France, and although he was later forced to flee France in turn,
he remained forever grateful for the hospitality and graciousness
of his first host country. Whenever anyone shouted 'Vive la France!'
during our triumphal passage, Neu would unfailingly add: '...et
les colonies!'
"As the night wore on and the sounds of battle quieted
we would hear the groaning and sobbing of the German wounded
around us outside the barn. One of our prisoners was a German
staff doctor. 'Will somebody come out with me and help me bring
in the wounded? Maybe I can do something for them,' he said.
It had to be one of the Americans, of course, because the doctor
and a German helper might take the opportunity to escape. On
the other hand an American volunteer would be running the risk
of a ruse by the German doctor once they were outside in the
dark. There were several more or less round rejections of the
appeal. Then Neu said, 'I'll go out with you,' and out they went,
the handsome, blonde German doctor and the little (but very strong)
German Jew who looked almost like a Nazi caricature of a Jew.
They brought in four or five German wounded that night. Neu was
a man of vast, apparently boundless, good humor. He had a fine
tenor voice and he loved to sing German folk songs with anybody
who would sing them with him." So said George Bailey.
Only General Rose occupied the chateau, the remainder of us,
as usual, worked out of our halftracks. There was an unspoken
protest at a captured German general being given quarters in
the house or adjacent structure, but it was important that he
not get away.
What we did at Mons did not go unreported, some of the newspaper
people, war correspondents, with us were Gordon Fraser with one
of the radio networks, as was George Hicks, and W.C. Heinz of
The New York Sun. While what we did was reported, we being
still on the secret list, the reports did not say who did it.
Messages to the rear, including newspaper copy for Press Wireless,
went out by Cub airplane at this time, we being cut off. This
was courtesy of Division Artillery and apparently they all made
it for there were no reports of losses.
For this action the division headquarters, headquarters company
and the 143rd Armored Signal Company got a Distinguished Unit
Citation.
Relentless Drive to Liege
At 1400 hours on 4 September, the 3rd Armored moved out to
the east in four columns, Combat Command B on the right, moved
in two task force columns and Combat Command A on the left in
a similar formation. The advance was rapid except through the
towns and villages where the citizens crowded the streets cheering
and giving food and wine to the soldiers. Everyone knew where
"a large group" of Germans was hiding, and some of
this information was followed up. However, such reports were
so numerous and so frequently in error that our troops paid little
attention.
The objective was Namur, Belgium. One task force of Combat
Command B reached Namur that day and found the bridges blown.
They went by way of Jemeppes. The remainder of the combat command,
following a route south of this task force, found the bridges
across the Sambre River out in the vicinity of Lobbes, so they
turned north and followed the main Charleroi-Namur highway. Further
to the north Combat Command A reached positions east of Charleroi
and halted for the night. Combat Command A reached positions
just northwest of Namur on 5 September.
Combat Command B secured a bridge site across the Meuse at
Namur on 5 September.
After bridging operations were completed by the engineers.
Task Force King from Combat Command B crossed over the Meuse
on the 6th and attached to the 9th Infantry Division to assist
it in the vicinity of Dinant. This force was released to the
control of 3rd Armored on the same day. The remainder of Combat
Command B crossed the river and advanced toward Huy with the
mission of securing that town and the river crossings there.
The division commander ordered Combat Command B to send one column
at maximum speed to secure a bridge which members of the White
Belgian Army reported to be intact in Huy. This column secured
the bridge. Combat Command B then secured Huy with the bridges
intact.
Combat Command A was given additional infantry support from
Division Reserve to assist passage through Namur. About ten miles
east of Namur they encountered stubborn resistance. The advance
was slowed, but the combat command pushed on to the vicinity
of Antheit.
Task Force Hogan which had been attached to the 1st Division
in the vicinity of Mons reverted to division control, and met
considerable resistance from the by-passed units as they moved
up to join Combat Command B. These by-passed enemy elements did
not offer any serious organized resistance, but they harassed
the columns with sniper fire and hasty road blocks which yielded
quickly under pressure.
The direct route from Namur to Liege, the division's next
objective, was down the Meuse valley. Down this corridor, the
Germans were preparing to defend stubbornly.
The division commander, General Rose, continued to take maximum
advantage of the enemy's lack of complete organization by pushing
rapidly. He sent Combat Command A straight down the valley in
a frontal attack, and ordered Combat Command B to follow secondary
roads on the high ground south of the river, approaching Liege
from the southeast. Combat Command A met enemy road blocks and
strong points all the way in increasing strength. As they neared
Liege, they came under fire of anti-aircraft artillery batteries
that protected the city. General Hickey and his artillery commander
were in a position to observe these guns whose position was a
permanent installation including barracks. A withering concentration
of time on target fire silenced them. Combat Command A worked
patrols into the city.
Meanwhile Combat Command B moved rapidly along the high ground
south of the river and had taken the enemy completely by surprise.
The German gun positions, in many cases, were not set up to meet
the Third's forces, and the bridge south of town had not been
destroyed. General Rose accompanied the maneuver force. He watched
their approach to the river crossing from a nearby observation
point. As the leading elements began to cross the river the general
crossed with them to maintain better control.
The German positions in the city were rendered untenable with
elements of the 3rd Armored on both sides of the river. Accordingly
they began to withdraw, finding themselves hard put to discover
suitable escape routes.
On 8 September Combat Command A mopped up the north side of
Liege. Meanwhile Combat Command B cleared the south of the city.
Two more German general officers were accounted for with one
killed and one captured.
The division engineers constructed a 510 foot treadway bridge
across the Meuse.
Much enemy equipment was destroyed trying to force road blocks
that day and night. The personnel of one road block in Combat
Command B zone accounted for 35 enemy vehicles, killing a lieutenant
general as he tried to run the block in a high powered staff
car; another, manned by Division Reserve, got seven MK IV tanks.
At 1700, the Reconnaissance Battalion moved across the river
with the mission of reconnoitering in the vicinity of Verviers
and securing crossings of the la Vesdre River.
At 100 on 9 September, elements of the 1st and 9th Divisions
relieved the 3rd Armored at Liege and the advance on Verviers
started.
Liege to Eupen, the Last Belgium Town
Combat Command A advanced against light resistance and secured
the high ground north and northwest of Verviers by 2100.
Combat Command B met stronger resistance from the time it
crossed the line of departure. Antitank guns, artillery, and
tanks opposed its advance. After crossing a stream at Theux a
minefield was encountered, and the combat command did not reach
its assigned objective south of Verviers. It remained for the
night between Pepinster and Theux.
On 10 September, the 83rd Reconnaissance was outposting the
ground east of Verviers and pushing patrols forward in an attempt
to secure the dam southeast of Limbourg. The objective was not
reached because of heavy enemy resistance. Division reserve was
still crossing the Meuse and moving east.
The next day Verviers was secured, and strong patrols worked
eastward.
On 11 September, Eupen fell to Combat Command B, and Combat
Command A seized its objective just northwest of Eupen. Resistance
was stronger now. Coordinated defense positions were encountered.
Numerous road blocks and blown bridges impeded the advance. Elements
of the German divisions decimated at Mons were forming into battle
groups, and new units were appearing.
Mons to Eupen - in Another Light
If it was at all possible to move after nightfall, forward
echelon of division headquarters did. A night or so before the
turn toward Mons we had continued long after nightfall, until
a Luftwaffe plane flew over our column, marking our location.
We then pulled over to the side of the road, failing to coil,
and got out the nightly reports, which were to go as far down
as battalions after daybreak. Then it rained and most of us had
not put up our pup tents.
On leaving the Mons area 4 September, we went through Charleroi,
at least three times, whether to confuse onlookers or being lost,
we knew not, but suspected the latter, to coil among slag heaps
on the far side and, once more, get out the reports after midnight.
Somehow we arrived at Namur by daylight, to set up our command
post in a fine house overlooking the Meuse, with French doors
opening to the terrace on all front rooms. Shortly afterwards,
General J. Lawton Collins (Lightning Joe) arrived.
"Maurice," he said, "where is your front line?"
General Rose pointed across the river, from which sniper fire
had been desultory. There ensued a chewing out of one general
officer by another never before heard and was most embarrassing
to the hearer. Collins concluded with, "If you ever do this
again, I will relieve you." Throughout Rose's replies were,
"Yes, general," or "No, general."
September 6 found us bivouacking about two miles beyond Huy
at a small chateau said to belong to a former finance minister
of Belgium. Although small, it was a little gem, much smaller
than the Rothschild estate at which the command post had paused
north of the Seine and which was visited by Lieutenant Colonel
Westly A. Sweat, our G-3, and photographed by Marvin H. Mischnick,
our photographer. (They said it had gold bathroom fixtures).
But the chateau at Huy had more, including a moat and a circular
room completely covered with a mural, including the door.
That night Sergeant Donald A. Mahoney fell in the moat. He
was our only casualty there.
The following day the command post crept up the road by the
river, with high cliffs to the right, ending up at Sur Cortil,
across the river from Liege. About then even we had lingering
hopes that the war would be over by Christmas, but the immediate
concern was food and fuel. We were eating German rations consisting
of black bread and butter and draining the tanks of forward echelon
vehicles down to motorcycles to move one tank battalion forward.
A woman from the American Red Cross appeared, wanting to know
if there was anything she could do. She was informed that there
was a shortage of cigarettes. She had this reported in the English
newspapers and friends from Wilts and Somerset, where they were
rationed, forwarded them. By then SOS was keeping us supplied,
but it was a welcome gesture.
Tom Bell, tank gunner to Colonel Sam Hogan, tells of their
approach to Liege, on the outskirts of which they were met by
a Belgium civilian who spoke some English and informed them that
a German force lay ahead on the route they were taking. Colonel
Hogan, not sure of his man, placed him in the lead tank to take
them around the obstacle, which they did, the only damage incurred
was to a fence or so on the narrow passage taken. Their guide,
an employee of the city transit system, was so taken with Hogan's
group that he "joined" them and stayed with them until
Stolberg, when we were told to release all foreign "replacements".
A number of war correspondents accompanied us to Liege and
were taken into the city a short distance from lead elements
which were, fortunately, not encountering fire, but there was
a lot of broken glass around. Among the correspondents was Harold
Denney of The New York Times. The town taken and safe,
the correspondents had a bar opened for them. With the sliding
steel doors to the front raised, they placed their typewriters
on bar tables and typed their copy. They were soon joined by
some girls of the town and, their copy completed and removed
to division headquarters for carrying through message center
back to Press Wireless, they were at leisure.
It was here that our supply people, as later related by Lieutenant
Colonel Eugene C. Orth, Jr., ourG-4, laid hands on 100,000 gallons
of gasoline from a 3rd Army dump by the adroit use of the word
"third".
By the 9th, again at night and with flames from a house set
afire by the Luftwaffe, we moved to Louveigne and took over a
house from a very angry housewife for a one night stand. Doubtless
she was recompensed by Civil Affairs for a very uncivil but necessary
action.
Verviers, our next stop, became a favorite town of Spearheaders.
Again reached in daylight, our division commanding post was set
up at a parochial school. The schoolrooms made wonderful offices
and there were even baths. Our soldiers overdid it in stoking
the furnaces to provide hot water for baths in the commodious
bathrooms, with the result that steaming hot water came out of
the cold water tap, the Mother Superior was approached, the speaker
in his fractured French trying to ask for a separate source of
cold water to temper the almost boiling output from the cold
water taps.
"Why don't you speak English?" the Mother Superior
inquired. "It is so much easier." But many of us did
come clean.
A couple of days later Eupen, the last town in Belgium, was
reached. It was not the same as those previously encountered,
being a border town and once German. The body of a Wehrmacht
veteran in field gray uniform and helmet lay in the central plaza,
covered by flowers! And there were no welcoming crowds.
Henceforth we would not be among a friendly populace nor would
we be able to rely on the civil telephone lines as in Northern
France where, at times, French Forces of the Interior would telephone
ahead of our advancing troops to find the location and number
of enemy troops.
Almost overlooked in the account of the passage through Belgium
is the capture of a rather imposing chateau at Wegimont, about
10 miles west of Liege. This was taken over by the SS and a rest
home created for resting members of that organization and their
spouses or female companions, all with the object of creating
an Aryan master race. It was known to us as "the baby factory."
Next Chapter: Breakthrough into Germany
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