Cliff Hope:
Tuesday, December 26th
The deepest German penetration into Belgium was stopped four miles from the Meuse River opposite Dinant. The counteroffensive of the American III Corps on the southern flank of the German salient progressed excellently. It appeared that relief was in sight for the beleaguered American garrison at Bastogne.
We left the magnificence of our chateau for the cold, crisp outdoors. A light snow covered the ground. We began survey at Martelange on the road to Arlon until we met Be Battery survey parties, and then took off on the road to Bastogne. I was set up with the front rod on a hilltop with anti-aircraft half-tracks below me when two Jerry-manned P-47s began a bombing and strafing attack. A bomb dropped on a hilltop about four hundred yards away, throwing earth two hundred feet in the air. It wrecked a trailer, killed one man, and wounded several others. I was sure the Jerry would be over on our hill next and was damned sure I'd be a goner. But both planes took off after releasing three more bombs farther east. The half-tracks near me fired until they ran out of ammunition. We continued down the road to within seven or eight miles of Bastogne. Along the way, we saw a GI killed by a bomb, several German helmets, and two wrecked American half-tracks. The road ahead of us was being strafed just before we turned back. Battery headquarters moved to Obermartelingen (The German name for Haut Martelange) in the afternoon to be closer to the front lines and to the artillery units advancing northward.
During the Bulge, the Germans made extensive use of captured equipment and arms. The P-47s that bombed us on this day were American fighter planes. This served a dual purpose for the enemy: it confused us in the first days of the offensive and it bolstered their equipment, which was in short supply. For our part, when we were attacked, we were frustrated in being armed only with carbines and having to depend upon the arms of other groups for our survival.
In my diary that night I wrote, "We had belated Christmas turkey dinner in a darkened machine shop, but naturally it tasted very good." We slept that night in the office building of a slate corporation. It was bitter cold.
The M3 half-track was an American armored personnel carrier half-track widely used by the Allies during World War II and in the Cold War. Derived from the M2 half-track car, the M3 was extensively produced, with about 15,000 standard M3s and more than 38,000 variant units manufactured.
Tuesday, December 26th
The deepest German penetration into Belgium was stopped four miles from the Meuse River opposite Dinant. The counteroffensive of the American III Corps on the southern flank of the German salient progressed excellently. It appeared that relief was in sight for the beleaguered American garrison at Bastogne.
We left the magnificence of our chateau for the cold, crisp outdoors. A light snow covered the ground. We began survey at Martelange on the road to Arlon until we met Be Battery survey parties, and then took off on the road to Bastogne. I was set up with the front rod on a hilltop with anti-aircraft half-tracks below me when two Jerry-manned P-47s began a bombing and strafing attack. A bomb dropped on a hilltop about four hundred yards away, throwing earth two hundred feet in the air. It wrecked a trailer, killed one man, and wounded several others. I was sure the Jerry would be over on our hill next and was damned sure I'd be a goner. But both planes took off after releasing three more bombs farther east. The half-tracks near me fired until they ran out of ammunition. We continued down the road to within seven or eight miles of Bastogne. Along the way, we saw a GI killed by a bomb, several German helmets, and two wrecked American half-tracks. The road ahead of us was being strafed just before we turned back. Battery headquarters moved to Obermartelingen (The German name for Haut Martelange) in the afternoon to be closer to the front lines and to the artillery units advancing northward.
During the Bulge, the Germans made extensive use of captured equipment and arms. The P-47s that bombed us on this day were American fighter planes. This served a dual purpose for the enemy: it confused us in the first days of the offensive and it bolstered their equipment, which was in short supply. For our part, when we were attacked, we were frustrated in being armed only with carbines and having to depend upon the arms of other groups for our survival.
In my diary that night I wrote, "We had belated Christmas turkey dinner in a darkened machine shop, but naturally it tasted very good." We slept that night in the office building of a slate corporation. It was bitter cold.
The M3 half-track was an American armored personnel carrier half-track widely used by the Allies during World War II and in the Cold War. Derived from the M2 half-track car, the M3 was extensively produced, with about 15,000 standard M3s and more than 38,000 variant units manufactured.
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