The Holland that we were leaving on the way to
our new temporary base in Mormelon, France in late November of 1944 was quite
different from the country in which we had arrived on September 17th. Our
forward observer (FO) party, consisting of Second Lieutenant Francis Canham,
Corporal Paul Gallant, Private John Braswell and I, had flown to Holland with
the 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Our unit,
the 321st Glider Field Artillery Battalion, would be in direct support of the
506th during the upcoming Operation Market-Garden. As we parachuted to earth, the
skies were blue, the sun was shining, the countryside was shades of green and
brown, the fields were carefully tended and sturdy houses stood alongside the
roads. There were many people about: and after we landed many of them assisted
us in gathering our equipment while others offered apples which were being
harvested then.
Now as the truck upon which we were riding
rolled down the roads off the island, the skies were overcast, it rained
intermittently and the roads were covered with a few inches of water. This was
pushed aside by the wheels of the trucks forming bow waves as if we were riding
on wheeled boats. Much damage had been done to the country. Roofs and sides of
buildings had been blown off leaving evidence of the life that once had taken
place within them visible to all. The fields had been torn up by artillery fire
and tracked vehicles and were now fields of mud. Fences had been knocked down,
cows and horses were lying dead and bloated in the fields and most of the
people had left.
Much had changed and I thought of some of the
events of the past few months on the way to Mormelon.
While we were still in England before the
Normandy operation, Gallant and I had gone to parachute school along with First
Lieutenant John Jordan. We three were members of Battery B of the 321st.
Gallant had been wounded early on in Normandy and I had served with Jordan as a
radio operator in his FO party.
In July when we returned from Normandy to
Whatcombe Farms, our base camp in England, Jordan was assigned to the giddy
heights of battalion headquarters as a liaison officer. He would be
subsequently severely wounded at Bastogne. Replacements, among them Canham and
Braswell, as well as the recovered Gallant were waiting for us. With Jordan’s
departure the FO party of Canham, Gallant, Stone and Braswell was formed and
worked together for much of the time in Holland.
The former French Army post at Mormelon was a
welcome sight after the dreary trip from Holland. The barracks were a treat -
the best quarters I had had in the Army. Each sleeping room had been occupied
by 12 French soldiers. However, we slept on double bunks and so had 24 in a
room. Almost all the members of our Detail Section were able to sleep in the
same room. This was the first time since I had joined the 321st at Whatcombe
Farms that I had enjoyed indoor plumbing and so this was, indeed, a treat.
After we recovered from the shock of not having
to contest the cold December air just to use the toilet facilities, we began
cleaning our equipment and thinking of passes to Rheims, a large nearby city.
There was, of course, no word when passes would be available and so Wendell
Byrne, Burton Carpenter, Paul Gallant and formed a group in order to keep a
watch on the Battery B bulletin board. When the pass list was posted the person
on watch was to put all our names on the list and so we were in the first group
to go to Rheims. It seemed an enviable position at the time. I was later to
change this assessment.
When we arrived in Rheims, shortly after noon
on day of our passes, the shops and larger stores had merchandise displayed in
their windows and we were anxious to buy gifts and send them home. The shops
and store had merchandise displayed but they were closed and would not reopen
until 3:00 P.M. We wanted to shop first and then relax in the cafes.. We had
learned to work with what we had and so given the situation we reversed the
order of events and took ourselves to the pleasures of the cafes. None of us
had spent much time in cafes during the last six months and so we took full
advantage of the opportunity for food and wine - too much advantage of the
opportunity for wine. By the time the stores had reopened some of us were in no
condition to go shopping. My friends dropped me at the American Red Cross where
the lovely lady director allowed me to sleep on the couch in her office. My
friends reclaimed me in time for the return trip to Mormelon. The trip to
Rheims had, for me, been a washout.
We had no further opportunity to go to Rheims
but we did visit nearby Mormelon,
Mormelon le grande, that is. There were two Mormelons - le grand et le petit.. Mormelon le grand was a
one-street village with a couple of cafes. These were certainly not cafes in
the manner of the Rheims cafes but cafes never-the-less and we enjoyed their
comfort on a time or two. The village had a few food stores but it was small
despite its pretentious name. I could not imagine that Mormelon le petit could be any smaller. I was to find out that it
not only could be, but was, smaller.
Canham was promoted to first lieutenant while
we were at Mormelon. There must have been a rash of these promotions and a
subsequent shortage of silver bars. One day we passed on the battery street and
as I saluted I noticed that he had a silver bar on his cap and a gold bar on
his shirt collar. I remarked that he had better get two silver bars as the
second lieutenants would not know whether to salute him while the first
lieutenants would not know whether to expect a salute from him. He smiled.
Since he had joined the battalion five months
ago, Canham had won the respect of all, particularly those of us who worked
closely with him in an FO party. He was the epitome of the person whose actions
spoke much louder than did his words. However, when he spoke his words were
worth hearing. Within our FO party everything, with one exception, was shared.
Canham's responsibility was not shared. Except for a few very short breaks he
maintained observation of the enemy area. Others might assist him but he was always
there. On the march we shared the heavy
load that an FO party carries, we shared the food, and his liquor ration. When
we did not have telephone communication with our battalion, we had to maintain
a radio watch and at night Canham took his turn at this.
While the football season was just about over
in the United States, it was about to begin in the 101st. Each major command
fielded and so I reported for a tryout with the Division Artillery team. As we
began our workouts I thought that I was in good physical condition. Physical
condition had been stressed at the 101st Airborne Parachute School from which I
had graduated in February 1994. However, living in the field for most of the
intervening months had taken the edge of my physical condition. The coaches
worked us harder than I had ever worked. At the end of each workout I was
exhausted but felt wonderful. My exhaustion and euphoria - mostly the latter -
came to a quick end.
On December 16th the Germans attacked through
the Ardennes Forest in Belgium and had penetrated the thinly held lines of VIII
Corps. The next morning we heard of the attack on the radio but did not give it
much thought. We gave it more thought when, that evening, the division was
alerted for movement to VIII Corps on the morning of the 18th. Some us thought
that the attack would be quickly contained and that the 101st would be in
reserve for a few days and then return to Mormelon. We had no idea of the
magnitude of the German attack. On the previous day we had turned in our helmets
to supply for repainting. We picked up our unpainted helmets and made other
preparations for movement.
At the time our FO party consisted of Canham,
Gallant and me. Gallant had been detailed to go forward with the battery
quartering party. Shortly after he left Battery B was ordered to send an FO
party to the 506th for the movement forward and subsequent combat. (The idea of
being in reserve for a few days rapidly dissipated.) The 321st was to be in
direct support of the 506th once again. Canham, Sergeant Bill Plummer, who had
joined the Detail Section after having been a howitzer chief of section, and I,
along with our jeep driver, Wendell Byrne, reported to the S3 of the 506th. He
told us to join the 506th column and follow the chaplain forward. With our
radio and other equipment it was crowded and uncomfortable in the jeep. I soon
felt better when I saw the open semi-trailers in which the riflemen of the
506th were riding. Comfort is, indeed, relative.
It was a bone-chilling, all-day ride to the
assembly area of the 506th outside of Bastogne.
When we arrived that night we were sent to the 1st Battalion of that
regiment in order to direct the fires of the 321st. The battalion sent us to
one of its line companies with which we spent what was left of the night.
Canham sent Byrne and the jeep back to the battery. (FO's did not ride when
with the infantry of the 101st.) The company with which we were working was
commanded by a captain who had arrived from the United States just one week
ago. Throughout the action in Holland the company had been commanded by a first
lieutenant who was now the executive officer. In two days the captain would be
the battalion executive officer and the first lieutenant the company commander
once again.
On the morning of the 19th we moved out with
the 1st Battalion to Noville which we were to defend along with TEAM Desobry,
CCB, 10th Armored Division, which had been defending the village since the
previous evening. During the march we
met soldiers of the 28th Infantry Division who were moving to the rear toward
Bastogne. They told us that the Germans had fired at them using tanks captured
from the 9th Armored Division. We began to understand just how serious the
German attack was. Never-the-less we maintained the esprit and confidence
typical of soldiers of the 101st.
Noville
is seven kilometers northeast of Bastogne. Two and one half kilometers
southwest of Noville is the hamlet of Foy. Noville lies in a saucer-like
depression with high ground all around it except in the west. This made it
difficult to defend against the German attack from the east as we did not have
the high ground. Between Noville and Foy the ground slopped from east to west
with the high ground on the east. Noville was critical because it contained the
junction of roads important to the German movement westward. It was also
important to the Germans because, if they choose, they could drive on Bastogne
from the north along the axis of the Noville-Bastogne road. Our defense of
Noville also gave the remainder of the 506th time to occupy and improve
positions behind us to the south and to tie into the 501st Parachute Infantry
Regiment on the right flank of the 506th.
While talking with the officers of the company
with which we were working, Canham learned that they had no ammunition for
their car-bines. As artillerymen we were
armed with carbines and had enough ammunition to share with them which we did.
In addition, the riflemen did not have sufficient ammunition for their rifles
and there was a shortage of hand grenades and rocket launcher projectiles. This
was remedied somewhat just as we were entering Noville. The S4 of the 1st
Battalion came riding up with a jeep trailer full of ammunition which he passed
out to the riflemen as they entered the village late in the morning. The S4 of
TEAM Desorby also managed to obtain ammunition which he distributed.
We stayed in Noville for a few hours but that
afternoon we left and spent the night with another battalion of the 506th near
Foy. To this day I do not understand why we were ordered to leave the 1st
Battalion. Shortly after we left, it attacked out of Noville along with TEAM
Desobry in an attempt to gain the high ground to the east. This attack was
supported by the fires of the 420th Armored Field Artillery Battalion which was
in direct support of the team. Regardless, the fires of the 321st would
certainly have enhanced the possibility of success for the attack which did not
achieve its objective.
Early on the morning of the 20th we were
ordered to return to Noville and rejoin the 1st Battalion. The Germans were
trying to take Noville by attacking from the east and northeast. When the initial effort failed, the enemy
continued to attack Noville while attempting to by-pass the village to the
north and south. The Germans moving around Noville to the north were meeting
with more success than were their fellows moving south of the village. To the
north, there were no American troops. To the south were the 501st and the
506th. The enemy was trying to slip between their forward lines and Noville in
an attempt to surround Noville and the going was slow. Within our FO party we
knew nothing of this. We knew only that
we had to get fire on the enemy north of Noville. In order to accomplish this,
Canham selected a stone barn on the northeastern outskirts of the village as
our observation post. He and Plummer went to the second floor from which they
could observe through an open window. I set the radio up at the other end of
the barn just outside a door on the first floor and ran a wire to Canham and
Plummer so that we could send fire missions to the Fire Direction Center (FDC)
of the 321st in Savy.
At this time Noville was taking a beating. The Germans were pounding the village (and
us) with everything they had. The piercing whistle of incoming projectiles
followed by the sounds of their explosions assaulted our ears. Their blasts
buffeted our bodies. The sharp, bitter
smell of the exploded powder invaded our nostrils. Buildings were severely
damaged. Wounded were walking or being carried to the battalion aid station. If
the enemy could take the village quickly he would have freedom to continue his
advance to the west, where he was ordered to seize crossings over the Meuse
River, or a straight road into Bastogne provided that he could break through
the other battalions of the 506th. Still, the riflemen of the 1st Battalion and
the men of TEAM Desobry, aided by the fires of the 321st, held. For now, there was to be no road through
Noville for the 2nd Panzer Division. The defense of Noville gave the other
battalions of the 506th time to occupy and improve their positions astride the
Bastogne - Noville Road just south of Foy.
Despite the vigorous German attack, from the
narrow perspective of our FO party, the battle seemed to be going well when
Plummer called me on the telephone and said that a tank shell had just hit
alongside of the window from which Canham was observing and that Canham had
been hit. I grabbed the platoon aid man
and went upstairs. He said that Canham
was dead. I reported this to our FDC which urged Plummer and me to remain in
Noville. We, of course, had no intention of doing other than that and were a
bit put off by the urging from FDC.
Plummer took over from Canham and we continued to direct the fires of
the 321st.
By 1:00 P.M. the 1st Battalion had lost contact
with the head-quarters of the 506th and our FO party's radio was the only means
of communication between the two. The
liaison officer from the 321st at the headquarters of the 506th had a radio in
the FDC net and he
relayed messages from the 506th headquarters to
our FO party. We then gave them to the commander of the 1st Battalion. It
became obvious to the division commander, Brigadier General Anthony McAullife,
that the 1st Battalion and TEAM Desobry, while they were holding, would soon be
surrounded, and so he ordered Colonel Robert Sink, the commander of the 506th
to withdraw them. At 1:15 P.M. the order
for the withdrawal came down to us on the artillery radio and we relayed it to
the commander of the 1st Battalion.
The
German attack around the southern side of Noville was rapidly becoming more
successful. Because of this, the Noville force was in danger of being cut off
from the rest of the 506th and so there was little time to plan the withdrawal.
Shortly after it began, we came under observation and direct artillery fire by
the Germans on the high ground to the east.
By this time we were traveling with the battalion commander. We told him
that we could get artillery fire from the 321st on the enemy position. He told
us to do it. (Note: I know that other measures were being taken
at this time but I did not know of them and can not describe them here.) We sent the fire mission down and while the
fire was on the way, the battalion commander ordered the battalion to leave the
road and continue the withdrawal on the western side of the road which was low
ground - so low that it was not visible to the enemy. The combination of fire from the 321st and
the low ground enabled the 1st Battalion and TEAM Desobry to continue their
withdrawal in order to fight another day.
There was considerable confusion once we moved
off the road and control was lost. This
was certainly undesirable but was not as bad as it might be inasmuch as we were
no longer in contact with the enemy. Low
ground is often wet and this, our route, was.
By this time I was riding on a half-track of TEAM Desobry. The tracks on
the rear of the vehicle drove the wheels in the front into the wet ground and
we came to a halt. After we freed the vehicle, I decided that it would be
better to proceed on foot and ended up south of Foy back on the road.
There was no clearly defined German front line
and as I looked at the high ground to the east of the road, three German
soldiers emerged from the woods 100 yards away. When they saw me they
immediately surrendered. I searched them and took from them their military
papers. I later gave these to Captain Joe Perkins, the S2 of the 321st. It took
some time, but I finally found someone in the 506th who would take the
prisoners from me.
The troops of the 506th were busy people just then and few of them wanted
to have prisoners on their hands.
As soon as I got rid of the prisoners I looked
for our liaison officer from the 321st. I located Captain Ben Skinner, who had
been our battery commander in England and Normandy. I told him what had
happened and he told me to come with him while he spoke with the commander of
the battalion of the 506th with which he was working. When he met the battalion
commander Skinner asked him if it would be alright if Lieutenant Eugene Brooks
of Battery A worked as an FO with the battalion. (Brooks, who had joined the
battalion with Canham, would be wounded badly on the next day.) The battalion commander replied,
"Sure. Brooks, Canham or any FO
from the 321st is OK." Skinner told
the battalion commander that Canham had been killed in Noville. He replied, "I knew he'd get it. He took too many chances."
I doubt that Canham would have agreed with that
battalion commander's assessment. Canham
did not take "too many chances." He was a skillful, well-trained
officer who pushed the fight to the enemy at every opportunity. He never let
up. His skill, his attitude toward his duty, and his ability to get along with
others probably brought him to the attention of the commanders in the 506th and
they saw this man, who performed his duty to the utmost, as one who, "took
too many chances."
Plummer and I had not seen the last of
Noville. The 321st continued in direct
support of the 506th and we - each with different FO parties - were with the
2nd Battalion of that regiment when Noville was retaken several weeks later.
Our artillery fire and the bombs of close air support aircraft had finished the
job that the Germans had begun and not a building was left standing. Noville
held bitter memories for me, and so on the following day I was happy to leave
as the 506th continued its advance supported by the 321st and took Rachamps
north of Noville.
In 1973 I returned to Noville with my son who
was then serving in the United States Army in Germany. All of the buildings had been rebuilt using,
for the most part, the rubble that remained as a result of the battles which
had been fought there. In a few cases new bricks had been used and that was the
case alongside the window where Canham had been hit. Those new bricks are like
an ugly scar on that old stone barn.
That scar, which marks the place where Canham died, may be ugly but it
is a memorial to him and to all the courageous soldiers who died defending
Noville.
Noville has returned to its place in the sun
but that sun will never shine on Francis Canham or on the brave soldiers of the
1st Battalion and TEAM Desobry who had been killed in Noville. They were
valiant men who gave their lives for a just cause. They are lost to us and we
are the poorer for it.
