In the Rear

Near Aubel, Belgium
(Source)

Position of the 1st Infantry Division (highlighted in yellow) on 03 Dec 44
(Source)

Position of the 1st Infantry Division (highlighted in yellow) on 09 Dec 44*
(Source)

It was the 7th of December 1944, three years since the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. 1st Lt. Nathan Paddock was sitting on a cot in a drafty wall tent outside the town of Aubel in Belgium, staring at a calendar sitting on his camp desk.

He'd been a Plebe at the Point when it had happened, he had had thoughts of leaving and enlisting, but his roommate had talked him out of it.

"Damn it, Nate, don't be a fool. We're not in it yet. Don't rush into something you might regret."

Paddock had listened to his roommate, at Thanksgiving his own father had seconded that opinion. At Christmas, back at home for a brief leave, he had taken a long walk with his grandfather, who had served in what the old man still called The Great War. His grandfather had convinced him to stay at the Point.

So he did.

He had been part of the Class of 1945, when the Class of '43 had graduated in January of that year and not in the spring, then when the Class of '44 had graduated in the spring of '43, Paddock realized he wouldn't be waiting all that long to get into the fight. The Class of '45, Paddock's class, had graduated on the 6th of June, 1944. A number of his men had landed on a beach in France while he was being commissioned on the Plain at West Point.

He felt old now, he remembered when he had arrived, practically the first man he'd met was one of his old squad leaders, Sgt. Bill Brandt. Brandt was back in the States now, he'd been wounded bad enough that he had been medically discharged. Sgt. Jack Wilson, who had come ashore at Omaha Beach with Brandt, still received the occasional letter from him.

The day he'd taken over the platoon now felt like a thousand years ago.

He looked at the two letters on his camp desk. He'd received them that morning. One was from his mother, the other was from the mother of his roommate at the Point. The news in his Mom's letter was bad enough, but the news of 1st Lt. Harold Williamson's death in Italy was earth-shattering. Harry had been killed in action near the city of Leghorn.

He and Harry had had some good times together.

His Mom had written with bad news as well, his grandfather, the WWI veteran, had had a stroke back in October. He died in early November, while Paddock had been with his men in the Hürtgenwald.

"There's too much death in my life," Paddock muttered.

"Ain't that the truth L.T.!"

Paddock looked up to see his platoon sergeant, S/Sgt Stephen Hernandez. "Aren't you supposed to be on light duty, Top?"

"Hell Sir, sitting on my ass all day typing reports is light duty."

"How's the back?"

"Since Doctor Simmons pulled that shrapnel out of me, pretty good. A bit sore but my left leg doesn't get those shooting pains now. Doc says I'll be okay in a week or so. Thanks for asking, L.T.!"

"Is that the latest platoon roster you have there?"

"Sure is L.T., here ya go. It's in the format Cap'n Palminteri wanted." Hernandez handed the list over to Paddock. "Twenty-five replacements, eight men restricted to light duties for two weeks, I've listed them again at the bottom. We lucked out, four of the new guys are returning to duty from the hospital, so they've been around the block once already. So they're not all green."

"Thanks, Top."

07 DEC 1944

Platoon Roster

2nd Platoon, "C" Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry

Platoon Headquarters

1st Lt. Nathan Paddock CO

Sgt. Stephen Hernandez Platoon Sergeant

Pfc. John Myerson Radioman

Pfc. Charlie Gammell Sniper

Pfc. Jackson Hebert Spotter

Sgt. Woodrow Sherman Platoon Guide

Pfc. Theodore Erickson Platoon Messenger

Pvt. Robert Jennings Platoon Messenger

Pvt. Luke Houston Basic Duty Private

Pvt. Will Jones Basic Duty Private

Pvt. Fred Strickland Basic Duty Private

Pvt. Peter Romanov Basic Duty Private

Pvt. Irving Dixon Basic Duty Private

1st Squad

Sgt. Jack Wilson Squad Leader

Cpl. Melvin Katz Assistant Squad Leader

Pvt. Chris McWhorter BAR man

Pvt. Luther Thomas Assistant BAR man

Pvt. Cecil Brown Ammo Bearer

Pvt. Caleb Christensen Rifle Grenadier

Pvt. Brad Gonzales Rifleman (Scout)

Pfc. Alexander Boone Rifleman (Scout)

Pvt. Anthony Lewis Rifleman

Pvt. Justin Long Rifleman

Pfc. Bogdan Nowak Rifleman

Pvt. Bill Zielinski Rifleman

2nd Squad

Sgt. Greg Jenkins Squad Leader

Cpl. Hilario Santos Assistant Squad Leader

Pvt. Henry McTeague BAR Man

Pvt. Rick McCarthy Assistant BAR Man

Pfc. Harry Mitchell Ammo Bearer

Pvt. Derek Carson Rifle Grenadier

Pvt. John Kilpatrick Rifleman (Scout)

Pvt. Dave Hudson Rifleman (Scout)

Pvt. Frank Genovese Rifleman

Pvt. Peter Moreno Rifleman

Pvt. Donald Adkins Rifleman

Pvt. Curtis Lambert Rifleman

3rd Squad

Sgt. Flavio Gentile Squad Leader

Cpl. Diego Pena Assistant Squad Leader

Pfc. Franklin Barnett BAR Man

Pvt. Ken Buchanan Assistant BAR Man

Pvt. Javier Munoz Ammo Bearer

Pfc. Homer Ginter Rifle Grenadier

Pvt. Riley Taggert Rifleman (Scout)

Pvt. Jeb McCall Rifleman (Scout)

Pvt. Joe Gray Rifleman

Pvt. Ross Flowers Rifleman

Pvt. Thomas Spencer Rifleman

Pvt. Edgar Freeman Rifleman

Attachments

.30 Cal MG Team

Corporal Judd Maxwell Squad Leader

Pfc. Jim Weber Gunner

Pvt. Eugene King Assistant Gunner

Pvt. Brad Chapman Ammo Bearer

Pvt. Steve Pacheco Ammo Bearer

T/4 Harry "Doc" Milbury Medic

Wounded, Assigned Light Duties for Two Weeks

Sgt. Stephen Hernandez

Pfc. John Myerson

Pfc. Jackson Hebert

Pfc. Homer Ginter

Pvt. Brad Gonzales

Pvt. Anthony Lewis

Pvt. John Kilpatrick

Pvt. Joe Gray

Replacements Source

Sgt. Woodrow Sherman Return from Hospital

Cpl. Hilario Santos Return from Hospital

Cpl. Diego Pena Return from Hospital

Pfc. Theodore Erickson Return from Hospital

Pfc. Bogdan Nowak RTC Wheeler

Pfc. Alexander Boone RTC Wheeler

Pfc. Franklin Barnett RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Luke Houston RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Fred Strickland RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Irving Dixon RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Luther Thomas RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Cecil Brown RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Caleb Christensen RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Bill Zielinski RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Derek Carson RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Donald Adkins RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Curtis Lambert RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Rick McCarthy RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Peter Moreno RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Javier Munoz RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Edgar Freeman RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Ross Flowers RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Thomas Spencer RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Eugene King RTC Wheeler

Pvt. Brad Chapman RTC Wheeler

RTC Wheeler: Replacement Training Center, Camp Wheeler, Georgia

"Scouts? We have scouts now?" Paddock asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Officially we do, Sir. According to 1st Sgt. Saeger anyway. Some Army regulation says that two men in each squad are scouts, so I chose those guys accordingly."

"All right, how's Jenkins doing?"

"He'll be okay L.T., I took him out and got him blind drunk last night. He needed it."

"Where? Where on earth did you find a place to get him drunk?"

"A little bar in Aubel, I didn't think you'd mind, so I took your jeep. I didn't get drunk myself, nursed the same damned beer all night."

Paddock sat up straight and looked hard at his platoon sergeant, "I have a jeep?"

"You do now Sir."

"Okay, sounds good. What's the plan for the next few weeks anyway?"

"Well, with all the new guys, Cap'n Palminteri wants to run a series of field exercises. Major Josephson likes the idea. All the companies will rotate through playing the bad guys, Able Company will pretend to be the Krauts first as they have more guys with experience than we do."

"Yeah, they didn't have to go up that f**king hill back in the Hürtgen, did they?" Paddock was still bitter about that.

"Well, I suppose someone has to be in reserve. By the way, Able has a new CO, Tex, er I mean Major Josephson, fired Cap'n Christiansen."

"No shit? Why?"

Hernandez paused for a moment, looking at his lieutenant, then spoke. "Do I have to spell it out for ya L.T.? The man was a coward, a rear echelon sad sack, you know it, I know it, the whole battalion knows it, his XO did all the leading over there."

Paddock knew Able's XO, Jack Morrisey, he'd been a year ahead of Paddock at the Point, "How does Lieutenant Morrisey feel about all this?"

"Ya mean Captain Morrisey, the new commander of Able Company?" Hernandez asked with a smile.

"Yeah, him. I'm guessing he's okay with the new job?"

"He sure is Sir, do you know him?"

"Yeah, we were at the Point together, he's a good man."

"Okay, good to know. I've got to go see Doc Milbury. He wants me to check in with him every few hours, if I'm not sleeping."

"Really Top? You get to sleep?"

"Theoretically Sir, theoretically."

Stadtkyll, Germany, northern boundary of the Schnee Eifel
© Superbass / CC-BY-SA-3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
(Source)

Major von Lüttwitz and his Spieß, Hauptfeldwebel Klaus-Peter Keller, were in a barn overlooking the town of Stadtkyll. They were going over the Kampfgruppe's roster and looking at some of the other mounds of paper most armies seemed to run on. They heard a car pull up outside, moments later a young Waffen SS officer walked in, followed by an enlisted man carrying a briefcase.

The briefcase looked out of place as both men were dressed in the typical SS camouflage smocks with matching helmet covers and both looked as though they had been sleeping rough for quite some time. They looked, in a word, dangerous, Keller thought to himself.

The second surprise came when the young SS captain saluted von Lüttwitz with a regular army salute, not that ridiculous "Hitlergruß¹."

"Herr Major! Beg to report, I have dispatches and orders for you and your Kampfgruppe. I am Hauptsturmführer Manstein."

Von Lüttwitz returned the salute then asked, "Could you synopsize those orders for me Manstein? Give me idea of exactly what's going on?"

"Jawohl Herr Major! Certainly. The orders I carry are that you and your unit are to fall under the command of the First SS Panzer Corps under SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Priess. You will be drawing all supplies and rations from now on through Waffen SS logistics channels. In the next few days you will be receiving a consignment of trucks to motorize your unit. Also expect new marching orders within the same time frame. We shall soon be on the offensive once more!"

"I see. Well then, any idea as to where we will be attacking?" von Lüttwitz had to ask.

"Nein, Herr Major. But you will receive a messenger from Corps Headquarters no later than tomorrow morning with further instructions."

With that the young officer placed the briefcase on the table in front of von Lüttwitz and saluted in the old style once more, "By your leave Herr Major, I have more stops to make."

"Certainly Hauptsturmführer, carry on."

After the SS men had left, von Lüttwitz turned to Keller, "Company and platoon commanders to report here," he checked his watch, "within the hour. Now Klaus-Peter, I wonder what mad scheme the high command has up it's sleeve now?"

Before Keller could answer, young Grenadier Günther Löwe, von Lüttwitz's orderly, came through the door like an excited puppy, "Sir, sir, it's snowing!"

Von Lüttwitz sighed, looked at Keller and shrugged, "The enthusiasm of youth my dear Keller."

"If you say so Sir, I'll be about my business now. Within the hour it is."

"Carry on Spieß, I guess I'll have a look at the snow."

Donning his cap and his new reversible winter parka, von Lüttwitz stepped to the entrance to the barn. It was indeed snowing, the valley of the Kyll River looked lovely in the falling snow.

"Hhmm, three weeks until Christmas, it certainly feels like it now. It looks so peaceful, perhaps the war is nearly over..."

Little did he know.

* Some elements of the division were already in the vicinity of Aubel on the 7th of December.

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