G Company, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division

After close to 200 days of continuous contact with the enemy, the 4th Division was relieved by the 83rd Division. We moved to the little village of Schuttrange in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, 15 kilometers from Luxembourg City, for several weeks of rest and relaxation. We arrived there about December 12th or 13th.

Some of us were very comfortable in the barn with the livestock. Others found the local tavern a nice place to relax and buy good Schnapps till the bartender, who was running out of Schnapps, said they had to buy two glasses of beer to be entitled to buy one glass of Schnapps. The boys gladly obliged and bought the beer and the Schnapps, let the beer sit, drank the Schnapps, and then bought the round again.

It was in this village the Company made the acquaintance of one Jean Nesser, a young lad of about 17, his parents and grandfather. This young man survived, as did some of us, and has made several visits to the United States and to 4th Division Reunions. He has been a real fan of the 4th Division, and especially to those in G Company. He now works for the Luxembourg air line (Luxair).

We were in Schuttrange 2 or 3 days when the Germans broke through into Belgium and Luxembourg in the famed "Battle of the Bulge." We were, to the best of my knowledge, on the southern flank. For the most part, we were setting up defensive positions between the enemy and the city of Luxembourg. We were sent out on a task force at once, and pushed through more forest where we set up a defense above a steep draw. We woke up the next morning to find a blanket of snow covered everything. According to my notes, we were there for about 7 days, holding and patrolling.

We were relieved by the 5th Division on Christmas Eve and, after a hike back through a stream, we were loaded into a truck for Betzdorf. My feet were just about solid from the stream wading and the extreme cold. On arrival at our destination, I took off my boots and socks, and lit some heat tabs to thaw them. I put on a dry pair of socks that I had under my shirt against my stomach and I was ready to go.

We spent about 5 days in this area, and Christmas was celebrated here with opening of gifts from home. Ate more fruit cake than I ever did before. Henry Yebd got a pair of bedroom slippers and we all helped him rejoice.

In the Mompach area, defensive positions were set in three vacant villages along a small river. I strung telephone wire to all these, while others dug defensive positions in the deep snow. Some found a vacant house with a still and proceeded to manufacture brew (for warmth and medicinal purposes).

Jim Martin (left) and Arnold Erbstoesser (right) standing next to a German 88
April 26, 1945 Germany

There were rivers, and mud, and snow, and rain, and trench foot, and frostbite, Tiger Tanks, and Panzerfausts, burp guns, 88s, "screaming meemies," the SS, and more. On one occasion, some of the men tried to resurrect a local peasant's still and cook some frozen apples. This was instead of digging defensive positions. We seemed to have the war won, but it was still far from over. There seemed to be another hill to climb, and another icy river to cross.

There were river crossings in January in the snow and the cold and the difficulty in getting boats to the river in one piece. I remember one time when several were brought up and skidded down the snow covered banks only to smash into trees and break apart. There was a terrific shelling at this time and many casualties. There were desertions, and refusals to go back to the troops, resulting in court martials. We loaded into the boats once they were in the water in one piece. Standing upright with over 100 pounds of gear on me and that swift current, I thought if this boat swamps, I'm a goner for sure.

Another crossing was over a bridge from Eppeldorf to near Moestroff. Right after we crossed the bridge, we saw a scout plane of ours hit by an artillery shell. It crashed, killing the pilot and forward observer.

We stayed in the woods one night, jumped off in the early dark hours scheduled to take a town of very few people, while E or F was to take the one to our right about 3 kilometers up the road. We were marching down the street single file, when Henry Yebd came upon a German soldier carrying some water. Henry was clothed so heavily to ward off the cold he couldn't bring his M1 up his shoulder, so he fired from the hip. We all heard eight shots in rapid succession, and then Henry exclaiming later in his usual way, "sonna-ga-b_____! " He missed. We later captured about eight or nine in a basement, one on a bicycle generator, sending back signals.

Machine gun nests were set up at the outskirts of the town that faced a branch in the road. The main road came from over the hill where the main enemy was camped. While E Company had a two- or three-day battle to capture their town, we took ours with relative case. Later in the day, a team with several Germans approached over the small bridge and were halted. They carried jugs of hot soup to their troops in these two villages. After several of these encounters, we had several soldiers captured, several teams of horses killed, and we had several good meals of very hot, very thick soup. It may have been horse meat, but no one complained.

Submitted by his son David
Many thanks David.

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