| |
Bill Boyle's 1st Battalion detrucked in the woods above Soy
about the time Charlie Bryson was shooting up the Verdin house.
They had been sitting in the trucks for 21 hours, lamenting their
lack of winter clothing while pondering what lay ahead. Seven
truckloads of paratroopers, representing a quarter of Boyle's
battalion, had gotten lost en route in the impenetrable fog and
freezing drizzle. There was no time to wait for them to arrive,
nor to go looking for them. Boyle had his men stack bedrolls,
collect ammo and prepare to move out immediately. Howze radioed
him for a status report at 1630.
"Can you jump off at 1700?"
"No," said Boyle.
"1730?"
"I could."
"It will be dark then," said Howze. "Can you make
it 1700?"
"Well, yes."
"Okay, I'll give you back five minutes then. Jump off at
1705."
Howze's rush to get them moving was due in part to the latest
message from Sam Hogan. Now in Marcouray, Hogan's vehicles were
running out of gas, which meant they would be stuck there unless
resupplied. This was a long shot given the nearest fuel dump
was in Barvaux, 15 miles away. More to the point, any resupply
would have to go through Hotton or Soy, beyond which the area
was teeming with enemy. Howze told Hogan they were working the
problem. Hogan, correctly, understood this to mean the chances
of reaching him were slim at best. He coolly radioed back that
he had plenty of ammo and food, adding that the artillery was
"going both ways." In other words, Howze knew that
Hogan would not only be of no help clearing up the Hotton situation,
but he had just become a situation himself. He needed Boyle's
paratroopers now more than ever.
The terrain below Soy was a vast, gently sloping field framed
by Soy Road on the left and the railroad line from Hotton to
the right, several hundred yards wide and stretching nearly a
mile to the Sur les Hys woods and the Quatre Bras
road junction. Johannes Bayer's forces were dug-in just back
from the tree line between Quatre Bras and the railroad
line. Five StuG III self-propelled guns anchored both sides of
Soy Road at Quatre Bras, three more were set back deeper
in the woods, and several hundred infantry were hunkered down
in 40-plus slit trenches facing out over the field. The StuG
III was one of the older weapons in the German arsenal. Originally
intended to be a tank killer but now employed for close-range
infantry support, it consisted of a tank hull with a non-traversable
75-mm cannon and two machine guns. It was a formidable weapons
system, but its inability to swing its gun and relatively thin
armor rendered it vulnerable to infantry weapons such as bazookas.
As always, the challenge confronting an attacking force was just
getting close enough to hit them. Here, Boyle's paratroopers
had to cross almost a mile of open field.
The 517th - about 450 men strong - lumbered past Howze's CP
a little before 1800. Just below the village, they dispersed
into the field under a thin veil of moonlight, keeping close
to Soy Road. Several of the American tanks knocked out earlier
in the day were still burning, the others appearing as dark angular
shadows on the barren ground. Boyle's paratroopers advanced about
350 yards toward the tree line when they came under intense fire.
Howze heard the clatter and boom from his CP as he was leaving
to confer again with Rose. A moment before, he had received a
message from Anderson advising him that Hotton was under attack
by tanks and infantry. "Need help," Anderson pleaded.
Copyrighted Material
|