into Trois-Ponts. (See Appendix A.)
The bridge over the railroad at the junction of N33
with the Aisomont road was blown on 18 December, but
foot troops could still cross the structure. Lieutenant
Nabors' platoon blew it up again the following day. A
footbridge across the Salm River at (674982) was also
blown on the first day of action.38 At 1300, the bridge
over the Salm River on Highway N23 was demolished.
Shortly thereafter, Major Yates arrived in Trois-Ponts,
unaware of the situation and merely bound for the daily
liaison meeting at the 1111th Engineer Combat Group.
Colonel Anderson charged him with the defense of the city,
and under FUSA [First U.S. Army] orders, the group left
Trois-Ponts for Modave.
Major Yates deployed his men in houses along the
river, providing flank and rear guards and good fields of
fire for machine guns and bazookas. One enemy tank, which
turned left on N33 instead of taking the Stoumont road
when it reached the junction of N23 and N33, was sur-
The crew had
prised with .50-caliber machine gun fire.
dismounted, and five of them were hit by a gun manned by
A sixth member of the crew
Sergeant Evers Gossard.
remounted the tank and started to turn its gun toward the
.50-caliber machine gun, whereupon Sergeant Gossard and
his crew discreetly retired.
The enemy tank hovered
around for the remainder of the day, firing sporadically.
It withdrew on the night of the 18th.
"We kept sniping at them across the river for the
next few days," said Major Yates, "but every shot of ours
seemed to draw about a thousand in return. So we decided
to deceive them as to how great a force we had available."
The company had about six 2 1/2-ton trucks available,
and they were kept running in and out of town. After
dark, they were run out of Trois-Ponts on Highway N23
toward Werbomont without lights and then run back on the
same road with their lights on, simulating the arrival of
22
Previous Page
