vehicle in an ordnance detachment on the outskirts of
Hotton.
These officers prevailed on the sergeant (tank
commander) to get his tank into action to support the
detachment defending the Hotton bridge.
The tank was
employed near the end of the bridge on the west side of
the river, close to a protecting house that shielded its
hull but allowed it a good field of fire.73
Early on the morning of the 21st, Captain Hodges
borrowed a 37-mm. antitank gun from the 23d Armored
Engineers of the 3d Armored Division across the river.
( S e e Map 5.)
The crew, according to all observers, was
Private Lee J.
very hesitant about manning the gun.
Ishmael, driver for Colonel Fraser, volunteered to fire
the gun and he manned it throughout the battle.74
About 0700 on the morning of 21 December, the enemy
Shortly thereafter, a fire-
commenced shelling Hotton.
fight developed between elements of the 3d Armored
Division and enemy armor and infantry coming out of the
Captain John W.
woods on the east side of the river.
Barnes, S-3 of the 51st Engineer Combat Battalion, who had
just returned from inspecting roadblocks on Highway N4,
received the information from Lieutenant Wright that
Hampteau had fallen and the group there had been forced
back to H o t t o n which was being threatened.
Captain
Barnes asked for volunteers from Headquarters and Service
Company to go to Hotton and check the enemy vehicles
attempting to break through there. The others in Captain
Barnes' group were Warrant Officer Julius J. Horecka,
Master Sergeant Edward Colley, Technical Sergeant Kenneth
Kelly, Sergeant Arnold Parker, Private Lee J. Ishmael,
and Private Willis Rackus.
Private Peter Serianni,
Horecka took these men ahead in a 2 1/2-ton truck. When
they arrived in Hotton there was a small-scale battle in
progress between the 3d Armored and enemy armor.75
The 3d Armored tanks started engaging enemy infantry,
which came out of the woods east of Hotton and up the road
40
Previous Page
