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by Michael E. Bigelow, INSCOM Command Historian
RELIEVING BASTOGNE
On the late afternoon of 26 December 1944, 1st Lt. Charles Boggess of the 4th Armored Division shook hands with 1st Lt. Duane Webster of the 101st Airborne Division. This event symbolized the relief of the Belgium town of Bastogne, and a turning point in the Battle of the Bulge. Behind Lieutenant Boggess followed the rest of the 37th Tank Battalion, including Capt. John T. McMahon, the battalion’s S-2.
Until 12 December, Captain McMahon had commanded Company D of Lt. Col. Creighton Abrams’ 37th Tank Battalion. In the fighting across France, he proved to be a superb tanker and often led the battalion’s advance. As S-2, not only was he the intelligence officer, but one of Colonel Abrams’ trusted battle captains. Instead of monitoring the action from a command post in the rear, he helped his commander direct the battle where he could best influence the course of events—the front. After briefing the gathered battalion leadership on the enemy situation, McMahon would mount a Sherman tank and head off with one of the columns. From the tank turret, he would track and sometimes direct the fighting.
On 17 December, Captain McMahon learned of the German counterattack in the Ardennes as he and the battalion prepared for an advance northeast toward Germany. As the battalion continued its attack, the S-2 honed his oversight skills. On 19 December, however, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton ordered the battalion and its division, Maj. Gen. Hugh Gaffey’s 4th Armored Division, to stop its advance and move west and north into Belgium. The next morning, Abrams’ battalion undertook a fifteen-hour road march of over 175 miles, arriving in Meix-le-Tige, Belgium just before midnight. The battalion was assigned to Col. Wendell Blanchard’s Combat Command Reserve (CCR), a balanced combined arms force with tanks, infantry, and artillery. A brief respite gave McMahon a chance to learn more of the situation to the north and rest for the upcoming fight.
As the 37th Tank Battalion moved into Belgium, the German armored forces continued their attack into the Ardennes. On 20 December, they surrounded the 101st Airborne Division and its supporting elements in Bastogne. Two days later, the 4th Armored Division attacked north as part of a three-division attack against the southern flank of the German advance. Two combined arms forces attacked from Arlon, about twenty-four miles south of Bastogne, to relieve the besieged forces. CCA attacked up the highway while CCB attacked along a river line about two miles to the west. CCR prepared to move north to support the division’s attack.
On the afternoon of 21 December, McMahon brief the situation to the battalion’s “immediate front. Who and what the enemy are and what they are trying to do.” As the rest of the division advanced town by town closer to Bastogne, McMahon had his reconnaissance platoon scout in the area. Meanwhile, the division’s eastern flank became exposed, and Lt. Col. Harry E. Brown, the 4th Armored Division’s G-2, detected a German build-up about half-way between Arlon and Bastogne. To counter that threat, General Gaffey ordered Colonel Blanchard to attack and destroy the Germans near Bigonville on the morning of 23 December. During the attack, McMahon sought information on what kind of resistance the battalion was meeting, but more he cajoled and supported Company A and its supporting infantry through the town. After securing the town, Gaffey ordered CCR to move thirty miles to the west, take position on the division’s left flank, and push on to Bastogne from the southwest.
On 25 December, the 37th Tank Battalion began its attack from Bercheux, about nine and a half miles from Bastogne. With CCA and CCB absorbing much of the enemy resistance, Captain McMahon could report that initially the battalion would meet few Germans. As the battalion’s tanks and half-tracks neared the objective, however, the enemy would stiffen. With the briefing given, the S-2 mounted his tank and took command of the battalion’s lead elements. Under his direction, a team of light tanks, tank destroyers, and armored infantry pushed through the first town and then seized the next town. This secured the column’s western flank and provided a springboard for further movement to the northeast.
As his battalion pushed north, the S-2 cross-talked with Capt. William Dwight, the battalion S-3, and continued to press for sightings of the enemy with the ubiquitous “are you meeting resistance?” Moreover, as the tanks and infantry pushed north, the artillery and fighter-bombers supported the advance. “The coordination of the tanks, infantry, artillery and air,” the battalion after action report noted, “was to perfection.” This effectiveness of combined arms allowed Lieutenant Boggess and his company team to roar ahead the final four miles and link up with the Bastogne defenders.
| Date Taken: | 01.02.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 01.02.2024 09:35 |
| Story ID: | 461182 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 176 |
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