Section Leaders:
   Fionn Kelly & Madmatt  

Personal Courage During the Bulge

Cpl. Steven Townsend, aged 23, sat in his foxhole near a junction of a dirt road. It was December 23, 1944, and the Battle of the Bugle had been raging for a full week. Townsend was part of the 28th Infantry Division (109th Inf.), and had taken part in the Huertgen forest battles, where he knocked out several halftracks before his loader was killed and he was forced to retreat.

Now, here he was in combat again. He had been attached to a platoon of infantry along with another bazooka team, a 30 cal. MMG a 57mm antitank gun, an M20 Armored Car, and an M3A1 Halftrack. The platoon also requested (and received) a spotter for 81mm Mortars. The vehicles hid behind some buildings, and the 57mm was positioned behind a house, but with LOS to cover part of the road. The platoon deployed in the houses to Townsend's left, with the spotter taking a position in a two story building. Finally, the MMG took cover in a stone building with a flanking position to the road.

Townsend waited and waited. Nothing seemed to be happening, although the Lt passed a message to him from the FO that a tank seemed to have been spotted. The FO was calling down mortar fire on some infantry in open ground, and scattered them. 

Continued mortar fire continued in woods that the Germans were assembling in, and many ran. Then, the tank rumbled down the road. It was identified as a StuG III, manned by a conscript crew, and it was already buttoned due to the mortar fire. The FO fired his last few rounds, and some Germans approached a house. Then, the LT told his men to open fire.

All hell broke loose, as the StuG just rumbled up next to the 30 cal.'s position and the MG opened up. Germans dropped all over, and a fierce firefight broke out between the conscripted Germans and the hardened Americans. Finally, the assault gun fired into the building housing the MG team. A German halftrack had been knocked out by an 81mm mortar airburst, but its second one sped down the road, to support the bloodied Volksgrenadiers.

Townsend knew it was time to take action. As the two American vehicles revealed themselves, supporting the infantry, and the 57mm opened up against some squads in the woods (which were turning into a slaughterhouse for the Germans). Motioning his new loader up, he kneeled, and fired at the SPW 251/1 halftrack, and knocked it out right on the road. Then, he ran across the ground, under fire, to the embattled MMG's house. The StuG saw the Corporal, but it was too late. Townsend's loader shoved the round into the tube, slapped Townsend's helmet, and then ran for cover. With the tank in his sight, Townsend mumbled a prayer to himself, and fired, ducking down from the heat of the back blast.

He heard a clank-like noise and knew what it signaled. Kneeling back up again, he and his loader stared out the abandoned assault gun, and sighed relief, knowing full well the house was near collapse. Then, with the same speed they had come, they ran back to their foxhole, leaving the now 3 man 30 cal. team to itself.
It was only then that Townsend realized that both vehicles had been knocked out in less than one minute. As the last Germans fled, surrendered, or were brought down by fire from the halftrack, M20, and MG, he slapped his loader on the back and congratulated him.

All of this had been noticed by the platoon leader. Realizing that the bazooka team saved him many lives, he soon wrote up a citation for a Silver Star for both the bazooka man and loader. 

Meanwhile, Cpl. Steven Townsend, walked calmly out to the abandoned StuG and asked a Private to take a photo of him by it. "This'll be impressive-maybe I'll send it to home."

The battle lasted 20 minutes and cost the Germans 68 casualties (24 KIA), 1 captured, and 3 vehicles knocked out. The Americans had 3 casualties (1 KIA). Definitely a factor was troop experience, but the German Assault Gun and halftrack could have caused much more harm than was done.

Thanks,
Sean (Gen. 'Boski)