Harry Reed's Battle of the Bulge Experience
| "We were running out of supplies and fuel, and had to hold up at Stolberg, Germany. We had half of the town and Germans had the other half," Reed remembers. |
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| The division got some new vehicles, and maintenance was done on the rest. They could hear and see buzz bombs going over night and day, headed for London. |
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| "Then, December 16, 1944, the front suddently erupted in an action that shocked the allied world. General von Rundstedt, the great counter offensive (planner), swept into the Ardennes under cover of fog and rain," Reed said. |
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| Hitler said, "take no prisoners; kill or be killed," reported Reed "They had soldiers dressed in American uniforms. Infantry and tanks were everywhere. This was the worst winter Belgium had had. Zero temperatures, snow, ice, fog you name it and they had it," Reed said. |
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| The American soldiers suffered trench foot, frozen toes and battle fatigue on the Ardennes battlefront. "We didn't have any airplanes to help us. There was no place for most of us to stay inside. We slept under vehicles, as the ground was frozen and (there was) no way to dig a fox hole. The artillery would hit in the trees, and the shrapnel would rain down on us.." |
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| Christmas Eve 1944 will always be remembered by Reed. His unit was around Dochamps, Belgium about a mile from their roadblock on the main road. About 3 a.m. they heard small arms fire. "So we took two jeeps, one armoured car and one tank to check it out. I was in the lead jeep with the driver and Lieutenant John Reilly. The road was a small blacktop, two-lane," Reed said. |
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| "About half way up the road, we ran into the Germans. They were on both sides of the road, in the ditches. It was a real heavy fog. I was in the back seat, manning a .50 caliber machine gun. I fired it until the machine gun was burned up, along with two other automatic weapons. The Lieutenant Reilly was hit in the head and killed outright. The jeep was shot up with four flat tires, radiator and gas tank. We just made it through the Germans when the jeep quit running. All the rest of the vehicles were destroyed." |
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| Reed and the jeep's driver were the only survivors of 14 men. They spent Christmas looking for their company. When the sun came out, Allied planes started shooting German tanks and anything else that moved, according to Reed. That action ended the Battle of the Bulge. |
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| Source: 3rd Armored Division Newsletter June 1995 |
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Sgt Harry C. REED
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83rd Reconnaissance
Battalion
3rd Armored Division
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Campaigns
Battle of the Bulge
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Saturday, 27 February 2010 10:18 | 
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