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. Pretty damned good.Gave me an idea. I say, Corporal(technical fifth graders wear two stripes with a T and always like to becalled corporal, so when I want a favor ), does making poetry comeeasy to you? Yes sir, it s just a knack I have.It sure isn t a gift.I ve got verses andrhymes running around in my mind all the time.All I have to do thenis find a tune that will fit them. It seems to me that every man in CCA might like to have a poem likethat to send to his folks.Could you make up a Song of CCA telling wherewe go and what we do? I sure could OhI m a guy in CCA (strumming chords)And have a lot of fun.We screwed our way through EnglandIn France we chased the Hun. To the Seventh Armored 171 Something like that, sir? Well, I don t think that bit about England would go well with the folksat home.But you ve got the idea about the esprit and bragging all right. How about this one for starters? Ohwe re the men of CCA.You ve heard of us, no doubt.But once again we ll brag of howWe knocked the Germans out. Now you ve got it, corporal.Put that one in your notebook and add toit after every action.I ll have Major Larsen s crew give you the dope onnames and places, you put them into poetry, and you ll be published infive thousand copies. I ll sure work on it, colonel. And so the poet laureate of CCA was designated and The Saga of CCA was conceived. Thirteen.HunnangeAssignmentIn the cellar where Workshop Forward was set up I found GeneralHasbrouck, the corps commander General Ridgway, and CCB s BrigadierClarke.Ridgway was pacing like a caged lion, Hasbrouck was studyinga map, and Clarke was looking mulish.Hasbrouck held his place onthe map with a finger and looked up. Triplet, I want you to attack thisafternoon in coordination with CCB and take this part of Born east of theWaimes St.Vithrailroad. 1The devil got into me I was hit by several of the seven deadly sins atonce.Envy.I envied Clarke his fur coat, his star, and the extra one hundreddollars a month that his exalted rank gave him.Anger.Yesterday while battling for Diedenberg and Am Stein, I dhad to dispatch a tank-infantry section team two kilometers west onthe Diedenberg-Born road to protect CCB s left flank.And I could notunderstand why Hasbrouck had to have me protect Clarke s flank Iwas damned well able to protect my own.Braggadocio.My young men had taken three hundred supermen asprisoners in the last two days.Why in hell couldn t Clarke take the allegedtwo hundred in Born?Recklessness.By God if Clarke couldn t do it we could.A flashof temper can get a man in a lot of trouble. Yes sir, but it wouldbe dangerous withtwo forces attacking toward eachother, my people area trigger-happy lot.I d rather have CCB pull back and let us go throughtown shooting everything that moves without waiting to figure out friendor foe.Besides, my riflemen are mostly in German snowsuits now andthere d be a lot of sad mistakes.So if CCB will pull back and catch themwhen they run out I ll beef up Wemple s task force with another riflecompany and he ll take Born. Clarke objected. We already have cleared the outskirts on the westand south and we d just have to go in and take those houses over again.No, I m against pulling out.If CCA can just Pull your people back, Bruce, decided Hasbrouck. When can youattack, Triplet? Wemple s force on Am Stein was in an ideal position for the jump-off; the enemy had no tanks, so his fifteen M4s and five M5s would beenough.But I had to have time to reinforce him with a rifle company172 Hunnange 173from Seitz s paratroops and a reinforced rifle company from Rhea s force. It s near 1125 I think we can jump off at 1400, sir. 1400 make it so. General Ridgway had been an interested listener and now put in aword, studying the map. There ll be a gap in this area, he said, pointingto the western edge of Born where the railroad headed for St.Vith. Putsomething in there, colonel.I don t want a single one of those bastardsto get away. Right, sir.I ll have Seitz put a platoon in these houses to knock offany stragglers. Good. So with the approval of everybody except Clarke, I took off, thinkingthat I d probably bitten off a hell of a lot more than I could masticate.Called Colonel King and asked him to have Colonel Milner and all taskforce commanders at Rhea s CP soonest.All hands were present by thetime I reached Diedenberg. Gentlemen, we have the job of taking Born.Colonel Wemple, yourforce with two more rifle companies attached are to make the attack. Rhea, send Wemple your support rifle company reinforced. Seitz, you give Colonel Wemple a reinforced rifle company. The enemy is believed to be two hundred men, a small force, but theyare fighting.No tanks and so far no antitank guns.Probably they havePanzerfausts. There are two obstacles.The Amblève River that winds along herewith most of the eastern part of town on the south bank.Second therailroad embankment is impossible for tanks except directly northof thewestern part of town and possibly down here at the southern part northof this patch of woods. Now Colonel Wemple, I suggest a smoke screen just east of the easternpart of town, the breeze is from the north and will clear it for you rapidly.When the 489th starts the smoke, mount up and move in fast.Clear theeast part of town.Then try the southern crossing of the railroad for yourtanks.Time of attack 1400. I ll have Hochberg report to you with his bridges and mine-removalexperts just in case you need them. And if you need more tanks Rhea s tanks will be available. Do you have any questions? If I give up a rifle company and a tank company I ll have only onereinforced company and a light tank platoon to meet the counterattackthe general is expecting, Colonel Rhea pointed out. That isn t much todefend Diedenberg. 174 A Colonel in the Armored Divisions You have a light paratroop battalion on your right, a paratroop regi-ment on your left, and three battalions of artillery behind you. Further questions? All right, Wemple, it s your show and you have alot to do. I jeeped back to Elvange, started Hochberg and his heroes up toWemple, tried unsuccessfully to eat lunch, gave it up, and just quietlyjittered.About 1330 while mounting Tiger Bait, I received a message.2 Cancelyour 1400 move. I canceled, the knot in my stomach relaxed, and Ifinally had lunch.Later information revealed that CCB had about 1230 started throughBorn with mayhem, murder, and destruction and reported the placecleared at 1430, muchto the satisfaction of Wemple s warriors.In an amazingly clean cellar in Born, I found Generals Ridgway,Hasbrouck, and Clarke.Again Ridgway stood apart with the two handgrenades hooked on his jacket and his M-1 rifle, the other part of his trade-mark, standing against the wall nearby.Again Hasbrouck and Clarkewere discreetly wrangling over an air photograph and map of the BornSt.Vith area.I was not briefed on the problem but gradually got thepicture from the conversation.Actually the next hour and a half can besummarized in a repetition of the following three exchanges:Ridgway: I have to have Hunnange tomorrow
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