At first light on December 24, 1944, the sky was cloudless, the air crisp, and the temperature well below freezing. Not long after daybreak, Phil and a number of replacement soldiers loaded themselves into trucks to make the slow fifty-mile journey over the Vosges Mountains to the 30th Infantry Regiment’s CP in Kaysersberg, France. As they boarded the troop carriers, they looked up in amazement to watch a formation of American bombers, shadowed by P-47 fighters to protect them, roaring overhead. The men cheered and waved.[1]

At least two feet of snow covered the ground, but this time around, the trucks were comfortably warm. The mountainous route through tall, majestic pines and firs draped with snow took the men past abandoned German equipment, overturned and burned vehicles, and overrun roadblocks—all attesting to the rapidity of the 30th Infantry’s advance from the crest of the Vosges down toward the Alsatian plains.

Phil and the other replacement soldiers arrived on Christmas Eve. He reported immediately to regimental headquarters and was welcomed back with a rowdy cheer and applause from the regimental command staff. His warmest hug was from his close friend Lieutenant Ross Calvert, now the regimental S-2, or intelligence officer.

His previous boss, 3rd Lieutenant Colonel Richard Neddersen, now the Interim Regimental Commander, greeted him warmly as well.

“Don’t worry,” Neddersen assured Phil with a smile. “Colonel McGarr has been given a temporary promotion to the Acting Assistant Division Commander under General O’Daniel since twelve December. We’re expecting him back here any day now, Lieutenant. He’s asked me to put you back with our old battalion. Lieutenant Colonel Chris Chaney’s commanding it now, so I’m pulling the battalion back into reserve in the next couple of days. Why don’t you hang out here at the CP? Get your land legs back.”

“Sure, that would be great. Thank you, sir,” Phil replied.

Neddersen nodded and turned away. After a step or two, he turned back. “Good to have you back, Lieutenant. You’ve been missed.”

Phil enjoyed dinner with Ross and getting caught up. On the center of the table was a small fir tree decorated with makeshift ornaments made from war debris—bullet casings and tinfoil chaff dropped by bombers to fool radar. Pulling out a small map and laying it across the mess table, Ross said, “I’ve got some good news and some not-so-good news, Phil.”

“What’s the not-so-good news?”

Ross spread a map open. “Here’s our situation. To our north, units of the Seventh Army are pushing east to the Rhine. To the south, the First French Army, with our 36th Infantry Division attached, has also reached the Rhine. 

In between, right here”—Ross placed his index finger on the map—“is what the commanders are calling, quote, ‘an embarrassing German bulge’ west of the Rhine and centered around the Alsatian city of Colmar. It appears the Germans are determined to stay here as long as possible, and the area is becoming more strongly fortified every day. Looks like a full-scale coordinated attack will be required to eliminate them.”

“What’s the area called?” Phil asked.

“At first, it was called the ‘Bridgehead around Colmar,’ because the enemy, in their desire to retain a bridgehead west of the Rhine, decided to defend Colmar, a city ten miles west of the Rhine in Alsace. But as resistance in the area has grown and persisted, it’s been given a new name: ‘The Colmar Pocket.’”

“What’s the good news?”

Ross lit a cigarette. After his first puff, he added, “That was the good news. The not-so-good news is that you won’t be going back to your boys in the A&P Platoon.”

Phil was disappointed because he badly wanted to return to the guys he’d fought with the previous nine months. With another lieutenant already in command, however, it wouldn’t have been the proper thing to do.

“So, what’s going to happen?”

“I hear you’re being assigned as the interim XO for Company K, effective 26 December. Phil, McGarr wants you as a company commander. There’s not a job open now, but you’ll get the next one. So use this position to get ready.”

Company commander, Phil thought. He liked the sound of that. Usually, that was a position reserved for captains, so maybe there’d be a promotion coming also. He knew he was ready to lead, despite the inherent dangers of becoming a frontline company commander.i

All of them were acutely aware that since American troops had landed in Sicily, the turnover of lieutenants had exceeded 100 percent. Casualties were so common that an Infantry could expect to lose its entire allotment of 132 2nd lieutenants in less than three months of combat. It wasn’t unusual for frontline units like Phil’s to report that more than 80 percent of 1st and 2nd lieutenants were KIA, or killed in action.

~~~~~

Late on Christmas Eve, Phil was in the cellar of the house used as the company CP. Just before midnight, he and Ross stepped outside to share a smoke with several of the men. They mingled in a courtyard, where the glow from their cigarettes could not be seen by the enemy.

The men were quiet, each alone in his thoughts. A wave of homesickness swept over Phil, who looked out over the snowy landscape and suddenly became aware of a strange phenomenon—silence.

He looked at his wristwatch. It was 2345 hours, and there wasn’t the sound of gunfire in the air. Could both sides be momentarily standing down?

In the distance, Phil heard American soldiers singing “Silent Night,” which moved him greatly. Heavy snowflakes gently fell, covering everything in sight. Then, to his astonishment, German voices joined the Americans in singing the same Christmas carol in German—“Stille Nacht.” He bowed his head in prayer, asking the Lord that next Christmas, he would be safe at home and with his parents.

To his surprise, he even muttered a prayer for Marilyn and wondered how she was doing.[2]

~~~~~

[1] Larimore, At First Light, 174.

[2] Larimore, At First Light, 174-176

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