Bob Noble Promoted at Battle of the Bulge; Wounded at Andernach

My uncle Bob Noble, son of Robert and Kathryn (Carr) Noble, served in Company B, 63rd Infantry Battalion, 11th Armored Division during World War II. In the spring of 1944, the Division was at Camp Cook, California [present day site of Vandenburg AFB], for training in preparation for transfer to Europe. Bob was Squad Leader (Third Squad) at rank of Staff Sergeant, with about a dozen soldiers under his command. The Platoon Sergeant (Second Platoon) was Technical Sergeant Cohen, and the Platoon Leader was Lieutenant Sabatini.

In Sept 1944, the Division traveled by troop ship to Europe. They were supposed to land in France, but landed in southern England instead, where Patton's Third Army took their equipment. They were stationed until further orders at Warminster, northwest of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. According to John S. D. Eisenhower's "The Bitter Woods" (1969, New York), the 11th Armored Division was on reserve status at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) until nearly the end of the year. (Eisenhower, pp 379-80, 409-10)

When the German counteroffensive of mid-December 1944 occurred, the 11th Armored Division was already enroute to France across the English Channel. Bob thinks they were on their way to a light assignment in Brest, France, when unforeseen events overtook them on 16 Dec 1944. Instead, they landed at Cherbourg, France and headed straight to the front to join Patton on the Meuse River in Belgium.

That is probably why the sources are all so vague regarding the 11th Armored Division's status at the beginning of the German counteroffensive. "The Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War II", by James Collins, Jr (1972, New York) states that the 11th Armored Division was transferred to the Third Army on 23 Dec 1944 near Bastogne. This was reportedly to help Patton cover his left flank after a German tank advance. (pp 2153-4) Eisenhower's book says that the 11th Armored Division was at SHAEF on 16 December 1944, and General Eisenhower ordered the 11th Armored and 87th Infantry Divisions attached to General George Patton's Third Army to the south of The Bulge on 28 Dec 1944. The 11th Armored Div was situated at a backstop position behind the Meuse River for a few days, then was moved toward Neufchateau. (pp 409-10, 416)

On 30 Dec 1944, Patton placed the 11th Armored Division to the west of the narrow supply line into Bastogne held by the Allies. They were under command of Troy Middleton, head of VIII Corps, with the mission to move northward. It was hoped they would come abreast of the 101st Division, which was under seige at Bastogne. At 8 am, the 11th Armored Division saw its first combat in the war, repelling a major German counterattack by Panzer Lehr and the 26th Volksgrenadier, who were trying to isolate Bastogne by cutting the supply corridor mentioned above. (Eisenhower, pp 409-10, 416)

Lieut. Sabatini's platoon saw its first action of the war on 30 Dec 1944. Sgt. Cohen was wounded on the first day of battle, so Bob was promoted in the field to Tech Sergeant and became the new Platoon Sergeant, overseeing four squads totalling up to fifty men.

Patton considered 30 Dec 1944, a critical day and was anxious to get on with the attack, so he pressed the 11th Armored Division into service without sufficient time for bringing up the rear, for reconnaissance or for preparation. Patton would later be critical of Middleton for lack of aggressiveness in his pursuit of the enemy, given that the battle results fell short of expectations and were a piecemeal affair. (Eisenhower, pp 409-10, 416)

The next day, the Third Army saw seventeen German counterattacks. The weather worsened, with sleet and snow. Both sides suffered heavy losses, mainly along the corridor to the west of Bastogne. The 11th Armored Division suffered particularly heavy losses since it was their first combat experience of the war versus a veteran German opponent. (Eisenhower, pp 409-10)

Bastogne was rescued.

On 16 Jan 1945, the 11th Armored Division was a major participant in closing the pincers on the Germans on Houffalize. Many Germans were caught in this snare, which effectively ended the Battle of the Bulge. The actual Allied lines at the beginning of the counterattack as of 16 Dec 1944 were not restored for another twelve days, however. (Eisenhower, pp 428-9)

Eisenhower's book summarizes the battle from Bastogne to Houffalize. (pg 430). It provides asituation map as of 3 Jan 1945, showing the 11th Armored Division in reserve to the southwest of Bastogne. (pg 414) Another situation map, as of 15 Jan 1945, shows the 11th Armored Division northwest of Bastogne nearing Houffalize. (pg 427)

The Third Army then attacked the Eifel Forest. (Eisenhower, pp 437-8) By the second week of January 1945, Patton had reached the Moselle River in Luxembourg, the Sure and Our Rivers, with the aim of reaching the Rhine River at Koblenz. (Collins, pg 2289)

By 4 Feb 1945, a strategy was being formulated by Eisenhower to get past the Siegfried Line and conquer the Rhineland. He developed a three phase attack: Operations Veritable, Lumberjack and Undertone. (Eisenhower, pp 437-8)

As part of Operation Lumberjack, Patton's Third Army moved northward along the Rhine while the 1st Army moved southward, thereby squeezing the Germans out of the territory in between. (Eisenhower, pp 437-8)

The 11th Armored Division, under Major General Holmes E Dager, was situated to the left of Hugh Gaffey's 4th Armored Division, which reached the Rhine River above Koblenz on 5 Mar 1945. On the same day, the bridge at Remagen was taken by the 9th Armored Division. (Collins, pp 2289-90)

Bob says the 11th Armored Division reached the Rhine River north of Koblenz at Andernach on 3 March 1945.

The Third Army's 4th Armored Division reached Andernach, Germany, on the Rhine north of the Moselle River, by 7 Mar 1945. (Eisenhower, pp 437-8)

Bob says the Allies immediately launched a series of Allied assaults on Andernach to expel the hardened German soldiers in position in the town. Tanks entered the city and the battle ensued. The attacks began to show results.

A German retreat from key positions in the city was underway by 9 Mar 1945. Bob's squad received orders that day to neutralize a machine gun nest in town which had a disabled Allied tank pinned down. While the tank driver watched, Bob and a fellow soldier headed down the narrow roadway facing the machine gun nest, drawing the German's attention while the bulk of Bob's squad rounded the building for an assault from the side.

When Bob ducked into one particular alcove, however, a German soldier not cleared from the building Bob was using for cover, shot Bob in the shoulder with a German Luger pistol through an open window at close range. Bob later learned that some of the Germans had been trapped inside this building in the assault and hadn't retreated like everyone thought.

Bob thought he'd lost his arm in a cannon blast, but a quick glance revealed his unfeeling gloved hand still present and accounted for. He ordered the soldier accompanying him to retreat, which he did. By the time a medic appeared, the German machine gunner was spraying the street with gunfire. With shots flying between his legs, Bob convinced the first medic to abandon any attempt at a rescue. But a second medic was more persistent, succeeding in urging Bob to evacuate his position.

The 11th Armored Division made first contact with the 1st Army near Brohl on 11 Mar 1945. (Collins, pg 2290)

Bob was sent to a neurological center for rehabilitation at White Sulphur Springs, WV. He was released from the service in October 1945 and married a month later to a therapist who worked at the hospital at White Sulphur Springs. They had a ceremony in White Plains, NY, where the bride's parents lived.

Bob applied and was accepted at the University of Chicago Law School. Bob always admired graduates like Robert Maynard Hutchins and Mortimer Jerome Adler and was surprised to pass the entrance exam. Bob and Jo went to Cleveland, OH for the interim until school started. Jo worked at the Veterans Hospital in Cleveland during that time in her field as occupational therapist.