Bastogne: The Story of the First Eight Days - US Army Center Of ...

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drivers were already such that they did not have enough men to
maneuver their own armor. Two tanks were without drivers and
partly without crews. So the tankers asked the paratroopers if
there were any men among them who could handle tanks and
two of Major Harwick's men of the 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute
Infantry, climbed aboard and started out with the Shermans.
Later on both men were killed in their tanks during the
withdrawal. 18
They knew now that they would not be able to hold Noville
much longer. The clearing of the fog revealed to Major Hustead
(now commanding the 20th Armored Infantry Battalion) and
his staff a situation they had already suspected. During the
night of the 19th the men on the outposts had heard enemy armor
moving across their rear, particularly to the southwestward.19 In
the morning, patrols had gone out, and although they couldn't
tell much because of the enveloping fog, they found enough to
confirm the fact that enemy forces were between them and Bastogne.
Hustead had lost radio contact with Combat Command B
Headquarters during the night. 20 So in the morning he sent
First Lieutenant Herman C. Jacobs to Foy; he was to get to Headquarters,
3d Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry, in Foy and use
their radio to inform Combat Command B of the situation and
request that the Noville garrison either be withdrawn or reinforced.
He carried out the mission in a half-track and several
times on the way to Foy he blundered into enemy parties and
had to shoot his way through. But at Foy he found no one; by
this time 3d Battalion was engaging the enemy to the south of
the village. Lieutenant Jacobs continued on to Bastogne and
found Colonel Roberts who sent his only available reserve-an
antiaircraft platoon-forward. But the platoon was blocked by
enemy forces before it could get to Foy.21 The Germans were
corning across the road from both sides. When the fog rolled
away the men in Noville could look southward and see the
circling armor. To make their isolation more complete, they had
lost all contact with the main' body of 506th Parachute Infantry
and they did not know whether the situation at Foy was developing
for or against them. 22