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

RUNNING BATTLE 97
reap part of the harvest. The enemy groups around Foy were
now feeling the heat from both directions. Hustead's sweep toward
Foy resulted in the capture of 43 Germans.
In the village Hustead met troops of the 3d Battalion, 506th,
who had advanced from the south and he asked them, "Has our
armor come through?"
The men had seen the three half-tracks and Captain Schultz's
tank go by and they thought this was the armor Major Hustead
was talking about. So they reassured him. Hustead borrowed a
jeep and drove to Bastogne to report to Colonel Roberts that he
had completed his mission. But when he got to town he learned
that he was mistaken and could only tell Colonel Roberts that
the column was on its way and should soon arrive. 55
Major Hustead in Bastogne and Captain Billett in Foy were
both on the radio urging the column to come around to the right.
But Major Duncan and Second Lieutenant Burleigh P. Oxford
were already jockeying the column through the fields. The fifth
tank was on its way. A crew of paratroopers had climbed aboard
after telling the tankers, 'We'll learn how to run the son of a
bitch."56 When the column drew into Foy some of the vehicles
got stuck in the soft ground. Lieutenant Oxford dismounted all
of the men and got the winches and the manpower working first
of all on extricating the vehicles that contained the wounded. At
dusk of December 20 the column was finding its way through
Foy and past the lines of the 3d Battalion, 506th. 51 The command
in Bastogne had intended that the force would go into a
defensive position on the high ground south of Foy. But Hustead
told Colonel Roberts that the column was dead beat and had
better be brought into Bastogne. 58 The tank destroyers under
Lieutenant Toms stayed in Foy supporting the 3d Battalion. Be
Team Desobry had gone to Noville with fifteen tanks; it limped
back with only four. 60 The 1st Battalion of the 506th Parachute
Infantry was in full strength when it went to Team Desobry's
support. It lost 13 officers and 199 enlisted men at Noville.81 By
their combined efforts they had destroyed or badly crippled somewhere
between twenty and thirty known enemy tanks of all types
including not less than three Mark VIs.82 They probably dam-