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

TEAM DESOBRY AT NOVILLE 59
This was an act of near fatal consequences though in the end
it saved the situation. What happened was that at Major Desobry's
CP no effort was made to keep the message secret from all
save its handlers. The operator spoke loudly and all others in the
command post heard what he said. The word spread quickly to
the troops out on the fighting line. In the course of the action
these vague rumors hardened into a positive report that the command
had received permission for a withdrawal to Foy. The wish
had fathered the thought; the intensifying of the German fire
made it very easy to believe. Groups of armored infantrymenand
nearly all of the stragglers who had been plugging gaps in
the line-came drifting back into Noville; they had heard the
story and had quit their foxholes. It seemed to Desobry that his
line was about to disintegrate. He rallied his command post officers
and noncoms and they began working frantically with these
groups, bullying them, swearing that the rumor was false and
turning them back to the action.
Reluctantly the men faced back toward the enemy but others
kept on coming. There was no end to the problem. That one
lapse in the CP kept the team off balance during the deadliest
part of the day. Yet Desobry noted that his subordinates were
accepting even these extra odds cheerfully. From the commander
on down, not a man had any idea of the over-all importance of
the engagement; it was just another local affair and they had
scarcely related it even to the defense of Bastogne. What buoyed
their spirits was that the Germans were coming in with their
chins down; their own armor was remaining open. The difference
was telling clearly in the marksmanship of the two sides
and in the comparative losses in fighting vehicles. Every fair hit
on an enemy tank produced a lift of enthusiasm for the fight
partly offsetting the ill effect of the withdrawal rumor. Not all
of those who drifted back to the village were bent on withdrawal;
some came for just a moment to boast of what they had done to
the enemy in their sector and then to return to their work again.
Witnessing this strangely disordered contest and catching its
wild notes of dismay and triumph, Major Desobry was reminded
of a barroom brawl. His concern, however, was not solely due to