Rudder: From Leader to Legend

14. End of the War, 1945

Shortly after five o’clock on the afternoon of February 9, General Cota came to Rudder’s command post in a former textiles store in the center of Croix-en-Plaine. When asked about the 109th Infantry’s defensive positions along the Rhine, Rudder pointed to the map locations of half a dozen squadsized detachments (ten to twelve men) watching the other side of the river. In addition, an untold number of sharpshooters armed with sniper rifles equipped with telescopic sights were hidden along the riverbank to keep the Germans buttoned up on the other side. Cota stressed the importance of around-the-clock vigilance against a spoiling attack by the demoralized but spiteful foe.1 Cota informed Rudder that the division was pulling back west of Nancy to reorganize and rest before reentering the front lines further north. A Moroccan outfit with French officers would replace the regiment. Several French officers came the next morning to discuss the changeover, which began that afternoon, although Rudder remained in the area with his regiment for forty-eight hours in case the Jerries crossed the chocolate-colored stream to test the newcomers. None tried. Before noon on February 14, the 109th began a 130-mile vehicular road march over the narrow, twisting passes of the Vosges Mountains to Vaucouleurs . The trip required most of the day, but by nine o’clock that evening Rudder had reestablished his command post in a row of houses in the center of the town. By the next morning, hot water was flowing, and the men were cleaning up and pulling on new socks, underwear, and woolen long johns. That afternoon Rudder held a meeting for all commanders to review problems in their convoy groups from Croix-en-Plaine; there had been irregularities in keeping proper distances between vehicles, and special precautions were necessary for trucks carrying high explosives. He directed them to begin preparing for another long convoy movement almost two hundred miles north and into Germany. In houses along the streets the G.I.s disassembled rifles and machine guns and laid the parts on canvas shelter halves spread on the floor, where they sat cross-legged, cleaning them with dirtCHAPTER 14 END OF THE WAR 1945 254 CHAPTER 14 stained toothbrushes and small greasy rags. New vehicles, weapons, and men were arriving, and Rudder tried to interview all new officers. Everyone needed this relaxing week in Vaucouleurs before they departed ready to do battle again.2 SCHLEIDEN Rudder’s shooting war would end near the German town of Schleiden, only fifteen miles south of Bergstein, where he had left the 2nd Ranger Battalion in early December. So much had happened since then that the two and onehalf months could have been half a lifetime ago. But the most important thing had not changed: the Germans had not collapsed as the Allied high command expected and still held a substantial area west of the Rhine. Eisenhower ’s strategy was to drive the enemy from the entire west bank of the Rhine before crossing it in strength anywhere. To that end, a major effort, codenamed Operation Lumberjack, would be made to clear all remaining German military forces from the west bank of the Rhine between the cities of Cologne and Bonn, the reason Rudder and his regiment had been moved into the area. On the afternoon of February 23, the 109th began replacing the 9th Infantry Regiment in a hilly region of western Germany called the Eifel, an eastward extension of the Ardennes plateau that Rudder knew well from the Battle of the Bulge. His new command post was in the village of Harperscheid , about three miles west of Schleiden, which was still under German control. Schleiden, lying along the narrow valley of the Olef River, was in ruins from American artillery fired from miles to the rear. The Germans had placed thousands of booby traps and mines on roads and trails and in buildings to inflict maximum casualties on the advancing Americans. Most civilians had left on orders of the Nazi party. Scattered groups of the Wehrmacht were in the hills east of Schleiden, and a few were in the town. More pertinent to Rudder, the enemy had outposts west of the Olef, where his regiment assumed responsibility for the defense at 2:30 am on February 24.3 When daylight came, Rudder appraised his new situation. The area was semiforested with conifers and had considerable open farmland above its numerous steep ravines that drained...