West Point ’41: The Class That Went to War and Shaped America

12 | The Empire is Unseated

133 12 The Empire Is Unseated As the Battle of the Bulge drew to a close, the race toward the Rhine intensified . Herb Stern, as part of the 84th Division in the Ninth Army, had a forward observer team near the Rhine’s west bank. The observers were holed up in an abandoned flak tower, about ten-stories high, formerly used by the Germans to defend against air attacks. Now it was an ideal lookout from which the 84th artillery observers could call in targets. Every five to ten minutes, the fire missions were radioed in to Stern’s headquarters and one after another, the shells were reported to have landed like bull’s-eyes, hitting pay dirt. Such preciseness gave Herb Stern an uneasy feeling. There’s something funny going on. We’re not that good. What the hell are they shooting at? Stern requested that the division’s military police visit the flak tower that evening to check on observer activity. He couldn’t make a surprise visit himself, since the observers would be alerted to his presence upon first sight of his approaching jeep. The military police, on the other hand, could be there for any number of reasons, maybe just trying to scrounge up smokes. Stern received the unsettling MP call: his team of lieutenant and two enlisted men were shacked up, fraternizing and procreating with three German girls—a wartime harem in a flak tower. Not only had Eisenhower expressly forbidden fraternization with German civilians but worse still, the artillery targets the observers had been calling in were fictitious. A furious Stern suffered no fools. He dispatched a replacement team and recalled the derelict ones. He busted the sergeant and radioman, reducing them to privates and warning the lieutenant to prepare for a court martial . Then he expediently filed formal charges against the latter, forwarding them to the division’s artillery headquarters, commanded by Colonel Charles J. Barrett, West Point class of 1922. Upon receiving the charge sheets, Barrett phoned Stern. “You don’t Kazel-Wilcox - West Point.indb 133 3/19/2014 5:40:13 PM 134 ★ west point ’41 want to really court martial the lieutenant,” he suggested. “How about we remove the charges?” “General, it’s your prerogative, but I will not remove the charges. My charges stand.” Two weeks later, Stern opened up an official letter addressed to him. Seeing the signature of General Eisenhower made him bolt upright. Reading the contents within made him turn red. Herb Stern was in “dereliction of duty” for failing to court martial the lieutenant observer. Good god, thought Stern. Barrett removed the charges, and now I’m to blame. Stern phoned his commander. “Sir, have you seen this letter to me from General Eisenhower?” “Major,” answered Barrett, “I’m sorry about that. You insisted that the charges stand, and I removed them. It’s my fault. I’ll advise headquarters and have the letter removed from your files.” While Stern hardly contemplated his long-term career at that moment, Barrett knew it would be a dim one if the letter from the supreme commander remained in his files. Barrett got it expunged, and he wrote to Eisenhower admitting that it was he who removed the charges. Barrett was none the worse for it, and in fact in the interim had been promoted to brigadier general. ★ ★ ★ Like Stern, Charlie Fletcher was heading toward the Rhine while grappling with conflicting directives. The 174th Field Artillery Group, for which he was intelligence officer, was positioned among the most forward in Patton ’s drive east. On March 16, the unit, which had been supporting Mike Greene’s division, reached the confluence of the Mosel and Rhine Rivers, distinguished by a spit of land that juts out where the rivers meet. On that spit in the city of Koblenz stood an enormous monument as the centerpiece. Fletcher took out his field glasses to view the imposing copper statue. Emperor Wilhelm in all his glory . . . almost as big as the Statue of Liberty, thought Fletcher. The German emperor was astride his horse in full regalia with a flowing cape, a plumed helmet, and an angel protectively standing beside him. The statue sat atop a massive rectangular pedestal, on which were inscribed the words: “Nimmer wird das Reich zerstöret.” It meant, “Never will the empire be destroyed.” Fletcher’s radio buzzed. “Munitions 2?” asked the voice. Kazel-Wilcox - West Point.indb 134 3/19/2014 5:40:13 PM [3...