The unit saw action in
Italy, participated in the invasion of southern
France and fought in Northeast France and
Germany, in the Huertgen forest.
Lt. Howard Hensleigh, HQ
Company, 3rd Battalion, 517 PIR, went on many
missions with Capt. Woodhull. He writes:
"Woody" Woodhull of the
460th was a buddy. He had been assigned to the
3rd Bn. as our artillery liaison officer for a
long time. He and his radio operator, Herbert
Jeff, were virtually part of the 3rd battalion.
From the jump in Southern France on August 15,
1944, I was the Battalion S-2 responsible for
obtaining information about the enemy. We did
this mainly by patrolling. Woody and Herb went
on almost all of our patrols. Herb and Woody
used to covet our combat infantry badges; they
deserved them. If we got in too deep and were
being pursued by the Germans, Woody would call
in artillery to give us time to make it back to
our lines. Sometimes we had the assistance of
the 460th's L5 (Piper Cub) aircraft to cool
things off. We patrolled together many times in
southern France. After a successful combat
patrol, Woody would call in artillery to finish
the job and keep the enemy troops from deciding
to follow us as we withdrew."
One encounter is remembered
by Lt. Hensleigh when they took some German
prisoners:
"Once on a combat patrol in
Southern France we had a platoon of Germans
partially surrounded. When I yelled at them to
surrender and several times the Germans stood up
with their hands up, their non com fired his
machine gun to thwart the surrender. Woody
crawled forward with me to within a few feet of
the gun position where we silenced him. I put an
M-1 clip into the bush I thought his fire came
from. Luckily, I guessed right, because I don't
think there would have been a second chance. It
is a shame we couldn't have met on different
circumstances. He was a brave guy. We might have
been friends. We captured the platoon, all their
weapons, ammo and equipment. The German officer
slipped away when the fighting first started, as
they were ordered to do to preserve the officer
corps. Most good American combat officers were
up front where they knew what was going on. This
sometimes resulted in their loss.
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Paris 1944:
Left to Right: Lt. Woodhull, Major Paxton, Lt.
Alicki and Lt. Dickerson
(picture courtesy of Lt. Alicki, via
517prct.org)
Early February
1945, the 517 PIR found themselves on the
frontline near Bergstein in the Huertgen forest
and ready to attack. The area of Schmidt,
Vossenach, Bergstein and Kommerscheidt was a
heavily fought over area for many months. The
initial attack was beaten off by the Germans
with incredible casualties to the US forces. The
Regiment was to make a divisionary attack, in
support of the main assault.
Lt. Hensleigh:
"During the next few days, the 517th would
encounter some of the most violent fighting of
the war, under the severest of weather
conditions. During this period in the Bergstein-
Schmidt area of the Huertgen Forest, the 460th
Fire Direction Center coordinated their heaviest
concentration of artillery fire of the war. 14
battalions of division and corps artillery, FO
Captain Robert Woodhull was killed while
directing fire and FO team member, Battalion
Operations Sergeant, Tech Sergeant George
Hubbard was seriously wounded.
Now, to that
morning. We were new to the terrain around
Bergstein having just arrived there before the
attack. The Germans had been there for several
months defending that terrain. They had laid
extensive mine fields and had machine gun,
mortar and artillery zeroed in to protect well
organized defensive positions. From the outset,
our attacking infantry units were in serious
trouble. When they hit the mine fields, the
supporting enemy fire came in with devastating
effect. What Woody and I were attempting to do
was to give G, H and I Companies artillery
support in their attacks. We got too close that
morning.
Woodhull was
killed by a burst of machine gun fire not more
than three feet from me at Bergstein. We were
doing our "damnedest" to assist the attack with
artillery, probably a little too far forward for
an OP, which was usual with Woody. Red Meline
and I directed artillery fire to wipe out the
machine gun nest after his death. His radio man,
I believe a Sgt. Riddle, previously was wounded
in the lower leg by a burst of the same gun.
That burst went between my legs miraculously not
even nicking me. He was standing just behind me
and was evacuated. We remained in that position
all day serving as a communications link between
the rifle companies and higher headquarters.
Bergstein was a
heart rending diversionary attack – our last
taste of combat and a bad one. A diversionary
attack is just that though – an attack to fool
the enemy into thinking your main thrust is from
one direction, when you really intend to get him
from another. If you tell the attacker to put on
a good show and not take too many casualties, it
probably won’t fool the enemy and won’t be
successful. In an attempt to remove some of the
bitterness we feel in our enormous losses at
Bergstein, personal as well as organizational,
we must credit ourselves with the fact that it
was a successful diversionary attack. When that
outfit swept in from the right with tanks and
artillery, they rolled. They rolled because of
what we did in that diversionary attack.
I often wonder
how we could have done things differently to
save Woody's life. He was a prince of a man. "
Captain Robert
Woodhull
is buried at Margraten American Military
Cemetery, Plot F Row 8 Grave 1.
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