I was with the first platoon of D. Co. in making the charge up Hill 400 on Dec. 7, 1944. The squads from the lst platoon of D. Co. and two platoons from F. Co. made the attack for the 2nd Rangers that morning. There was only 6 of us from my squad that made the assault. About 8 from the other squad. We called them Assault Sections in the Rangers. Infantry called them squads. Made of originally of 12 men. We lost over 65% casualties in the battle of Port of Brest in late August and early September l944 and did not get replacements. We were badly understrength but we were successful in taking the Hill from the Jerries.
Only 3 of us came off the Hill on the early morning hours of Dec. 9th.
Notice the steep slope of Hill 400
I was wounded on the morning of the 8th but hung in there as we had so few men left.
A lot of Rangers were wounded and many died of wounds from shrapnel.
The days on Hill 400 were the most compelling days of my entire life!
~~~ Bud Potratz ~~~
lst Platoon Assault Section
In remembrance of Melvin G. "Bud" Potratz
Bud Potratz passed away on January 31, 2007, at the age of 81 year.
Transcript of the video:
December 7th 1944, daybreak two dozen U.S.Rangers including PFC Bud Potratz trump through the Hurtgen forest. Their mission take Hill 400 a strategic position located just east of the town of Bergstein.
About 300 yards from their target, Potratz and his men are greeted with fire from all sides.
They take cover along a sunken road and fire their M1-s across an open field at a German machine-gun nest located at the foot of the hill. At that moment Potratz gets an order that no modern era soldier ever wants to hear or follow, two dreaded words make his blood run cold, fix bayonets.
“It hit me in the pit of my stomach It was a very chilling effect. I know that in my mind I would not use it until I did not have a round left in the chamber of my rifle. We then made a charge across the open field which we were told could have been mined, and we went screaming across, and I know at the time I holler Heigh Ho, Silver and we made a charge, firing from the hip.”
Three men go down in the death dash across the field.
Who lives who dies it's all a matter of chance. Potratz beats the odds. He makes it.
Along with several others he climbs up the west side of the hill and reaches the top, in the longest five minutes of his life. Potratz and the other Rangers surprised the Germans at the top of the hill and take them with no resistance. The attack is a success, but now there's a new and more difficult challenge, keeping the hill.
A captain orders Potratz and five other Rangers to go to the east, and set up a line of fire at the base of the hill. There they hope to ward off the expected counter-attack.
“We got down to the bottom of the hill, a shell came in, and hit this huge tree, which was just to our right in front of us. And this tree toppled over right in front of our view and choked off our line of fire. I'm sure that if that tree was not there, that shell when it came in would have been a direct hit. That tree really saved our lives.”
The remaining Rangers still located at the top of the hill have no such luck. Unable to dig into the steep terrain, they're flogged by a devastating storm of enemy artillery, mortar, and tank fire. An unknown number of Germans are annihilated. When the barrage stops, Potratz and fellow Ranger Mike Sherrick believe they'll be better off moving to the top of the hill. Up there, they'll have a better vantage point. They move to the southeast and climb the hill.
There, they come across five men from D Company defending the position. An hour later, it's now noon.The enemy counter-attacks for about 10 to 15 minutes.
About two dozen Germans storm up the hill, only to be eviscerated by Potratz and the other Rangers.
“There was pure infantry firing. We were firing our M1s, and we had taken other weapons from our fallen comrades and extra grenades, and we repulsed this attack. We did not lose a man, but I know we did damage to them.”
As the sky darkens, fighting that began at dawn ends for the day. About two dozen Rangers, including Potratz and members of D, F, and E companies, hold Hill 400 throughout the night.
The stars give way to daylight on December 8th. Day two of the fight for Hill 400 is about to begin.The German army mounts a no-holds-barred counter-attack.
“The enemy opened up fire with the tanks from the south and artillery to the north and mortars from the northeast. It was very intense. It was almost that you couldn't breathe, that it was just constantly shells coming in.”
“It was the most intense barrage that I ever experienced in the entire war.”
The barrage is so intense, all Potratz can do is hunker down in the foxhole. Two Rangers, including Mike Sharik, take hits and crawl to an aid station some 30 yards up the hill.
Soon after, an 88mm shell bursts through the treetops, spewing shrapnel into Bud's foxhole.
“I felt a burning sensation on the left side, up around my hip, and it was excruciating pain. An aid man from one of the other Ranger companies came up to my position, jumped in the foxhole, cut away the clothing along on my side, and I could just see it. I could see the mangled flesh. He dumped sulphur powder on it and patched me up with a big bandage, and away he went. He just disappeared.”
Wounded and unable to move, Potratz braces himself for the worst, which is about to come. He knows from experience that once the artillery barrage stops, another counter-attack will begin. Later that morning, German infantry troops charge up the hill, desperate to retake it from the Americans.
As for Potratz and his band of Rangers, they've been at it for two days straight.The shootout to fend off the enemy and keep Hill 400 will test their mettle like nobody's business.
On the morning of December 8th, 1944, about 120 Rangers, including Bud Potratz, defend Hill 400.
It's a key strategic position in the Hürtgen Forest. That's why the Germans aren't giving up. 200 Nazi soldiers wage a ferocious counter-attack in order to take the prize.
Potratz, his leg horribly mangled and pinned down, knows retreat is not an option. If the Germans overrun his position, he'll die.
“It was very intense. We made up of German paratroopers, and they almost broke through the line what was left on Fox Company on the northeast side of the hill. And the rest of the segment were coming up and from the southeast through our line. And we just kept firing at everything that moved out there.”
The Americans are outnumbered, but Potratz and the Rangers hold off a determined enemy. The fighting finally ebbs, allowing them to recover what they need to survive, the weapons of their fellow soldiers, including M1 rifles, a Thompson, a .30 caliber light machine gun, and grenades. These arms will brace them for a second counter-attack.
It comes that afternoon from another German platoon.This time, the Americans are locked and loaded for the final reckoning of Hill 400.
“The second counter-attack that we experienced, we all started to fire at the enemy that was trying to come up the hill. And I remember that I was just firing at the black helmets that were popping up all around the advance.”
The Rangers receive much-needed ground and air support when a forward observer from the 8th Infantry Division arrives and surveys the situation. He calls in artillery located to the west of Hill 400.
Eighteen batteries respond. At one point, as many as 108 guns unleash their firepower onto the Germans. They take out the enemy tanks and troops, trying to recapture the hill.
“Then we saw P-47s come flying in and hitting the enemy on the northeast side of the hill, because this is where the high concentration was of the enemy. So that was a very uplifting experience, for what was left of us. And I remember that it almost gave us hope that maybe we would make this endeavor.”
The combined artillery and air support slam the brakes on the counter-attack. That night, elements of the 8th Division relieve Potratz and his fellow Rangers. It is all over for the weary troops.
Tragically, only half of the original 30-man attack force make it out. But the Germans never seriously threaten again. The Americans finally own Hill 400.
What the Battle of Hill 400 illustrates is how much a small, well-trained unit can achieve if they're supported by a sufficient amount of artillery fire. The Rangers, they fought very well, but unless there had been 18 batteries of artillery fire in their support, it's doubtful they could have held it very long.
