 |
African Nurse Saved GIs at Battle of Bulge
(February
23, 2011) |
|
| BASTOGNE, Belgium, (ANS - Feb. 14, 2011) – It was a bitterly cold winter
morning when Augusta Chiwy's tram pulled into Brussels Central train
station, Dec. 16, 1944.
On that very same day at 5:30 a.m., green
troops of the 106th Golden Lion Division were rudely awakened from their
winter sojourn by a hellish barrage of incoming artillery shells,
"screaming meemies," accompanied by the menacing rumble of Tiger and
Panther tanks on the move. Just over the German/Belgian border, out in
an area known as the Schnee Eifel, three German armies had assembled
almost under the noses of the allies. |
Brussels was still alive with commuters going about
their daily routines when Chiwy arrived at the train
station. She had been working at St. Elizabeth
General Hospital in the Flemish town of Louvain and
was on her way to visit relatives in Bastogne.
Above the din of collective voices at the
station, the public address system droned out
monotone information about trains, platforms and
destinations, adding that, "There will be no
departures for Luxembourg or Bastogne. Passengers
wishing to reach these destinations should take the
7:50 to Namur."
Chiwy noticed an
inexplicable sense of urgency in many of the |
|
The aid station where
Augusta Chiwy volunteered on the Rue Neaufchateau in
Bastogne, Belgium, was destroyed by German bombs on
Christmas Eve 1944, killing 30 American soldiers.
U.S. Army photo |
|
assembled passenger's demeanors
as she boarded the train for Namur about 30 miles
south of Brussels. The train stopped there, and
passengers wishing to go to the next destination
were herded into open cattle trucks and taken as far
as Marche. From there, Chiwy hitched a ride from a
GI who took her to the center of Bastogne. |
|
She arrived in Bastogne around 5 p.m. and noticed that it was a hive of
activity as news was beginning to filter through of an all-out German
attack to the north and east of the city. In anticipation of the
approaching storm, Bastogne civilians were leaving in droves and all
roads west quickly became gridlocked with a seemingly endless trail of
human traffic.
Bastogne was an old market town and natural
junction where seven roads converged. The German army's high command had
decided many months previous to the actual attack that it was going to
be a prime strategic objective, but no one there had expected what was
about to occur during the coldest winter in living memory.
Chiwy
had already decided that it was best to go to her uncle's house first to
see if she could gather some more information on the situation. Her
uncle, Dr. Chiwy, had a practice close to the main square and the young
nurse wanted to know if she could help out. By that time of night the
civilians and military personnel still there could audibly make out the
booming sounds of distant artillery shells exploding a few miles away.
Within a few days of her arrival in Bastogne, the U.S. Army had sent
reinforcements to the city. The first to arrive were 2,800 men and 75
tanks of the 10th Armored Division. The following day on Dec. 18, the
101st Airborne Division arrived around midnight and almost immediately
began taking up positions at the allocated roadblocks around Bastogne in
support of the existing teams. These groups proved to be a stubborn
barrier that would allow the necessary time to build Bastogne's defenses
and prepare for the German army's main assault.
Chiwy set to work
as a nurse by assisting both civilian and military wounded wherever she
found them. These efforts didn't go unnoticed. GIs from the 10th Armored
Division were on the lookout for medical supplies and personnel to
assist with their Aid Station on the Rue Neufchateau.
On Dec. 20,
Bastogne became a city under siege. The ever-decreasing perimeter had
reduced a once-beautiful city to a blood-soaked and battle-ravaged
collection of skeletal smoldering ruins. The only safe places were the
dank freezing cellars of ruined houses where remaining civilians and
soldiers huddled together for safety and warmth. They survived on basic
rations and shared whatever supplies they could find. Chiwy hadn't had a
warm meal since she left Louvain and had also been reduced to this grim
subterranean existence.
On the morning of the Dec. 21, Chiwy left
the safety of her uncle's cellar and along with Nurse Renee Lemaire, she
volunteered to work for the 20th AIB, 10th Armored Division at the aid
station on Rue Neufchateau where Dr. John Prior was in charge. The
situation there was desperate. There were hardly any medical supplies,
save for a few bags of sulpha powder and a couple of vials of morphine.
While Lemaire helped make the wounded soldiers as comfortable as
possible, Chiwy dressed their wounds and never once shied away from the
gory trauma of battlefield injuries.
On at least one occasion,
Dr. Prior asked Chiwy if she would accompany him to a battle site east
of the Mardasson hill. She was wearing a U.S. Army uniform at the time
because her own clothes had become so dilapidated and blood stained. She
was well aware that if she would have been captured by German forces it
would have meant instant death for collaborating with the "Amies," the
German name for the American soldiers.
During a raging blizzard
Chiwy calmly loaded up onto a deuce-and-a-half and went to the outskirts
of Bastogne. When they arrived there, she actually went out onto the
battlefield with Dr. Prior and the two litter-bearers to retrieve
wounded soldiers.
Mortar shells were falling close by and German
heavy machine guns were raking the ground around Chiwy's small frame as
she tended the wounded, but despite this she focused on her duties
undaunted. Dr. Prior said the bullets missed Augusta because she was so
small, to which Chiwy retorted, "A black face in all that white snow was
a pretty easy target. Those Germans must be terrible marksmen."
The skies above Bastogne had cleared on Dec. 23, and C-47s had dropped
desperately needed supplies, but the very next day on Christmas Eve,
those clear skies gave the German Luftwaffe a chance to send out a few
of their remaining bomber squadrons over the city to cause even further
death and destruction.
A 500-pound bomb fell directly on the 20th
AIB Aid Station, instantly killing 30 wounded U.S. soldiers, along with
nurse Renee Lemaire. Chiwy was in the adjacent house with Dr. Prior and
a lieutenant when the bomb hit. She was blown clean through a wall, but
miraculously survived unscathed.
On the following day, the
remaining wounded were taken to the 101st headquarters at the Heintz
Barracks where Chiwy worked until they were all evacuated when Gen.
George S. Patton's 3rd Army arrived Dec. 26.
Surviving members of
the 10th Armored Division recently signed a letter of appreciation for
her service to them during the battle. Her efforts had never been
officially recognized until then.
This month, a letter was also
received from King Albert II of Belgium stating that he acknowledges
Augusta Chiwy's service and will officially recognize her courage and
sacrifice during the Battle of the Bulge.
(Editor's Note: Martin King is a British author who has spent 20 years
in the Ardennes researching the Battle of the Bulge. He provided this
article to Army News Service for the commemoration of National
African-American History Month.)
| |
By Martin King
Copyright 2011
Reprinted from
Army News Service
Comment on this article |
|
