"God bless you, Clay! You're all the artillery we've got. Head out the ridge east of town and support those two engineer companies dug in there. Look for a tall engineer lieutenant colonel, Riggs."
This artillery battalion was to go down in history." This is the account the first meeting General Bruce Clarke and Lieutenant Colonel Roy U. Clay as told in CLARKE OF ST. VITH, THE SERGEANTS' GENERAL, by William Donohue Ellis and Col. Thomas J. Cunningham, Jr., USA (Ret.). A new Brigadier General, Clarke had been ordered to buy 72 hours to allow time to get XVIII Airborne Corps units in place for a counter offensive.
The 7th Armored gave a stubborn defense, giving up ground measured in yards instead of the miles that a far large contingent of German forces had experienced prior to engaging Combat Command B. Later in the account of operations at the end of 19 December 1944 in CLARKE OF ST. VITH..."At dusk, however, the Krauts withdrew. The 7th Armored had held. That is they held St. Vith; but throughout the night heavy German troop movement was heard to the front, including tanks and half tracks. The valiant 275th Artillery fired into this noise several times throughout the night."
An endorsement for the book mentioned above reads, "This book gives St. Vith under the command of General Clarke the recognition it deserves as being the decisive factor in the area and the campaign."
High praise from the commander of the enemy army.
Click here for an account of The Battle of St. Vith, : A Concept in Defensive Tactics from one of General Clarke's speeches to ROTC classes.
