Posted by Allan W. Howerton on November 16, 2007, 4:06 pm, in reply to "Re: Railplitter Photos update"
Message modified by board administrator November 17, 2007, 11:30 am
Per the 84th Division roster, Sgt. Ernest H. Hough was a member of Company B, First Battalion, 335th Infantry. The roster does not list his hometown and notes only that he was reported missing in action on January 9, 1945.
If he was killed in action on January 7 (Ardennes campaign --Battle of the Bulge) it would have been during operations near the village of Laid Prangeleux, Belgium in the general vicinity of Devantave. The regimental after-action report for the month of January 1945 describes battle action on that day as follows:
"The order was received by the 1st Bn 335th late on the night of the sixth to continue the attack (from Devantave which was taken on January 6) along the road from the road junction southeast of Mignofa (453855) to seize objective 5, (the high ground northwest of Laid Prangeloux). At 0830 of the seventh the attack jumped off with the Infantry proceeding the tanks, and at 1000 the objective was taken. Then with the tanks proceeding the Infantry, the 1st Bn moved forward on objective 6 (the high ground northeast of Croix du Laid Prangeloux), and took it at 1600 whereupon the troops moved into a perimeter defense for the night."
The report goes on to describe subsequent action by Company B and the 1st Battalion in an unsuccessful attack on the nearby village of Samree over the next two days, January 8 and 9. This was during the Allied counterattack to close the far northwest flank of the Bulge which commenced on January 3, 1945. These operations around Devantave and vicinity are described, from the standpoint of Company K and the 335th Infantry generally in my memoir, "Dear Captain, et al.: the Agonies and the Ecstasies of War and Memory."
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