"Malmedy Heroe..." Topic

""He was an automatic rifleman with the 3rd Platoon defending a strong point near Malmedy, Belgium, on 21 December 1944, when the enemy launched a powerful attack. Overrunning tank destroyers and antitank guns located near the strong point, German tanks advanced to the 3rd Platoon's position, and, after prolonged fighting, forced the withdrawal of this group to a nearby factory. Sgt. Currey found a bazooka in the building and crossed the street to secure rockets meanwhile enduring intense fire from enemy tanks and hostile infantrymen who had taken up a position at a house a short distance away. In the face of small-arms, machine gun, and artillery fire, he, with a companion, knocked out a tank with 1 shot. Moving to another position, he observed 3 Germans in the doorway of an enemy-held house. He killed or wounded all 3 with his automatic rifle. He emerged from cover and advanced alone to within 50 yards of the house, intent on wrecking it with rockets. Covered by friendly fire, he stood erect, and fired a shot which knocked down half of 1 wall. While in this forward position, he observed 5 Americans who had been pinned down for hours by fire from the house and 3 tanks. Realizing that they could not escape until the enemy tank and infantry guns had been silenced, Sgt. Currey crossed the street to a vehicle, where he procured an armful of antitank grenades. These he launched while under heavy enemy fire, driving the tank men from the vehicles into the house. He then climbed onto a half-track in full view of the Germans and fired a machine gun at the house. Once again changing his position, he manned another machine gun whose crew had been killed; under his covering fire the 5 soldiers were able to retire to safety. Deprived of tanks and with heavy infantry casualties, the enemy was forced to withdraw. Through his extensive knowledge of weapons and by his heroic and repeated braving of murderous enemy fire, Sgt. Currey was greatly responsible for inflicting heavy losses in men and material on the enemy, for rescuing 5 comrades, 2 of whom were wounded, and for stemming an attack which threatened to flank his battalion's position."

From here
link

Incredible brave and heroic!…

Amicalement
Armand

Nice find. Thanks for the post.

Anybody know a WW2 rule set that would allow this?
Awe inspiring courage.

With most rules sets these days you first would have to wait for your card to come up. Then you would have to roll command dice to see which actions you could do. Then you would have to pass a morale check for each action. Finally, you have to make a skill check to see if you can operate the weapon you just encountered.

Inspiring.

DELETED…………

Glad you enjoyed it boys!… now I understand why the German attack failed…

Amicalement
ARmand

I forgot to mention, thanks for posting Armand!

An impressive story of courage under fire.

In most rules, it would be the luck of the draw on cards, or the luck of the roll on the dice, to allow such behavior/results.

While it real life? It's mostly the luck of the dice there, too.

Sgt Currey, in this story, was pretty smart. He repeatedly changed his position, so that he repeatedly was NOT where the enemy expected him to be. That improved his odds. So he gets a skills modifier on the dice. But you still roll the dice, and maybe you make your number, and maybe you don't.

Truly courageous individuals often do amazing things in combat. Stories like this, of a remarkable chain of heroic acts, are inspiring. But more often truly courageous individuals like Sgt Currey are shot down during their first or second heroic act.

Doesn't make them any less heroic. Just makes it less likely that we'll hear their stories…

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

There seem to be many accounts of individual heroism during WWII and almost every other war. I often wonder if it is because a single individual is harder to spot in the chaos of the battlefield. Individual initiative and being in the LOS for a lesser amount of time may be a contributing factor too.

I have a rule where the unit needs to respond to enemy units moving to engage it in Opportunity Fire. There is a delay in noticing it if there are 1-2 in the moving unit and a better chance if 5+ in the unit. A delay in engaging them means a better chance at moving from cover to cover and less time in the line of fire.

I think games that have 1-5 second turns could simulate his actions with some type of a "Heroic Action" rule. Sgt. Curry was definitely not activating randomly!

He enlisted at 17 and was 19 when the action occurred so about 2 years experience. He was a Private in Dec 1944 and an E-7(?) when awarded in Aug 1945. His division landed on Omahu Beach and had seen steady combat up to Dec 1944. With about 6 months combat experience you'd have to rate the guy a combat veteran from what I can tell.

What do you think the "anti-tank" grenades were? Sounds like WP or Molotov Cocktail. Some US infantry units had bazookas at the Company level and were handed out to the line platoons. While having a BAR he may have been familiar with the bazooka already so no skill check.

Also notice the examples of cover fire, forcing tank crew to button up and tank crew failing a morale check. Lucky hit on that turret ring too. Infantry in an urban environment against tanks gives them the initiative too.

Wolfhag

What do you think the "anti-tank" grenades were? Sounds like WP or Molotov Cocktail.

They sounded like rifle grenades (it referred to them being launched: "… he procured an armful of antitank grenades. These he launched… "), so M9/M9A1 HEAT would seem most likely.

No mention my friend!.

Amicalement
Armand

What do you think the "anti-tank" grenades were?

They sounded like rifle grenades (it referred to them being launched: "… he procured an armful of antitank grenades. These he launched… "), so M9/M9A1 HEAT would seem most likely.

Could be. But he was carrying a BAR and a bazooka by that time, so he would have had no means of launching rifle grenades unless he also picked up a rifle somewhere along the way.

German tanks advanced to the 3rd Platoon's position … Sgt. Currey found a bazooka in the building and crossed the street to secure rockets ….

In the face of small-arms, machine gun, and artillery fire, he, with a companion, knocked out a tank with 1 shot. Moving to another position, he observed 3 Germans in the doorway of an enemy-held house. He killed or wounded all 3 with his automatic rifle. He emerged from cover and advanced alone to within 50 yards of the house, intent on wrecking it with rockets. Covered by friendly fire, he stood erect, and fired a shot which knocked down half of 1 wall. …

Sgt. Currey crossed the street to a vehicle, where he procured an armful of antitank grenades. These he launched while under heavy enemy fire…

It seems he was carrying both his BAR and the bazooka, along with some rocket projectiles. That's a lot of stuff to carry, so he probably only had a couple rockets. Having used at least 2 rocket projectiles he went back across the street again for more. I think the most likely case is that the author just used the term anti-tank grenade casually to describe anti-tank projectiles for the bazooka.

At least that was my reading.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Could be. But he was carrying a BAR and a bazooka by that time, so he would have had no means of launching rifle grenades unless he also picked up a rifle somewhere along the way.

I'm assuming he got a rifle from the same vehicle he got the grenades from, but I could be wrong.

I think the most likely case is that the author just used the term anti-tank grenade casually to describe anti-tank projectiles for the bazooka.

The reason I doubt that is because earlier in the citation the author uses the term rockets twice: "… crossed the street to secure rockets…" and "… intent on wrecking it with rockets…" when referring to the bazooka use.

Here's Mr. Currey referring to anti-tank grenades: YouTube link

Amazing interview, thanks for the link!

Like so many real heroes Sgt Currey is very modest.