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| CIC Agent Roy Hovel |
One person with the 83rd division, was Roy Bernard Hovel, a
special agent in the Counter Intelligence Corps, with the rank of Technical
Sargent. Special agent Hovel, who passed
away in 2003, was one of two CIC agents in Luxembourg for about three days, to
testify at a trial of spy prisoners they had apprehended. During this visit he was able to spend time
with a lady friend and her parents. This
lady friend would assist with interpretation while he he undertook Army
business. When he was about to depart
for his unit at the conclusion of the trial, Jean Mayer, a friend of Roy's
(also the father of his lady friend) and the warden at the Luxembourg Grund
Prison, questioned him about what he had heard about German activity in the
area of his planned route of travel.
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| Entry Gate to Luxembourg Grund Prison |
Let
us pick up a few words in a letter Roy Bernard wrote to his parents, dated
December 19, 1945, headlined simply, "Somewhere in Germany". The letter begins with a simple phrase: "I am sorry that I have delayed in
writing to you for so long, but a lot has happened since my last letter a week
ago." He would go on to say that
the prior night was the first time he had to read their letters from 7 Nov up to "Daddy's letter of Dec
5th." It is at a later point in the
letter, that he provides a little more information. Recall that his letters are
read by censors, and while this letter does not have any information cut,
others did, so there will be no direct reference to specific events. The third
paragraph reads in part: "I have had a lot of experiences within the past
week, including to both extremes the best and the worst living in my experience
overseas, if not my life."
In 1965 Roy Hovel wrote a letter to a person who was looking
to write a book on the CIC. This letter,
which provides additional detail to that week, is summarized as follows: In the very early morning of Dec 16, 1944 Roy
and agent Turner were departing Luxembourg City, but due to early time of day
had not been in contact with any commanders regarding recent activity. They
left early in the morning as they had to drive without lights. All was quiet on this front as they took the
road north of Luxembourg City, which was the one closest to the eastern
border. But the quiet of the morning was
about to turn. Hovel and his partner
were about 14 miles outside of Luxembourg City on the way back to their post in
Germany east of Aachen, when a tracer bullet went, as he says, "between my
eyes and the windshield of the jeep."
As other bullets hit the jeep he was driving, he jumped into the ditch
on the left side of the country road, and his partner to the right ditch. Over the course of the day the two agents
were able to make their way to the bottom of a hill and eventually made contact
with a reconnoitering Army Captain who took them to his division's intelligence
division. This was probably the 101st Airborne. Here they reported what they
had encountered. This location happened to be in the center of activity--Bastogne. Just before, he thinks it was about a half hour, before Bastogne was surrounded by the Germans, Roy and his CIC partner were able to get out of Bastogne and rejoin their own division. I also believe that, since they were taken to the division HQ, they were at the now infamous cafe in Bastogne. It was from the Bastogne Cafe that the US Commander received a German request that they surrender, to which would be the famous reply "Nuts".
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| Former Convent Church, and by 1944 was part of the prison |
It is possible that Jean Mayer, as warden at the prison, had
heard rumors about German activity in the outskirts of the Luxembourg City. The Allied Army, as we know, was in the dark
about German movements; but at least Roy
Hovel, as he left Luxembourg before dawn, knew to keep his eyes open. He and his partner would later learn that
this was start the Battle of the Bulge.
The Thunderbolt Division would be
relocated to fight in the Bulge, engaging in the battle just after Christmas.
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| Cafe in Bastogne |
The 19 Dec. 1944 letter raises the question as to what best
and worst parts of his time that week had been.
The best part of his time was likely his time with his lady friend
Berty. In the letter he wonders if he
may not be falling in love with Berty, who he had met while the 83rd was
stationed in Luxembourg. What American
man, or any man, would not think the company of a women was a respite from the
fog of war? The worst was likely the
German ambush and his means of transportation arguably being the first US
materiel destroyed in the Battle of Bulge.
His quick reaction kept him from being the first human statistic. Anita
Hovel, a sister to Roy, would recount that he and his partner were able to
gather and enjoy some treats his lady friend Berty and her parents had sent
along as they made their way back to allied lines.
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| Mayer family temporary home in Dommeldingen, suburb of Luxembourg City. The family was required to live here during the occupation until 14 Nov 1944 |
The letters he received from Rudy, Ida and Anita are, as far
as I know, lost to history. His letters
home were kept by his parents. Reading
the copies of the letters he wrote home you get a sense of a desire for
information, but to be home. Many of
his letters begin with him wondering when his parents or sister would have last
written. Near its conclusion, one can
sense the solitary nature of another Christmas away from home. He writes: "The days are going fast
these days and soon Christmas will be here.
I suppose it will be one of the loneliest ones I spent, but it couldn't
be worse than last year as over here you know you cannot be on leave for it and
so one not too disturbed over that, although I wish I could spend it with
you." He would have spent
Christmas 1943 in the US, but unable to obtain leave to spend the holiday with
his family.
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| CIC Agent Hovel |
As to whether he was falling in love with Berty, he
concludes that portion by saying time will tell. Of course, he did not marry Berty. He would come back to the United States, marry
Mary Jeanne Sweeney, and together they would produce a family of ten.
As 2019 starts to wrap up, perhaps we need to think of
Christmas in a slightly different way than we have in the past. While Christmas cookies may give us a bulge
to which we need to battle, they provided a small level of comfort food for a man making his
way back to his unit during the true Battle of the Bulge.
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