Leon Bass was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1925. He joined the US Army in 1943 and served as a member of the all-Black 183rd Engineer Combat Battalion attached to General Patton's Third Army. Leon's unit was involved in the Battle of the Bulge as well as the liberation of Buchenwald. After the war, Leon went on to receive his doctorate, teach, and speak about the Holocaust and racism.
In this interview, Leon discusses his unit's movements during the Battle of the Bulge. He describes their path from France into Belgium in December 1944. The 183rd Battalion was instructed to rebuild a bridge so that General Patton's unit could join the battle.
[Leon]: But it was short lived. I, our unit left by way of South Hampton and went across the channel to Le Havre, France. And then we moved up through France and stopped outside of a small town alongside the road and waited for the orders to come down. And it was into this environment that we began to understand what war was all about. Because the weather was terrible. It has been raining, sleeting, and cold and foggy, and yet we waited. Until finally they said, the orders came down and said that we were attached to General Patton's Third Army. And our responsibility was to go to a place called Martelange in Belgium. It was a small town where a bridge had been blown up, either by us or by the enemy. But there was no bridge in Martelange that would connect the main highway. And we had no idea what was going on at that time because no one had told us that in 1944, around this Christmas season, that the Germans in a desperate move to try to win the war had sort of counterattacked and found a soft spot in the lines and had pushed us back and created a bulge.
[Interviewer]: This is the Battle of the Bulge.
[Leon]: And so, that's it. We were in the Battle of the Bulge and didn't know it at the time. And here we are, moving up in darkness -- in the blackout conditions. Up through Arlon, up to Martelange. And, uh, we began to do what we were told to do, and that is to rebuild that bridge. And General Patton, whose Third Army we were attached to, was coming with the armored divisions, the guns, the tanks, the men. All of that was necessary because above Martelange, about so many kilometers, not many, there was a town called Bastogne. In Bastogne, I understand there was the division, I think it was 101st Airborne-
[Interviewer]: Airborne. 101st Airborne. General McAuliffe.
[Leon]: Yes, yes, the fellow that said "Nuts!" when they asked him to surrender. Well, they were all encircled and were told they were going to be wiped out. So, forces were being moved, I guess, from many places and the Third Army was one part of that. And we had to get that bridge up so that those armored divisions could go across without having to wait. And, so, we worked night and day. And we put that bridge up. And we put it up in time so there was no delay. And we saw blood and guts come along there, and we saw him with his pearl handled guns and it left quite an image he, he gave. Uh, he came through and those soldiers went up and they really saved, help save those men.
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