When Oliver Wiggs died on August 1st, 2003, the Third Armored Division lost an authentic warrior hero. Oiver Wiggs was a member of I Company, 3rd. Battalion of the 33 Armored Regiment. As a member of his tank crew, he was the gunner.
In mid November of 1944, the V11 Corp. had finally acquired the men and supplies to make a serious attack against the entrenched German defenders in the Stolberg Corridor.
In mid September the 12th Volksgrenadier Division had been rushed from the Eastern Front in order to bolster the defense of the German position.
November 16th was chosen as the date for the aforementioned attack. It was the Third Battalion of the 33rd Armored Regiment that was chosen to be in the vanguard of the offensive.
According to the statement of Lt. Henry Earl, a Platoon Leader, I Company committed 19 tanks in the attack, including a forward artillery observer tank and also a flail tank to make a path through the mine field. According to Oliver Wiggs, by dusk there were three remaining tanks, all others having been.knocked out either by mines or anti-tank guns. He said the three remaining tanks, of which his was one of the survivors, reached the first out-buildings of Hastenrath. However, F Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment, did not support the attack. They were to follow the tanks in their half-tracks, and then on foot in order to protect the tanks from the dreaded shoulder fired Panzerfaust, an anti-tank rocket.
The lack of infantry support must have been the reason that Wiggs left his tank and among the out-buildings engaged the enemy in close combat. For that heroic action, he was awarded the Silver Star.
As dusk covered the field of carnage, the three remaining tank Commanders decided that without infantry support, among the buildings, they were extremely vulnerable, besides being perilously low in ammunition,they should try to withdraw acrossthat large open field, to the village of Werth. Werth had been taken earlier by Col. Lovelady's men, and our company,D Company of the 36th had been moved into the village in order to launch an attack on Scherpenseel the next morning.
Amazingly, all three tanks made it through the mine field without incident. Werth was perched on high ground overlooking a large flat field beyond that lay Hastenrath. The right side of the field was bounded by the village of Scherpenseel.
Some years ago, after I had returned from my second trip to that battlefield scene, I spoke with Colonel Lovelady at a Division Reunion. We discussed that bitter fight at length. Unknown to me, the Colonel, because of my interest in the Scherpenseel-Hastenrath action, gave my name to a German Historian, Gunter von der Weiden of Stolberg. Mr. von der Weiden, in a letter, asked me to make a tape of my recollections of the fighting in that area. The tape that I mailed him turned into a 30 page transcript. He translated my statement into German. At the same time, he had the very detailed documents and diary of a former German Officer, 1st Lt. Hans Zeplien who commanded the 14th Anti-Tank Company of the 89th Regiment, of the 12th Volksgrenadier Division. Mr. von der Weiden had that statement translated into English and I received a copy. At the same time Mr. von derWeiden gave Hans Zeplien a copy of my statement.
In 1993, through the efforts of Mr. von der Weiden, I was able to meet Mr. Zeplien in Scherpenseel in the home of my good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Artz. It wasn't long before there was a very strong bond between us. Mr. Zeplien and I spent an entire day traveling the whole area from Donnerberg to Weisenberg, Werth, Scherpenseel and Hastenrath.
I was contacted by a member of the 12th Volksgrendier Division, inviting me to be a guest at their reunuion in Merode. Mr. Zeplien said that if I would agree to attend the reunion, he would pay all of my expenses for the trip, which he did.
After the reunion, we again returned to Scherpenseel and stayed in the home of our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Artz. The next day he again took me on the tour of that infamous battlefield.
We visited the cellar in a home where he had his Command Post during the fighting. We then walked around the perimeter of the large field. At one time we stood at the northwest corner of that field, giving us a panoramic view of that scene of death and destruction. It was then that he told me that on the night of the 16th of November, he had with him one of his men as he tried to find out the situation of his various gun crews. He said that suddenly out of the darkness he heard the sound of tank engines come alive and then, because of the flames from their exhausts, he could determine that there were three tanks making a run from the edge of Hastenrath across that large field toward Werth. He and the man with him were both carrying Panzerfausts and they immediately began running as fast as they could in order to try to intercept those three tanks and get close enough to fire their weapons. He said that the tanks
were moving too rapidly and they had to break off their pursuit. I was absolutely astonished. Then and there, he perfectly corroborated everything that Oliver Wiggs had told me about that night. I said to my friend Hans, do you realize that a man from my home town was in one of those tanks that you were chasing?
As soon as I returned home, I contacted Oliver Wiggs and told him that I had not only met one of the men who had chased his tank on the night of November 16th, but also the same man was the architect of that deadly anti-tank defense that was so costly to our tanks and men.
I then went about introducing those two men through correspondence and they had some very pleasant exchanges. Then, a few years ago, Oliver Wiggs moved from Emmaus to adjoining Allentown and went to live in a Retirement Home. After his dear Wife died and he was no longer able to drive, he would call me and ask me to take him on shopping excursions. We spend priceless hours together reminiscing. Oliver was always well dressed so there was the usual stop at his clothing store for some article of clothing that he needed. There were several other stops, but always a visit to his favorite tobacco shop. We would end the tour with Oliver taking me to lunch at the local Red Lobster.
I would always have my camera with me and during the meal I would ask a Waiter to take our photograph as we both faced the camera and lifted a toast to our friend Hans. I would mail Hans a copy, to his great delight.
One of the last visits that Oliver and I had together, I had just received a letter from our friend Hans. In the letter he said, "Please tell Oliver that the next time I chase him it won't be with a Panzerfaust, rather, I will chase him with a bouquet of flowers".
I thought, what a beautiful picture of the spirit of reconciliation between two former enemies.
Later in the War, Oliver was elevated to the rank of Tank Commander and also, I was told, was recommended for a Battlefield Commission, which, for some reason, he declined to accept. That was the stature of Oliver Wiggs. Truly an authentic warrior hero of the Third Armored Division.
I will always consider it an honor to have known him and count him as a valued friend.