Bertuch, Hugo T. (814th)

 Hugo T. Bertuch

Biography:  Hugo Travis Bertuch, “Huey”, was born on February 18, 1914, in New York City, NY. He was the son of Hugo Max Bertuch, Jr. and Alexandria Victoria Ross and attended local schools through the 10th grade. His enlistment record indicates that prior to the war he was working as a clerk in a financial institution.

Service Time:  Huey entered the service on January 20, 1942, at Fort Dix, New Jersey. After his basic training, he was probably assigned to a cavalry unit but at some point he was chosen for Officer Candidate School. He graduated as a 2nd Lieutenant on March 18, 1943, and was assigned to the 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion. He was later promoted to the rank of 1st Lieutenant, serving as Third Platoon leader in Company C.

The unit shipped out from the Halifax, Nova Scotia, port on February 15, 1944, aboard the troopship Ile de France. The ship arrived at Greenock, Scotland, on February 22nd and after six months of additional training, the men boarded transports and landed at Utah Beach beginning August 8th, equipped with M10 tank destroyers. They raced across France in August and participated in fighting around Metz in September and then transferred to the Peel Marshes in Holland in late September. The 814th began re-equipping with M36 tank destroyers in October, then supported the Ninth Army’s drive toward the Roer River in November and finally transferring with 7th Armored Division to the Ardennes on December 17th, participating in the defense of St. Vith.

In January, a number of men from the unit were interviewed concerning their experiences during the Battle of the Bulge. The following text is a synopsis of Lt. Bertuch’s interview and experiences beginning on December 20th when he and his platoon were on a road block at Courtil, Belgium, which is southwest of St. Vith.

They were initially ordered to move 3 tank destroyers (TDs) to the vicinity of the Gouvey railroad station and meet up with Cpt. Hughes, Commander of Company D, 40th Tank Battalion. Lt. Hughes’ tanks were already in position and after 3rd platoon’s TDs arrived, Lt. Hughes’ tanks attacked Gouvey while the TDs protected his left flank. The TDs encountered minimal opposition. The TDs continued on to Deifeld, contacting Lt. Herron and selecting gun positions so that the platoon would be ready to move in that direction. On the morning of the 22nd, Lt. Hughes received orders to move back so that the town of Gouvey and the railroad station could be bombed. Lt. Bertuch’s three TDs were to join the company at Beho.  The TDs then proceeded to Krombach with Company C Commander, Cpt. Reid.

The photo above left shows Huey as a cavalry soldier while stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas in 1942.

Third platoon was placed at the crossroads on the 23rd to cover the withdrawal of 7th Armored Division remnants. After all elements had moved down the road to Bovigny, the TDs followed and picked up 130 infantrymen that had been separated from their unit (112th). About halfway to Bovigny, they met up with Cpt. Hughes’ tanks and Lt. Herron’s cavalry. Lt. Bertuch was ordered to meet with the Battalion Executive officer at Cierreux and was ordered to pick up the TDs he had left with Lt. Herron and one TD from B Company and then join the rest of the platoon and attach themselves to the 112th Regimental Combat Team. They moved to Cierreux where Lt. Herron was advised of the change. Bertuch positioned three TDs east of the town, defending to the east, and one TD facing south. The B Company unit engaged a German Panther and sent it up in flames. A C Company TD then hit a Tiger tank coming immediately behind the Panther. The Tiger was also knocked out. They platoon stayed there until dusk as the Infantry had been pulled out shortly after they arrived.

Lt. Bertuch was ordered to provide rear guard protection on withdrawal of Task Force Jones, which was to attack the German held town of Salmchateau. Only four TDs (3″ towed guns) from the 630 TD Bn were in the rear area. After 2-1/2 hours of column movement, the progress was stalled by an enemy roadblock. Enemy tanks were heard moving in from Beho and from the southeast and launched an attack from the south and east. Their leading tank was actually a captured M4 Sherman (American) tank, which tried to move into the column. Lt. Bertuch ordered his men to open fire and they quickly knocked it out. The enemy fired on them from the right flank and the platoon opened fire and one TD took out a tank while another TD took out three more bringing their total to seven. Two of the TDs’ guns failed to fire so the 3-inch towed guns were used, one by one of the TD crews and other by remnants of 630th personnel. All the men were firing any and all small arms they could as well. Four of the TDs were hit and either went up in flames or were destroyed using incendiary grenades to destroy them. A few of the men were injured with one man MIA. Attempts to call artillery failed when the radio quit working. With all the TDs out of action, the men moved in the direction of the column, which was about 15 minutes ahead of them.

The photo above left shows Huey on right with his younger brother Harold, who was serving in the Navy.

Lt. Bertuch would then be ordered to reconnoiter a road to the west with a Jeep he had found abandoned. Seeing a few units leave the column and head down the road he had just investigated, he turned his Jeep around and went after them. Just then, enemy tanks fired on him and destroyed his Jeep but he was able to escape down a slope and join the main column again. He was finally picked up by another Jeep about midnight. Ultimately the platoon lost four TDs with four men MIA and two were evacuated for medical treatment. Seven enemy tanks were destroyed along with many enemy soldiers killed with most of the enemy losses happening around Cierreux.

The 814th supported operations against the West Wall in February, 1945, and crossed the Rhine River at Remagen on March 23rd. They helped reduce the Ruhr Pocket in April and then drove east to the Elbe River, crossing and reaching the Baltic coast on May 3rd. Huey left the service on March 10, 1946, at the rank of 1st Lieutenant.

After returning to New York, Huey went into investment banking, working for the G.H. Walker & Company, Investment Banking and Brokerage company, located at 1 Wall Street, NY. He later worked for Merrill Lynch Investments. He lived initially in Brooklyn, then in Manhattan and later moved to Fort Myers, Florida, after he retired. He remained a bachelor until 1962, when he married Ruth Huntington at the All Saints Episcopal Church in Bethesda, Maryland. Huey was a member of the Hilary’s Episcopal Church and the Cypress Lake Country Club. He passed away on November 5, 1983 and was buried in Ft. Myers. I want to thank Huey’s nephew, Mike, for providing the information and photo use in this tribute.