Evening star., 1945-01-24
Yanks Mourn Officer
Whose Tanks Carried
Supplies in Combat
Ry b. ]. McQIAID.

By b. j. McQUAID,
War Correspondent Of The Star and the
Chicago Daily News
IN THE ARDENNES, Belgium
Jan. 24.-Snuffy Hughes, one Of the
most colorful and best loved char
acters in the 7th Armored Division,
Is dead. Snuffy got it in the battle
OF Manhay early Christmas morn
ing.
Censorship regulations have until
now precluded mention of the cas-
ualty, or Identification of Capt.
Walter j. Hughes. Surveyor, w. Va,
as the light tank company COM
mander who as mayor of Gouvy
station" resupplied an entire divi-
sion with stores of the huge 1st
Army dump, cut off in the first
hours of Field Marshal Karl Won
Rundstedt's drive.
At one time the 7th Armoreds
magnificent effort in placing itself
athwart the main routes of German
advance in the st. Vith-Recht- -Beho
region was threatened with nullifi-
cation and the division itself faced
humiliation due to it's loss of So
600 gallons of gasoline and 10000
rationS
Invented Express"
That was when Snuffy reconsti-
tuted his famous "Bluebau Express"
The Blueball Express was what ne
called his light tank company when
ever it had to be employed as
combat train to run supplies and
ammunition under heavy enemy fire
to sustain other forward clements
The Gouvy station job, which he
did only few days before his
death, was Capt. Hughes greatest
triumph. Not only did he shove his
light tanks down the highways from
Beho, which were supposedly con-
trolled by powerful SIS Panzer
forces, but he kept these routes
open for three days, organized a
defensive system around Gouvy and
made SO much noise that the Ger
mans delayed their approach until
they had gathered immense forces
to attack what seemed like whole !
armored DIVISION.
BY the time the Germans felt
strong enough to seize Gouvy,
Snuffy was gone and so were most |
of the supplies of the 1st Army
depot. Every man in the 7th Ar
mored was walking around with a |
big box of rations under each arm
and the name Snuffy Hughes was
again on every lip.
Capt. Hughes was killed when his
tank ran over one of our own |
mines, hastily laid south of Man
hay as our forces, who had pene-
trated several thousand yards south
of the village on December a. de-
cided to pull back to Manhay and |
hold the line
Nazis Sneak Into Town.
Just as the withdrawal began.
the Germans sneaked into town
with captured American Sherman
tanks and tank destroyers, masking
a strong force of their own Tiger
Royals. Penetration was through
an area loosely held by outfits not
attached to the 7th Armored. but
any one might have been caught by
such ruse.
Capt. Hughes, outposting the left
flank some distance to the south
east, found his main routes of with
drawal cut by the enemy surprise
penetration, and tried to get his
outfit back through open fields. In
one of these his tank ran over the
mine
One story every one told on
Christmas Day concerned Capt
Hughes was about his beseeching,
agonized phone call to Capt. NAL
colin o. Allen during the Lindern
exploit. when the Blueban Express
was running assistance to Capt
Aliens beleaguered tanks. At one
juncture several of Snuffy's tanks,
caught under a whitening barrage
on the road from Geronswiler. had
to leave the highway and take
shelter
Snuffy pleaded with Capt. Allen
to send some of his forces to their
assistance. Their conversation, on an
open circuit, was heard by many Of
their brothers-in arms, who, despite
the gravity of the situation, ex-
ploded mirthfully when Snuffy. his
patience exhausted by Capt. Allen
methodical approach to the problem,
blew up with Damn it, quit the
double talk and stop blowing smoke
in my eyes. 1t amt me that's ask
f,,1 -,
boys out there. Them's my boys!"