Military history

Chapter Three

St Vith and Bastogne

By the end of the second day General Hodges realised that his front was crumbling. Sixth Panzer Army had broken through and an armoured detachment, Kampfgruppe Peiper, commanded by SS-Standartenführer Joachim Peiper, was heading for the River Meuse at Huy. Driving deep, while using captured fuel stocks to maintain progress, Peiper’s men murdered over 300 American soldiers and 100 Belgian civilians as they drove through Malmedy and Stavelot. Further south 1st SS Panzer Division was also rolling west, bypassing St Vith where American rearguards held off three Panzer divisions around the town.

With 106th Infantry Division virtually wiped off the map by 19 December, having lost 7,000 men captured and many more casualties, the defence of St Vith and its road network was the key to stopping the advance, and the order ‘Hold at all costs’ was given to the 7th and 9th Armoured Divisions.The German commanders, frustrated by the narrow roads and bad weather, hammered at the American roadblocks for two days.

On Skyline Drive Fifth Panzer Army had overrun 28th Infantry Division as it struggled to hold crossings over the River Our, but with the help of elements of the 9th and 10th Armoured Divisions the division had stopped General von Manteuffel reaching Bastogne before the 101st Airborne Division had taken up residence.Teams of paratroopers backed with tanks had blocked the roads into the town just in time. Wishing to avoid a costly engagement, the Panzers pushed on between St Vith and Bastogne towards the Meuse encircling the 101st. For the next ten days the ‘Screaming Eagles’ would fight it out as First and Third Army tried to reach the besieged paratroopers.

A King Tiger tank guards the bridge across the Ambleve river in the centre of Stavelot. 30th Division blocked succesive crossings over the river as Kampfgruppe Peiper advanced west.

Reference 111-SC-198340

Stragglers of the 28th Infantry Division, many without weapons, fall back into Bastogne after their division was overrun east of the town.Their defensive roadblocks allowed time for the 101st Airborne Division and Combat Commands from the 9th and 10th Armoured Divisions to reach the town. 111-SC-270947

With the Germans surrounding 101st Airborne Division, General McAuliffe’s men could not afford to let the local population back into Bastogne. These paratroopers of 502 Regiment are refusing to let civilians through their perimeter. 111-SC-198443

One group of prisoners is lead through the ruins of the town at the height of the siege. Both captors and captives have been exhausted by round the clock fighting. 111-SC-198472

This group of German soldiers was mown down by machine gun fire as they advanced towards Brigadier General McAuliffe’s command post in Bastogne. The tanks accompanying the infantry were knocked out during the attack. 111-SC-200446

Civilians caught up in the siege decide to escape and pack up a few belongings before heading out of the town. A mixture of German and American Army signs cover the walls above the Belgian road sign. 111-SC-200480

One family have decided to escape the daily bombardments and have packed up their belongings looking to leave the shell torn town. 111-SC-198444

Long after the civilians had fled, their animals strayed through the ruined town. 111-SC-198721

The sign is a little out of date. Heavy shelling has turned unattended vehicles in Bastogne’s square into a mass of twisted wreckage. Salvage crews will be needed to impound the piles of scrap metal. 111-SC-198445

Spares for vehicles were in short supply during the siege and these two soldiers are looking to cannibalise this wrecked halftrack to keep their own vehicle roadworthy. 111-SC-199250

There are sombre faces all round as Brigadier General McAuliffe and 101st Airborne Division’s staff gather for a brief Christmas dinner in the cellar of the divisional headquarters. 111-SC-200483

The different faces of Christmas. Out in the foxholes in the woods the GIs tried their best to lift their spirits. Here one enterprising sergeant has decorated a fledgling pine tree with a C-Ration can and tinsel foil. American planes had dropped the foil as they flew overhead in an attempt to disrupt German radar systems. 111-SC-198234

Paratroopers attend a Christmas day service at the height of the siege. Many of the men pictured here had been wounded in the fighting for the town and had to wait until 4th Armoured Division broke through from the south before they could be evacuated. 111-SC-200477

General ‘Lighting Joe’ Lawton Collins poses by a festive tree at VII Corps headquarters. On Christmas Day Collins was in the middle of planning the projected counter-offensive against the ‘Bulge’ in an attempt to reach Bastogne from the north. 111-SC-1982111

The siege continued unabated and with German artillery ringed around Bastogne, houses and streets became deathtraps as shells rained down around the clock. This rescue party are looking for trapped buddies in the ruins of one bombed building. 111-SC-200853

The facial expression of Technician Milford Sillars on the right as he talks to Private Adam Davies sums up the mood of the men besieged in Bastogne. The two men belonged to 110 Regiment of the 28th ‘Keystone’ Division which had been overrun by the German advance.The men managed to escape and join the Airborne troops in the town, helping to form Combat Team SNAFU; in Army parlance ‘Situation Normal, All Fouled Up’ 111-SC-198304

9th Armoured Division was split in three Combat Commands and committed towards St Vith, Echternach, and Bastogne in an attempt to hold back the German advance. Elements were caught up in 101st Airborne’s perimeter. On several occasions German radio communications announced that the division had been destroyed and Major General John Leonard’s men unofficially adopted the title ‘Phantom’Division. This Sherman is heading for Bastogne as part of one of many attempts to reach the paratroopers. 111-SC-198406

While 101st Airborne fought on from its besieged positions in Bastogne, 82nd Airborne Division stemmed the German advance north-west of the town. Here howitzers of the 254th Field Artillery Battalion support the paratroopers as they hold Werbomont. 111-SC-198446

Many attempts to fly supplies in to the paratroopers by glider and transport plane were made and these C-47 (Dakota) transport planes were pictured flying over Bastogne. 111-SC-198403

GIs of the 44th Armoured Infantry Battalion. Soldiers claw at the frozen soil to form foxholes while Sherman tanks look on. Without white camouflage the men and vehicles stand out against the snow covered fields. 111-SC-198465

44th Armoured Infantry Battalion mount up and move east to drive the Germans back across the Our River. Major General Robert Grow’s Division, the ‘Super Sixth’ Armoured was heavily engaged along the south bank of the River Sauer during the siege. 111-SC-198462

Attacks on the northern shoulder of the Bulge helped to reduce the pressure on Bastogne. 105mm Howitzers of the 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion line up to support 7th Armoured Division’s attack on Manhay crossroads near St Vith. 111-SC-198408

Reconnaissance vehicles of 25th Cavalry Squadron head the advance through Chaumont as 4th Armoured Division spearheads the attempt to relieve Bastogne. 111-SC-199294

The crew of a 4.2 inch mortar is well supplied as it supports 35th Division’s attack from Tintange towards Bastogne. This size of mortar had originally been designed to fire chemical shells but experiments showed that it was capable of firing high explosive, considerably boosting an infantry division’s close fire support. 111 -SC-1 9842 1 111-SC-198421

Having dismounted and left their halftracks behind, GIs of the 10th Armoured Infantry Battalion move forward on foot across snow covered fields towards Bastogne. Shells from 4th Armoured Division’s mobile artillery, cover the advance. 111-SC-198452

Patton’s Third Army came to the 101st’s rescue, attacking the German cordon to the south of Bastogne after 4th Armoured Division covered 150 miles in nineteen hours. Infantry form a protective screen alongside a road as Grant tanks head towards the town. Major General Hugh Gaffey’s tanks eventually reached the ‘Screaming Eagles’ on 26 December. 111-SC-198451

320 Regiment establishes new positions on the east flank of the corridor connecting Bastogne with Third Army. 35th Division countered German attempts to sever 4th Armoured Division’s link with the paratroopers. 111-SC-271264

The breakthrough has been made and 4th Armoured Division has reached the beleaguered ‘Screaming Eagles’. Halftracks from one of the Armoured Infantry Battalions have been parked in the town square while the GIs survey the bomb damaged houses. 111-SC-198392

These German soldiers surrendered to 6th Armoured Division’s Combat Command A as it attacked Neffe at the south-east corner of the German cordon.The division’s attack severely hampered 1 SS Panzerkorps’ ability to advance west of Bastogne. 111-SC-198466

House to house fighting in the vicinity of Bastogne. The corpse in the white camouflage suit is that of a dead German.This clearly indicates the closeness of the fighting. Taylor Library

Paratroopers march past the bullet-scarred sign to join the general advance east of the town.The sign was later removed and taken back to the ‘Screaming Eagles” headquarters in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. 111-SC-200445b

A dark sense of humour prevailed during the siege. 111-SC-226804

Members of the 101st Airborne Division proudly march out of Bastogne after the ten-day siege has been broken. 111-SC-200445a

Major General Maxwell D.Taylor was in the States when the 101st Airborne Division was engaged. He eventually reached Bastogne on 5 January and here meets Assistant Divisional Commander McAuliffe in front of the town sign. 111-SC-198647

A convoy of ambulances evacuate wounded men from Bastogne after the siege was lifted. Taylor Library

Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Third Army’s commanding officer, awards Brigadier General McAuliffe the Distinguished Service Cross for leading the defence of the town. On 21 December McAuliffe received a formal offer to surrender from XXXXVII Panzerkorps’ leader, General Heinrich von Lüttwitz. After failing to come up with a suitable reply to the protracted proposal McAuliffe replied with one word – ‘Nuts’ . 111-SC-200482

General Heinrich von Lüttwitz. ‘NUTS!’ Taylor Library

After the siege ended, the ‘Screaming Eagles’ went over to the attack. Major General Maxwell Taylor, briefs his subordinates. Brigadier General Higgins, Colonel Link, Colonel Harper and Major Hatch, in Noville on the outskirts of Bastogne. 111-SC-199243

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