Battle of the Bulge
Battle of the Bulge
On December 16, 1944, during the Battle for Elsenborn Ridge, the Allied forces held off Germanys mightiest armored division: the First SS Panzer Division. [1] This division led the whole German Sixth Panzer Army, whose strength was over 4,800 men and 600 military vehicles. [2]
The 99th and Second Infantry Divisions seriously weakened the Sixth SS Panzer Army in the north; a stand-off unanticipated by Adolph Hitler. For example, the Allied forces stopped the advancement of one German battalion in the town of Lanzerath for one day. Lanzerath was a key supply route to Losheim Gap, which the Germans needed desperately. Despite the available armor of the Ninth Fallschirmjaeger Regiment, a platoon from the Intelligence & Reconnaissance (99th Infantry Division) prevented the advancement of some 500 German paratroopers all day. Along with four Forward Air Controllers, this platoon killed about 92 Germans.
Because of the damaged bridges at the Losheimergraben Road, the Germans Sixth Panzer Army was behind schedule in reaching their next strategic point: Bucholz Station. [3]
However, on December 17, 1944, despite the strategic resistance of the 99th Infantry Division, the German Army, led by the Kampfgruppe Peiper captured the Third Battalion of the 394th Infantry Regiment at the Bucholz Station. “The early morning attack against the right flank of the 394th had given alarming indication that the very tenuous connection with the 14th Cavalry Group had been severed and that the southern flank of the 99th Division was exposed to some depth. The only connecting link, the 30-man I and R Platoon of the 394th, northwest of Lanzerath, had lost physical contact early in the day both with the cavalry and with its own regiment. Radio communication with the isolated platoon continued for some time, and at 1140 word was relayed to the 99th Division command post that the cavalry was pulling out of Lanzerath-confirmation, if such were needed, of the German break-through on the right of the 99th. Belatedly, the 106th Infantry Division reported at 1315 that it could no longer maintain contact at the interdivision boundary. Less than an hour later the radio connection with the I and R Platoon failed. By this time observers had seen strong German forces pouring west through the Lanzerath area.” [4] They advanced westward immediately after refueling at a captured U.S. fuel depot at Büllingen.
The 12th Volks Grenadier Division eventually fought through the American line in the north. However, the American Army prevented the 277th Volksgrenadier Division from taking control of Krinkelt-Rocherath, twin villages. The Germans hoped to strategically use Rocherath-Krinkelt as a highway to upper region of Elsonborn ridge. This would have given the Iron Curtain superior advantage of supply routes in both the west and the south. Not only did Americans prevented The Sixth Panzer Army of reaching the various roads in western part of the Elsenborn Ridge, their hopes were also dashed by another tough American battle, which foiled the Germans much needed logistics in Liège and Spa, Belgium. “The bulk of the fourteen divisions under First U.S. Army command on 16 December were deployed north of the Belgian Ardennes. Behind them, roughly in the triangle formed by the cities of Liège, Verviers, and Spa, lay the supply installations built up through the autumn to support the advance toward the Rhine. At Spa, which had served the German Emperor as headquarters in World War I, the First Army had established its command post surrounded on every side by service installations, supply dumps, and depots. Liège, twenty miles northwest of Spa, was one of the greatest American supply centers on the Continent. Verviers, an important and densely stocked railhead lay eleven miles north of Spa.” [5]
The German Army casualty rate spiked at a ratio of 18:1 at the hands of the U.S. 99th Infantry Division. Although the Panzer Divisions manpower was five times than that of the 99th Infantry Division, yet their damaged only brought the division down to 80% strength. As a result, the division suffered 465 deaths and 2,524 casualties. However in the north, the American Army caused the death of over 4,000 German soldiers and 60 tanks. S.D. Eisenhower, a noted historian, stated that “the action of the 2nd and 99th Divisions on the northern shoulder could be considered the most decisive of the Ardennes campaign.”[6] [7]
On December 17, Germanys Kampfgruppe Peiper engaged the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, U.S. 7th Armored Division at the hamlet of Baugnez. The German Army later on won the battle and captured about 150 men, were about 84 of the Prisoners of War were massacred. “The convoy was shot up and the advance guard rolled on, leaving the troops to the rear to deal with the Americans who had taken to the woods and ditches.