THE PATH TO BLOODY BASTOGNE
The drive to encircled Bastogne began in a feathery snowfall at 0600, Dec. 22. Fourth Armd. tanks and half-tracks that had raced from French Lorraine to Arlon, Belgium, moved out in darkness.
With the 4th rode the attack of Third Army. III Corps was the first Third Army Corps to tear into the German flank from the south. In the van of the Corps was the 4th, on its right the 26th and 8oth Inf. Divs.
The clatter of their tracks muffled in the deepening snow. Combat Commands A and B drove north astride the road from Arlon to Bastogne. Brig. Gen. Holmes E. Dager's CC B pushed 10 miles to Burnon by midnight. On the right, CC A, commanded by Brig. Gen. Herbert Earnest, whipped four miles to Martelange.
CC A jumped off from Heinstert, CC B from Habay-la-Vieille. These little villages are difficult to find on a map, but the 4th will remember them and others—all the towns, hills and woods on the road to Bastogne.
Somewhere ahead on that road the enemy waited in snow and fog that cloaked his onrushing panzers. Next day he was found. Skies cleared, frost hardened the ground. Conditions were tailor-made for tanks and planes. Seven fighter-bomber groups, 11 medium-bomber groups and one division of 8th Air Force and elements of the Royal Air Force took to the air in support of Third Army.
Thunderbolts hurled bombs scant yards ahead of Shermans, then returned at antenna level with machine guns crackling. Enemy resistance was thickening. Road blocks, craters, blown bridges barred the way. In an all-out effort, the 4th's Reserve Command under Col. Wendell Blanchard, Lowell, Mass., entered the fight on the east flank of CC A. That afternoon. Reserve Command's 57th Tank and 53rdArmd. Inf. Bns. attack Bigonville. In a battle raging until late next day, the Luxembourg village was taken.
Paratroopers of one German division held the village and surrounding woods. Armored infantrymen dug them out with bayonets as tankers wrecked and burned buildings. Three hundred and fifty 'chutists were killed, 300 taken prisoner. A Sherman tank, two 40mm antiaircraft guns, four 81mm mortars, small arms and ammunition all U.S. equipment used by Nazis, were destroyed.
The 8th Tank Bn., commanded by Lt. Col. Albin F. Irzyk, Salem, Mass., and the l0th Armd. Inf. Bn., under Maj. Harold Cohen, Spartanburg, S.C., smashed into Chaumont Dec. 25. The 35th Tank and 51st Armd. Inf. Bns. fought along the Martelange highway toward Bastogne. The 35th, commanded by Lt. Col. Delk Oden, Hugo, Okla., and the 51st, led by Lt. Col. Dan C. Alanis, Ennis, Tex., took Warnach.
Fourth Armd. slugged toe-to-toe against tank-supported troops next day. Despite heavy casualties, the enemy clung tenaciously. The hillside village of Chaumont, which was to change hands three times before the rubble heaps were taken, was counter-attacked bv strong German tank and infantry forces.
More infantry was needed to pry Nazi machine gunners and bazooka teams from the timbered hills and thick-walled villages, so the 1st and 2nd Bns., 318th Regt., 80th Inf. Div., were brought from Luxembourg Dec. 24. to support CC A and CC B. The 9th Armd. Div's CC A was attached to the 4th and moved up on the west.
At 0200 Christmas Day, Reserve Command pulled a quick shift. It marched 30 miles from Bigonville to the division's west flank. By 0700, Reserve Command was at Bercheaux, ready to launch a surprise attack.
P-47’s filled the Christmas sky with bombs and bullets. Reserve Command took Vaux-les-Rosieres, Petite Rosieres, Nives and Remoiville. CC B retook Chaumont and drove north of Grandrue. Hallange fell to CC A. The 53rd crowded artillery barrages into Remoiville, flushed out houses with flame-throwers. Fifty Germans were killed, 42 wounded, 427 taken prisoner.
Christmas afternoon, light and medium tanks of the 35th outflanked the Melch woods on the Arlon-Bastogne road and wiped out a company of paratroopers. Hit by tank machine gun bursts, scores of enemy casualties crumpled in the snow.
Fourth Amd. MPs have maintained a perfect record in handling prisoners. None has ever escaped. The record almost was marred that night when a German plane swooped down over housetops as MPs were searching 220 prisoners. During the commotion, prisoners fled into barns and houses.
One German officer and several men charged Pfc Paul J. Carrafiello, Tuckahoe, N.Y. The MP blazed away with a machine gun, dropping the officer just short of the gun and spraying the others. All prisoners were flushed from their hiding places.
The drive gathered speed next day. Reserve Command struck again. Infantry and tanks punched Remichampagne while supporting artillery plastered the village and nearby Bois de Cohet.
As armor rolled forward. Thunderbolts swooped into the scrap.
P-47’s blasted, raked the woods and town 200 yards in front of advancing half-tracks. German guns and crews were blasted before they could fire a shot. By noon, Remichampagne was cleared, and tankers surged northeast to seize high ground near Clochimont. Bastogne was three miles beyond.
As vehicles assembled on the slope south of Clochimont, hundreds of C-47 transports thundered low over tanks. Crammed with cargo they flew slowly, like flocks of fat geese, toward Bastogne. The sky erupted with flak. Anti-aircraft crackled, and white puffs burst overhead.
Tankers watched as transports dropped multi-colored supply 'chutes over the town. Col. Abrams and Lt. Col. George L. Jaques, Worcester, Mass., of the 53rd, conferred with their officers. Tanks had expended their high explosive 75mm shells, machine gun ammunition was low. But the men, who had seen how badly Bastogne needed supplies, were ready to push on.
"This is it," Col. Abrams said, a cold cigar clenchecd in the corner of his mouth, "We're going into Bastogne !"
Companies moved into position to assault Assenois, last village before Bastogne. Col. Abrams swept his arm forward as the advance signal, and the final assault jumped off at 1515 from a crossroads 500 yards south of Clochimont. Flanks secured, companies of the 57th and 53rd rushed Clochimont and approached Assenois. Cobra King, shell-scarred command tank of Co. C, led the column of mediums and half-tracks, pounding up the road with all guns firing.
Four American artillery battalions slammed barrages into Assenois and the edge of the woods beyond. The division's 94th, 22nd and 66th Armd. Arty. Bns. dropped in 105mm shells, and a supporting battalion lobbed 155mm howitzers.
Fourth Armd. men know the cheapest way to attack with artillery is to lean into barrages while the enemy keeps his head down. They drove into shell bursts as the ground pitched and houses spilled into the street. They took their casualties—a burned half-track, two killed, four wounded—and charged toward Bastogne.
The first four tanks drew ahead of the column as half-tracks slowed to pick their way through smoke and debris. Co. C's four mediums rolled along with their machine guns sweeping the wooded ridge. They burst through to the l01st's outer defenses before Germans in the forest could act.
But the gap in the column gave Nazis their chance. Teller mines were hurled onto the road while German bazooka teams closed in. In the dusk, a half-track hit a mine. Capt. Dwight jumped from his turret to help doughs remove the mines. The column darted forward against bazookas, machine pistols, more mines. Four half-tracks exploded and burned. Crews fought on foot. With tank support, they battled all the way to the 101st.
Meanwhile, Co. B, 53rd Armd. Inf., mopped up flaming Assenois with the aid of light tanks from the 37th. Three hundred and eighty prisoners were taken, including battalion and regimental staff officers. More than 100 others were killed. Four 88mm A/T guns and crews were captured before they could fire a shot.
A battery of 105mm howitzers, one 40mm and two 37mm anti-tank guns, five half-tracks and two armored cars were captured or destroyed. This was the payoff of the swift attack through the artillery fire.
But the fight was not over. Trucks and ambulances for the 101st could not move through the heavy enemy fire from woods lining the road.
First Lt. Frank Kutak, Astoria, N.Y., hobbling on a leg stiffened by a bullet graze, led Co. A, 53rd, into the woods at midnight. Patches of moonlight and bursts from machine pistols lighted the area where armored doughs fought for three hours. They attacked without artillery support because Germans were too close to the 101st. Heavy machine guns and 60mm mortars firing in battery provided the only cover.
Next morning, 30 German dead were found in their foxholes. Twelve of the troublesome heavy bazookas and two 75mm guns were captured.