Alamo in the Ardennes: The Untold Story of the American Soldiers Who Made the Defense of Bastogne Possible by John C. McManus

Author:John C. McManus [McManus, John C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-02T14:04:39+00:00

The Germans overran the task force and seized the Antoniushaff crossroads. Seven American tanks were destroyed or abandoned. Captain Rose managed to escape cross-country to Houffalize with five tanks and the assault-gun platoon. They ran into an ambush, but some made it into Bastogne.

Other task force survivors drifted south or west, away from the advancing 2nd Panzer Division. Everyone else was either dead or taken prisoner. The Germans reorganized their assault columns and headed south in the direction of Allerborn. Task Force Rose had delayed the Germans for seven crucial daylight hours. Nothing more could have been asked of them. 8

Amazingly, there were still small pockets of American soldiers operating miles behind the German lines. For instance, Corporal Cecil Hannaford’s 3rd Platoon of A Company, 110th Infantry, was still in its original roadblock position at Kalborn. For three full days now, Hannaford and the others had heard sounds of fighting all around them. But here in this spot, everything had remained peaceful. The commanding officer was a brand-new, youthful lieutenant who would do nothing without orders from higher headquarters. The problem now was that higher headquarters no longer existed. So here the 3rd Platoon still sat, a tiny island in the eye of a large hurricane.

Corporal Hannaford looked to the west and saw, through a layer of clouds, slivers of the sun setting. He was amazed at how short the days were in the Ardennes this time of year. Then he heard engine sounds coming from the east. His heartbeat quickened. The vehicles had to be German. Were they finally going to destroy 3rd Platoon?

The Americans had placed mines on the road. The soldiers, spread out in fighting holes on either side of the road, pointed their weapons east, in the direction of the engine noise. Sure enough, in the distance, they saw a command car, with three trucks trailing behind it. Hannaford and the others prepared to open fire: “When they got in range … the sergeant said, ‘Fire.’ Everybody fired on this convoy. They stopped and the Germans jumped out of the truck, and over the hill they went. They left all those vehicles there. We knew that they’d found us and that they’d probably be back.”

The platoon was fortunate in two respects: First, it had an experienced platoon sergeant who was not shy about telling the lieutenant what must be done. Second, they were in contact with the 2nd Battalion, 112th Infantry, which had outposts just over the next hill. The sergeant made it very clear to the lieutenant that the time had finally come to leave Kalborn. They hooked up with the 112th, waited for darkness, and then retreated to the northwest. In so doing, they joined Colonel Gustin Nelson’s fighting retreat. He successfully extracted his regiment from Weiswampach and gradually fell back to Huldange and then farther west. The 112th Infantry had done its part in defending Bastogne. It was now part of the fight for the northern shoulder of the Bulge. 9

Many miles to

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.