Kampfgruppe Peiper: The Race for the Meuse by David Cooke

Author:David Cooke [David Cooke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-01-10T16:00:00+00:00

The bridge over the Ambleve at Stavelot. After much fighting for its possession, the bridge was blown by Lieutenant Coffer during the night of 19 December 1944.

Chapter Seven

20 DECEMBER 1944: PEIPER CUT OFF

During the night of 19/20 December the 3rd Battalion, 119th IR reorganized and formed a roadblock on the road leading north out of Stoumont. The battalion had suffered badly during the German attack on the 19th, losing 8 killed, 30 wounded and 203 missing. Of the missing, ten returned to duty on the 20th and 143 were released when the Americans recovered Stoumont and La Gleize. The battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Fitzgerald, had been relieved by Colonel Sutherland, the regimental commander. His place had been taken by Captain Carlton Stewart, assistant executive officer. Stewart worked wonders in restoring the battered battalion and resupplying them with heavy weapons, food and ammunition. The battalion manned its roadblock for over thirty-six hours, but their brittle morale was not put to the test, as Peiper did not send any of his men to the north along the road. By this time the kampfgruppe had no fuel to spare for carrying out such manoeuvres.

During 20 December the 30th Division received a welcome reinforcement when CCB (Combat Command B) of 3rd Armoured Division was attached to them. CCB’s commander, Brigadier General Truman Boudinot, divided his command into three task forces – Task Force (TF) Jordan, McGeorge and Lovelady – all of which were involved in the continuing action against Kampfgruppe Peiper. Due to poor communications in the area, and the large frontage that the 30th Division had to defend, the troops in the area of Stoumont and La Gleize came under the direct command of Brigadier General William K. Harrison, 30th Division’s Assistant Divisional Commander.

By the morning of the 20th, Peiper’s forces were divided between three villages. In Stoumont, Peiper’s main body defended the western end of the enclave against the 1st Battalion, 119th IR and Captain Berry’s C Company, 740th Tank Battalion, the team that had brought the kampfgruppe to an abrupt halt near Stoumont station. To the north of Stoumont the survivors of the 3rd Battalion, 119th IR, blocked the road, and one of CCB’s task forces, TF Jordan, was moving up behind 3/119 to carry out an attack on Stoumont. Peiper had left a substantial garrison in La Gleize to cover his rear and the road back to Trois Ponts and Stavelot. All roads to the north of the village were blocked by small American roadblocks, and TF McGeorge, CCB, and Company K of the 3rd Battalion, 117th IR, were approaching. Peiper’s remaining element held Cheneux, to the south of the Ambleve, where the 504th PIR, 82nd Airborne Division was beginning to close in. The kampfgruppe was not in a very good situation. They were short of fuel, and, with the exception of the Stavelot road, were surrounded by American forces. Schnellgruppe Knittel and Kampfgruppe Sandig were still attempting to clear a route through Stavelot to enable supplies and reinforcements to reach Peiper.

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