Battle of the Bulge: U.S. Troops Fight at Elsenburn Ridge

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Sometime during the afternoon, Hightower received a radio message removing him from the 394th and assigning him to the 9th Infantry Division headquartered in Wirtzfeld. The message, from Colonel Chester Hirschfelder, 9th Infantry commander, also instructed Hightower to ‘pull back to new positions or you will be cut off.’ By then, however, Hightower’s men were so closely engaged with the Germans that he was not sure if he could break off and move without great difficulty. Nevertheless, he called Colonel Riley of the 394th and advised him of the change in plans. Riley was notably upset, for if Hightower’s men pulled out now, his entire right flank would be up in the air, and he still did not know the whereabouts of his 2nd Battalion. A quick radio exchange with General Lauer confirmed the order. Riley knew now that he had no alternative–with ammunition running out and enemy pressure increasing by the minute, he would also have to pull back. Lauer agreed but insisted that any move would have to be coordinated with the 23rd Infantry. Riley spoke with Hightower again, and between them a plan took shape. The withdrawal from Hünningen and Mürringen would commence soon after midnight.

The men of the 393rd’s 3rd Battalion, meanwhile, had counterattacked east along the northern forest trail early on December 17, in an attempt to regain their positions along the International Highway. They drove the Germans back off the trail, but then ran into a reinforced battalion of SS Panzergrenadiers coming from the opposite direction and soon joined by the 12th SS Panzer Division. Roving teams of GIs using bazookas managed to hold the panzers at bay for a short time, but the combination of armor and numerical superiority was too much for the defenders. The GIs–critically short of just about everything by then–had to withdraw again.

At 1030, Colonel Jean Scott, 393rd Regiment commander, obtained the OK to withdraw to a new line east of Rocherath. The 3rd Battalion slowly withdrew along the trail and firebreaks, eventually passing through the line established by the 23rd Infantry’s 3rd Battalion. As they filed past, the men of the 23rd Infantry begged for any ammunition the others could spare, since they had been issued only the basic load, which would not last for long. At that point, although they did not know it, the few hundred men of the 23rd Infantry’s 3rd Battalion were all that stood in the way of the Germans’ cutting off all 2nd and 99th Division troops in the Wahlerscheid sector.

By late morning, the situation in the woods had deteriorated to such an extent that Colonel Tuttle’s orders had been changed to ‘Hold at all costs.’ Unsure of what to expect, Tuttle called his company commanders together and passed the order to them.

Robertson had realized by daybreak on December 17 that his division and the 99th were fighting for their very existence. Finally receiving permission to call off the Wahlerscheid attack, he immediately began to implement the withdrawal that had been planned during the night. The plan,’skinning the cat’ as Robertson phrased it, called for the most forward units at Wahlerscheid to pull back first, through those behind them. This included the three battalions of the 395th RCT, which was now attached to the 2nd Division. Robertson’s plan envisioned the RCT pulling back along a trail that ran nearly parallel to the main road, before joining it about a mile and a half north of Rocherath. Marching south along that trail, the RCT would provide a cover for the other battalions coming back south along the main road.

Waiting on the main road, Robertson met the first of the RCT members and directed the 1st Battalion to positions north of Rocherath, along both sides of the Wahlerscheid road. The first of his own units, the 38th Infantry’s 3rd Battalion, came into view a short time later. As had previously been arranged, Colonel Frank Boos, the 38th Infantry commander, had instructed his 3rd Battalion to proceed south past Krinkelt and establish a line south-southeast of the village to deny use of the roads in that area to the Germans.

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, World War II