Ambush at Wardin

As American troops started to filter into Bastogne, troops were dispersed to defensive positions in the outlying areas. Company I of the 501st was sent south to clear some woods and then east into the small town of Wardin. They …

1944-12-19

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As American troops started to filter into Bastogne, troops were dispersed to defensive positions in the outlying areas. Company I of the 501st was sent south to clear some woods and then east into the small town of Wardin. They were to run into part of the 901st Panzer Regiment, that was to enter the town at almost the same time as them. What could have been a meeting engagement turned out to be much more like an ambush. The paratroopers had not yet established a good command and control relationship with other American forces in Bastogne. In this case, a combat team from the 10th Armored was less than a half a mile away, but their tanks never moved toward Wardin. To compound the problem, Wardin was in a deep valley and communication with battalion was impossible. Although they had some success hunting tanks with bazooka teams, the airborne troops were pushed from the town.

Wardin, Belgium

The Siege of Bastogne was an engagement in December 1944 between American and German forces at the Belgian town of Bastogne, as part of the larger Battle of the Bulge. The goal of the German offensive was the harbor at Antwerp. In order to reach it before the Allies could regroup and bring their superior air power to bear, German mechanized forces had to seize the roadways through eastern Belgium. Because all seven main roads in the densely wooded Ardennes highlands converged on Bastogne, just a few miles away from the border with neighboring Luxembourg, control of its crossroads was vital to the German attack. The siege was from 20 to 27 December, until the besieged American forces were relieved by elements of General George Patton's Third Army.

Wikipedia: Siege of Bastogne

German

American