Fields of Fire

Regimental Order No. 54 was given to the 1st Company, 9th Regiment of the 3rd Fallschirmjaeger Division: The unit was instructed to clear Lanzerath and other villages in and around the Losheim Gap of enemy Resistance. This was to prepare …

1944-12-16

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Regimental Order No. 54 was given to the 1st Company, 9th Regiment of the 3rd Fallschirmjaeger Division: The unit was instructed to clear Lanzerath and other villages in and around the Losheim Gap of enemy Resistance. This was to prepare the way for Joachim Peiper's 1st SS Panzer Division, recently outfitted with 30 King Tigers, to storm through the front without delay. As US soldiers were needed to defend this lightly held area, an Intelligence & Recon platoon of 18 men, trained to be the "eyes and ears" of a division, belonging to the American 394th Regiment, 99th Division, was placed on the front line near the small hamlet of Lanzerath which overlooked Losheim further east. Their orders were to observe the area and provide warning of enemy action. From the woods looking down a gently sloping snow, covered field leading down to Lanzerath, these men had improved their positions with overlapping logs, creating a solid defensive bunker with good fields of fire. As a German column was seen marching through Lanzerath, a young girl ran out of a house and approached a German officer. Speaking excitedly while pointing in the l&R platoon's general direction, the German commander barked an order and the troops dove for the ditches lining the road. Lt. Bouck yelled out "Open fire!" and the Battle of the Bulge began for this handful of men.

Lanzerath, Belgium

The Battle of Lanzerath Ridge was fought on December 16, 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, near the village of Lanzerath, Belgium, along the key route for the German advance on the northern shoulder of the operation. The American force consisted of two squads totaling 18 men belonging to a reconnaissance platoon and four forward artillery observers, against a German battalion of about 500 paratroopers. During a day-long confrontation, the American defenders inflicted dozens of casualties on the Germans and delayed by almost 20 hours the advance of the entire 1st SS Panzer Division, the spearhead of the German 6th Panzer Army.

Wikipedia: Battle of Lanzerath Ridge

German

Americans