Liveblogging World War II: December 17, 1944: Elsenborn Ridge
The Elsenborn Ridge is a ridge line... the blocking line on the northern shoulder of the Battle of the Bulge... the main line of advance for Hitler's prized 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. However, units of V Corps of the First U.S. 1st Army held the ridge.... This was the only sector of the American front line during the Battle of the Bulge where the Germans failed to advance.... During the first three days, the battle was for the twin villages of Rocherath-Krinkelt, during which American G.I.s were at times isolated in individual buildings surrounded by German armor. Attacking Eisenborn Ridge itself, the Germans, although superior in numbers, were stopped by the Americans' well-prepared and deeply dug-in defensive positions. The German attack plans were not well coordinated and frustrated by the rugged terrain, built-up areas around the twin villages, and massed American artillery firepower.... Although the Germans possessed superior armor, they were held in check by the innovative American tactics including better communication, coordinated time on target artillery strikes, new proximity fuses for artillery shells, and superior air power. The Sixth Panzer Army was unable to break through.... Because of the success of the 395th and the 99th, the Americans maintained effective freedom to maneuver across the north flank of the German's line of advance and continually limited the success of the German offensive....
On the morning of December 16, a snowstorm blanketed the forests and the temperature dipped to 10 °F (−12 °C).... Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich’s German Sixth Panzer Army... had been assigned responsibility for the key route on the northern part of the offensive, attacking roughly along the line of the Albert Canal from Aachen to Antwerp.... The cutting edge of this powerful armored strike force was the 12th SS Panzer Division....
The German 277th Volksgrenadier Division... were the first German infantry force to advance on the twin villages of Krinkelt-Rocherath, just southeast of Elsenborn Ridge. Their immediate objective was to break through the defending line of the inexperienced U.S. 99th Infantry Division and positions of battle-hardened 2nd Infantry Division... to cut off most of the 2nd Infantry division, and control access to the twin villages of Rocherath-Krinkelt.... The 277th overran the forward U.S. positions guarding the trails to the villages, but their attack swiftly bogged down against the heavy small arms and machine gun fire from prepared positions of the American 99th Infantry Division on their flanks. They also drew a rapid response from U.S. artillery....
The main drive against Elsenborn Ridge was launched in the forests east of the twin villages on the early morning of 17 December... by tank and Panzergrenadier units of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. By 11:00, this attack had driven units of the U.S. 99th Infantry Division back into the area of the twin villages. These units were joined by forces of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division moving into the villages from the north. Tanks from the U.S. 741st Tank Battalion supported the withdrawal but were quickly destroyed by German Panther tanks advancing with the Panzergrenadiers.... Fortunately for the defense, three tank destroyers of the U.S. 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion arrived....
Immediately southeast of Elsenborn, the 1st SS Panzer Division... was held up for all of December 16 along its Rollbahn to the west by a single Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon of the 394th Infantry Regiment. Dug in on a slight ridge overlooking a village of about 15 homes, in the vicinity of the Losheim Gap, the 18 man platoon, led by a 20-year old lieutenant Lyle Bouck Jr., inflicted 93 casualties on the Germans during a 20-hour long fight at a key intersection southeast of Krinkelt-Rocherath....
During the night of the 16th and dawn of the 17th, General Walter Melville Robertson, Commander of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, consolidated his and other forces moving through the area around the twin villages.... Robertson also informed General Leonard T. Gerow, commander of V Corps, that he intended to hold the twin villages until troops east of the villages had retreated through them to the ridge line, which then would become the next line of defense....
On the German side, demands from Walter Model and Gerd von Rundstedt that Elsenborn ridge be captured and the advance of Sixth Panzer Army resume had been pouring down the chain of command into 12th SS Panzer Headquarters General Hermann Priess, commander of the 1st SS Panzer Corps, ordered Waffen-SS Obersturmbannführer Hugo Kraas, Commander of the 12th SS Panzer division, to take command of all forces facing Elsenborn ridge, and capture it....
Twenty minutes after the barrage was lifted, at 0555, German infantry... attacked the 395th in the dark in strength along five different points.... The 395th stopped the German advance cold. U.S. artillery had registered the forward positions of the U.S. infantry and rained fire on the exposed advancing Germans while the U.S. soldiers remained in their covered foxholes.... By 07:45, the Germans withdrew, except for a group of the 753rd Volksgrenadier Regiment who penetrated the Battalion's center. They were soon repulsed.
Just after noon, at 1235, the Germans launched their attack again, and they were pushed back by artillery and mortar fire. The result of the first day of what would become known as the Battle of the Bulge were 104 Germans dead 'in an area 50 yards (46 m) yards in front of our lines to 100 yards (91 m) behind the line, and another 160 wounded counted in front of battalion lines.'...
By the afternoon of December 17, the 395th Regiment realized that the day's action was part of a much larger offensive...
