The air was filled with shrapnel and the splinters of disintegrating trees. At 0800, the infantry advanced. But they had a huge advantage in numbers – 550 men against 18.Īt 0530, German artillery opened fire. Though well equipped, most of the men had as little experience as their American opponents. Because of this, there had been many replacements. The German division had taken heavy casualties in Normandy. They were to overrun the Americans and make a gap through which the 6 th Panzer Army could advance. The troops sent against Lanzerath consisted of 550 infantry from the 1 st SS Panzer Division. They had to gain a strategic victory before the Allies could rally their superior resources. Every man and tank the Germans could spare was thrown into the assault. This was Hitler’s last great offensive, an attempt to divide the Allied lines and shatter their advance into Germany. On the morning of December 16, the Germans attacked. A camouflaged forest pillbox like those built by the I&R platoon The Germans Attack He acquired extra automatic weapons, improving their firepower. He and his men dug in deeper, reinforcing their foxholes. Though it has since been argued that this was a deliberate trap for the Germans, the official story is still that the Allies did not believe the Germans could attack through the forest, despite their having done so only four years before.īouck took his job seriously. This part of the Allied lines was thinly defended.
SS PANZER CORPS FULL
The northern shoulder of the Battle of the Bulge, in which Bouck’s unit held up the German advance through a key intersection near Lanzerath for nearly a full day. This position faced into the Ardennes forest. On December 10, Bouck’s platoon was sent to fill a gap in the lines near the Belgian village of Lanzerath. The men had little combat experience, but that was about to change. The unit had carried out recon but was not intended or trained for front-line action. Bouck, Jr., platoon leader of the 394th Infantry Division’s Intelligence and Reconnaissance unit.īouck commanded an intelligence and reconnaissance platoon in the 394th Infantry Regiment.
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