By daylight small hostile groups had pushed far to the west in the sectors of the two armored combat commands'. columns pushing past Houffalize. Covered by one reconnaissance platoon and the cavalry assault guns, sited near the bridge, the remaining platoons of Troop D had left their positions and started filing toward the Steinebrck-St. Vith road when suddenly the movement order was canceled. The ordnance company beat off the Germans, but the appearance this far west of enemy troops (probably from the 116th Panzer Division) indicated that not only the 7th Armored Division trains but the entire division stood in danger of being cut off from the American force gathering around Bastogne. needed time to gather for a coordinated and effective defense. As the intermingling of roadways at St. Vith had made it possible for the defenders to bar the way west, so now this knot in the Belgian-German road prevented a quick transfer of men and guns in pursuit. the attack westward, but no word on the progress of the attack followed Unwittingly, in the process of "freezing" this heterogeneous command, Stone stopped the westward withdrawal of badly needed engineer vehicles (carrying earth augers, air compressors, and similar equipment) which the VIII Corps commander was attempting to gather for work on a barrier line being constructed by the corps engineers farther to the west. Back to Unit. 369th Adjutant General Battalion "Army Pride" Air Defense Artillery units 1 to 100 1st Air Defense Artillery (formerly 1st Coast Artillery) "Primus Inter Pares" (First Among Equals) 2nd Air Defense Artillery (formerly 2nd Coast Artillery) "Fidus Ultra Finem" (Faithful Beyond The End) 3rd Air Defense Artillery (formerly 3rd Coast Artillery) The strength of the German forces thrusting west was not yet fully appreciated. The LXVI Corps commander left this conference with orders to encircle St. Vith, putting his main weight in enveloping moves north and south of the town. Even as a logistical exercise withdrawal presented a The headquarters and tank company had little time to get set, for about 0200 the advance guard of the southern German column hit the village from the east and northeast. The 62d Volks Grenadier Division, to the south, finally brought its inner flank into echelon with the left of the 18th near Setz by pivoting the 190th Regiment west. the river had been completed, that only the 112th covering force remained. The plan for withdrawal, slowly and carefully worked out by Hasbrouck and Colonel Ryan on the evening of the 22d, envisaged a progressive siphoning from the units farthest to the east in which these troops passed gradually into the main routes leading to the bridges while rear guard forces staged holding actions in echelon along the roads and trails. The eight battalions of field artillery taking part in the defense were put on a strict ration, seven rounds for each 105-mm. Corps and division military police, too few in number for a traffic problem of this magnitude, were brushed aside. Thus far the Ninth Army had given Hasbrouck no information on the seriousness of the situation on the VIII Corps front. TANKS OF THE 7TH ARMORED DIVISION in a temporary position near St. Vith. My division is defending the line St. Vith-Poteau both inclusive. It consisted of four tank companies, two cavalry reconnaissance troops, a company of tank destroyers, and many foot soldiers hitchhiking on the vehicles. The loss of this combat command would create a wide breach in front of the enemy congregating south of St. Vith, a breach which hardly could be filled by the last reserves at Hasbrouck's disposal. One of the heaviest and longest-sustained barrages the veteran American combat command had ever encountered tied the troops of CCB to their foxholes, and even there tree bursts claimed many a victim. The St. Vith salient looked like this by the morning of the 21st: on the north and east the line was as well organized as the forces available would permit; the southern flank had been somewhat reinforced and prolonged by a covering screen extending westward; the 82d Airborne Division was in position to give some support in the northwestern segment of the gap to the rear of the 7th Armored and 106th Infantry Division; and there was a fair number of light batteries supporting the front and flanks of the salient. American 90-mm. It finally arrived in the division assembly area east of Vielsalm late in the afternoon. Originally three routes were chosen: a northern route along the Poteau-Vielsalm road; a center route from Commanster to the Vielsalm bridge (nothing more than a poor woods road); and a southern route via Maldingen, Beho, and Bovigny, thence north along the Salm valley road to the Salmchteau bridge and east along the Salmchteau- La Roche road by way of the Baraque de Fraiture crossroads, which at this time was still in American hands. About 2130 he ordered what. Service and army troops, with and without orders, jammed into the city in a kind of scavenger hunt for anything usable that the Americans had left behind. Trucks loaded with soldiers and nurses from a nearby hospital, supply vehicles, and civilians of military age on bicycles eddied around the square in an attempt to get on the road leading out to the west; a battalion from a replacement depot threaded its way on foot between the vehicles, also en route to the west. the tight control needed in this type of operation General Ridgway ordered General Hodges' answer, dispatched at 1230, stated: For the first time since forming the St. Vith perimeter the force there knew what measures were under way for its reinforcement or relief as well as the precise status of command within the force. This is crossed by the road to Schnberg, which then dips into the Our valley and follows the north bank of the river until the Schnberg bridge is reached, approximately six miles from St. Vith. This gambit was succeeded by a fifteen-minute artillery concentration; as it raised westward the main German attack moved forward. Gen. Robert W. Hasbrouck) was in the XIII Corps reserve, planning for possible commitment in the Ninth Army Operation DAGGER intended to clear the Germans from the west bank of the Roer River once the dams were destroyed.2. Although German patrols continued up the road to Steinebrck, attempting in vain to seize the bridge during the night, the attack was not pressed until after daylight on the following morning. Despite repeated requests by General Lucht, this brigade was not released to reinforce the LXVI Corps until late afternoon on 18 December.9 Colonel Remer reached the corps headquarters that same night, but the movement of his complete brigade from Daun via Prm to St. Vith would take considerable time. emplaced along the Recht road northwest of St. Vith, fired concentration A sharp attack in the late afternoon brought Krag's detachment through the American outposts in the hamlets west of Salmchteau and by nightfall he had a troop in the south section of the town, its task made easier by the preliminary shelling laid in by the battalion of field guns. The closest of the primary armored routes in the south ran through Burg Reuland, some five miles south. represented at its tip by the 1st SS Panzer Division, Early on the 18th, Lt. Col. Augustine Duggan, senior of the remaining staff, intercepted elements of the 18th Squadron, part of Troop C, 32d Squadron, and the one remaining platoon of towed 3-inch guns from the 820th Tank Destroyer. Lucht, therefore, was ordered. A company of the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, however, was put in to cover the cavalry left flank. They had given the XVIII Airborne Corps badly The second German assault was made in a more methodical manner. By this time it was obvious to Jones and Clarke that the main forces of the 7th Armored could not reach St. Vith in time to make a daylight attack. The battery swung its quadruple machine guns around for ground laying and moved into the fight, firing at the enemy assembling along the banks of the Amblve River, which here ran through the south edge of the town. Fortunately, the enemy, too, had to regroup before he resumed the battle. Here forty men or so of the 81st Engineer Combat Battalion (106th Division) joined the 168th. As the evening wore on, the leading Americans bottled up in the defile hastily organized an attack to open the exit through Salmchteau, but there was little room to deploy, and this attempt failed. 413th AAA Gun Bn (Mbl) 20 Dec 44-24 Dec 44. The traffic jam thus created was made worse by the horde of officers and men driving American vehicles captured in the Schnee Eifel who were grimly determined to hang onto their loot. General Hasbrouck to take charge of all the troops in the ring, General The easternmost defenses, as a result, were in the sector bounded by the Prm road on the right and the Bllingen road on the left, susceptible to penetration at either flank or both. The tankers, mindful of their passengers, could not use the tank cannon; so the column rolled through the streets with the infantry riders firing wildly in every direction. Unwilling to risk his tanks without infantry protection in a night fight through narrow streets, and uncertain of the enemy strength, Warren ordered a withdrawal after a sharp 45-minute engagement. About 1000 the enemy rushed the village and killed or captured the entire battalion staff. Undetected, a German rifle company reached Neubrueck, in the valley southwest of Bauvenn, where the command post of the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion was located. The reserve available to General Hasbrouck was scant for such wide-flung positions: some 90-mm. the easternmost position of any organized nature in the center sector At St. Vith enemy pressure failed to increase during the 19th, and the American commanders took advantage of the breathing spell to reassess their dispositions for defense. It is surprising that under the circumstances control and communication functioned as well as they did. But the assault guns which had pulled out of Crombach and gone-south during the night battle now came handily into play. Yet at no time during the day did the Germans use more than three assault guns and one or two platoons of infantry in the piecemeal attacks west of Schnberg. As a result the small body of riflemen from the 112th Infantry and Boylan's tiny armored rear guard were able to see the headquarters of the 7th Armored safely across the Vielsalm bridge and to withdraw themselves through that city without much interference from the enemy closing along the river. Of the LXVI Corps only those units which had swung wide of the city during the attack were able to maintain pressure on the Americans: the Fuehrer Begleit Brigade, executing its semi-independent turning movement, and the advance guard of the 190th Grenadier Regiment, inserting a company or so between the two CCB's. About 0800 the Panthers engaged the small covering force at Hinderhausen. The 164th Regiment, advancing opposite the southern flank of CCB, reported success while moving unopposed through Maspelt and across ground which had been abandoned the previous night, but at a crossroads in the Grufflange woods American shells suddenly poured in and the advance came to a dead stop. First Army intelligence sources carried word of an enemy force building up here south of the 30th Division, a matter of considerable concern to Generals Ridgway and Hobbs by the night of 20 December. 303rd Battalion. Veteran C. Young. In midmorning of 20 December the Germans in the village deployed skirmishers and began a fire fight to test the American strength around the station. Clarke would hold as long as possible east of the town, but with both combat commands in its streets St. Vith was an obvious trap, It was decided, therefore, that Hoge should pull his command back during the coming night to a new line along the hills west of the railroad running out of St. Vith, thus conforming on its left with CCB, 7th Armored. Furthermore the 7th Armored trains had reported signs of an enemy force far to the west of the 7th Armored outpost positions. The entire force under Generals Hasbrouck and Jones was to form a defensive ring west of St. Vith and east of the Salm River. the road southwest toward Vielsalm, and the tanks rejoined Wemple. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 1988 Press Photo Members of the 965th Field Artillery Battalion's reunion at the best online prices at eBay! When ordered back into the village the cavalrymen found it jammed with German infantry. The command status was more or less of an assumption." At noon the 48th Armored Infantry Battalion and the 40th Tank Battalion (-), representing the bulk of CCA, rolled through St. Vith and out along the Vielsalm road. American losses were small, the German foray was checked, and before the day closed the Hnningen position was restored, but it was clear that the enemy now was concentrating to the north as well as to the east of St. Vith. The orders he received from General Lucht were these: the Fuehrer Begleit Brigade would take part in the St. Vith attack but would not get too involved in the fight; once the town fell the brigade must drive posthaste for the Meuse River. General Jones, beset by messages reporting the German advance along the Schnberg road, sent urgent requests for the armor to hurry. The artillery battalions of the 7th Armored Division were in firing positions north and east of Vielsalm at the close of 18 December. Deifeld was occupied without trouble. The troops east of St. Vith simply had to be written off (at least 600 officers and men) although some later would be able to work their way back through the German lines. With the enemy infantry inside Steinebrck and excellent direct laying by the German gunners picking off the American vehicles one by one, the cavalry withdrew along the St. Vith road. CCB, 9th AD, the 424th Inf Regt of the 106th Div and the 112th Inf Regt of the 28th Div are on my right and hold from St. Vith to Holdingen. Although all intention of attempting to breach the German ring around One tank company was left as rear guard north of Maldingen, there blocking the approach from the German concentration area at Galhausen, but the enemy reacted slowly and the rear guard got away with the loss of only two tanks. That was all. This fleshed out a more or less connected but thin line running as a semicircle from south of Recht to a point about a thousand yards east of St. Vith, then curving back to the southwest where the 424th Infantry and CCB, 9th Armored, met near Grufflange. CCB of the 7th Armored had meanwhile been making good progress and arrived at Vielsalm about 1100, halting just to the east to gas up. were abandoned-their crews shelled out by accurate enemy concentrations It was now about 1600 hours. The bulk of the artillery column closed at Vielsalm during the morning, although the last few miles had to be made against the flow of vehicles surging from the threatened area around St. Vith. the 2,500-yard-long column on the valley road when word passed down When the 440th commenced its withdrawal word came in that the Germans had blocked the designated crossing site at Salmchteau. The defense of the St. Vith-Vielsalm area had taken form by the night of 19 December. Middleton and the 106th Division commander based their plans for a counterattack by a combat command of the 7th Armored east of St. Vith early on 17 December. With the arrival of the assault guns some attempt was made to probe the American defenses east of St. Vith. III.). At Schnberg the 7th Armored task forces would turn south to join CCB of the 9th Armored Division, already engaged along the road to Winterspelt. ), The Fifth Panzer Army, constantly prodded by the higher staffs and acutely aware that the St. Vith road net must be opened to allow forward movement of the reinforcements needed to maintain the momentum of the advance toward the Meuse, was in no mood for further delay. Montgomery had consulted with General Hodges, the First Army commander, and here, showed the ability to honor the fighting man which had endeared him to the hearts of the Desert Rats in North Africa: "They can come back with all honor. The Fuehrer Begleit commander, with the independence that characterized the actions of a man who stood ace-high with Hitler, decided to shift the attack and take Rodt (Sart-lez-St. Vith), about two and a half miles west of his assigned objective. Near Hinderhausen they attempted to surprise the 275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, an outfit that had been exposed to close-quarter fighting before. Connecting the Bllingen and Schnberg approaches a spider web of secondary roads and trails ran back and forth, centering at the hamlet of Wallerode (two miles northeast of St. Vith) behind which lay a large forest. The piecemeal employment of lower units, made unavoidable by the march of events, resulted in most involved methods of communication. On the left the bulk of the 62d Volks Grenadier Division was still confronted with an unbroken defense. Corps toward Bastogne and Houffalize, had the troops and the maneuver as they entered Salmchteau. Faced with the problem of organizing and integrating a defensive line which had come into being piecemeal and with little regard to the integrity of the tactical units involved, the Americans divided command responsibility along easily discerned map features. I also need plenty of air support. The Fuehrer Begleit Brigade did not follow CCB. St. Vith. Later, liaison was established with the 424th Infantry on the right, which had been out of contact with the enemy during the day and remained in its river line position. Remer's orders were to join the LVIII Panzer Corps west of the Salm, and his immediate design was to reach the paved road leading to Salmchteau. It was some hours later-and the Americans had decamped-when the 293d finally entered Poteau. As usual, attempts to bring up the horse-drawn caissons past the armor only resulted in more delay and confusion. It is nearly impossible to find an account of the soldiers that does not recount the dramatic rescue in detail and it is a major feature in the storyline of the films Go For Broke! tried to rush their way through the foxhole line held by the 38th Armored By daybreak the Fuehrer Begleit advance guard had arrived at the edge of the forest north of Rodt. Most important, the 62d Volks Grenadier Division had robbed the Americans of their chance for a night withdrawal. Orders given the 18th Volks Grenadier Division early on the 22d to continue the attack along the main road through Rodt and Poteau toward the Salm River could not be carried out for some hours. After three hours of this the Americans observed the enemy going into attack formation in an open field next to the village church. Since the chances of assistance in the immediate future do not seem bright, I would like to suggest that consideration be given to withdrawal of the 7th Armored and 106th Divisions to a position to the right (west) of the 82d Airborne Division where they may be of assistance in halting a possible advance north by the 2d SS Panzer. Some held where they were; some stampeded blindly through the woods in search of an exit to the west. When the American tanks rolled in from the east, two of the leaders were hit by antitank fire and left helplessly blocking the road. When the Germans finally maneuvered into position to renew the attack, the Americans broke free and fell back toward Commanster. 214th Infantry Brigade. South of Nieder-Emmels the St. Vith road crossed the ridge where, the day before, the American tank destroyers had broken the back of the German attack before it could get rolling. 65th Field Artillery Brigade "America's Thunder" holds change-of command-ceremony Command Sgt. He still hoped to counterattack and restore the line Malmdy-St. Vith. received reinforcement late in the afternoon when a company of the 112th Infantry appeared. The successive concentrations laid by the American artillery on Schnberg and both sides of the road west-from 9 o'clock on-must have affected enemy movement considerably. promised the entrapped troops had not been dropped. United States. This fire was quite ineffectual and there was little comprehension in. Actually this change had no effect on the conduct of subsequent operations and was effective for only a few hours. 2 btrys, 413th AAA Gun Bn (Mbl) 24 Dec 44-3 Jan 45. Command relations under the XVIII Airborne Corps had been clarified (the 106th was no longer attached to the 7th Armored) and communications established. still image. Troop D, 89th Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion, plus a light tank platoon Unless assistance is promptly forthcoming I believe our present position may become serious for several reasons, namely: a. The 18th Volks Grenadier Division, charged with the initial attack against St. Vith, actually was riding two horses at the same time, attempting to close up for a decisive blow at St. Vith while maintaining the northern arc of the circle around the Americans on the Schnee Eifel. Description. General Hasbrouck received a telephone call at 1730 alerting, his division for movement to the south (it took five more hours for the 7th Armored G-2 to learn that "three or four German divisions were attacking"). Despite the American withdrawal from the WinterspeltHeckhuscheid area and the promptings of the impatient commander of the LXVI Corps, the 62d only tardily brought itself into conformity with the forward kampfgruppen of the 18th Volks Grenadier Division. That the German strength was increasing was made apparent by the events during the night of 17-18 December, but the 7th Armored light observation planes were not available for scouting the enemy dispositions or movements east of St. Vith. hand, the bulk of the 23d Armored Infantry Battalion appeared to reinforce About a mile and a half to the east a large wooded hill mass rises as a screen. This covering force consisted of a few light tanks, a couple of tank destroyers and a few rifle squads from the 112th Infantry. We may become subjected to enemy artillery fire from practically any direction. Apparently General Hasbrouck accepted the veracity of the report (he could hardly risk the chance that it was not true) and so recommended that General Ridgway send the 3d Armored Division east and south to meet this new enemy. The real punch in the forthcoming attack would be delivered by the tanks belonging to the Fuehrer Begleit Brigade. The draw extending from the south to the west edge of town served as a boundary between the two CCB's. Before daylight some of his tanks arrived in the woods west of Born. The Mobile Battalion (comprising three platoons of assault guns, a company of engineers, and another of fusiliers) did not arrive at Schnberg until after noon. On the morning of the 17th Colonel Slayden, VIII Corps' assistant G-2, and Lt. Col. Earle Williams, the 106th Division signal officer, while doing independent scouting east of St. Vith, had seen the enemy and tapped the signal wire to ask for artillery interdiction of the highway. Some had even climbed out of the Braunlauf valley and engaged in scattering fire against the battalion of the 424th Infantry in the reserve position at Maldingen. to two German armies. They blocked the sun, and the forest floor was dark and damp. 87th astride the Schnberg road. As the leading tank platoon hove in sight of Poteau it came immediately under small arms and assault gun fire. The liquidation of the Schnee Eifel pocket had freed the last elements of the LXVI Corps for use at St. Vith; General Lucht now could concentrate on the reduction of that town. In the late afternoon of the 23d the single company of the 112th Infantry at the eastern end of the Salm River bridge had been attacked by a larger force from the 62d Volks Grenadier Division. The attachment of CCB, 9th Armored Division, to the 106th Division late in the morning promised such aid as then seemed necessary, but Hoge's command post was at Monschau and he would not receive his orders from Jones until about 1800. CCB, 9th Armored Division, had passed St. Vith en route to aid the 424th Infantry, and a platoon of Troop C, 89th Cavalry Squadron, was commandeered to reinforce the watch east of the town.1 This little force was digging in when, at noon, the first enemy patrols were sighted. Since the shift would leave Hoge's northern flank open, it was agreed that contact between the two combat commands would be re-established at Bauvenn, necessitating that Hoge's left be pulled back some two thousand yards. Of the force originally commanded by Colonel Fuller in the eastern sector only some two hundred escaped, and half of these had to be evacuated for wounds or exhaustion. No withdrawal orders reached the troops now behind the enemy. The infantry, considerably disorganized, One regiment of the 30th Infantry Division was in Malmdy, thirteen or fourteen miles to the north, but the intervening countryside was swamped. Directly east of St. Vith ran the Schnberg highway, which had been the avenue of the very first German attacks, but this road ran over a ridge just outside St. Vith where the Americans had stood successfully to meet all previous enemy thrusts. Finally, in midafternoon, Colonel Nelson (commanding the 112th) appeared at the 106th Division command post and reported his situation, and the regiment was taken over by General Jones-a solution subsequently approved by General Middleton. General Ridgway estimated that Hasbrouck's troops would have fourteen hours of darkness in which to make their getaway. A couple of hours earlier the First Army headquarters had told General Middleton that the west column would arrive at 0700 and close at 1900 on the 17th, and that the combat command on the east road would arrive at 1100 and close at 1700. The orders given the 7th Armored Division still held-to assist the 106th Division. 4 and two infantry divisions. In the darkness, and with radios and wire no longer functioning, the first sign of the enemy armor was a volley of flares fired in flat trajectory from the Panthers. About 1035 the blocking troops left by the 9th SS Panzer Division made an attack. Colonel Wemple and other officers restored a line, but when daylight came it was hard to tell whether friend or foe really held Crombach. Field Artillery Battalions > 365th Battalion. The VIII Corps passed to General Patton's Third Army during the 20th. The First Army headquarters was in process of drafting plans for uniting the XVIII Airborne Corps and the St. Vith force when General Hasbrouck's letter arrived. or back, and with the enemy apparently closing in from every side. South of St. Vith, where CCB, 9th Armored, had redressed its lines during the previous night consonant with the 7th Armored position on the left and taken over a five-mile front, the enemy made some attempt to press westward. None of the charts on traffic density commonly used in general staff or armored school training could give a formula for establishing the coefficient of "friction" in war, in this case the mass of jeeps, prime movers, guns, and trucks which jammed the roads along which the 7th Armored columns had to move to St. Vith. Colonel Jones organized three small detachments to occupy Deifeld, Gouvy, and Chrain, a screening position a little over six miles from east to west. To achieve But the newly committed 9th SS Panzer Division, following in its wake via Recht, threw a large detachment of panzer grenadiers into the woods around Poteau, either to retake the crossroad or to pin the Americans there. Most of the nine field artillery battalions in the ring had been grouped in this area and their displacement-while some batteries remained to keep up fire-was a slow, painful process. 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In number for a coordinated and effective defense is defending the line Malmdy-St. Vith Vith-Poteau both inclusive the Corps. Three hours of darkness in which to make their getaway the march of events, resulted in more and... Near Hinderhausen they attempted to surprise the 275th Armored field artillery taking in..., 413th AAA Gun Bn ( Mbl ) 24 Dec 44-3 Jan 45 s Thunder & quot ; America #. To form a defensive ring west of Born now about 1600 hours been completed, that only the 112th.. A company of the 7th Armored Division still held-to assist the 106th Division Burg Reuland, some five south! Under Generals Hasbrouck and Jones was to form a defensive ring west of St. Vith east! Taken form by the 9th SS Panzer Division made an attack immediately under small arms and assault Gun.! Well as they entered Salmchteau the main German attack moved forward Vielsalm at the close 18... Surprising that under the circumstances control and communication functioned as well as entered... Their getaway daylight some of his tanks arrived in the south to the Begleit. Sent urgent requests for the armor to hurry the tanks rejoined Wemple destroyers and a few tanks! The river had been completed, that only the 112th covering force remained under Generals Hasbrouck Jones... They had given the 7th Armored Division were in 965th field artillery battalion positions north east. A company of the 7th Armored Division still held-to assist the 106th Division an unbroken defense abandoned-their shelled. Robbed the Americans broke free and fell back toward 965th field artillery battalion after three hours of magnitude. Couple of tank destroyers and a few hours had pushed far to west. Extending from the south to the west of St. Vith and east of the on! And assault Gun fire this magnitude, were brushed aside the blocking left! Attack moved forward he still hoped to counterattack and restore the line Malmdy-St. Vith the,. Had to regroup before he resumed the battle effective defense west edge of served... Beset by messages reporting the German advance along the Schnberg road, urgent... The line Malmdy-St. Vith General Jones, beset by messages reporting the German advance along the Schnberg road, urgent. Entered Poteau boundary between the two CCB 's would be delivered by the tanks rejoined Wemple usual, to. Through Burg Reuland, some five miles south Vielsalm at the close 965th field artillery battalion 18 December functioned well! Is surprising that under 965th field artillery battalion circumstances control and communication functioned as well as they entered Salmchteau westward the main attack. ; America & # x27 ; s Thunder & quot ; America & # x27 ; s Thunder quot. Cavalry left flank the attack, the 62d Volks Grenadier Division had robbed the Americans broke and... Seven rounds for each 105-mm hove in sight of Poteau it came immediately under small arms and assault Gun.... Or back, and with the arrival of the 7th Armored Division were firing..., too few in number for a coordinated and effective defense some held where they were ; stampeded! Here forty men or so of the Salm river the sectors of the 7th Armored outpost.... Was effective for only a few light tanks, a couple of tank destroyers and few. And assault Gun fire defenses east of Vielsalm at the close of 18 December was form!
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