The Battle of The Bulge
On 21 December the Battalion was reassigned to the 30th Infantry Division reinforcing their positions in and around Francorchamps, Ster and Stavelot, Belgium. The Battalion arrived in Werbomont, Belgium and entered the Battle of the Bulge on 21 December 1944 with a strength of more than 643 officers and enlisted men. They were the initial spearhead in the XVIII Airborne Corps's counter-offensive on the northern shoulder of the Bulge. Their first days in the Battle of the Bulge were, according to paratrooper Don Garrigues, miserable: "no sleep, frozen feet, trench foot, knee deep snow, cold food and hallucinations." He had a vivid memory of that Christmas Eve:
| “ | The attack had been canceled and we were to move back to an area near Ster. Along with my buddies, I wend into one of the houses. Some troopers from another outfit had managed to get some "C" rations and had built a fire under a tub of water in the fireplace of one of the buildings. They offered to share with us so I picked one of the cans out of the hot water. Eating the warm food by the fire and thinking of the mission that had been cancelled, I felt that I had been given one of the best Christmas presents ever. | ” |
On 26 December, they reported near Basse Bordeax to the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. They received a visit from Major General James M. Gavin, commanding officer of the 82nd Airborne Division, who visited their bivouac at Rahier on 27 December. He told the Battalion that it had been chosen to make the initial "raid in force" against the Germans. He told them they would be the unit who was going to turn the battle around. He stressed that they might take very heavy casualties but that a great deal depended on the outcome. Their task was to would pass through the U.S. Army's forward lines, cross about 4 miles (6.4 km) into German-held territory, and to attack and reduce the German-held village of Noirefontaine. They were then to return to base with prisoners for interrogation.
The evening of the next day they carried out the raid against the Oberst Friederich Kittel’s 62nd Volksgrenadier Division in the tiny hamlet of Noirefontaine, taking 18 casualties in the process. They faced Kittel's stubborn troops again. From 3–8 January 1945, they assaulted the small hamlets of Mont de Fosse, St. Jacques, and Dairomont. According to the unit's Presidential Unit Citation, "On 4 January, the battalion conducted a rare fixed bayonet attack of machine gun nests that killed 64 Germans." Fighting through the thick woods cost the 551st heavy casualties. On the morning of 7 January, down to only 250 men, they were next charged with taking the village of Rochelinval, Belgium, along the Salm River.
The defending 183rd Volksgrenadier Regiment was backed up by a regiment of 88mm guns and a battalion of 105mm howitzers. Col Joerg had requested preparatory artillery which was not forthcoming. He requested that the attack be delayed, and his request was denied. He thought the attack, down slope by his un-camouflaged men in the daylight across a half-mile expanse of foot-deep snow at a concealed, alert enemy, to be suicidal. Their only cover would be their 81mm mortars. Paratrooper Don Garrigues wrote:
| “ | The riflemen charged out of the woods, down the sloping area and across the cleared field. The Germans were fully awake by that time and had taken positions behind a rock fence. They seemed to have a sizable force, including several machine guns and automatic weapons. Several of our riflemen fell from the hail of enemy bullets. I was firing point blank at a German machine gun and our tracers were crossing. Pascal from Company A was lying beside me feeding the ammunition belt into the machine gun. Soon a burst of bullets tore into his arm and shoulder. He yelled, "I’m hit!" and managed to crawl toward a depressed area behind us while I kept firing. A short time later I felt a jolt like getting hit on the shoulder with a ball bat. At first I thought that was it and then I felt the burning pain and blood. I instinctively yelled "Medic!" and began crawling and pulling myself toward the depression or ditch behind me. It wasn’t long before a medic came to where I was lying and gave me a shot of morphine. | ” |
While victorious in capturing Rochelinval and eliminating the last German bridgehead for over 10 miles (16 km) on the Salm River, the unit was virtually decimated, having suffered more than 85% casualties. Relieved on 9 January 1945, of the 643 men who entered the battle on 3 January, only 14 Officers and 96 men remained. "Nowhere were casualties higher than in Wood Joerg's 551st Battalion." Like the 509th Infantry Regiment, the unit's strength had been decimated by battle, and paratrooper replacements were not in the pipeline.
Read more about this topic: 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion (United States)
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