Yesterday   Tomorrow

December 17th, 1944

FRANCE: The US 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division refitting near Rheims, after more than two months combat in Holland, are alerted for movement to the Ardennes. Their mission is to reinforce the Allied troops that were attacked during the start of the German offensive yesterday. (Jay Stone)

The French First Army captures Keintzheim, in the "Colmar Pocket".

Elements of the US 100th Infantry Division mount an attack on Fort Schiesseck, one of the Maginot forts attacked by the Germans in 1940, from the same direction, the south. In 1940, the German 257th Infantry Division failed to take Schiesseck, whose French garrison only surrendered a week after the rest of the French army. (William L. Howard)

BELGIUM: A US field-artillery observation battery of 125 men found itself under enemy fire when its trucks came to a crossroads near Malmedy early this afternoon. Panzers of SS Lt-Col Jochim Peiper's Task Force rumbled into view and the Americans, who had no heavy weapons or tank support, surrendered. (Joachim Peiper is CO of SS-Pz. Rgt1. and holds the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer. The commander of I. /SS-Pz.Rgt1 is SS-Stuf. Werner Pötschke)

They were taken into a nearby field under guard to await an escort to the rear. Half an hour later, SS troops moving up to the front were told of the American PoWs and went into the field. A pistol shot was heard then a burst of machine-gun fire.

The SS men drove away, leaving at least 71 GIs dead. The rest feigned death or lay unconscious, for several hours before gathering strength to limp into Malmedy after dark. Their story has already been passed on to GIs at the battlefront, stiffening their resolve to fight to the last.

Further away in the little hamlet of Wereth, eleven black American soldiers of the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion (Negro) are killed in cold blood by a reconn party of the 9th SS Division (KG Knittel or KG Hansen). More... (W. Jay Stone and Norm Lichtenfield)

The commander of the German XLVII Corps, General der Panzertruppen Heinrich Freiherr von Luettwitz had expected that his two lead divisions in the attack to the west, 26th Volks Grenadier and 2nd Panzer would have crossed the Clerf River by 16 December the first day of the attack. This is a distance of 4.5 miles. The attacking divisions of the corps had advanced approximately one-half of that. Once across, 2nd Panzer would advance on Bastogne using the hard surface road west out of Clerf but swing to the northwest at Chilfontaine and go north of Bastogne through Noville. It's mission remained seizing crossings over the Meuse. 26th VG would advance to the west in zone and take Bastogne. Once the 26th VG had crossed the Clerf, Panzer Lehr would move south of Bastogne to the Meuse 

Seeking to stop, or at least delay XLVII Corps was the 110th Infantry of the 28th Infantry Division with the 109th Field Artillery in direct support and the 707th Tank Battalion attached. The 1st Battalion of the 110th defended the northern half of the regiment's sector while the 3rd Battalion defended the southern portion. The 2nd Battalion was in division reserve at Donnange 2.5 miles northwest of Clerf in the zone of the 1st Battalion.

On the morning of 17 December elements of the 1st Battalion barely held Marnach but had been by-passed by elements of 2nd Panzer moving on the crossing over the Clerf at Clervaux. Company K, 3rd Battalion held Hosingen. 

The village was astride the Main Supply Route (MSR) for the 26th. In addition, units which had just crossed the Our River had to pass through Hosingen in order to move forward and enter the battle. American strongpoints at Munshausen, Bockholz, Holzthum, Hosingen, and Hoscheid were under heavy attack.

Major General Troy Middleton, commander of US VIII Corps had moved his corps reserve, CCR, 9th Armored Division to a position closer to Bastogne and attached it to the 28th with the proviso that it not be committed without his approval.

Colonel Hurley Fuller, commander of the 110th asked for and received his 2nd Battalion, less G Company, from the division reserve. He planned to use it in an attack on Marnach so as to restore the position there and stop the movement of the 2nd Panzer toward the Clerf. This was to part of a three pronged attack on Marnach. The light tank company of the 707th also was ordered to attack south out of the zone of the 112th Infantry toward Marnach. The third part of the attack was to be undertaken by the medium tank platoon then located at Munshausen approximately one mile south of Marnarch. The 109th Field Artillery had been over run or forced to displace by the Germans. Only one battery was firing during the morning and it was low on ammunition. It was driven from Buchholz with the loss of half its howitzers.

The two companies of the 2nd Battalion attacked at 0730. Within a few minutes they ran into strong German positions supported by tanks and self-propelled guns. By noon, the battalion without Field Artillery support was stopped along a ridge running southwest from Urspelt to the Clerf road.

The medium tank platoon did reach Marnach but reported that there were no US troops there. Colonel Fuller ordered it to return to its original position at Munshausen and then directed that it fight its way to Clervaux to assist in the defence of the river crossing there.These two attacks from the south and west had made no headway but were not too costly. The attack by the light tank company of the 707th was disastrous. As it emerged from the village of Heinerscheid, three miles north of Marnach in a column of tanks eight of the tanks were knocked out by hidden high velocity guns while three were lost to bazooka fire. The action lasted only ten minutes. Two of the American tanks returned to Heinerscheid, only to be lost later in the day when the Germans took the town. The company commander withdrew the remaining three tanks down a side road to Urspelt where he joined the CP of the 2nd Battalion.

Since the 110th Infantry had failed to stop the German advance at Marnach the fight would have to be made at Clervaux through which the Clerf River passes. The approach to the town from Marnach is by means of a road which makes a twisted and tortuous descent to the valley floor, finally crossing the river at the south-eastern edge of the town. The road proceeds through narrow street emerging at the northern end of the town. Clervaux was the headquarters for the 110th Infantry and it was here that the fight to hold back the 2nd Panzer would be made.

 The CP was in a hotel near the bridge while Headquarters Company was in a chateau across town. German infantry entered the town and engaged Headquarters Company in the chateau. Then two platoons of Mark IV tanks and 30 half tracks loaded with grenadiers approached Clervaux. A platoon of the 707th Tank battalion climbed up the serpentine road to engage the enemy tanks. The lead enemy tank was hit blocking the road from Marnach. Shortly after noon the left flank of the 2nd Battalion moved on an assembly area northeast of Ruler. Both of these events caused German pressure on Clervaux to relax. In addition, while he had been ordered not to commit CCR without approval of General Middleton, Colonel Fuller ordered B Company, 2nd Tank Battalion of that command to send a platoon to clear out the German infantry in the vicinity of the chateau, another to Reuler to help his 2nd Battalion, and a third to Heinerscheid where the light tanks had been roughly handled. 

The advance guard of the 2nd Panzer Division had taken a bloody nose but help was on the way. More tanks and infantry were arriving and manoeuver was possible: It was not necessary to stay on the roads. During the afternoon the Germans pressed the 2nd Battalion back through Reuler. The soldiers aided by the dwindling tank force of CCR and towed tank destroyers of Company B, 630th Tank Destroyer Battalion fought stubbornly. Shortly before dusk under a hail of German shells, the two infantry companies of the 2nd Battalion and attached units dug in on a ridge north of Reuler. On their left German tanks were reducing the last positions of the 1st Battalion. By mid-afternoon Company A had been overrun, leaving open an avenue into the left flank of the 2nd Battalion. Late in the day German tanks knocked out the last 57mm anti tank gun protecting the crossing over the Clerf and the way into the town was open. For the rest of the day and into the night the Germans cleared all American opposition in Clervaux.

At Hosingen Company K with some Shermans held out even though the Germans set the town on fire during the morning. The Shermans held the enemy at bay all day. Other remnants of the 3rd Battalion had assembled at Consthum and established a defence there. 

At the end of the second day of the German offensive, elements of the 110th Infantry were still causing delay to the enemy advance but its resistance was rapidly crumbling. Colonel Fuller had reacted to the German advance by moving the relatively few forces at his command. His soldiers, most of them recent replacements fought fiercely but his regiment was attacked by a German corps and his options were few. 

A race for Bastogne had begun in earnest. While the 110th Infantry was delaying XLVII Corps, the 82nd Airborne Division and the  101st Airborne  Division were moving east toward the sound of the guns from bases in the vicinity of Rheims, France. The 101st would go to Bastogne while the 82nd would go to Webormont.

At 1600 on the 18th Colonel William Roberts, commander of CCB, 10th Armored Division, reported to General Middleton at his headquarters in Bastogne. Middleton ordered Roberts to establish three blocking positions to the east and north of Bastogne. Team Desorby went to Noville in the north, Team Cherry Neffe and Longvilly and Team O'Hara to Wardin. XLVII Corps was advancing on Bastogne but because of the fierce delay of the 110th Infantry it would loose the race as Middleton began to establish a solid defence in front of the town.

(Jay Stone)

Jose M. Lopez is awarded the Medal of Honor for killing more than 100 German soldiers today. Lopez is a sergeant serving with the Second Infantry Division in Belgium. When a superior force of German infantry and armour advances on his company's position he jumps into a shallow hole with his heavy machine gun and kills 10 German soldiers. In the face of German tank fire he held his position and shot 25 more German infantrymen trying to get around his flank. He later takes another position and continues firing to slow down enemy forces while member of his unit retreat.

Lopez was born in Santiago Huitlan, Mexico.

The road that led to K Company, 23 Infantry's position. This picture is facing roughly northwest; the front-line was about 400 meters to the front, and once the Germans broke the line, they came right up this road toward Krinkelt-Rocherath. (Treb Courie)

GERMANY: 125th Armored Engineers and 62nd Armored Infantry, American 14th Armored Division sent patrols after dark to Siegfried Line near Bergzabern, Alsace. (Joe Brott)

USAAF 15th Air Force flies a mission to Odertal (now Kozle in Poland).

An after action report by 485th Bomb Group Commander, LTC. John E. Atkinson, recounts that six B-24s of his command were damaged by German SAMS (Surface to Air Missiles) on the return leg from a mission to Blechhammer South. Alleged attack happened at 1414hrs at 12,000 feet, at 46-33N 16-30E (southwestern Hungary--in the center of the Nagykanizsa Triangle, the last oil fields left to the Third Reich). (John D. Bybee)

10/10 clouds at 7500 ft, visibility 1 mile. vectored onto bogie by Churchman at 1855 hours - head on
interception, assed each other and lost contact. Flak: Moderate, heavy at R-4980, R-3968, R-3146; scant, light at R-1363; 1 rocket at R-5699. No traffic sighted. (Sandy Bybee)

U-3014, U-3015 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

PACIFIC OCEAN: Destroyer USS Spence foundered in a typhoon east of Samar. There were only 23 survivors. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: Wendover, Utah: A top-secret bombing team, the 509th Composite Group, assembled here today on the salt flats  west of the Great Salt Lake. Its exact role is unknown to any of its members except for the commanding officer, Colonel Paul Tibbets, who had a distinguished flying record in Europe; but it is thought that the 509th is being trained to drop a new weapon, using atomic power on Japan. 

Wendover Air Force Base was chosen because it enjoys more than 300 days of sunshine a year. The 509th is equipped with B-29 bombers. It will practise daylight bombing with large dummy bombs from 20,000 - 30,000 feet, using a special diving technique to gain speed in order to outrun blast waves expected to be greater than those of any existing bombs.

Washington: Ernest J. King is promoted to Fleet Admiral. (Jack McKillop)

Top of Page

Yesterday           Tomorrow

Home