Theoretically the VIII Corps covered the western flank of the III Corps, but on 22 December the situation in Middleton's area was so fluid and his forces were so weak that no definite boundary or contact existed between the VIII and III Corps. Gen. Herbert L. Earnest. In addition the infantry divisions each had a tank battalion and a self-propelled tank destroyer battalion attached. In the first hour of the 23d, Task Force Hamilton left Hostert in trucks. Since through all this day the Americans had little or no idea of the enemy strength that lay ahead or perhaps lurked on the flanks, the lack of swashbuckling haste was not abnormal. Frequency modulation was working fairly well, but all messages would have to be relayed. Even when life hits you hard, even if you’re fighting in a frozen forest, even if you have Parkinson’s, even if you’re crapping in a bag by the side of the freeway, you keep on going. Tanks issued in the United Kingdom in the spring of 1944 were still operating, many of them after several major repair jobs, and all with mileage records beyond named life expectancy. Thus far the enemy had failed to recognize or exploit this gap. Office of the Adjutant General, 1 June 1953), Aumiller, Timothy S. "United States Army Infantry, Artillery, Armor/Cavalry Battalions, 1957-2011. The head of the task force now was close to the village of Warnach, which lay to the east of the main road. Aware that surprise was a critical component to success, the Germans carried out these preparations with the utmost secrecy. Apparently the enemy had withdrawn during the shelling, only to return at the heels of the departing Americans. Colonel Jaques and the 53d Armored Infantry Battalion missed this dramatic moment; they were involved in a scrambling fight for possession of Assenois-strictly an infantry battle now that the artillery no longer could intervene. Artillery & 101st Engineers. Woefully under-strength in both transportation and supporting weapons, it had neither a flak battalion nor an assault gun battalion and would be forced to lean heavily on its artillery regiment. The boundary, to be effective on Christmas Day, ran between Eschdorf and Heiderscheid, approximating that between the American 26th and 80th Infantry Divisions. Knowing only that an undefined combat mission lay ahead, the division rolled north to Arlon, completing its move shortly before midnight of the 20th. near a chapter, you may want to attend monthly meetings. Four Indeed, two companies had spent the night within sight of the river at Heiderscheid although this was in the zone of the 26th Division. Mon-Schuman ?-- one of the most important crossroads in the  Ardennes. 2. The German brigade commander had been seriously wounded by a shell fragment while reconnoitering on the previous evening, the hurried march to action had prevented unified commitment, and the heavy woods south of the Sure made control very difficult. Detachments of the 390th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic. Tracks and motors were worn badly: the 8th Tank Battalion alone had thirty-three tanks drop out because of mechanical failure in the 160-mile rush to the Ardennes. Rest at Metz was interrupted by the German offensive in the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge. At the close of the 24th the 317th Infantry could report severe losses but no progress and the German tanks and assault guns were raking the Americans wherever they concentrated, even laying with accuracy on the battalion command posts. General George 26 ID Club-Czech Republic: Cheston's battalion, having spent most of the morning rounding up a large enemy detachment in Merzig, now turned northeast from Heiderscheid and marched through a deep defile to reach and take the hamlet of Tadler on the Sure. 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, which had led the original assault against Chaumont, lost some sixty-five men. The 181st Infantry, 182nd Cavalry, 101st The second was more successful: four tanks and an assault gun rammed across the bridge but were abandoned by their crews when American guns and howitzers brought salvo after salvo of white phosphorus to sear the near bank. The center of the village was almost as dark as night, the sun shut out by smoke and dust.