European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 22, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                              1945 stars and stripes faze 5 coordination in teams perfectly by Ralph liar Wool War week staff writer wonder that few Battles of the War have received the attention the defense of Bastogne aside from its great significance As the Block upon which the Westward drive first stumbled and then got its neck this fight really had the storybook nothing of the dramatic or heroic was missing from the to begin a famous airborne at is rushed in to hold a vital communications right in the Teeth of von funds teds armoured elements also grind in to Backstop the infantry and serve As Mobile other groups of hardhat troops fall on the town and Are incorporated into the Hasty defensive doughboy grimly dig into toe Snow covered ground in the bitter the first Panzer Hammer blows fall and Are beaten Bastogne is Cut off by supplies and ammunition run desperately then the weather Breaks Clear and c47s swarm Over to drop fresh shelled the besieged troops doggedly hold off the Best the enemy can hurl at a Veteran american armoured division Hacks slowly cutting a corridor from the Christ Mas Day and the germans mount their Climax they Are their Chance has run men against steel it was truly a soldiers men against refusing to it was the epic proof of the Amer ican soldiers scores of news and Magazine writers went to town on the Story of the superlatives flew thick and the men of Bastogne Reading these glowing accounts of their individual and collective Bra probably said or something else the equivalent of what their commander had replied to a certain German surrender but the an Thony acting com Mander of the 101st airborne Bivi son at the say nuts to these retrospectively weighing the factors which contributed to the Success fort Hie gives first place to the fact that every Soldier on the Bastogne perimeter accepted the risk of the situation and stood his ground with unwavering tour Rutt signal corps photo Bur two infantry Joes take it easy at the of their Groat could do was to put our men on what we considered the critical when that was the Battle was delivered into their the question of whether we were to survive and win then up to the individual five main attacks the Battle record of Harper own regiment proved his state in the latter stages of the Battle the 327th covered half of the Bastogne facing East and it bore the Brunt of few of the five main Ger Man attacks launched on a regi mental As military analyst examine the Battle in the cold Light of its results they see it As a classic example of coordination Between the various arms ground with the and the Armor and artillery with the infantry on the the defense is regarded As having been masterfully conducted from a command stand particularly in the conserva Tion of there was never a time when the Reserve at Bastogne was committed and at All times the principle was to defend the perimeter with As thin a line As the Reserve was kept in the position of a fire ready to meet any considerable break if it came to evident in the Quantity of burned out German Armor which litters the approaches to the and the extremely High toll of enemy foot troops that is known to have been As another vital Factor in the general Mcauliffe stress and position paid off army signal corps photo glider troops Man machine gun on the Bastogne Bud co of the 327tfa glider explained it Toja Way All we commanders at Bastogne general Mcauliffe credits the natural defensive strength of the ground surrounding Bastogne As a Factor second Only to the courage of his men in the successful Strug that every advantage of Posi Tion was fully taken in disposing perimeter forces and setting of the inside defense in a is the great margin of superiority enjoyed by the american including the Brilliant work of the tank and tank destroyer task an armoured Reserve was created from elements of the 10th armoured division and 705th to battalion to act As Mobile artillery and a second line of defense against at tacks in strength at any Point on the the bulk of the Field artillery grouped in the Hub of the situated so As to make Poss Ible a 360degree traverse and the Quick direction of massed fire against any Point of commanders at Bastogne estimate that half of All enemy attacks completely dispersed by the Amer ican artillery fire before the attack ing forces could close with the perimeter the remaining half were greatly reduced in strength by the time they closed a fourth Factor in the general Mcauliffe was certainly the uniquely successful co ordination of the air attack with the ground the fighter bombers came in to jump on enemy concentrations just outside the american and the effect of their bombing and Straf ing in crippling the striking Power of Superior German forces cannot be Fairground Clicks the business of was strictly a two Way affair at where Fairground co of rating was carried to a new when the p38s and p15s came in to drop their cookies or heat up their sometimes they found the terrific concentration of enemy flak too thick for in these the positions of the German Tackack batteries were immediately relayed to the ground the 155s and the armoured guns then hammered them into comparative silence so the planes could do their the Fairground team really clicked at with each Arm sup porting the the essence of the Carman Armor was pulverized in Mill of Mutual support measures employed at Bastogne is Best expressed in the orders which were Given to All infantry troops on the they were to stay in their Foxholes positions even if enemy tank attacks carried on through or Over they were never to pull it was explained to the infantry that their own in depth behind would Deal with enemy tanks that broke and that this would occur at about the same time the enemy infantry tried to follow in on the if they could main Tain their Dugin even though passed by some they would be Able to handle the Ger Man foot troops when they made their attempt to this is precisely what happened time and again at roughly 50 percent of the enemy Armor destroyed at Bastogne hit either by flank shots or shots from the rear which that a great weight of German tanks at various times and places moved Over or around the defending Amer ican infantry line before smacking into waiting american tanks and it proves that Armor can be allowed to sift through an in Fantry line without nullifying the lines they got through but died in Only two cases during the siege was the perimeter overrun at some Point by enemy foot troops and actually the first of these breaches was healed within 24 hours in an action in which tanks combined with infantry to restore the original the second Case was where a company was overrun by a column of 17 tanks and some thing More than a battalion of foot Many of whom Rode the the Tail end of the German column was just Clearing the outer defense when the Lead elements were engaged by a body of infantry and Small group of tank destroyers at the Edge of a Wood farther inside the three of the tanks were knocked out by Bazooka and the remaining 14 were potted in Swift succession by the Well situated every Man of the breakthrough unit was killed or the american infantry company which had been overrun on the perimeter had suffered Only 20 and quickly closed the Gap before any of the germans could use As an when the shooting stopped they had taken 98 enemy the Bastogne defensive plan worked to Soldier skill Ful command and clock like co ordination Between the infantry the the artillery and the air wrote a Page for american military and altered a few in the German Book american teams Armor backed the dog Bays the rim and quickly took care that broke through the thin the infantry pwt Foet try cuff army corps Holob yank artillery like the howitzer pictured Here smeared half the German my vote a Bastogne before got and crippled the other before they reached the