European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 16, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A handful of rear Echelon behind while their outfit went off to stopped a nazi Surprise attack for two by de Cunningham yank staff correspondent used to be a neat Little Crossroads Village snuggled on the Banks of the Ourthe most of its men worked in the Village Sawmill at the Northern end of the main there huge fir Trees from the nearby ardennes Forest were Cut and planed into lumber for the reconstruction of Liege and other belgian cities that had been torn by Allied artillery and German during the Boche occupation and subsequent Hotton escaped any visible evidence of the violence of its sturdily built Brick its its theater and its hotel Ourthe whose name was changed to the hotel de la paix when the Boche had come through in the Middle of the people of Hotton heard frightening the Boche had driven the americans from Vith and were rolling along relentlessly toward just As they had done in the fearful Days of holi Day bubbling Over at the Prospect of the first free Noel since quickly died the Boche was coming Back for but new Hope came to Hotton the week before Christmas when american tanks and armoured vehicles rumbled across the Village most of them continued North toward the approach ing but some Hal tracks and trucks and a Hundred Odd soldiers stopped in the the Burgmeister quickly gave Permis Sion for the americans to occupy any buildings they might medics set up a treatment Sta Tion in the theater a Headquarters company moved into the schoolhouse armoured engineers took Over two buildings next to the Home of Docteur Paul Godenic and a signal corps outfit occupied the renamed hotel of the people of Hotton went to bed that night confident that the americans had come Back to protect their Village from the they didst know that the handful of troops were Only rear Echelon men who Are not rated As combat they were Headquarters company Cooks and signal corps radio operators and line armoured engineers demolition men and and half a dozen maps from the division Provost marshals they had been left behind in this Safe spot when Maurice Rose took the rest of the 3d armoured division Forward to meet the Headquarters company was eating Chow in the schoolhouse at 0730 the next morning when eight rounds of mortar fire exploded 40 Yards away in the that was Cottons first warning that elements of a Panzer Grenadier division had rolled in from the East to take the main Highway at Hotton running North to Quick reconnaissance disclosed Jerry infantry and four Mark v tanks in the Woods East of the William Headquarters company co from ordered a firing line built up along the hedgerows running from the school to the Sawmill at the North end of the main then he told t4 Paul special service noncom from Colum to take three men and a Hal track and set up an outpost at the North end of town to protect that a former varsity basketball player at Ohio state grabbed a and a machine gun and asked for three volunteers to help him Man the buildings on the North Edge of the Vil the first Volunteer was his Henrich of who used to play full Back on the Wisconsin University football team and with whom Copeland used to have nightly arguments on the relative merits of those two big ten t5 Peter Brokus of Hal track and Carl Hinz of were the other two meanwhile the armoured engineers under Jack Fickessen of had set up a de sense of the Southwest Section of the following the heavy burst of mortar fire which ripped off part of the schoolhouse roof and wounded five yank two of the Mark is started moving on the supported by a Small infantry Force which stayed a Safe distance behind the one tank came Down the Ridge Road on the East toward the engineers up the other headed along the Railroad tracks which bisected the Village just North of the a partly disabled american m4 which had been left in Hotton for went out to meet the Jerry tank coming Down the Ridge they met directly in front of the this was a German tank before american fire turned it into a pile of engineers the tank threw the first punch and it didst get the heavier enemy tank knocked it a few minutes later the same Mark v was out of action itself on a Fluke decision that is really one for the Vern Sergent of Oklahoma and Hugh Lander of Elizabeth an Engineer Bazooka attacked it soon after it polished off the their burst bounced off the heavily armoured Jerry vehicle like pebbles off a Stone but the Jerry Crew had been a Little careless when fuel ing their tank that morning and had let some gasoline spill one Side of the vehicle was wet with when the burst from the Bazooka hit the Gas went up in actually it was Only a momentary Blaze and did no serious but the Jerry Crew didst wait around to they bailed out and took leaving their still serviceable Mark v to be put permanently out of action by the the other Mark v bulled through a Stone Wall and edged out on the Village main waiting for game but was a Light tank which had stopped in the town the night the uneven Battle was Over in a matter of rumbling the Mark v stuck its nose up to the window of a House where two yank Bazooka men were firing at firing Point it wrecked the but the two a zoo Kamen miraculously escaped one of t5 John Wancik of was scorched slightly by exploding powder which went off practically under his As the Mark v backed it was jumped from behind by two Headquarters company Bazooka t4 Philip Popp of and Carl Nelson of they scored a hit on the and the tank was abandoned by the Jerry while the tank Battles were going Fickessen notified Headquarters by radio that there were German forces trying to move into he asked for he got they were hold the Village at All costs until a Relief Force the sleepy Little Crossroads had become an important military control of it meant control of the Road net running West to Belgium important cities and vital Supply until combat troops could reach the its defense depended upon rear Echelon men who been left behind while their troops went off to loss of the patrol tanks discouraged the instead of following through with an infantry assault As the outnumbered americans the germans started building their own firing line on a Ridge that overlooked the that gave the americans time to organize their senior officer in the took Over the defense setup and started posting his mechanics and radio strategic he established strongholds in the in the two dead germans lie in the Snow after a Battle Over a belgian