London Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 27, 1945, London, Middlesex                                145 War week 111 coordination or Battle teams picked perfectly Bastogne staid v by Ralph Harwoo i War week staff writer wonder that few a rattles tube War have received the Atten the defense of from its great significance As Block upon which the German Rard til rive first stumbled and got its neck the fight by had the storybook i ing of the dramatic or heroic missing from the begin a airborne at to hold a vital comr Tunica Troas right in the Teeth of von Jund stents armoured ele Jents also grind in to Backstop the infantry and serve As Mobile Artil other groups of hard if troops Back on the town and Are incorporated into the Hasty defensive i doughboy grimly dig into the slow covered ground in the bitter Cpl the first Panzer Hammer blows Are beaten Bastogne if Cut off by sup ammunition run desperately then the weather breads Clear att c47s swarm Over to drip fresh shelled besieged troops doggedly void off Best the enemy can hurl aft Veteran american armo eld Divi Hacks slowly c Outing a Dor from the Christmas and the German s amount Climax the Jar Are their Chance has ilm men against steel lit was truly soldiers men against refusing to it was the epic proof of the soldiers scores of fews and Magazine writers went to town on the Story of the superlatives hew thick and i men of Bastogne Reading these glowing accounts of their individual and collective probably said or something else the equivalent of what their commander had replied to a certain German surrender but the Anthony acting com Mander of the 101st airborne Divi at the say nuts 10 these retrospectively weighing the factors which Contri 6uted to the successful he lives firs i place to the that every Soldier on the Bas Tosme Peri meter accepted the risk of the sir a Jiva and stood his ground with in Bud co of the 327th glider explained it this Way Tau we commanders at Bastogne tired but two rugged infantry Joes take it easy at the scene of their great could do was to put our men on what considered the critical when that was done the Brattle was delivered into their the ques Tion of whether we were to survive and win was Thea up to the individual v five main attacks the Battle record of harpers own regiment proved his in the latter stages of the Battle the 327th covered half of the Bastogne facing East and it bore the Brunt of two of the five main German attacks launched on a regimental military analysts examine the Battle in the cold Light of its results they see it As a classic example of co ordination Between the various arms ground with the air and the Armor and artillery with the infantry on the the defense is regarded As having been masterfully conducted from a command particularly in the conservation of there was never a tune when the re serve at Bastogne was committed and at All 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 courage and position paid off 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 that every advantage of position was fully taken in disposing the perimeter forces and setting up the inside de sense in depth is evident in the Quan Tity 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 de glider troops Man machine gun on the Bastogne general Mcauliffe stresses the great margin of superiority enjoyed by the american including the Brilliant work of the tank and tank destroyer task an a Mored Reserve was created from elements of the 10th armoured Divi Sion and 705th to battalion to act As Mobile artillery and a second line of defence against attacks in strength at any Pointon the the bulk of the Field artillery was grouped in the Hub of the situated so As to make possible a 360degree traverse and the Quick direction of massed fire against any Point of commanders at Bastogne estimate that half of All enemy attacks were completely Dis Persed by the american artillery fire before the attacking forces could close with the perimeter the remaining half were greatly reduced in strength by the time they closed a fourth Factor 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 rim and the effect of their bombing and strafing in crippling the striking Power of Superior German forces cannot be Overe Stim Clicks the business of was strictly a two Way affair at Bas where Fairground cooperation was carried to a new when the p38s and p51s came in to drop their cookies or heat up their sometimes they found the terrific concentration of enemy flak too thick for them 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 supporting the the essence of the tactical measures German Armor was pulverized in Mill of Mutual support 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 and 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 arranged 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 Fol Low in on the if they could maintain 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 wisely what happened time and again at roughly 50 per cent of the enemy Armor dest Royed at Bastogne was hit either by flank shots or shots from the which Means that a great weight of German tanks at various times and places moved Over or around the defending american in Fantry line before smacking into wait ing american tanks and it proves that Armor can be allowed to sift through an infantry line without nullifying the lines they got 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 sealed within 24 hours in an action in which tanks combined with infantry to restore the the second Case was where a company was overrun by a column of 17 tanks and something 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 idled or the Ameri can infantry company which had been overrun on the perimeter had suffered Only 20 casualties and quickly closed the Gap before any of the Ger mans could use it As an when the shooting stopped they had taken 98 enemy the Bastogne defensive plan worked to Soldier courage skillful command and clock like coordination Between the the the artillery and the air wrote a Page for Ameri can military history and altered a few in the German ill can Armor walked the doughboy on the rim and quickly took care of enemy broke through tie thin the infantry stayed put to Stop German foot troops trying to follow army signal corps photos yank artillery like the howitzer pictured Here smeared half of the German assaults on Bastogne before they got and crippled the other 50 per cent before they reached the