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Posted on 12/16/2003 12:04:21 AM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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At The Battle Of The Bulge Outnumbered and outgunned, the men of the 110th Infantry Regiment upset the German timetable during the Battle of the Bulge.  The 28th Division in the Defense of Hosingen, Luxembourg This print depicts the gallant defense of Hosingen, in December 1944. One of the great strong point actions which occurred in the town of Hosingen, Luxembourg, where “K” Company of the 110th Infantry Regiment and “B” company of the 103rd Engineer Battalion (Combat) fought for the better part of three days. This effort clearly helped save Bastogne, only 18 miles to the west, and bought precious time for the Allies. In Western Europe, however, things were not so bleak. An offensive launched through the wooded Ardennes region could provide the Fuhrer with the decisive results he needed. In perhaps the Third Reich's greatest triumph, it was there in 1940 that General Heinz Guderian had punched a hole through the French lines, crossed the Meuse River below Sedan and raced to the sea in just two weeks. The Ardennes thus had a certain emotional attraction. Furthermore, the American troops who now defended the region had yet to fight in a winter campaign and, if the attack could be organized quickly and launched early enough in the winter months, the weather could markedly reduce the effectiveness of Allied air cover. All factors seemed to point to the Ardennes as the place for the Germans to launch their last great offensive. Having decided upon his course, Hitler began to strip away badly needed units from the Eastern Front and comb the Reich for additional manpower to bring his battered formations up to strength. He also hoarded precious fuel and armored vehicles. Aware that surprise was a critical component to success, the Germans carried out these preparations with the utmost secrecy. Through stinginess and stealth, during the fall of '44, the Fuhrer was able to assemble a strike force whose size and strength had not been seen by German soldiers for years. As a final gesture to convince the Allies that the Germans had no plan for an offensive, Hitler's last gamble was dubbed Operation Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine). The Fuhrer's plan called for two panzer armies, the Fifth and Sixth--consisting of seven armored, one parachute and eight Volksgrenadier divisions--to punch through three American infantry divisions, the 99th, 106th and 28th, which were spread along the Ardennes' border with Germany.  After breaching the American line, the two panzer armies were to drive northwestward to the Belgian port of Antwerp and the sea, splitting the Allied line in two. Two other German armies, the Fifteenth and Seventh, would protect the northern and southern flanks of the principal German advance. Hitler hoped that such a blow would split the unity of the Allied alliance and cause it to crumble or, at the very least, so disrupt the Western Allies' advance that he would be able to shift badly needed forces to the East to counter the Communist threat. One of the principal units in the operation was General Heinrich von Luttwitz's XLVII Panzer Corps of General Hasso von Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army. Luttwitz's panzer corps was to breach the American lines between the small towns of Marnach and Weiler, seize two main roads that ran east-west through those towns and cross the Clerf River on the offensive's first day. After cracking the American line, Luttwitz's tanks were to pass through the crossroads city of Bastogne on the second day and seize the bridges over the Meuse just south of Namur and Dinant. In addition to the territorial objectives, Luttwitz was instructed to support General Josef "Sepp" Dietrich's Sixth Panzer Army drive to Antwerp and the sea. The keys to the operation, in Hitler's mind, were speed and audacity, just as they had been in 1940. Unlike many other formations at this late stage of the war, the XLVII Panzer Corps was made up entirely of army divisions. Luttwitz's command consisted of the 2nd Panzer, Panzer Lehr and 26th Volksgrenadier divisions. The 2nd was highly regarded by many in the German army because it was one of the Wehrmacht's three original experimental panzer divisions. Since the start of the war it had seen extensive service in France and Russia before being removed from the maelstrom to rest and refit early in 1944.  General Heinrich von Luttwitz After being reconstituted, the 2nd was assigned to the defense of the West Wall. Between June and August 1944, the 2nd took part in the fighting in Normandy's bocage country, only to be pushed back by superior Allied forces, encircled and nearly destroyed during the ensuing campaign. Following the disastrous Normandy battles, what remained of the division was judiciously pulled out of the lines and sent to Wittlich, in the Schnee-Eifel area of Germany. Once in the rear, the division received new equipment and absorbed the remains of the 352nd Infantry Division, which had also been destroyed during the brutal fighting in France. Just two days before the operation was supposed to begin, the reconstituted division was put under the command of Colonel Meinrad von Lauchert. Although Lauchert was an able officer who had served in the Panzertruppen since 1924, he had little time to acquaint himself with his surroundings and had not even had an opportunity to meet with all of his regimental commanders prior to the attack. Panzer Lehr was another one of the Wehrmacht's premier divisions. Officially formed on January 10, 1944, in the Nancy-Verdun area of France from various armored training and demonstration units, Panzer Lehr had received its baptism of fire against the Soviets in Hungary. After helping to temporarily slow Soviet advances in the East, the division had been rushed back to France to try to stem the tide of British and American forces rampaging across Normandy. One of the strongest armored formations of the German army, Panzer Lehr fought the Allies at Caen and St. Lô until, like the 2nd, it escaped from the Falaise Pocket and was pulled out of the lines to be reconstituted. For Wacht am Rhein, the division was put under the stewardship of its original commander, Lt. Gen. Fritz Bayerlein.  The final weapon in General Luttwitz's arsenal was the 26th Volksgrenadier Division, which was assigned the task of infiltrating American positions and creating gaps large enough to allow Panzer Lehr to pass through to Bastogne and the Meuse unhindered. The 26th Volksgrenadier had its origins in the 26th Infantry Division. After that unit was virtually destroyed in the vicious battles in Russia in September 1944, the surviving members of the division were shipped to western Poland to the Warthelager training area to rest and refit. There, the division was reconstituted with what remained of the 582nd Infantry Division, along with new recruits and personnel combed from the ranks of the navy and air force. In order to inspire the men of this ad hoc command, as well as the many other German divisions being formed from the pieces and parts of other shattered divisions, in 1944 Hitler dubbed these new formations Volksgrenadiers (people's grenadiers). The new 12,000-man 26th Volksgrenadier Division was given to Maj. Gen. Heinz Kokott, a sturdy and meticulous veteran of many campaigns. Over Hitler's initial objections, General Manteuffel declined the opportunity of preceding his attack with a lengthy bombardment. It was Manteuffel's intention to achieve surprise at the start of the offensive by having his infantry infiltrate through the forward American positions before sunlight. Once in place, these men could quickly take the American strongpoints and clear a path for following units. After the American positions were taken, the tanks would roll through and race to the sea unchecked. General Kokott highlighted Manteuffel's intent in his orders to his subordinate commanders: "Success or failure of the operation depends on an incessant and stubborn drive to the west and northwest. The forward waves of the attack must not be delayed or tied down by any form of resistance....Bastogne should fall on the second day of the operation or at least be encircled by then." Standing in Luttwitz's way were the men of the U.S. Army 28th Infantry Division's 110th Regimental Combat Team (RCT). The 110th RCT consisted of the 110th Infantry Regiment and attached units. The whole team was commanded by Colonel William Hurley Fuller, a cantankerous Regular Army officer and World War I veteran who was out to redeem himself. A few months before, during the Normandy campaign, Fuller had commanded a regiment in the 2nd Infantry Division. When his regiment failed to reach its assigned objectives as ordered, Fuller was relieved of command. Once Paris was liberated, however, Fuller was able to convince his old comrade in arms, Lt. Gen. Troy Middleton, commander of the VIII Corps, to give him another chance. Middleton, who was forced to find replacement commanders for a number of regiments, gave Fuller command of the 110th Infantry Regiment in late November 1944 after its commander, Colonel Theodore Seeley, was wounded. In December the 110th RCT consisted of three rifle battalions; Company B, 109th Field Artillery Battalion; Battery C, 687th Field Artillery; Company B, 103rd Engineers; Company B, 103rd Medical Battalion; Company B, 630th Tank Destroyer Battalion; and Battery A, 447th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion.  KO'd Tiger Royal in Belgium The 28th Division had formerly been a component of the Pennsylvania National Guard. After mobilization, the division had been trained for participation in the invasion of France. On July 22, 1944, six weeks after D-Day, the 28th was shipped to France and quickly sent to the front. It fought with distinction throughout the Normandy campaign and, on August 29, had the privilege of representing the United States during celebration ceremonies marking the liberation of Paris. The men of the division did not have an opportunity to enjoy the City of Light, however. After marching through Paris they were immediately sent to the front. Once outside of Paris, the 28th, now under the command of Maj. Gen. Norman D. Cota, resumed its eastward journey. On September 7 the division rolled into Luxembourg, crossed the Our River south of Clervaux and became the first Allied division to breach Germany's vaunted Siegfried Line. The 28th was then moved to the vicinity of Rott, on the western edge of the Hurtgen Forest. As it assimilated new recruits, the division was assigned the job of capturing Schmidt and the forests surrounding the town. The 9th Division had tried to secure the area a few weeks earlier and had been massacred. Following the 9th's failure, the 28th was sent into the breach and, unsupported by other First Army units, received a similar treatment from the forest's German defenders. After its bloodletting in the Hurtgen, the 28th Division was sent to the Ardennes, which Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower considered to be a quiet area where new divisions could receive experience and battle-weary units could rest. There, what was left of the division began to take in thousands of new recruits to replace the casualties lost during the summer and fall campaigns. But although the Ardennes was considered a quiet sector, the men still held positions on the front line. The 28th's portion of the front was a 25-mile-long sector that was more than three times the area an infantry division was normally expected to defend. The 110th was assigned the vulnerable center section of the line. To make the task even more challenging, the regiment held this portion of the front with only two of its three battalions, the 1st and 3rd. The regiment's remaining battalion, the 2nd, was held behind the lines at Donnange and Wiltz, where it served as the division's only infantry reserve.  The bulk of the 110th was deployed along the St. Vith-Oiekirch Highway. Known to the Americans as "Skyline Drive," the highway was a hard-surfaced road that ran parallel to the Luxembourg-German border and overlooked the Our River and Germany to the east and the Clerf River and Luxembourg to the west. Along this road, which ran about two miles from each river, Colonel Fuller deployed his two battalions along a series of strongpoints: Company A, 110th, held Heinerscheid; three machine-gun crews from Company D held Reuler; Company B and five 57mm towed cannons from the 630th Tank Destroyer Battalion held Marnach; Companies K and B, 103rd Engineers, held Hosingen; Company L held Holzthum; and Company I held Weiler. Most of these towns, except for Hosingen, were on roads that ran east-west from the Our River and the German lines to the American rear. Believing that they were in a quiet area and that the Germans were too battered to launch an attack of their own, Fuller allowed his men to occupy their positions during the daylight hours and to retire to warmer quarters in the evening. During the hours of darkness, the forward American positions were only lightly held. Behind these strongpoints were Fuller's reserves. At the resort town of Clervaux was the 110th's command post, Headquarters Company, Supply Company, some of Cannon Company and Companies D and B of the 103rd Medical Battalion. Company C was in Munshausen, Companies M and A of the 447th Anti-Aircraft Artillery were in Consthum, and the 109th Field Artillery and Battery C of the 687th Field Artillery were deployed along the reverse slope of the ridge between Clervaux and Consthum. All told, the 110th RCT numbered about 5,000 men on the evening of December 15, 1945. Across the Our River was Heinrich von Luttwitz's entire XLVII Panzer Corps, with 27,000 infantrymen and 216 tanks, assault guns or tank destroyers, which intended to smash through the 110th's positions in one day, seize the Clerf River bridges intact and drive on to reach the Meuse two or three days later.  Medics of the 137th remove the wounded from Lustremange, Belgium, shortly after the town was shelled by artillery. To seize control of the Our River, Manteuffel ordered his infantry battalions to go in first, crossing the Our in rubber boats in the early morning hours of December 16, when the American positions were manned by the fewest men. Once across the river, German soldiers would surround the forward American positions and attack soon after dawn. After these forward positions were seized, Manteuffel's engineers would build a series of bridges over the Our to allow the mechanized units to cross. If all went according to plan, the armored battalions of the 2nd Panzer and Panzer Lehr would be across the Clerf River by the end of the first day and on their way to Bastogne and the Meuse by December 17 or 18. Luttwitz and his division commanders were confident that they could satisfy Manteuffel. They knew that their defenders across the river were spread thin. So weakly held was the American front that several reconnaissance patrols, unchallenged by sentries, had already crossed the Our, pinpointed enemy positions and marked infiltration lanes around them.
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That was very interesting to read. I had to stop several times and go warm up. I got COLD from just lookin' at all that snow. :)
I know that was tough on the troops.
And 59 years later we are reading and learning more about it at the Foxhole. Isn't that wonderful, education is a good thing!
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