How 22 Americans held off 500 Germans (WW2 Battle of the Bulge Documentary)

in December 1944 the German Army was in serious trouble in the East the Soviets were in headlong Advance towards the borders of the right to the South the combined anglo-american forces were driving Germans up the boot of Italy and in Western Europe the thinly stretched Defenders were hastily reorganizing behind the Siegfried line following their Retreat from Normandy nevertheless Hitler still had dreams of a turnaround mustering his last reinforcements and backed with the scattering of high quality new armored units including the formidable King Tiger tank he would roll the dice one final time in the forests of the Arden that winter on the Belgian German border the battle weary allies Drew breath some units had fought non-stop since June others only just arriving in theater were completely untested in battle now as Christmas approached those divisions occupying the quiet sector around the Arden found themselves directly in the path of the last major German offensive of the war on the Western Front amongst them were the men of the 394th Infantry Regiment intelligence and reconnaissance platoon who would soon cement their place in World War II Legend the men of the INR were hand-picked chosen for their intelligence observation skills Marksmanship motivation and physical fitness their role was a dangerous one to advance ahead of the larger infantry formations Patrol gather intelligence and in essence to act as the eyes and ears of their parent regiment led by 20 year old Lieutenant Lyle Belk it consisted of two nine-man squads and a seven-man headquarters section Belk's already challenging role was made all the more daunting by the fact he was the second youngest man in the entire platoon by December 1944 the 394th found themselves occupying a sector a few miles inside the Belgium Border close to the Arden Forest Balkan his men had spent their first weeks in combat patrolling an unoccupied area to the south of their sector and monitoring the German positions across no man's land but by December they've been told to take up a defensive position in the line whilst waiting the arrival of new units their dispositions were roughly as follows the area there was signed was on the slopes to the northwest of the small village of lanzarath overlooking the village itself and the main north-south road which passed through it the road itself was the major prize about a mile to the north it met another major highway which offered a fast route westwards for armor and vehicles in the event of an attack this road with its potential access behind the Allied lines must be held at all costs in order to defend the road Belk had to make less possible use of his command his major line of resistance would be along this wood line with his men occupying and improving on previously dug foxholes spaced out over some 450 yards and greatly aided in their concealment by fresh snowfall the men located here were also supported by a Jeep mounted 50 caliber machine gun which was dug in to cover the main road a 30 caliber machine gun and several Browning automatic rifles as well as personal weapons further aiding defense was a barbed wire fence running about four feet high which crossed the entire front of the position making an effective obstacle to Infantry in lazarath itself Bell could place a two-man observation post with views south and east along the likely route of any enemy advance nearby 55 men and three towed guns of a tank destroyer Battalion and several artillery observers had also set up in the village in the center were two cafes named Cafe Palm and Cafe Shelton both would be important in the battle to come from the German side of the wire a few miles away things looked outwardly quiet having fallen back to the once formidable Siegfried line the position of which can still be traced by its famous Dragon's Teeth it seems sure that both sides would settled down in the sector and wait out the winter snows all that was soon to change largely unknown to U.S intelligence the Germans of Mass 2 formidable Panzer armies opposite an 80-mile stretch of the Western Front in the Arden their aim was to launch a surprise thrust through the forest seizing vital Bridges and rail Junctions before driving on to capture the major Allied Supply Hub of Antwerp some 100 miles away thus splitting the Allied Forces and setting back their progress by months at the least it was a massively ambitious plan relying on the capture of enemy fuel supplies and maintaining a very strict timetable speed was the key advancing in the northern thrust of those two armies would be the men of the sixth SS Panzer Army spearheaded by Camp group Piper named for its formidable leader obispiper arguably one of Germany's most ruthless and effective Panzer commanders in World War II Piper had earned a fearsome reputation on the Eastern Front receiving the knight's cross with oak leaves from Hitler himself his task was simple push on drive through the Enemy Lines sweeping away resistance in a race to capture two vital Bridges across the ambleiv and MERS Rivers before the Americans could reinforce the natural defensive bastions time was everything supporting Piper in this role were several key infantry units whose job was to advance ahead of the armored column and clear the way through the alloy front lines to allow a swift passage tasked with clearing the 23 house Village of lanzarat and the key Crossroads to its North were the men of the third folsomiega and 27th bulk's Grenadier divisions earlier in the war considered amongst the elite of German forces the third full shimierek had been badly moored in Normandy and now possessed a mix of hardened veterans and new recruits nevertheless the 1200 or so men of its ninth regiment should have had no problem brushing aside the handful of U.S forces around the village [Music] and so at 5 30 a.m on the 16th of December 1944 low about and his men were jolted into wakefulness by the opening of an intense barrage held in the start of operation of vacht and Ryan Belk himself remembered the moment we felt that there was something going on over there but didn't realize the magnitude of what it was going to be the Charlene surprised us the area in front of us was being hit but then they moved it up to just short of our position and I thought we were gonna get it next but then it moved behind us then it started again and they kept repeating that for I don't know how long but a long time when this continued on and on I thought this isn't just some spoiling fire this is something much bigger within about 45 minutes the first Germans appeared shaken but largely unharmed by the bombardment the men of the INR stilled themselves for the inevitable infantry assault with the tank destroyer unit in lanzarath recalled to the rear to regroup it only left about its own two-man Outpost in the village and that in imminent danger of being overrun understanding the risk he sent a three-man patrol under Corporal McGee to rescue those in the village but by the time they've reached the road they found it swarming with Germans forced away to the north they were engaged in a bit of firefight and later captured although Sergeant slave and Corporal Krieger of The Outpost position who had hidden among some cows in a nearby Barn were able to make it back and rejoin the remainder of the platoon which was also bolstered about the same time by four artillery men making the total number in the wood line above lazarath 22. at around 9 30 a.m some 500 men of the ninth folsomiega regiment was seen advancing North in full view along the main road parallel to Belk's position at a distance of some 400 yards the INR men held their fire as the range closed all the time it was considerable surprise moments later when a young girl was seen leaving the northernmost houses of the village pointing directly towards the position of hitherto unseen Americans possibly informing the Germans of their presence immediately an order was shouted and as the Germans Exposed on the roadway began running for cover Luke gave the order to open fire a hail of small arms fight fell directly into the deploying column causing numerous casualties prolonged firefight developed with German shooting from roadside ditches in the small group on the hill firing back with rifles and their two machine guns bite the intense fire only one iron arm was wounded although dozens of Germans fell before they retreated into the village at around 11AM once again a company of Paul shumiere was seen advancing directly toward the wood in the frontal assault about record what happened next they came up this hill in a line of skirmishers and when they reached the fence we just fired on them it was kind of like a manslaughter this went on for maybe eight minutes finally it stopped and everything quieted down I remember what that looked like in the snow it's hard to imagine as the devastating effect of the American fire from well-protected positions became clear the surviving Germans withdrew to the cover of the road around 11 45 am leaving a high tide Mark of Fallen at the fence running in front of the American position it wouldn't be the last attack at approximately 3 pm bout was surprised to see yet another frontal assault develop against their positions this time with larger numbers and with heavier supporting fire the result was the same the platoon's Jeep mounted 50 caliber machine gun firing across the line of Advance took a horrific toll on the attackers as did the accurate fire from the foxholes German paratrooper Rudy frubiser recalled the moment here it is lying snow on the ground and the paratroopers in their modeled smokes really stand out when the third company approaches the houses stumbles and does not get up when somebody turns him over he concludes headshot Maya and Schmidt are wounded less severely walks through the womb he is clearly recognizable with the Red Cross on his chest as he is treating the ruler there's a shot he grabs his face and kills over headshot then Smith turns around to help he's also hit by a headshot examining survive as accounts of this particular moment strongly suggests that inr's private milosevic was the man firing at this time as it was later reported that he detected a medic leaning over a wounded soldier talking into a Communications device shortly afterwards mortifier began Landing close to his position so milosevic opened fire whatever the truth in the fog of War it was clear that this was a bitter and desperate fight by now the sheer weight of German fire was taking its toll several men have been slightly wounded others more seriously with private Khalil being hit full in the face by a rifle grenade which failed to explode lacerating his face and driving his broken teeth into the roof of his mouth the pressure increased and whilst the men on the ridge held their own their last communications were destroyed the 50 caliber machine gun disabled an ammunition was grown perilously short Belk now with several wounded and all his men cold scared and exhausted and facing over 1 000 enemy infantry resolved to hold out till dusk before attempting to retreat back towards friendly lines two men were sent in the direction of regimental headquarters requesting a formal withdrawal order neither would make it back down in lazarette village at the cafe schultzan the ninth bolsham Yeager regimental Commander obish von Hoffman frustrated and unsure of the enemy's strength on the hill was concerned about the loss of time with Camp grouper Piper on Route and expecting the area to be secured he was old to launch one more assault against the hard-pressed and enormously outnumbered Defenders this time moving through lanzarath Village to get around the right of the American line and roll up the INR men from flank and rear back on the hill balcony's men were nervously waiting for dark husbanding their last few rounds and tending the wounded sadly time had run out just as the sun set over lanzarat a strong German attack burst into the tree line from their exposed flank Belk himself described what happened next they hit us from the right side and came out of lanzarath we didn't know they were there the only thing I remember was looking at the back of the Foxhole we were in and I saw some motion to the right side of the platoon and knew it wasn't my guys out there so I started firing at these figures moments later the barrel of a gun came into the hall and I pushed sakanikis and as I did that whoever had the weapon opened up and it hit sock in the right side of the face the next thing I remember it seemed like there wasn't any firing going on at that time I thought about my Aunt Mildred she was a palm reader she had told me when we were back in St Louis if you live to be 21 you are going to have a long life so I had a few hours to go taken into captivity along with the remnants of his platoon and marched into lazarette Village a prisoner of the Germans law about lived to see his 21st birthday and began a long and brutal Journey back to a prisoner of war camp where he and his men would remain for the rest of the war all told about small command had lost just one man killed private Billy Queen shot whilst firing from his Foxhole the 14 of his men were wounded the ninth falsham Jaeger probably left some 30 dead on the slopes of ablazera and perhaps as many as 100 wounded the real success though was measured not in the casualty toll inflicted on the enemy but in time the INR platoon had held up a vastly superior enemy for more than 12 hours and even after their capture that evening the Germans would not continue their Advance believing that the ferocity of resistance they had met throughout the day must have come from a much larger Force in this alone the INR materially contributed to the failure of Camp group Piper to break through the American lines and cross the river Murs final gamble in the west due to men like Lyle Belk did not pay off in the months and years following the actions on the landserath ridge the story of what passed there that December day was largely forgotten the survivors went home and continued with their lives rarely speaking about the war foreign it was not until several decades later that the story Rose to prominence as authors and historians began to piece together the actions of that day and it wasn't until 1981 following a series of high-profile appeals that the platoon as a whole was recognized with the presidential unit citation the heroism and individual awards for Valor given to each man namely the distinguished service cross to Lieutenant Lyle balk and three others five silver stars and nine bronze stars with valid device thus making the men of the 394th Infantry regiments INR platoon the most highly decorated American platoon for a single action in the entire second World War so that ends this battle guide video which we hope you enjoyed and found interesting of course if you'd like to see more be sure to check out our other videos right here on YouTube and for the real history lovers why not check out battleguide.co.uk where each week we combine the latest technology with the world's leading historians to deliver a live virtual tour of the world's most spectacular battlefields so thanks again for watching and we'll see you next time

Channel: Battle Guide

Views: 938,270

Keywords: battle of the bulge, ww2 documentary, Lyle Bouck, I&R Platoon, lanzerath ridge, wwii, world war ii

Id: Am3nSRwm2QE

Length: 16min 56sec (1016 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 20 2022