Bastogne: The Story of the First Eight Days - US Army Center Of ...

90 BASTOGNE
The Germans had already made their onfall against Colonel
Sink's support position. In early morning, December 20, the 3d
Battalion of the 506th received light shelling and Hat-trajectory
fire along its lines at Foy. During the night and through the first
·hours of daylight the enemy had taken advantage of the heavy
fog and moved in very close to the American outposts, though it
seems probable that they knew very little about the location of
the American lines and were only groping. 23
At 0800, December 20, a force of about two companies of in'
fantry supported by three tanks attacked (Map 11, page 91)
toward the ground defended by Companies I and H. By 0900,
they had driven in far enough to put direct fire on the American
positions with their supporting weapons. 24 The tank destroyers
of 3d Platoon, Reconnaissance Company of the 705th Tank Destroyer
Battalion were not in position to give the infantry any
direct fire support during the engagement. They were in the
woods south of Foy when the attack came on, and in the later
stages of the action they were established as roadblocks, but during
that morning they did not fire on any enemy armor.26 Company
G in Recogne was engaged by another company of German
infantry supported by three tanks. The command post of the
3d Battalion in Foy came under direct fire from an enemy tank.
Until 1030 the Battalion held its ground in Foy and then withdrew
to the high ground south of the village. Here it reformed
for the counterattack. 28
It was about mid-morning when WIst Airborne Division
Headquarters called the 502d Parachute Infantry and directed
that its 3d Battalion (under Lieutenant Colonel John P. Stopka)
attack through Recogne and gain contact }Vith the American force
at Noville, thus reestablishing the left Hank. The battalion
crossed the line of departure at 1130 and then pushed right on,
meeting little opposition.
But when the 3d Battalion, 502d, reached Recogne a change
in the order came. At somewhere around noon General Mc­
Auliffe had decided that Noville wasn't important enough to
warrant a last-ditch stand on the inferior ground around the village.
Colonel Stopka was accordingly instructed to make a lim-