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

FIRST ACTION AT MARVIE 101
At 1125, December 20, Colonel Inman's command post in
Marvie (2d Battalion, 327th Glider Infantry) reported to Colonel
O'Hara that they were receiving a great deal of shelling and
that they could see enemy tanks coming toward them. 8 This movement
had already been observed from within O'Hara's sector.
Yet Harper, driving up the hill at the very moment of the attack,
was unaware that anything untoward was breaking until he got
to the crest of the hill. There he turned about and saw the enemy
guns blazing from the edge of the woods directly southeast of
Marvie and their point-blank fire hitting among the houses of the
village.
Harper could see that the fire came from tanks within. the
wood but he could not be certain how many. The barrage was
followed immediately by an advance out of the woods by four
enemy tanks and six half-tracks. 9 They were well spread out and
they advanced slowly, firing as they came, apparently drawn on
by the prospect of an easy success over the light tanks. These
tanks kept dodging in and out among the buildings and the
enemy fire appeared to follow their movements closely. The light
tanks replied futilely with their 37mm. guns and the enemy
armor appeared to come on more boldly.lO Feeling that the presence
of his unit, rather than helping Colonel Inman's men, was
drawing more high-velocity fire into the town, the light tank
commander asked Colonel O'Hara for permission to withdraw. ll
It was granted. By then, one of the light tanks had been set afire
by a shell burst; a second had been hit in the suspension system
but could make its escape by backing up the hill.
Yet Colonel Harper did not know all of these things. He saw
the tanks quit the village· and concluded that they had been
routed and were deserting his infantry.12
Up on the hill behind Marvie, Colonel O'Hara's larger guns
kept silent. In front of the oncoming armor a German selfpropelled
75mm. gun was pacing the advance. Its gunner
spotted a half-track near O'Hara's command post and fired several
quick rounds at it. The shells hit an Engineer jeep, demolished
a one-ton trailer and blew through the lower portion of the