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

106 BASTOGNE
During all that time, Team O'Hara sat high and dry on the
ridge, taking no part in the engagement except during the brief
gun duel. On the right Hank that force received some small-arms
fire but the enemy made no attempt to close on that side and the
armored infantry in Team O'Hara's position was too far away to
lend any support to the men in Marvie. That village was again
clear by about 1300. At 1400 some of Colonel O'Hara's tankers
saw an enemy half-track stuck in the mud about 150 yards southeast
of Marvie. It had been with the striking force during the
morning and had become bogged. In the previous excitement
all hands had overlooked it. The tankers quickly knocked it out. 23
At 1420, December 20, the enemy put smoke on Marvie. Some
of the tanks made another sally from the woods but changed their
minds. The situation began to ease and Colonel Inman's men
went about improving their positions, digging their foxholes narrow
and very deep and right next to the foundations of the
houses. 24 The day ended fairly quietly but with a definite change
in the weather. The Ardennes was cold and frozen. The ground
had hardelled enough for the tracked vehicles to get about over
the hills in almost any direction. Still no snow had fallen.
Now, as the first skirmish. ended around Marvie, the first Hurries
fell. Soon the ridges were whitening and the snows thickened
during the next few days. Increasing cold, light winds and
deep drifts changed many of the characteristics of the battle. One
of the problems that now pressed most heavily on the commanders
was to get their men indoors and keep them from freezing.
Villages became places of refuge not only from enemy fire but
from the cold. The Belgian villagers, clinging stubbornly to their
homes even in the face of the German attack, had to be evacuated
to provide shelter and cover for the infantry. In a world of white,
the forest plantations were the only other areas of easy concealment
for troops. The local actions swirled more and more around
these two objectives-to capture a few houses or to take a line of
fir trees. 25