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

THE SECOND MARVIE ATTACK 123
the driver; he turned the half-track around and sped north toward
Marvie. The troops in the village saw the half-track coming toward
them from out of the body of the German attack. They
thought it was a German vehicle and they fired at it with everything
they had, demolishing the vehicle and killing the crew.
Two German tanks that had followed along the same road crossed
the stream south of Marvie and got into the village as far as the
church. They saw then that the destroyed half-track blocked the
road and that they could not advance any farther. So they turned
around and withdrew. 17
Having begun the attack in stealth, the German infantry now
came on toward the houses in a frenzy, yelling and firing as they
advanced and shooting many Hares. 18 To the men in Colonel
O'Hara's position it looked as if the tracers were Hying in all
directions. Bullet fire began to envelop them from the southern
edge of the village. A self-propelled gun came charging toward
them up the Wiltz road. As it rounded the bend and came abreast
the farmhouse there, one of our medium tanks fired and the
gun went up in Hames. The fire lighted the entire area. The
enemy turned their artillery loose on the farmhouse. A loft filled
with hay soon blazed like a torch. Because of the intense illumination
from these fires, the tanks and infantry of Team O'Hara's
line withdrew 100 yards to the west. 19
Counting an Engineer platoon on the right of Colonel Harper's
327th Glider Infantry, there were 98 men defending Hill 500. 20
Already, a few had been killed or wounded. At the same time
that a part of the German force pressed against Marvie from the
south, twelve German tanks supported by infantry advanced
north along the main road toward the position occupied by Company
F, 327th. This body had debouched from the same woods
from which the German tanks were firing. Instead of continuing
along the Bastogne road, part of the German armor moved rightward
toward Hill 500. The infantry were clad in white and were
almost imperceptible. 21
On the slopes of Hill 500 Lieutenant Stanley Morrison and
his men of Company G, 327th Glider Infantry, had dug in
around the base of the houses. Colonel Harper in his command