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

WEST OF BASTOGNE 151
just beyond the murk. Sergeant Lazar.Hovland got a clear sight
of one enemy tank and set it afire in four rounds. A second German
tank fired on Hovland and missed; Hovland crippled it with
a quick shot but it pulled back into the fog.1/
By the new order from WIst Division, the 1st Battalion was to
clean out Recogne finally and then fill the gap between the 502d
and 506th regiments. The order was changed a few minutes later
when Colonel Sink (506th commander) reported to General
McAuliffe that despite Company G's difficulty the 506th's position
was pretty sound. 10 General McAuliffe decided that it made
little difference whether he held Recogne. ll The 1st Battalion,
502d, which had been sweeping forward with two companies
abreast, was told to keep on moving but in column of companies.
General McAuliffe asked Colonel Stopka if he could disengage,
pull back of Recogne and stand on a line running southeastward
to where he could join Colonel Sink's flank. Inasmuch as Company
G was already standing on this line which curved crescentfashion
around a reverse slope, Stopka said he would be glad to
make the move. At noontime the 1st Battalion was moved back
to Grosse-Hez and Company A was moved to the south of longchamps
to stop anything that might come that way. The 377th
Field Artillery Battalion had given support to the 502d during
the latter stage of this operation and had fired 60 rounds on the
highway from Salle to Bertogne. The fire knocked out six vehicles
of a German column which was turned back by these losses. 12
On December 22 the enemy build-up along the Salle-Bertogne
road continued at such a pace toat at noontime Colonel Chappuis,
the 502d's commander, moved Company A to Champs and
the rest of the 1st Battalion to Hemroulle (two miles west of Bastogne),
which faced them to the westward. A platoon from Company
B was set up as a roadblock, where Company A had been,
along the Longchamps-Bastogne road.
The 3d Battalion received German probing attacks all day
long, but on a limited scale. Two of the tank destroyers which
had been with Colonel Stopka's 3d Battalion were switched over
to support Company A in Champs. A patrol was sent to Rouette,
a mile north of Champs, to check on enemy activities. It encoun-