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

4 BASTOGNE
sent to VIII Corps for reequipment and rest. As divisions were
rotated into the sector, they took over existing wire nets and other
facilities.
At the beginning of the German attack in December, the VIII
Corps front was held by two batde-weary divisions, a green infantry
division, part of a green armored division, and a cavalry
group. The battle-tested divisions (they had both seen months
of fighting) were the 4th Infantry Division, which in November
had fought a cosdy action through the Hurtgen Forest below
Duren, Germany, and the 28th Infantry Division, which had sustained
heavy casualties in the First Army drive to the Roer. The
106th Infantry Division, newly arrived on the Continent, entered
the Corps line four days before the German offensive began. The
14th Cavalry Group, consisting of the 18th and 32d Cavalry
Squadrons, held the north Hank of VIII Corps, and the 9th
Armored Division, minus Combat Command B which was with
V Corps, had the most of its units attached to the divisions.
The enemy facing the VIII Corps was estimated at four divisions.
From north to south these were the 18th, 26th, 352d and
212th. Early in December the 28th Division took prisoners and reaffirmed
the presence of the 26th and 352d Divisions, but rumors
that one or more panzer units were in rear of these infantry divisions
were not confirmed. From December 12 on, the American
outposts along the VIII Corps front heard sounds of a great volume
of vehicular movement behind the enemy lines.
On the morning of December 16, the VIII Corps front, which
had been quiet since the latter part of September, suddenly Hared
up. For more than a month the enemy had been concentrating
some 25 divisions. It had been skilfully done and the extent of
the concentration was not fully known to our forces. At 0500
heavy artillery concentrations struck along the entire VIII Corps
front and these were soon followed by tank and infantry attacks.
The strongest attacks were in the north. near the V and VIII
Corps boundary.
The infantry-tank attack on the north Hank of the VIII Corps
began at 0800 on the 16th, and in three hours the enemy had