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

198 BASTOGNE
grenadier Division got forward in time to be fed into the attack,
along with the tank battalion. SOme of these men rode the tanks;
others followed in an infantry line that wavered from the beginning,
because its members had had little chance to catch
breath or get their bearings after arrival at the front. Kokott's
77th Regiment attacked on the left against Champs, and he had
the impression that this was the only part of the attack that got
off strongly. His reconnaissance battalion, to the southward of
the sector where the elements of the 15th Panzer Division struck
against Colonel Harper's position, was also supposed to have
joined in the attack, although this demonstration made almost
no impression on the defenders. The troops confronting the eastern
and southern parts of the perimeter were ordered to support
the attack with continuing fires to prevent reinforcement of the
westward-facing positions.
Thus the plans and intentions of the enemy in the Christmas
Day fight. The results were as described in an earlier chapter.
By 1000 Kokott knew that his plan was irretrievably lost. At
1200 he asked XXXXVII Corps for permission to stop the attack
and reorganize. Corps refused, saying that it had become absolutely
necessary to capture Bastogne, since the pressure on the
south was becoming uncontainable. But the fight [at the hinge
of our 327th Glider Infantry-502d Parachute Infantry front]
had run its own course and was already dying. Kokott reluctantly
renewed the attack, knowing now that the only effect would be
to increase his losses.