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

EAST OF BASTOGNE 41
someone walking down the road. 1 The company went on to make
the contact Ewell had ordered. But for all practical effect, the
stranger who had mentioned that there was a friendly roadblock
near by might just as well have left his words unsaid.
This was Team O'Hara of Combat Command B, lOth Armored
Division, which on the night of December 18 had taken up position
on the high ground south of Wardin just short of the woods.
The night had been quiet except for the stragglers coming
through-mostly rear echelon people from the 28th Division
whose idea of the enemy situation was confused. The morning
of December 19 opened with fog. About 1000 the trickle of stragglers
stopped altogether. This worried Team O'Hara for they
figured it must mean that the enemy was coming next. They put
out a platoon as a reconnissance screen to the east which moved
slowly along the road to Bras. At 1140 they engaged and destroyed
a Volkswagen on the Wiltz-Bastogne highway. Just as they
opened fire they saw the head of the enemy column break through
the fog a few hundred yards away-two Mark IV tanks and a
personnel carrier. The platoon had nothing with which to fight
armor and so it cleared out rapidly, reporting its findings by radio.
As a result of the message, unobserved fire was put on Bras by the
420th Armored Field Artillery Battalion.
At about the same time Captain Edward A. Carrigo, Team
S-2, and First Lieutenant John D. Devereaux, commanding Company
B of the 54th Armored Infantry Battalion, were entering
Wardin from the southwest and finding it unhealthy (Map 5,
page 42). The town was wrapped in fog; they could scarcely see
anything at fifty yards' range. But they prowled on through the
town and just as they got beyond it a projectile of antitank size
hit the front bumper of their jeep. Nothing was hurt, but the
two officers increased their speed and reported that there were
people moving into Wardin who were quite unfriendly.8
By noon of the 19th the visibility lengthened to 800 yards.
Second Lieutenant Theodore R. Hamer, observer for the 420th
Armored Field Artillery Battalion, moved forward to the top of
a small hill. There were five tanks of T earn O'Hara on the crest
when he got there. But before he had a chance to observe for