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

48 BASTOGNE
enemy was building up on his right, Colonel Ewell asked Division
headquarters to attach one battalion to his regiment for a
right Hank and reserve. He was given the 1st Battalion of the
327th Glider Infantry under Lieutenant Colonel Hartford F.
Salee. They were put in behind Ewell's 3d Battalion which put
them next to Team O'Hara. lI
Between 1700 and 1800, December 19, the 501st Parachute
Infantry fell back to the new defensive line. Estimating his gains
and losses, Ewell didn't give his regiment too much credit. He
thought that Company I had probably killed some Germans at
Wardin, but since the enemy still held the town he couldn't be
sure. His impression was that the execution done by his own
right and center had not been very great. The honors of the day
belonged to the artillery.16 Colonel Ewell said, "Any actual killing
of the enemy that day was due to the artillery."
Captain Ryerson's force (Company C, 20th Armored Infantry
Battalion, lOth Armored Division) of Team Cherry (Map 7,
page 47), having spent the day hoping that the infantry would
get up to them, clung to three houses in the northwest edge of
Mageret after dark. The enemy shot up Hares and blazed away
at Ryerson's vehicles with antitank guns, destroying three of
them. Their infantry then came on but was driven back by the
fire of the 420th Armored Field Artillery Battalion.
At 0030, December 20, Combat Command B Headquarters
sent orders for Ryerson to withdraw before dawn, and to make
contact with Colonel Ewell at Bizory. One line in the special
instructions said, "The lead vehicle will inform outpost line of
number of vehicles in his column to insure that no Germans
follow column into our lines."
Captain Ryerson got ready to move his wounded to a point
beyond the crest of the first hill-the first step on the way out. 1T