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

THE REPULSE 79
Foy) but in fact there was a considerable gap between their
closest elements. Each became so closely engaged in its local
situation that the matter of contact was neglected. Colonel Sink
was alarmed about the peril to his right flank from the beginning,
but it was not until late on the night of December 19 that Colonel
Ewell fully shared his apprehension.
Company A of the 501st was'in reserve in a small wood just
, north of the quarry on the Neffe road, which made it the most
rearward element in the 501s1's general position. Several hundred
yards to its rear were the guns of the 907th Glider Field
Artillery Battalion's forward battery.
At 2300, December 19, a German patrol of thirty men came in
between the company and the battery, moving from out of the
northeast. A man on outpost duty for Company A saw the patrol
and alerted the company. The patrol was permitted to come on.
As it drew near the wood where the company had bivouacked,
both the artillery and the infantry opened fire. The enemy dispersed
into a nearby wood, though one member of the patrol was
taken prisoner. Upon being interrogated he said that the patrol
had come forward through the gap between the two infantry
regiments and that its mission had been to get in 'behind and cut
the Bastogne road. ,The incident gave the artillery grave fears
about the security of their base and it also called Colonel Ewell's
attention to the most vulnerable sector of his front .
. Sometime on the morning of December 20, after the Germans
had attacked at Bizory and then Sideslipped northward, Company
A of the 501st was attached to the 2d Battalion with the
·mission of occupying the woods south of the railroad and making
contact with the 506th Parachute Infantry. However, it did not
proceed immediately on this assignment and during most of that
day the effort to join with the 506th was limited to patrol actions
. out of Company D, 501st, which was in reserve in the 2d Battalion.
Four times during the day patrols from Company D tried to
move north along the general line of the road running to Foy.
But they were always turned back from the vicinity of Halt,
where the enemy had taken up fire positions.
At the same time Company D, 506th Parachute Infantry, was