van Lunteren - Blocking Kampfgruppe Peiper : the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the Battle of the Bulge

Published in the United States of America and Great Britain in 2015 by

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Copyright 2015 Frank van Lunteren

ISBN 978-1-61200-313-9

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-314-6

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by Former 2nd Lt. Robert E. Bramson, F/504

Dedicated to all the officers and men who served in the 504th Regimental Combat Team in World War II. Their sacrifices will not be forgotten.

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, To the end, to the end, they remain.

Laurence Binyon, For the Fallen (1914)

There is very heavy fighting going on there now between American paratroops and German SS-men.

BBC reporter Robert Barr at Cheneux, December 21, 1944

Our casualty rates, including those of my platoon, were high, not only because of combat injuries but also because of the brutal weather conditions.

2nd Lt. Robert E. Bramson, F Company

Began wondering if this Siegfried Line wasnt just a big hoax. We changed our minds fastall hell broke loose.

2nd Lt. Charles E. Zastrow, E Company, Letter to his parents, February 10, 1945

Iserved in F Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division, briefly in Holland and subsequently in Belgium, until I was wounded on February 2, 1945. The 82nd to this day is considered a very famous division. I was proud to have served in such a fine unit, and especially one led by General Gavin, an aggressive leader who was often seen up with the forward units.

I believe the successful and necessary use of airborne troops in infantry ground operations in Belgium for an extensive period, though lightly armed and equipped and under very adverse conditions, further fostered the unmatched reputation of the 82nd Airborne. At that time few, if any, units had as much front-line duty as the 82nd, having fought in Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Normandy and in Holland.

In this second volume Frank van Lunterens very exhaustive research describes the 504th operations during the Battle of the Bulge, leading up to the breaching of the Siegfried Line. As I was a young paratroop officer rather low in the chain of command, van Lunterens research in essence has given me information about the regiments operations through a different set of eyes than my own. My knowledge, on the other hand, was at most times limited only to what I was able to hear or observe. Conditions during this period were often physically difficult due to the nature of the terrain, the extreme cold, and at times the deep snow. Our casualty rates, including those of my platoon, were high not only because of combat injuries but also because of the brutal weather conditions. For example, the morning I was wounded I had to be carried off the Mertesrott Heights by just-captured German soldiers, under guard, as no rescue vehicles were able to penetrate the hilly forest trails due to the difficult weather.

After the victorious breaching of the Siegfried Line on the GermanBelgian border, the regiment and the divisions other units continued successfully into Germany, where they subsequently served as the occupation troops in Berlin. Upon returning to the United States, the 82nd was given the honor of leading the gala Victory Parade in New York Citya very proud moment.

Second Lieutenant Robert E. Bramson

F Company, 504 PIR, 19441945

The Ardennes Campaign, popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge, is probably the sole military campaign fought by the U.S. Army in World War II that is characterized by defeat followed by ultimate victory after weeks of fighting in extremely adverse weather. Both Malmdy and Bastogne are iconic geographical names that trigger memories of the Malmdy Massacre by Kampfgruppe Peiper, and the Battered Bastards of Bastogne, whose defense of the town earned the 101st Airborne Division collectively a Presidential Unit Citation in March 1945. But these places, along with the Elsenborn Ridge, Skyline Drive, Lanzerath, and the so-called twin towns of Krinkelt and Rocherath are only a few of the many important battle sites in the Belgian Ardennes. Nor was Kampfgruppe Peiper first and foremost defeated at Trois Ponts by the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment and the 291st Combat Engineer Battalion. As the late Clay Blair wrote in the outstanding Ridgways Paratroopers , the most important defeat occurred at Stoumont and La Gleize, [where] Peipers kampfgruppe was blocked and under heavy attack from the north by Hobbs 30th Infantry Division, supported by Roses CCB [Combat Command B] and, from the southwest, by Tuckers 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

Historians have well covered the actions of the 30th Infantry Division and the 3rd Armored Division led by Rose, but the heroic stand of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment against the 9th SS-Panzer Division between Bra-sur-Liennes and Les Villettes is little known, as is the brave, successful counterattack by the 1st and 3rd battalions staged from Rahier on elements from Kampfgruppe Peiper at Cheneux and Monceau. Historians who have viewed these battles as an unimportant sideshow have limited their research to other books about the 82nd Airborne Division, the divisions official After Action Reports, and Capt. Thomas Helgesons dramatic Narrative of Action of the First Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry at Cheneux, Belgium. Blocking Kampfgruppe Peiper is the first examination to draw extensively on Morning Reports and S-2 and S-3 Journals, and incorporates much new material from written and oral interviews I personally conducted with numerous 504th veterans who participated in the Ardennes Campaign. I believe the story that emerges from this new research significantly clarifies and expands our knowledge of the course of the war in the Bulge, and demonstrates that the actions of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regimentwhich include breaching one of the most difficult sections of the Siegfried Linehave unjustly been long overlooked.

It is my over-all aim as an historian to provide, as much as possible, an equal amount of information on each campaign fought by the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Blocking Kampfgruppe Peiper introduces replacements to the regiment as they join it, and presents new background material on the disbanded units and other pools from which replacements came, the dates they were sent overseas, and the experience of arriving in a new frontline unit in the midst of a battlesometimes to be immediately placed on an outpost position. What is it like to participate in night patrols? How did replacements respond to their first battle? Also included are lesser-discussed aspects of garrison life such as Prop Blast parties and division reviews. For these and many other aspects of daily life in and out of battle, I was fortunate to have access to numerous letters by and to Tuckers troopers, battle reports, Company Morning Reports, rosters, and telegrams, all of which helped me to reconstruct the epic story of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the Battle of the Bulge.