December 18th
Men of the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion had been held in Belgium since early November. The unit of about 1,000 men had a past shrouded in secrecy due to experimental training conducted in the deserts of the southwestern United States.
That strange background made them ideal candidates for T-Force — a joint U.S.–British unit tasked with securing key German personnel, facilities, and scientific or industrial technology. Now training in and around Liège, the men of the 526th were preparing for what they expected to be a relaxed Christmas.
Company A was quartered in the Château de Grimonster, south of Liège — Christmas gifts stacked in the corner, Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” playing on the radio.
That quiet Sunday ended abruptly.
On the afternoon of December 17th, Battalion Headquarters called an urgent meeting. Company commanders were pulled aside by Lieutenant Colonel Carlisle B. Irwin, the battalion commander. The Germans, he told them, had launched an offensive.
Details were scarce. Fact and fiction blended together in rumor.
“A handful of paratroopers.”
“A full-scale counteroffensive.”
Whatever the truth, units not already committed were to move at once — to form the first line of defense in the North.
“We were told to get dressed… get all our gear ready to move out.
Christmas presents stacked in the corner were to be left until we got back.
It was cold and miserable as we loaded the half-tracks… and slowly we headed to — who knows where.”
A company 526th was pulled aside to go to Stavelot with a platoon from the 825th Tank Destroyer battalion. HQ and B Company of the 526th went to Malmedy.
Unbeknownst to the GI’s, the spearhead of the infamous Kampfgruppe Peiper laid in wait.
Driving along the road, some men noticed movement along the side of the road--it was too late.
Waffen SS soldiers ambushed the scouting parties from all sides and chaos ensued.
As the firefight erupted and GIs scrambled to get back across the bridge, a few 526th soldiers saw something strange. In what seemed like a fever dream, four unknown US medics in a jeep also crossed back across. Confused, 526th medic Allen Breed ran toward them, pleading for their help to get men back across the bridge: “Their demeanor seemed disconnected from the reality of the moment,” Breed recalled. “...the four made no response, but continued to stare.” Suddenly, the jeep drove off, leaving Breed behind.
He and other witnesses later learned they had come face to face with German commandos disguised in American uniforms using the chaos as opportunity to get across the bridge.
Arriving while it was still “dark and colder than all get out,” the troops arrived in Stavelot entirely unclear of the situation. Half tracks easily got lost, multiple times crossing the bridge and coming back again. Eventually order was somewhat maintained and defensive positions were formed on the west side of the bridge, placing Anti-Tank guns strategically.
Several squads—including some squads from the 825ths—crossed to the east side of the bridge to scout German positions.
The scouting parties immediately came across an idle running jeep with a driver appearing to have been shot through the head and blood covering the front passenger seat.
The men looked on in horror and trudged on ahead.
A horrific day would follow.
Night fell silent again.
The bridge was choked with wrecked half-tracks and bodies. On one side stood the surviving men of the 526th and 825th. On the other—the lead elements of Kampfgruppe Peiper.
Survivors from the earlier scouting party were still trapped on the wrong side of the river, these men of the 526th and 825th hid in chicken coops, basements and even potato bins. Some men of tried to make a break for it and were captured, while others, like Bob Hammond of the 825th Tank Destroyers jumped into the freezing waters of the river to get to the friendly side.
However, outmatched and unable to see the enemy, the Americans on the western side of the bridge knew their time was limited. They bluffed. Soldiers ran back and forth across wooden planks, boots echoing through the streets—a ruse to sound like reinforcements. The Germans could not estimate the forces holding the bridge, until the morning light gave away the truth.
At dawn, Panthers rolled forward.
The 526th knocked out one tank--a second broke through and all hell broke loose.
The 526th held Kampfgruppe Peiper until the early afternoon, December 18… but the spearhead broke through.
The German spearhead forced its way through Stavelot—but did not secure it. Order within the 526th dissolved, and roughly 35 men of the 200 escaped with their commanding officer, Captain Mitchell, where they decided with the help of Belgian soldiers to burn a massive fuel depots only a few hundred yards from the German spearhead. Fuel the Nazi war machine desperately needed to continue their advance.
Peiper, however, must have not known of the fuel dump and pushed through the town, pushing further west and assuming others behind him would secure the rest town.
They did not.
American forces such as the 117th (30th Infantry division) and the 526th survivors soon reclaimed Stavelot, cutting off the route.