hasbrouck knows that there are german forces by passing to the north. german forces by passing to the south, as well as trying to attack him, both in the 18th, and it will become the 62nd. -- on the 18th volksgrendadier area, and will become the 62nd volksgrendadier. the 19th ended up being a quiet day for the americans. what has happened is that the germans are having so much problems trying to unscrew their traffic jams that they cannot build a combat power. at this time, the others will meet. there has really been no action other than to combat piper in -- group piper in the north. and the fifth panzer army will get the most effort. including what is known as the escort brigade. it's a brigade that has a light division type of strength. unfortunately, even though you have given it to them, they are still trapped miles behind in a town, trying to come forward. december 20 is when things will start picking up again. you start to see element of the escort brigade coming in, and a certain pattern starts to develop in the fighting. most armored combat tak

at that point, all the forces in that pocket come under hasbrouck's control. also in the 22nd, montgomery, who sends up these officers, young officers who go around with the radio vehicle and they could go and basically spy on any headquarters and call up montgomery and talk directly. he has these officers all throughout. he has a great feel of what's going on in the battlefront. he understands it's time for the seventh army division to withdraw. he will send a message down to first army and hasbrouck, saying, you have accomplished your mission, a mission well done. the problem is, how will they withdraw? the germans are starting to understand that it is close. they are going to get one last supply convoy that comes through on the 22nd with fuel and ammunition. it had to take two days to get there. they had to go back through the 84th division, back to the third armored division and come in there. there are three routes taken -- routes that they can withdraw. a here, b through the woods, and this one, c, up along the river. the problem is you have to stay on t

but general hasbrouck's search for first army headquarters and his efforts to convince them he was facing more than a local german counter attack had been successful. >> on the morning of the 21st, we were overjoyed to find the 82nd airborne had arrived in our general vicinity and had made a tenuous contact with us near a bridge. this was an eventful day in our sector. ccb of the 7th armored was attacked by a full german corps. >> by noon, heavy concentrations of german artillery started breaking on the woods in which my forces were located. screaming mimi barrages started. these sounded like a huge spring being compressed and suddenly cut loose. it was a horrible din that came through the air among the trees. >> i remember one unit commander who i had who several times reported to me that he had to be relieved or had to have reinforcements, that he could only hold maybe another hour or sometimes three hours or sometimes eight hours. i remember telling him very definitely that -- saying, how the hell do you know how long you can hold? you hold there as long as you have the ability to fire

and hasbrouck comes in. and hasbrouck goes through and talks about what the situation is in the seventh armored division. despite that he still wants him to defend. they will go forward to bruce clark's headquarters. bruce clark pretty much tells him the same thing. you need to withdraw and get out of there. ridgeway still wants them to stay. it is only when he goes down to a west point classmate, who he trusts, he goes down there and tells will, we will get you out of here. he says, i don't know how you will do that. at that point he understands how bad the situation is. the last thing he will do is go up to the headquarters of the 106th division and get briefed by major general jones. jones gives him a pretty optimistic point of view that we can stay, we can hold this. at that point ridgeway understands that jones does not understand the situation. he will be relieved on the spot. at that point, all of the forces in that pocket come under hasbrouck's control. also in the 22nd, montgomery. officers,f these

hasbrouck knows that there are german forces by passing to the north. german forces by passing to the south, as well as trying to attack him directly in the area 62nd.ll become the the 19th and the being a quiet day for the americans. muchermans are having so problem china unscrew their traffic jams that they cannot build a combat power. time they will mean. there has really been no action up into the north. make it the main effort and start getting more and more what is knowning as the -- escort brigade. it's a brigade that has a light division type of strength. unfortunately, even though you have given it to them, they are still trapped miles behind trying to come forward. of december is when things pick up again. of thert to see elements escort brigade coming in. a certain pattern starts to develop on the fighting. combat in world war ii takes place in 800 yards. because of the guns and the sites. what ends up happening is you can see the enemy starting to master attack. you can seem old men. the advantage the americans will have is that they have ar

at that point, all the forces in that pocket come under hasbrouck's control. also in the 22nd, montgomery, send up these officers, young officers who go around with the radio vehicle and they could go and basically spy on any headquarters and talk directly. he has these officers all throughout. he has a great feel of what's going on in the battlefront. he understands it's time for the seventh army division to withdraw. he will send a message down to first army saying you have accomplished your mission, a mission well done. the problem is, how will they withdraw? the germans are starting to understand that it is close. they are going to get one last apply when it comes through on the 22nd with fuel and ammunition. it had to take two days to get there. they had to go back through the 84th division, back to the third armored division and come in there. there are three routes taken withdraw. a here, b through the woods, and this one, c, up along the river. the problem is you have to stay on the road. clark is head of engineers, still a dirt road today, and he is i