Siege of Bastogne

Battle of Bastogne
	Part of Battle of the Ardennes (World War II)
	; 101st Airborne Division troops watch as C-47s drop supplies over Bastogne.
Date	December 1944 – January 1945
Location	Bastogne, Belgium
Result	American Victory.
Belligerents
101st Airborne; File:10th Armored Division.patch.jpg 10th Armored (Combat Command B) 463rd Field Artillery Battalion	; Fifth Panzer Army
Commanders and leaders
Anthony McAuliffe	Hasso von Manteuffel
Strength
11,000 (101st)	15 German divisions (four armored)
Casualties and losses
1,000	Unknown

The Siege of Bastogne was a smaller battle in and around the Belgian town of Bastogne, during the larger Battle of the Bulge. Success of the German offensive, seizure of the harbor at Antwerp with encirclement and destruction of Allied armies, required the German Army mechanized forces to use the roadways in order to maintain the speed of the offensive. All seven main roads in the Ardennes mountain range converged on the small town of Bastogne. Control of the crossroads of Bastogne was vital for both sides since Allied control acted to reduce the speed of the German advance while German control acted to increase the speed of their advance and improved resupply of the German columns as the poor weather conditions made cross country travel difficult. The battle lasted from mid-December 1944 to January 1945.

Deployment

As Allied command determined that the German army was attacking through the Ardennes into Belgium, they began a series of troop movements to reinforce key points. As part of the troop redeployments to blunt and stop the German attack, the American 101st Airborne Division, Combat Command B of 10th Armored and the 463d Field Artillery Battalion were deployed to Bastogne.

Retreat from Noville

On the 19th and 20th of December, the 1st Battalion of the 506th Regiment, supported by Team Desobry of the 10th Armored, engaged the 2nd Panzer Division at Noville, northeast of Foy. Together, they destroyed at least 30 enemy tanks and inflicted casualties of between 500 and 1,000. This delay gave the 101st Airborne Division troops enough time to set up their defences at Bastogne. By the time the battalion pulled back beyond Foy on the 20th, it had lost 13 officers and 199 enlisted men, out of about 600 troops.

Battle

The Allied forces were soon surrounded by elements of the German Fifth Panzer Army, outnumbered and lacking cold-weather gear, and also ammo, food, medicial supplies, leadership(many officers were out somewhere, including General Maxwell Taylor in US. Due to some of the worst winter weather in years, the surrounded Allied forces could not be resupplied by air nor was tactical air support available requiring the defenders to rely on their organic arms. However, the Germans attacked different points of the defensive perimeter in sequence, violating the military principle of "mass". This played into the American advantage of interior lines of communication and tended to dissipate the German advantage of superior numbers. Allied control of Bastogne was a major obstacle to the German armored advance and the morale of Allied forces elsewhere on the Western Front was boosted by news of the stubborn defense of the besieged town.

Artillery from the 463d Battalion consisted of 105 and 155 mm howitzers. They were active in the first few days of the siege, firing in complete circle at all German attempts to break through the lines. But by the twenty-third they were almost out of ammunition. The remaining rounds were saved for antitank purposes in the event of a German panzer attack. The battalion did not resume shelling of German lines until the first Allied supply drop came, which was on that same day.

When the weather improved on December 23, Allied planes resumed flying, delivering much-needed supplies of food and ammunition to the Allied forces defending Bastogne as well as tactical air support through out the area.

Breaking of the Encirclement

Elements of General George Patton's Third Army, spearheaded by Lt. Col. Creighton Abrams of the 37th Armor Regiment, succeeded in punching through to Bastogne, augmenting the defenders the day after Christmas. The 101st's ground communications with the American supply dumps were restored, and the wounded were evacuated to the rear.

With the encirclement broken, the men of the 101st expected to be relieved, but were given orders to resume the offensive, and were not taken off the front until Noville had been recaptured.

The most famous quote of the battle came from the 101st’s acting commander, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe. When awakened by an enemy request for his surrender, he replied “NUTS!” (his interpreter translated it as “Go to hell!”).

Map of troop movements during the Battle of the Bulge. Bastogne is near the middle.
Letter from General McAuliffe on Christmas Day to the 101st Airborne troops defending Bastogne.
101st Airborne troops picking up air-dropped supplies during the siege.

101st Airborne troops picking up air-dropped supplies during the siege.
Members of C Company, 9th Engineers, conduct a memorial service for those killed during the Siege, January 22, 1945.

Band of Brothers

The legendary Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, U.S. 101st Airborne Division was one of the units present at Bastogne. Band of Brothers, an HBO miniseries based on a book of the same name by Stephen Ambrose, dedicates two episodes ("Bastogne" and "The Breaking Point") to its experiences there. After the battle, newspapers called them the "battered bastards of Bastogne".

"The 101st Airborne still had a complaint. As the story of the Battle of the Bulge is told today, it is one of George Patton and his Third Army coming to the rescue of the encircled 101st, like the cavalry come to save the settlers in their wagon circle. No member of the 101st has ever agreed that the division needed to be rescued!" (Ambrose, 191)

References

Ambrose, Stephen E. Band of Brothers. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1992.
Turow, Scott. Ordinary Heroes. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (October 27, 2005)

External links

Summary of the battle
The Battle of the Bulge - Fortunes of War
Battle of the Bulge - 4th Armored Division Help End the Siege of Bastogne
[www.army.mil/cmh/books/wwii/Bastogne/bast-fm.htm]

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