![]() ![]() Tanks, antitank guns, and machine guns covered all approaches, but apart from a few sentries to warn of American attacks, all remaining personnel took cover in cellars or other protected areas. The Panzergrenadiers dug foxholes and took up firing positions in houses. In one cellar alone 22 people spent six days and nights. The majority of the civilian population had fled before being engulfed by the fighting, but some 50 Belgians remained, including the village priest, and they took cover in the substantial cellars of the mainly brick and stone houses. Even before the withdrawals into the final perimeter, the village was being reduced to rubble by American shelling. Germans Take Cover In Cellars With The TownspeopleĬonditions within La Gleize were appalling. Extraordinary measures, such as trying to float fuel drums down the Amblève River, also ended in failure. None was successful, and the Americans resorted to heavy shelling rather than risk further casualties.Īn attempt to resupply Kampfgruppe Peiper with fuel and ammunition by air during the evening of the 22nd failed when 90 percent of the canisters fell outside the tight defensive perimeter. Powerful task forces from both the 3rd Armored and 30th Infantry Divisions, supported by a hundred 105mm and 155mm guns and 36 medium mortars, launched heavy assaults against Peiper’s perimeter on the 22nd and 23rd. The Amblève River protected the German southern flank. These forces soon came under heavy attack from the north, east, and west. Nevertheless, by the 22nd the remnants of his once mighty Kampfgruppe of nearly 5,000 men and 117 tanks, including 45 Tiger IIs, had been forced back into a perimeter of less than two square kilometers around La Gleize. 3rd Armored Division had broken through and blocked the N-33 road north of Trois Ponts on December 20, ending forever any possibility of relief by other parts of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.Īttacks by elements of the 82nd Airborne Division on his garrison at Cheneux and by the 30th Division and a task force from the 3rd Armored against Stoumont on the 20th and 21st forced Peiper to abandon these villages, but not before his men had inflicted grievous casualties on the Americans. His hopes of being resupplied and reinforced were soon dashed by the failure of the Germans to capture Stavelot. His Kampfgruppe was surrounded, virtually out of fuel, short of ammunition, and reduced to about a quarter of its original strength.Īs a leading participant in Hitler’s last great offensive in the West, Peiper’s lightning dash through the thin American defenses in the northern Ardennes Forest had been halted in only three days by a combination of factors- bad planning, administrative weaknesses, a series of brilliant small-unit actions by the Americans, and bad luck! His small force of just over a thousand men and 25 tanks was by this time concentrated in an all-around defensive position in the tiny Belgian hilltop village of La Gleize, some 100 kilometers from his starting point behind the West Wall.Īfter failing to break through the 30th Infantry Division’s defenses in the Amblève Valley just to the west of Stoumont on December 19, and facing a serious fuel shortage, Peiper had gone on the defensive in the villages of Cheneux, Stoumont, and La Gleize, an area nicknamed “The Cauldron” by his men. In addition to the brain-teasing Doodle Series, JoyBits continues to release fun apps including Icy Clash, Mystery Castle and the upcoming hidden object hit Crime Case Files.By December 24, 1944, the commander of the Sixth Panzer Army’s strongest battlegroup, SS Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) Jochen Peiper, was facing the ultimate military nightmare. ![]() But beware, creating the world is not so easy, inventing the wheel might just trigger plague of zombies…Do you have a devilish side or a love of animals? Doodle Devil and Doodle Farm might be just what you need to unleash your dastardly deeds or build a fantastical animal kingdom. Millions of players worldwide have fallen in love with the addictive, puzzle game play that allows your imagination to run wild. ![]() Each game offers widely imaginative and irresistibly fun puzzle game play that appeals to gamers of ALL ages. In Doodle God mix and match elements as you create thousands of combinations that result in your world growing from simple bacteria to one filled with animals, tools, weapons and entire civilizations. Pull up a chair and check out the award winning Doodle Series including the hit apps, Doodle God, Doodle Farm, Doodle Devil as well as the upcoming Doodle Kingdom. ![]() Welcome to JoyBits. The Power of Creation is in Your Hands! ![]()
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