Normandy:

3 Day

The North Shoulder

Day 1

We start on the North Shoulder. This sector was occupied by the 99th Infantry Division commanded by Major General Walter Lauer. The 99th Division was placed in this defensive sector to acquire experience. Today we look at the actions of the 99th . Their front (left to right) extended from Monschau and Hofen to the railroad just north of the village of Lanzerath. A distance of 19 miles. To the east lay the Germans in the West Wall pillbox line. The frontage assigned an untried division at first thought seems excessive, but the V Corps commander wished to free as much of his striking power as possible for use in the scheduled attack to seize the Roer dams; furthermore the nature of the terrain appeared little likely to attract a German attack. In the extreme northern portion of the sector, around Hofen was positioned the 3rd Battalion 395th Regiment. The ground was studded with open hills to the east of which lay a secion of the Monschau Forest. Only a short distance to the south of Hofen the lines of the 99th entered this forest, continuing to run through a long timber belt until the boundary between the V an V11 Corps was reached at the Losheim Gap. The danger zone would be the Twin Villages of Krinkelt Rocherath. Roads from the east led into Krinkelt and Rocherath. The Twin Villages had to be held if the 2nd Infantry Division was to Reach the Elsenborn position intact and with its heavy weapons and vehicles.

Kampfgruppe Peiper

Day 2.

Today we follow the route of the 1st SS Panzer Regiment. The 1st SS Panzer Division stood ready and waiting to exploit the opening made by the 3rd Parachute Division by an advance via Lanzerath onto the Honsfeld road . About 0500 on 17th December Kampfgruppe Peiper began its march through Bucholz . This unit was responsible for the Malmedy massacre and the killing of 167 men women and children in the town of Stavelot. We visit the Baugnez museum and see the King Tiger at La Gleize. The Malmedy massacre would have repurcussions reaching far wider than one might expect of a single battlefield atrocity in a long and bitter war.

Breakthrough at the Losheim Gap , Schnee Eifel and the battle for St. Vith.

Day 3

The width of the sector held by the 106th Infantry Division and attached 14th Cavalry Group was about 18 air miles. When traced on the ground the line these forces were responible for holding was actually 21 miles in length. We visit Manderfeld , Krewinkel Roth and the Schnee Eifel. This disposition placed the cavalry to the north of the Schnne Eifel and across the northeastern entrance to the Losheim Gap. The section ofthe West Wall which barred egress from the gap lay beyond the cavalry positions. We visit Schoenberg then Lindscheid where 7000 men of the 106th Infantry Division surrendered. At best the cavalry positions could only be described as small islands of resistance, manned usually in platoon strength, and depending on automatic weapons dismounted from cavalry vehicles or on the towed 3 inch guns of the Tank Destroyer Company. We visit the Prummerberg where there is a monument to the 168th Engineer Battalion. We then follow the withdrawal from St. Vith to Vielsalm.

The Battle for Bastogne

Day 4

We start at Preischeid on the east bank of the Our River. General Hasso von Manteuffel (tell them who he is) told me that he came to the east bank of the Our River to observe the soldiers of the 28th Infantry Division. He also told me that he did not begin the attack with an artillery barrage but sent soldiers across the Our to occupy the vacated Amercan positions. We then drive to Dasburg where Major Georg Loo's 600th Engineer Batalion put in a timber trestle bridge for the vehicles of Meinrad von Luchert's 2nd Panzer Division. We then drive to Marnach which was defended by Captain Jim Burns and the men of Company B, 110th Infantry. We then drive to Munshausen where the Cannon Company of the 110th Infantry was based. We then drive to Clervaux HQ of the 110th Infantry . We visit the castle yard where we see the sole surviving tank of the 9th Armored Division and a German 88mm gun. We see the hotel Claravallis from where Colonel Hurley Fuller escaped. Next we drive to Antoniushof where Task Force Rose formed a roadblock. Major Rose committed a company of Shermans, one armored infantry company and a platoon of armored engineers. Major Rose would be ambushed near the town of Houffalize. We continue on to Feitch where Task Force Harper deployed the 2nd Tank Battalion (-) and two companie of the 52nd Armored Infantry Battalion. We then enter Belgium and Longvilly five and a half miles from Bastogne. About 1900 after an uneventful move Lieutenant. Edward P. Hyduke, commanding the advance guard, reached the western edge of Longvilly. Seeing that the road was jammed with vehicles, he halted on the road. Just before midnight Lt. Hyduke learned that CCR intended to fall back to Bastogne. ( although , in fact, the CCR commander later curtailed the move and radioed Colonel Cherry in Neffe to this effect. Team Hyduke was in the process of shifting in the dark to cover Longvilly on the east, north and south . Captain Ryerson sent a self propelled Tank destroyer to feel out the situation in Mageret. THe conclusion was that the road through Mageret could only be opened by force. On the eastern side of Mageret a paratrooper of the 101st Airborne waved the remnants off the road and through the village of Bizory which was defended by the 9th Engineer Battalion. We then see the monument and foxholes of The Band of Brothers. We then pass through the village of Foy and visit Noville. We see the house where Major Desobry was wounded nd Lieutenant La Prade was killed. We then visit the German cemetery. After lunch we visit the Heintz Barracks where General McAuliffe gave his famous reply of "NUTS" . We then go past the Kessler farmhouse to which the Germans brought their surrender demand. We then follow the route taken by Creighton Abrams 37th Tank Battalion and Colonel Jaques 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion to the Boggess pillbox. We finish off with a visit to the Mardasson monument.


Prices per day

2 to 4 persons $300 per person per day.
Each person after 4 $150 per day
The client is responsible for car hire.

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