Dec 16
Retreat day. Heinie barrage opened up at 0500 and attacked along our sector. 106th division "fucked up" officers inspected guards with flash lights and flares. Front infantry built fires- Green troops-
A Btrys town occupied- A & B Btrys both came back to Aldringen- went out to Schonberg surveying-
Barrage still pounding. 270 mm shells hitting on Hill above us while doing triangulation-in area where we had doughnuts.
Several 561st men injured-
Tyler came to bring us back. Shells landing in valley as we left spouting dirt & smoke-Buzz bomb roared overhead and crashed on N of Rd 800 yd in front of us-Looked like ammo dump going up-sheet of flame 150 feet high.
Interactive map for 12/16/44
Lu, from Ray Hight's book: The morning of December 16, when the Battle of the Bulge began, we were going out on a make-work program. It suddenly became a day to remember. None of us had been exposed to the kind of intense artillery fire we received that morning. We were not infantry troops and soon pulled out to move away from the front lines.
By late in the day we knew that a horrendous battle had begun, and the whole aspect of war came home to us. from here on out, things became pretty dicey and we never knew when we came around a corner if we would be facing a Tiger tank! Once we started squeezing the bulge in, we felt a lot better about being able to put out sound bases in, knowing our backs were protected. As we worked closely with individual field artillery gun outfits, they were able to use our measurements, which saved them a lot of work. We felt a lot of satisfaction in being able to give them direct information so that their guns were registered all the time.
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