No Silent Night: Christmas Eve At The Siege Of Bastogne, 1944

Editor’s Note: This article was previously published on December 24, 2022. We’re bringing it back. * * * American service members have often spent their holidays away from loved ones - and in harm’s way - and the men who found themselves in the besieged Belgian city of Bastogne just before Christmas of 1944 were no exception. Bastogne, which sits just a few miles from the border of Luxembourg, had been under German control since May of 1940 and had only been liberated by Allied troops a few months earlier in September - and much of the 101st Airborne Division remained in and around the city. Other divisions were scattered throughout the surrounding area, many composed of replacement troops who had only recently arrived in Europe: among them were elements of the 106th Infantry “The Golden Lions,” the 9th Armored “Phantom” Division, and the 28th Infantry “The Bloody Bucket.” Some were still waiting for supply drops, ammunition, and even winter uniforms. The surprise attack began on December 16th when German Panzer divisions pushed back towards Bastogne, catching the mostly-green American troops in the frozen Ardennes Forest off guard and breaking through roadblock after roadblock. Some put up a good fight, but many were driven back into Bastogne and forced to regroup. On December 17th, just outside of a nearby town called Malmedy , a Hitler Youth graduate turned Waffen SS (Schutzstaffel) General Joachim Peiper and his men captured over 100 American soldiers, all part of Battery B of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. After a brief skirmish, the Americans who were unable to escape into the woods surrendered - and after taking their personal possessions from them, Peiper’s men lined the unarmed Americans up in eight rows in a nearby field and opened fire. The few who survived by pretending to be dead recalled hearing laughter as the SS soldiers fired. By December 20th, the city of Bastogne itself was under siege, entirely surrounded and vastly outnumbered by the enemy - and word of Peiper and the massacre at Malmedy had gotten to soldiers and civilians alike. Snowy and frigid weather conditions made supply drops all but impossible, and even on the ground, visibility was limited. Bastogne had also been inundated by “stragglers” - soldiers who had been assigned to units that had been overrun as the Germans had moved to encircle the city - and so Team SNAFU (Situation Normal, All Fouled Up) was born. Men from tank battalions, men from artillery groups, cooks, barbers, it no longer mattered: if they could carry a weapon and stand a post, they were temporarily reassigned to SNAFU and used as much-needed replacements to aid the 101st Airborne. History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Two days into the siege , on December 22nd, a German contingent approached waving a white flag - and delivered an ultimatum to Major Alvin Jones, who commanded the 2nd Battalion, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment. “The fortune of war is changing. Battalions are ready to annihilate...

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