Christmas Present at Hemroulle At 0700 on Christmas day, 1944, 18 panzers camouflaged with white-wash paint followed by grenadiers clad in white ponchos attacked the sector of the Bastogne perimeter held by A and B Companies of the 401st Glider Infantry Battalion. The powerful German force penetrated the American line held by the 2nd platoon of A Company. This pincer shaped attack fell on the small towns of Champs and Hemroulle. It should be noted, that the Battle of Bastogne was fought entirely in the farming villages that surround Bastogne. As the German column of tanks breached the American line four American tank destroyers (TDs) from the 705th TD waited in ambush positions allowing the German column to pass. The TDs then emerged from their concealed positions and fired upon the vulnerable rear areas of the German tanks, destroying 5 tanks. Along the way, a few enemy tanks were also knocked out by infantryman armed with bazookas. The remaining tanks then charged a position around the town of Hemroulle, occupied by the 463d Parachute Field Artillery Battalion. What makes this engagement unique is the manner in which the 463d stopped the attack. The 463d was armed with pack howitzers. Howitzers are designed for in indirect-fire barrages, not direct-fire, anti-tank attacks. Since the enemy tanks were so close the to 463d'sdposition, the paratroopers had no choice but to lower the muzzles of their pack howitzers and take aim by "bore-sighting" their guns on the German tanks. This action is one of the few times during the War that pack howitzers were used in such a manner. The 463d's actions finally broke up the German attack. The following recollection is from Joe Lyons, Executive Officer of "B" or Baker Battery. A little after dawn on Christmas morning, we got a call from the officer of No.1 gun in Baker Battery. He reported that tanks were visible about 600 yards from his position. Baker Battery was equipped with six guns, however we had only three guns that could shoot in that sector. The guns were numbered one through six, and gun Nos. 1-3 were pointed towards the enemy tanks. According to the orders from Headquarters we had to have the guns shoot 360 degrees, just in case the Germans did break through we could have guns covering any field of fire. On No.1 gun was Sgt. D.B. Nickols and the gunner was Joe Hibble. Hibble was a fine gunner. Sgt. Smith or "Smitty" as we called him was over on No.2. Gun No. 3 was manned by Cpl. Keller, who was one of our best gunners. I was the Executive Officer of Baker Battery. At this point we didn't have much ammunition remaining. Our supply of shells consisted of a few armor piercing, smoke, and phosphorous shells. Once the tanks came into view, we paused a bit, to make absolutely sure they were German tanks. We waited for the sight of muzzle breaks, and low silhouettes, both distinct features of German tanks. But once we saw the muzzle breaks there was no question about it, we know were facing German tanks. Once the tanks were in range, I said to Joe Hibble, our gunner, "Joe, when you start firing, for God's sakes don't fire over." If you fire short at least you get a ricochet shot. I was really wasting my time telling him that because he was such a good gunner, I knew he would instinctively do it. We waited maybe three or four minutes and then started to fire. From my vantage point, I saw about four tanks. Some of the men who were in the other gun positions, said there were a total of eight tanks. The first shots fired by Keller and Hibble, got a direct hit on one tank, forcing the German crew to bail out of the turret of the burning tank. The second tank was hit with a phosphorous shell and the were also forced to bail out of that tank. The third tank was hit, but the motor was still running. The machine gun section that was guarding our flanks, was able to captured the running tank. They also picked up about 20 or 30 prisoners. Our machine gun section drove the captured tank near our positions. Meanwhile, the German prisoners were disarmed and marching behind the tank toward No.1 gun. Sgt. Childress and Gus Hazard of the machine gun section were riding the tank and stopped in front of my position. At that point, I said to them "Get that tank out of our area, because if the skys ever clear they'll see the German tank and we'll catch hell from our own airplanes." I said, "why don't you take them up to battalion." So they took the German prisoners and operational German tank up to Battalion. I remember the one German officer we captured, who spoke English, said to me "Lieutenant you're wasting your time all around the perimeter" and I said "You're the prisoner, I'm not." So they took them all up to battalion. I would say the whole thing lasted 15 or 20 minutes. This was only the second time in the War that a pack howitzer knocked out tanks. The first time was at Biazza Ridge in Sicily.
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