Hitler's Last Stand (2018) s03e05 Episode Script

1
♪
NARRATOR: In December 1944,
during the early days
of the Battle of the Bulge
♪
American paratroopers defend a key bridge
from a German battle group.
♪
When their small force is overrun
SOLDIER: Fire!
NARRATOR: two soldiers stay
behind to cover the retreat.
♪
They may protect the company
but be unable to save themselves.
♪
On June 6, 1944, Allied forces
finally land troops in Normandy
to open the Western Front.
♪
(speaking German)
NARRATOR: But Nazi fanatics
and diehards
continue to fight ferociously
for survival.
♪
D-Day was a battle.
♪
They still need to win the war.
♪
♪
NARRATOR: December 20, 1944,
the Ardennes region, Belgium.
American soldiers
from the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment
approach a bridge
which spans the Salm River.
While not strong enough
for tanks or vehicles,
it could provide enemy soldiers
an easy crossing.
♪
Demolition man Sergeant
Jerry Weed works quickly.
He sets a booby trap
with trip wire and grenades.
♪
He needs just the right touch.
Too much slack, and the rings
will not pull out
when the wire is tripped.
If he pulls too tight, he might
trigger the grenades himself.
♪
Paratroopers cover the sergeant,
scanning the dark woods
for any movement.
♪
With the trap set,
they take cover and wait.
♪
In the 6 1/2 months
since the D-Day landings,
Allied troops have fought across
Western Europe,
forcing the Germans back
to mostly within their own border.
♪
The advance is so rapid that supply lines
struggle to keep up,
and they fight to a standstill
as the cold weather sets in.
♪
But with the Allied armies spread out
on a broad front facing Germany,
they remain optimistic.
DAVID BORYS: In early December
of 1944, the Allies believe that
they are close to victory,
that one more big push will end it
and that big push is gonna
come once winter ends.
NARRATOR: Instead,
on December 16, 1944,
Hitler unleashes
a massive counteroffensive.
The strike sends
more than 200,000 German troops
and nearly 1,000 tanks
into the Ardennes Forest.
PETER LIEB: Hitler's objective
for Wacht Am Rhein is
to seize the port of Antwerp.
And by doing so,
he wants to cut off the Allies
from their supply port
and also literally drive a wedge
between the American
and the British forces.
Hitler, rather optimistically,
believes that this would lead
to a collapse of
the Anglo-American coalition,
and then he can turn against
the Soviet Union to win the war.
♪
NARRATOR: Surprised by
the ferocity and scale
of the German attack,
Allied command pours troops
into the region.
♪
Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division,
Major General James Gavin,
must act quickly.
He transports the division
over 150 miles in the first day
and sets up
in the Ardennes combat area
within 40 hours
of receiving news
of the German attack.
The 505th Parachute
Infantry Regiment is assigned
to the village of Trois-Ponts.
Named for its three bridges,
the village is bordered
by two significant rivers,
the Salm and the Amblève.
While sometimes shallow enough
to wade through,
their steep banks mean vehicles
and heavy machinery cannot cross.
Holding the bridges
in and around Trois-Ponts
could thwart Hitler's counteroffensive,
if Gavin's men can get there first.
♪
Half a mile south of Trois-Ponts,
the paratroopers from the 505
wait for German soldiers to cross
the booby-trapped bridge.
♪
At last, they hear movement
from the opposite bank
(man speaking German)
♪
(explosion)
NARRATOR: and an explosion
illuminates the night.
♪
NARRATOR: The enemy patrol
continues to press their attack
♪
although the paratroopers
manage to halt the advance.
♪
NARRATOR: But footbridges
are one thing.
BORYS: Certain bridges
are more important than others,
and those bridges are
the ones that can sustain
the weight of armor.
That makes the bridge at
Trois-Ponts so significant
and so important.
Whoever holds that bridge
holds the key to victory.
NARRATOR: Heavily timbered,
this bridge is sturdy enough
to allow tanks and machinery
to cross the Salm River.
♪
Protection of the bridge falls
to Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort
and the 505th's second battalion.
JOHN McMANUS: Lieutenant Colonel
Benjamin Vandervoort
is heavily combat-experienced
at this point.
He's been behind enemy lines;
he has captured key objectives.
He's a colorful personality, but
I think also a thoughtful one,
and you don't always get that
combination in a commander.
NARRATOR: Now Vandervoort
commits his companies
to positions along the banks of the Salm.
E Company is assigned
to hold the high ground
on the east side of the river,
100 feet above Trois-Ponts.
Access to the bluff is up a steep road
that curves around a hairpin turn,
then reaches level terrain at the top.
♪
McMANUS: E Company
is going to be isolated.
They are at the spear point
of the entire American front.
♪
It might be difficult to resupply,
especially if they use up a lot of ammo.
If they have to retreat, they
got the water at their back,
and that is not a good feeling.
♪
NARRATOR: At the top
of the bluff, E Company's
acting commander,
Lieutenant William Meddaugh,
moves between his men
dug in among the trees.
♪
NARRATOR: The night is freezing,
and they are not
fully equipped for the cold.
McMANUS: Not long before this,
they were in a rest area,
they were supposedly gonna
get some time to refit,
take on replacements.
Pretty quickly, now,
they are right out there
in the front of the American line
not fully supplied with the kind
of weapons they need
or the kind of warm weather gear
that they're gonna need
for this battle.
NARRATOR: 2nd platoon commander
Lieutenant John Walas reports
that mines have been laid
on the road to the east
and his men are in defensive position.
♪
Now they wait in the dark--
No fires, no lights, no smoking.
♪
NARRATOR: At around 0300 hours,
the silence is broken.
Meddaugh and his men
hear German voices shouting
in the darkness
and the low rumble of armored vehicles.
♪
(conversations in German)
NARRATOR: Before Meddaugh's
men can launch their ambush,
the road mines initiate the attack.
(explosion)
NARRATOR: An explosion
immobilizes a German half-track.
Bazooka rounds neutralize a second.
♪
As enemy troops scramble to
escape the smoldering armor
the American paratroopers open fire.
♪
NARRATOR: December 21, 1944,
Belgium.
♪
American Lieutenant William Meddaugh
and dug-in troops of the 505th
Parachute Infantry Regiment
♪
start shooting after they
take out two German half-tracks
above the nearby village of Trois-Ponts.
♪
The U.S. paratroopers
strike down
some of the German soldiers,
but others manage
to escape into the darkness.
McMANUS: What's happened here is
this is kind of
a recon probe; obviously, those
are more vulnerable Germans,
but also an indicator that more is coming.
And so, it's almost like the first drops
of a gathering thunderstorm.
The real thing is just about to happen.
♪
NARRATOR: The attacking
German soldiers
belong to the Kampfgruppe,
or "battle group," Hansen,
named for its commander, SS
Obersturmbannführer Max Hansen.
♪
LIEB: By looking at
a portrait of Max Hansen,
you think he is the embodiment of an Aryan
according to Nazi ideology.
At the same time, he's the
holder of the Knight's Cross
and the Combat Clasp in gold,
so two awards
that are very rarely awarded
in the war in combination.
NARRATOR: With his stellar
military record,
Hansen commands one of
the four battle groups
in the elite first SS Panzer,
or Adolf Hitler, division.
♪
Hansen has about 4,500 men and
600 vehicles at his disposal.
♪
The Adolf Hitler division
spearheads an attack towards Antwerp,
and the success of
their entire mission hinges
on Hansen's progress.
♪
At the start of Hitler's winter offensive,
the lead battle group, Kampfgruppe Peiper,
had attempted to cross
the bridge at Trois-Ponts
in its dash for the coast.
The battle group commander,
Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper,
was disgusted to find
the bridges had already been blown.
Peiper is forced to retrace his route
on the east side of the river,
and then advance
to the village of La Gleize.
Kampfgruppe Peiper runs low on ammunition,
food, and fuel,
as American forces close in.
♪
Hansen has orders to break through
and reinforce Kampfgruppe Peiper
so they can continue the attack
towards Antwerp.
And now that the American
engineers have repaired it,
the best way to reach Peiper is
across the bridge at Trois-Ponts.
But Hansen's first action
towards the village
has been repelled.
His men report
that American troops are dug in
above Trois-Ponts.
LIEB: Initially, Hansen
is not too much concerned
about one company of
U.S. airborne troopers
to defend this area.
He thinks this is not
a match for his armored column.
♪
NARRATOR: At Hansen's signal,
a larger force
of men and machinery move out
to launch their attack.
♪
After a long, cold night,
the paratroopers of E Company
remain dug into their foxholes.
McMANUS: It's a good
ambush point,
you're likely to get that first punch in.
The question, of course, is
whether you're going
to be able to inflict
enough damage on them
to blunt their attack
or to send them back.
NARRATOR: They keep watch
on the road in front of them.
There has been no further movement
since the half-track advance
the night before.
Now destroyed,
the vehicles have been moved
to form a roadblock.
(gunfire in distance)
NARRATOR: As the day brightens,
the road and forests
come alive with gunfire.
(louder gunfire)
German soldiers have worked their way in
towards the American position.
Using the surrounding trees as cover,
they now open fire at deadly close range.
♪
Lieutenant Meddaugh's men fight back
(shell explodes)
♪
but the open field is ideal
for an enemy tank approach.
Even worse,
the paratroopers are backed up
against a steep cliff.
♪
Without warning, E Company
is about to be overrun.
(soldier shouting commands in German)
♪
NARRATOR: December 21, 1944,
the Ardennes Forest, Belgium.
American paratroopers
from the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment
fend off an attack by elite SS soldiers
♪
days into what would become known
as the Battle of the Bulge.
♪
E Company's position
protects a critical bridge
the Nazis need to move tanks
across the Salm River,
and continue their
counteroffensive across Europe.
Right flank!
NARRATOR: Lieutenant John Walas
and his men
have prepared for an armored
attack on the road.
♪
But German infantry soldiers
have crept in,
using trees to cover their
advance before opening fire.
♪
NARRATOR: While overrun
in their foxholes,
Walas and his men hold their ground
in the fierce and frantic fighting.
♪
McMANUS: The term that Americans
liked to use in World War II is
"I'm looking at half the German
army coming here toward me."
♪
NARRATOR: As enemy soldiers
continue to pour out of the woods
♪
Walas' commander,
Lieutenant William Meddaugh,
knows his men need some powerful backup.
He calls for the 81-millimeter
mortar platoon.
♪
The 81-millimeter M1 mortar
was developed to provide
portable firepower to infantry troops.
♪
At just over 136 pounds,
it consists of the firing tube,
supported by a bipod
and the baseplate.
It fires up to 35 rounds per minute,
with a maximum range of 3,290 yards.
♪
BORYS: The advantage of
the 81-millimeter mortar is
its elevation range,
between 40 and 90 degrees.
We're talking straight up
and straight down.
This is a huge advantage for
supporting those Americans
up on the bluff.
♪
NARRATOR: Lieutenant John Cooper
arrives at the front
and sets up at a key position
close to the battle.
His job will be to direct
the U.S. mortar fire
down on the advancing Germans.
(explosion)
McMANUS: A good observation
officer is arguably
the most potent weapon
in any small-unit action.
If you have someone
like Cooper, who is trained,
who knows what he's doing,
has good lines of communication,
I mean, he can bring down
a heck of a lot of destruction
on an enemy force.
If I'm the Germans,
honestly, he's the first guy
I would want to take out.
NARRATOR: With set targets,
the crew drops mortar rounds
into the muzzle.
♪
The highly accurate mortar fire
slows the German attack
for now.
♪
Obersturmbannführer Max Hansen
watches his infantry troops falter.
LIEB: Hansen is probably
frustrated
by the American resistance.
He thought this
as only a lightly-armed enemy,
poorly supported, and would be
an easy match to overcome.
NARRATOR: Hansen orders
his Panzer grenadier troops
to regroup to maneuver
into an attack formation,
with vehicles, soldiers,
and self-propelled artillery at the ready.
LIEB: This is how you
generally fight a battle
with infantry and armored vehicles.
The infantry suppresses
and fights down enemy resistance
at close range, and
the armored vehicles are there
to exploit the situation.
♪
NARRATOR: The American
paratroopers take cover
in their remaining foxholes
and behind trees against the onslaught.
♪
NARRATOR: When struck,
the forest canopy
showers the paratroopers with
shards of wood and shrapnel.
Hansen's armored column is doing its job.
The Americans are outmatched.
♪
McMANUS: There's no question
this is a mismatch.
It's a mismatch of a kind of isolated
or too far forward light infantry force
now taking on the vanguard of
a panzerkampfgruppe.
So, yeah, that's going to be really tough.
♪
NARRATOR: As the paratroopers
fire back,
they are overrun by
a swarm of SS infantry.
♪
McMANUS: The close-in fighting
is quite desperate.
You've got some level of
hand-to-hand combat,
but really, more commonly,
a hole-to-hole combat,
the Germans trying to attack
and negate American foxholes--
Sometimes Americans fighting to the death,
sometimes bypassed or overrun,
sometimes captured.
A terrifying kind of circumstance.
NARRATOR: While some
of the defenders are killed,
others, often the wounded,
are taken prisoner.
(shouting commands indistinctly)
SOLDIER: Get down!
NARRATOR: This is
a troubling development.
McMANUS: Being taken prisoner
of war by the SS
would have been a real concern,
especially now
in this early phase
of the Battle of the Bulge.
NARRATOR: There has been
a story spreading among
the Allies of a terrible event
a few days before
in the village of Malmedy,
only about 9 miles northeast
of Trois-Ponts.
♪
Four days earlier, on December 17th,
Kampfgruppe Peiper spearheaded a
westward drive through Belgium.
LIEB: Joachim Peiper is
a good-looking and charming man
with good manners, but this
conceals the fact that he's
an ardent Nazi,
who totally believes in
the ideology and in the axiom
of total war and total victory.
NARRATOR: Just south
of the village of Malmedy,
they overran an American
observation battalion.
More than 100 American
soldiers were captured.
BORYS: The Geneva Convention
stipulates that
prisoners of war
should be treated humanely.
They should be given food,
shelter, medical attention;
and they shouldn't be
treated to acts of violence.
♪
NARRATOR: Instead, Peiper's
Nazis gathered their prisoners
in a nearby field.
LIEB: For Peiper,
there was one thing:
advance, advance, advance
as quickly as possible.
Anything that hinders
his advance is a problem,
and these prisoners, he
considered them as a problem
and shot them.
NARRATOR: His soldiers open fire
with their machine guns
and cut down the prisoners.
♪
LIEB: After the initial
shooting, the Germans checked
whether anyone had survived
and shot them again.
♪
LIEB: Overall, however,
Peiper and his men were
not too anxious about this.
They just want to advance further.
NARRATOR: At least
84 Americans are killed.
♪
NARRATOR: But as
Kampfgruppe Peiper pulls away,
some of the bodies stir,
thankfully only wounded.
♪
At least 40 managed
to escape through the woods
despite their injuries.
♪
Word of the Malmedy massacre
begins to spread.
♪
(gunfire in distance)
NARRATOR: On the ridge above
Trois-Ponts,
paratroopers are escorted
away by Hansen's men.
LIEB: As far as we know,
Kampfgruppe Hansen
did not shoot their prisoners.
They may have treated them
perhaps more roughly,
but Peiper's behavior and
the behavior of his kampfgruppe
was a different matter.
♪
NARRATOR: E Company's commander,
Lieutenant Bill Meddaugh,
sees that his men are
being overrun and outflanked.
Too many have been captured,
wounded, or killed.
He has no further reserves.
For the first time
in their combat history,
the 505 must consider retreat.
♪
♪
NARRATOR: December 21, 1944,
the Ardennes sector, Belgium.
American Lieutenant William Meddaugh
of the 505th Parachute Infantry
Regiment watches
as an armored German
battle group threatens
to overwhelm his company's lines.
McMANUS: The 505th
has always been dropping on
and advancing and taking objectives.
It has never really retreated from one.
And so, it would
almost be equated with a kind of
an acceptance of defeat
perhaps, and, certainly,
that is not something
that they're willing to do.
NARRATOR: But with their
position high on a bluff
about to be overrun by a German
Kampfgruppe, he knows
if they do not withdraw down
to the village to regroup,
they could be pushed to the edge.
♪
NARRATOR: 100 feet below,
in Trois-Ponts,
battalion commander Lieutenant
Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort
wants to pull his men back into
a better defensive position.
McMANUS: Vandervoort has to give
them an order to withdraw,
because their current orders are
to stay and fight.
Until they hear anything
different, that is
quite possibly going to mean
the annihilation of the unit.
Do I have permission, sir?
NARRATOR: But even Vandervoort
cannot make the call unilaterally.
After a stream of requests and updates,
he finally gets the order
he wants from his superior.
McMANUS: Vandervoort gets
into his Jeep, and he goes
forward himself to make sure
that the message got through.
Like a lot of good officers,
he understands
that an order means nothing unless it
has gotten to the people who need it
and that they are indeed
going to follow it.
♪
Hey, they're still on that right flank.
Come on, boys! Move it! Move it!
Move it!
♪
NARRATOR: He arrives to find
chaos at E Company's position
on top of the bluff.
Despite killing and wounding
countless enemy soldiers
throughout the day,
more German troops and armor
continue to close in on their position.
♪
Vandervoort finds Lieutenant
Meddaugh amidst the fighting.
♪
NARRATOR: Vandervoort gives
the welcome order
to retreat across the river
to Trois-Ponts.
Take your men, retreat down the road
McMANUS: The nature of
the retreat is
one of confusion, one of chaos,
and maybe kind of partial communication.
Whether the word really gets
to whomever needs it,
whether you can coordinate it is
really another matter altogether.
♪
NARRATOR: They must move quickly
and try to hide what they are doing.
McMANUS: Maybe my group
lays down some fire
while your group retreats,
and then vice versa.
But it also requires a lot of trust
because if I'm laying down fire
while you retreat,
I better trust that you're gonna
do the same for me.
(shouting commands, indistinct)
♪
NARRATOR: Lieutenant
Jake Wertich and his crew
provide support.
They operate a 57-millimeter
anti-tank gun.
Fire!
♪
NARRATOR: Earlier in the fight,
the Americans had positioned two
57-millimeters to their rear.
The first covered the road
toward the hairpin turn,
but it has been knocked out.
The second gun guards
the curve towards the village.
This weapon can provide cover
for the soldiers
who retreat down the road
and buy them precious time
to make it back across the river.
♪
But as the Germans
overrun E Company's position,
Wertich and his men come under
heavy fire from SS grenadiers
just north of the road
(fires mortar)
♪
and their position becomes unsustainable.
McMANUS: Wertich basically mans
the 57-millimeter piece himself,
and tells his crews to get out
of there while he
will keep the Germans busy.
Now, I don't know how he even did that
because there's a reason
it's a multi-man crew.
(shell explodes)
NARRATOR: As the Nazis press
down on him, Wertich is joined
by Corporal Stokes Taylor,
who provides covering fire
for Wertich to reload
and target the Germans.
Together, the two men stay at their guns,
defending the paratroopers' retreat.
McMANUS: You would like to
think they would reach a point
where they'd run out of ammo
and they themselves could get out.
♪
NARRATOR: But the German forces
overwhelm their position.
♪
McMANUS: They were
sacrificing their own lives
so that others,
people they knew very well,
could get away and live.
♪
NARRATOR: All across the ridge,
pockets of American paratroopers
try to retreat from German
machine guns and artillery
to the village.
The veterans know to stay down and wait
for a break in the fire.
♪
McMANUS: "Let's do this
incrementally,
fire and maneuver,
and let's cover one another."
It's not just run like rabbits.
"Let's, you know,
use our heads here."
♪
NARRATOR: Private First Class
Eddie Arndt was at
Market Garden in the Netherlands,
and tries to time his withdrawal.
♪
But the hail of bullets
proves inescapable,
even for the experienced
and battle-hardened.
He is struck in the leg and goes down.
♪
♪
NARRATOR: December 21, 1944,
the Ardennes Forest, Belgium.
A small group of American paratroopers
from the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment
retreat from their position
above the Salm River.
OFFICER:
Go! Go! Go! Fall back
NARRATOR: In the chaos,
Private First Class Eddie Arndt
has been shot in the leg.
♪
McMANUS: Before,
you might have relied
on a well-trained medic
to come and tend to you
and get you out of there.
You may have to do that job now yourself.
♪
NARRATOR: He takes some sulfa.
Sulfa refers to sulfonamide,
a synthetic antimicrobial agent
that inhibits pathogenic bacteria.
It was developed in 1935
by a German scientist
working for Bayer Laboratories.
By the beginning of
World War II, sulfa is a staple
in military first-aid kits.
BORYS: It's no secret
that a battlefield wound is
exposed to dirt and bacteria.
This leads to infection,
and, oftentimes, infection can
be more deadly
than the initial injury itself.
NARRATOR: Sulfa tablets
also ward off diseases,
such as dysentery and cholera.
♪
Sulfa becomes so widely used by the Allies
that some consider it the secret
weapon that wins the war
and increases the survival rate
of soldiers.
♪
The sulfa available lowers the chance
that Arndt's leg wound
will become infected.
But with the German soldiers
fast approaching,
infection may be
the least of his problems.
He needs to move now.
♪
With his injury, walking is not an option.
Arndt crawls along, and keeps
himself below the German fire.
♪
Two paratroopers help Arndt make
it to the road along the ridge.
They stop at a 40-foot-high
precipice above a rail yard.
It is a long way down.
McMANUS: Any choice
you have isn't a good one.
So it's just a matter of
whatever is least bad
that might somehow get you out of there,
and beyond the reach
of the Germans at this stage.
NARRATOR: They decide
on a speedy descent.
♪
Other paratroopers below
position planks of wood against the bluff.
♪
Still under German fire
♪
paratroopers above lower
Eddie Arndt as far as they can
so he lands on the makeshift
slide and slips down.
♪
Amazingly, Arndt
makes it safely to the bottom.
He is grabbed by medics, who
load him into a Red Cross truck,
and he lives to tell the tale.
♪
Back in the village of
Trois-Ponts, as darkness falls,
Lieutenant Colonel
Benjamin Vandervoort waits
for the return of E Company.
♪
The disorganized retreat means
that soldiers arrive alone
or in small groups.
Those who make it to the base of the cliff
race to get across the bridge
into the relative safety of the village.
♪
Gunfire pours onto the bridge
and into the streets of Trois-Ponts
The Germans are here.
♪
from the German battle group
positioned along the bluff.
(gunfire)
♪
NARRATOR: Lieutenant Colonel
Vandervoort watches carefully.
McMANUS: You've got to keep
the larger objective in mind
while you're trying
to extract your people.
(gunfire)
McMANUS: You want to get
your guys out of there,
but you also realize you can't
let the Germans get this bridge
and get through Trois-Ponts.
♪
That could mean sacrificing your guys.
NARRATOR:
Timing will be everything.
♪
NARRATOR: December 21, 1944,
Trois-Ponts, Belgium.
At just after 1800 hours,
members of the American 505th
Parachute Infantry Regiment
continue to control
the only local bridge capable
of bearing the weight of tanks.
♪
SOLDIER: On the left!
On the left, by the river
NARRATOR: In the darkness,
they notice a movement
in the water below, as German soldiers
try to wade across
the Salm River to the west side.
LIEB: Kampfgruppe Hansen
knows that they
need to gain control of the bridge
before the Americans are able to
blow it up.
♪
LIEB: It's a long shot,
but worth a try.
♪
NARRATOR: Most of the Germans
are quickly cut down.
♪
With the last of the U.S.
paratroopers safely across,
they cannot wait any longer.
♪
There is a large explosion,
as the engineers blow the bridge
to keep it from falling into German hands.
♪
Now they must protect
the village from the same fate.
♪
On the ridge overlooking Trois-Ponts,
Obersturmbannführer
Max Hansen takes stock.
Hansen knows his troops
cannot take the village
from these heights,
but descending along the road
would expose his tanks to American fire.
♪
If Hansen can eliminate
the resistance along the river,
he could gain enough time
to get his mechanized
battle group down the road.
LIEB: Hansen understands,
"If I want to take
"the American positions
down in the valley,
I need more fire power."
NARRATOR: On the west side
of the Salm,
U.S. forces continue to hold
the village
against the German counter-fire.
Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort
detects movement on the bluff above.
Eyes on the left!
NARRATOR: In the moonlight,
he spots a skull and crossbones
with a black-and-white battle cross,
a German Tiger tank.
McMANUS: The Tiger tank
in some ways is a fear weapon,
almost a psychological weapon,
because nobody wants to be,
you know, on the wrong end of this thing.
Any Tiger tank that appears at this moment
during this kind of battle is
going to make a deep impression.
There's no doubt about that.
♪
NARRATOR: The Tiger tank lobs
its explosive shells
onto the Americans 100 feet below.
♪
Vandervoort hesitates.
He believes wounded paratroopers
still remain on the bluff.
They could be further injured or
even killed by friendly fire.
To play it safe, Vandervoort
calls for a bazooka team
to target the tank.
♪
The bazooka rounds
barely dent the surface.
He needs something stronger.
Get a mortar on that Tiger tank!
NARRATOR: Reluctantly, he calls
for the 81-millimeter mortar
to take out the tank.
♪
The mortar platoon carefully
lines up its shot and fires
white phosphorous rounds
up towards the cliff's edge.
♪
One strikes a direct hit.
♪
As its crew scatters,
the Tiger tank pulls back,
with big U.S. guns
now joining the fray.
♪
LIEB: Hansen realizes
that he's under fire by
American artillery,
so he decides to withdraw
and try to find another
way to cross the river
further down the south.
♪
NARRATOR: The Americans retain
control of the crossings
at Trois-Ponts.
Hansen fails to secure any bridge
and is unable to reach Kampfgruppe Peiper.
LIEB: Peiper's men fight
fanatically,
but they run out of fuel.
So in order not to be
encircled, they need to escape
and abandon their vehicles.
So their blitzkrieg ends on foot.
♪
NARRATOR: The northern spearhead
of Hitler's winter offensive
comes grinding to a halt.
♪
LIEB: After the war,
Peiper is being trialed
for the Malmedy massacre.
♪
He's initially sentenced to death.
Later, the sentence is commuted
to life imprisonment,
but he's already
released after only 11 years.
After retiring, he decides
to move to France
and is fire-bombed by someone
and killed in his house in the 1970s.
♪
NARRATOR: Max Hansen is
never charged as a war criminal,
and returns to live
in his hometown after the war.
♪
The remainder of the 505th
Parachute Infantry Regiment
hold the line on the Salm River
against continued German attacks
until they are ordered
to withdraw on Christmas Eve.
♪
McMANUS: But I think Trois-Ponts
is a kind of a microcosm
for what's happening around
many portions of the bulge.
Small groups of American soldiers
inflicting enough damage on the Germans
or costing them enough time
to ultimately foil their offensive.
NARRATOR: Lieutenant
Jake Wertich
and Corporal Stokes Taylor are
each posthumously awarded
the Distinguished Service Cross
for covering the retreat off the bluff
until they themselves were overrun.
♪
First Lieutenant John Walas
earns a Silver Star
for displaying outstanding leadership
in the fight for Trois-Ponts.
But before he can receive the award,
Walas is killed in battle
on January 5, 1945.
♪
Lieutenant Colonel Ben Vandervoort
suffers a serious wound in
a mortar attack not long after.
♪
The loss of his eye ends
his time on the battlefield.
♪
NARRATOR: The Allied armies
successfully fight off
Hitler's winter advance,
and by January 25, 1945,
the Battle of the Bulge is over,
but the war in Europe
will drag on for nearly 3 1/2 more months.
Captioned by National Captioning Institute