Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble (50 page)

13. Oberstleutnant Friedrich Freiherr von der Heydte, the law professor turned paratroop commander.

14. The briefing of panzer commanders in a snow flurry just before the Ardennes offensive on 16 December 1944.

15. Two SS panzergrenadiers enjoying captured American cigarettes.

16. 16 December. A Königstiger tank of the Sixth Panzer Army carrying soldiers of the 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division on the first day of the advance.

17. German infantry in a Volksgrenadier division advance loaded down with machine-gun belts and panzerfaust anti-tank grenade launchers.

18. The first killing of American prisoners by SS panzergrenadiers from the Kampfgruppe Peiper in Honsfeld who then proceeded to loot the bodies. The boots have been removed from the victim on the left.

19. SS panzergrenadiers from the Kampfgruppe Hansen pass a burning convoy of American vehicles near Poteau.

20. American prisoners taken by the 1st SS Panzer-Division
Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler.

21. 17 December. Part of the 26th Infantry Regiment (1st Infantry Division) arrives just in time to defend Bütgenbach at the base of the Elsenborn ridge.

22. Members of the same regiment manoeuvring an anti-tank gun in the mud as the Germans approach.

23. Belgian refugees leaving Langlir (south-west of Vielsalm) as the Fifth Panzer Army advances. Most wanted to cross the Meuse to escape the fighting and German reprisals for Resistance activities earlier in the year.

24. As the Germans advanced on the town of St Vith following the encirclement of the 106th Infantry Division, the people of Schönberg fled the fighting to shelter in caves.

25. American medics turned skis into improvised toboggans to drag the wounded on stretchers back to a point where they could be loaded on to Jeeps.