3 January 1945

The German push in the Ardennes is seriously hampered by the famous ‘NUTS’ declaration and as such Hitler is not really happy. He orders to get on with ‘things’ and that is why the Hitler Jugend and Hohenstaufen get the dirty job of clearing the road junction at Longchamps.

However the terrain looked like a badly maintained ice rink and looking at his Swiss wristwatch, the German commander realizes that time is of the essence. So he orders some footslogging units to mount the tanks, hitch a ride up the hill just north of the town and await the rest of the (iceskating) PBI .

As long as this little convoy was in the open, it got pelted with US artillery but most of them got through unscathed. The US paratroopers that were dug in on that same hill were no match for this armored assault, so they decided to use delaying tactics. They slowly started withdrawing towards Longchamps, leaving a strongpoint behind that defended the little hamlet on the ridge of the hill. However when they retreated, the paras found themselves in open terrain now and shells started bursting in their midst. Clearly the German artillery guys were better trained and paid, they scattered the US troops, whose moral broke fairly quickly.

Just before sunset, the Germans rolled into Longchamps without firing a shot. The boss should be most pleased. As for Sgt O Toole, he fired one bounce off and then left his gun behind to skedaddle out of Dodge!