It was 2:30 AM on the morning of December 19, 1944. In the darkness of the middle of the night, elements of the "Big Red One" held four town hexes near the farm of Dom Butgenbach: Four INF, 1 HMG, and 1 57mm in the three forward towns, with an INF, an HMG, and a 57mm in the last town. Two INF were dug in a short distance from the westernmost town, at the foot of the hilly wooded area, and an 81mm mortar squad back under cover in the trees.

At 2:30, the sound of motorized vehicles rumbling westward was heard, and soon 6 GREN, 1 HMG and two Jadgpanzer IV platoons from the 12th SS (Hitler Jugend) division approached the strong American positions, whule a mortar platoon emplaced in a large field. Early attempts to illuminate the area with American off-board artillery - and thus force early dismounts of the Germans making for the westernmost town - fell short. Using the cover of night to partially offset the need to move up to the outskirts of town before launching assaults, the Germans managed to jump into two town hexes before the first hour of combat had passed.

Although the struggle (as is the norm for assault combat in towns) was tough, by about 5 AM the three eastern towns were cleared, though at some cost. Still, unfortunate combat and morale results blunted some of the defenders' efforts in their strong positions. (Their leader draw did not help much either.) The darkness did allow the dug-in platoons to cross open ground and reinforce two of the struggles (one of them arriving in the western town in time to hekp it chase away a would-be assault.) Because of the darkness and the Germans' indirect approach, the plan to create a "non-consecutive" fire zone from two different town hexes, thus increasing the chances of a 57mm to take out the well-armored German TD's, did not come about. Still, the AT platoon in the western town did drop a step of Pzjg-IV.

Although the Germans took some losses, especially from U.S. artillery, by 6:00 AM things were well in hand, with three of four towns taken and heavy losses inflicted on the defenders. The final town was never taken by the time the four-hour struggle was over. Still, the Germans inflicted losses of 10 INF, 1 HMG and 2 57mm steps, plus three Lieutenants, and held three town hexes. The U.S. did manage to take out 7 (of 12) GREN steps and a step of TD's. Still, the resulting 25 to 11 score in German favor well illustrated the fateful words of Lt. Col. Daniel: "We fight and die here."