#16_10: Bridgehead over the Our River - PzC 05 Bulge '44

Our River, 35km east of Bastogne, Dec 16th, 1944: The bridgehead over the Our River represented more than a small corner of German soil under occupation. It represented a possible jump-off point for a later US drive into Germany and, therefore, the positions occupied at this boundary between the 106th and the 28th Division reflected where the last Allied offensive had stalled. Also the ground was not that favorable for defense. But the thinking was, that as nothing ever happened in the Ardennes, why give the ground up. Facing the Americans was 58th Corps made up of the 116th (Greyhound) Panzer Division, a unit with a long and distinguished record on the battlefield, and the 580th Volksgrenadiers, a unit fresh from occupation duties in Denmark, that was in action for its first time, and minus one of its regiments. Their task was to capture the bridges on the Our River and push onward to St. Vith. [Size, small]