About 1400 hours the battalion moved to the town of Bütgenbach and then secured positions northwest of Büllingen. From then on, the convoy traveled without lights and arrived at Camp Elsenborn at about 0700 hours. Reports had come through that the 12th SS Division taken Büllingen early that morning. The 3rd Battalion moved out on the exact moment, and about 0400 hours the battalion column was halted temporarily when word came through that paratroopers were dropping behind our lines. The 3rd Battalion was alerted to move at 0230 hours, with the 2nd following, and the 1st Battalion closing out of the Aubel area last. Shortly after midnight, billeting parties reported to the CP. Five minutes later the Regimental S-6 and S~3 were ordered to report to V Corps Headquarters. An enemy attack between the 5th and 8th Corps had developed into a twelve division drive. At 2115 hours the unit was placed under a one hour alert. All leaves, furloughs and passes were cancelled, but those already on leave were not to be recalled. Sure, the AAR of the 26th Infantry, entry for 16 and 17 December 1944.Īt 1145 hours the combat team (less tanks and tank destroyers) was placed on a six hour alert. There the two companies of the 254th still intact were joined by men hastily assembled from the 99th Division headquarters, the antiaircraft artillery units in the vicinity, and four guns from the 612th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Upon receipt of orders from the division, the engineers, who had clung stubbornly to houses in the west edge, withdrew and dug in on higher ground 1,000 yards to the northwest so as to block the road to Butgenbach. The rest of the platoon were killed or captured. Here, in the town, a reconnaissance platoon of the 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion had just arrived with orders to establish contact with the enemy column, but only one section managed to evade the panzers. Falling back to the shelter of the buildings, the 254th did what it could to fend off the tanks. Twice during the dark hours the engineers beat back German infantry attacks then, a little after 0700, enemy tanks drove into sight.
At 0100 on 17 December the 254th Engineer Battalion had been attached to the 99th Division and ordered to Büllingen, there to prepare positions covering the entrances from the south and southeast.
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