Dog Company
Battle of the Bulge: Neffe Today
This is the small hamlet of Neffe, which is about five minutes by car east of Bastogne, just a few Kms past the Mardisson Memorial.
Neffe is the spot where Lt. Colonel Henry Cherry was deployed with "Team Cherry" one of the combat teams of the 10th Armored Combat command B.
Cherry deployed some of his units here in Neffe, several kilometers west of Team O'Hara in the town of Longvilly.
A couple of really interesting things (at least to me).
First of all, the German commander, Bayerlain, was heading straight for Neffe, when a Belgian civilian lied to him and told him that there was a massive American armored presence in that area. In fact, the area was so overwhelmed with the remnants of the 28th infantry division (and other units) going towards Bastogne, that Cherry couldn't get all of his units into place, and even then, it wasn't the force the Belgian described. Bayerlain was spooked by this and instead of nailing Neffe and being close to Bastogne, he cut northeast towards the town of Magaret. Unfortunately for the Americans in that area, they received the full brunt of a panzer attack, smashing them there and along the road into Longvilly.
Second, this area was reinforced on the 19th by Colonel Julian Ewell, commanding officer of the 501st PIR. (remember Easy was in the 506th). Now, the 501st took a dig in the miniseries Band of Brothers, but let me tell you about them.
Ewell was a hard-charger. By an amazing coincidence, earlier in 1944, he took a leave and spent a few days of vacation in this EXACT spot. His knowledge would be critical.
General McAuliffe in Bastogne knew that there was chaos to the east and that the Germans were coming up hard. He sent Ewell and the 501st into the fray with orders to: "Move out along this road to the east, make contact with the enemy, attack and clear up the situation."
Ewell moved out in the fog and got as far as here in Neffe before he and the members of Team Cherry were hit by Bayerlain's Panzer Lehr.
What Ewell did was turn one battalion, the 2nd, north towards Bizory (and up towards Easy Company and the 506th), and his 3rd Battalion south towards the village of Mont. This meant that he had his battalion abreast, from north to south, with the 2nd in Bizory (up to the railroad tracks), 1st in Neffe and 3rd in the Mont area. If you look on a map, you'll see what it was like.
Ewell's decisiveness and knowledge of the area may have saved the day. He deployed logically with a clear formation abreast. The German general was expected light resistance and when he ran into this line, he got cautious.
The Germans attacked repeatedly in force on December 19th and the battle was pitched. There is a famous picture of Neffe that I have but need to scan, showing a German halftrack with a big red cross knocked out at this church, with a snow-covered Sherman tank adjacent to it. There was also a German tank knocked out nearby but I don't have a picture of that.
My car, the black station wagon, is exactly where the Sherman tank was
To all fans, my book, "From Toccoa to the Eagle's Nest: Discoveries in the Boosteps of the Band of Brothers" is now available on Amazon, Booksurge and Alibris Thanks Dalton
Battle of the Bulge: Neffe Today
This is the small hamlet of Neffe, which is about five minutes by car east of Bastogne, just a few Kms past the Mardisson Memorial.
Neffe is the spot where Lt. Colonel Henry Cherry was deployed with "Team Cherry" one of the combat teams of the 10th Armored Combat command B.
Cherry deployed some of his units here in Neffe, several kilometers west of Team O'Hara in the town of Longvilly.
A couple of really interesting things (at least to me).
First of all, the German commander, Bayerlain, was heading straight for Neffe, when a Belgian civilian lied to him and told him that there was a massive American armored presence in that area. In fact, the area was so overwhelmed with the remnants of the 28th infantry division (and other units) going towards Bastogne, that Cherry couldn't get all of his units into place, and even then, it wasn't the force the Belgian described. Bayerlain was spooked by this and instead of nailing Neffe and being close to Bastogne, he cut northeast towards the town of Magaret. Unfortunately for the Americans in that area, they received the full brunt of a panzer attack, smashing them there and along the road into Longvilly.
Second, this area was reinforced on the 19th by Colonel Julian Ewell, commanding officer of the 501st PIR. (remember Easy was in the 506th). Now, the 501st took a dig in the miniseries Band of Brothers, but let me tell you about them.
Ewell was a hard-charger. By an amazing coincidence, earlier in 1944, he took a leave and spent a few days of vacation in this EXACT spot. His knowledge would be critical.
General McAuliffe in Bastogne knew that there was chaos to the east and that the Germans were coming up hard. He sent Ewell and the 501st into the fray with orders to: "Move out along this road to the east, make contact with the enemy, attack and clear up the situation."
Ewell moved out in the fog and got as far as here in Neffe before he and the members of Team Cherry were hit by Bayerlain's Panzer Lehr.
What Ewell did was turn one battalion, the 2nd, north towards Bizory (and up towards Easy Company and the 506th), and his 3rd Battalion south towards the village of Mont. This meant that he had his battalion abreast, from north to south, with the 2nd in Bizory (up to the railroad tracks), 1st in Neffe and 3rd in the Mont area. If you look on a map, you'll see what it was like.
Ewell's decisiveness and knowledge of the area may have saved the day. He deployed logically with a clear formation abreast. The German general was expected light resistance and when he ran into this line, he got cautious.
The Germans attacked repeatedly in force on December 19th and the battle was pitched. There is a famous picture of Neffe that I have but need to scan, showing a German halftrack with a big red cross knocked out at this church, with a snow-covered Sherman tank adjacent to it. There was also a German tank knocked out nearby but I don't have a picture of that.
My car, the black station wagon, is exactly where the Sherman tank was
To all fans, my book, "From Toccoa to the Eagle's Nest: Discoveries in the Boosteps of the Band of Brothers" is now available on Amazon, Booksurge and Alibris Thanks Dalton