Battle of Lanzareth ridge

Infobox military conflict
conflict=Battle of Lanzareth Ridge
date=16 December 1944
partof=Battle of the bulge, World War II
place=Near Lanzareth, Belgium
combatant1=flagicon|United States|1912 United States
strength1=18
strength2=More than 500
combatant2=flagicon|Nazi Germany Germany
commander1=Lionel Bauk
commander2=Unknown
result=German victory
casualties1=4 casualties-16-17 captured
casualties2=around 500 killedThe battle of Lanzareth ridge was part of the broader battle of the bulge. On the first day, the Germans attacked a ridge four miles from the town of Lanzareth, Belgium. The Germans launched suicidal human wave attacks against an American Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon of 18 men dug in on the ridge. The Germans sustained massive casualties, but at a huge cost, finally overwhelmed the platoon. This hill was of huge strategic importance to the Germans. The platoon stood right in the path of a huge German objective. =battle=

On December 16 1944, the Germans launched a massive attack in the Ardennes forest, aimed at pushing the Americans and British to the sea. As the attack unfolded, the Germans seized Lanzareth, a small Belgian town four miles from the German border. They were unaware of the platoon's precence on the ridge. The leader, Leiutenant Lionel Bauk, a young officer in his early twenties, is denied artillery support, but is given orders to hold the ridge at all costs. Bauk sends two soldiers to an observation post in Lanzareth. On the way, they encountered a German patrol with machine guns. They quickly opeded fire and terminated the entire partol. Bauk's platoon dug themselves in. They were armed with Rifles, automatic weapons, and machine guns. As the first wave of Germans approached the ridge from a road, every man selected a certain German to be his first target. Before the Germans get to the ridge, a Belgian girl runs up to the Germans and informed the Germans of the American's precence. The Germans spotted the platoon and ran for the ditches on either side of the road. However, they soon began their advance. The German force was twenty times the size of the platoon. They were armed with Mauser rifles, light machine guns, and Grenades. As they neared the crest, the platoon opened fire. The outnumbered platoon had the advantage of high ground, and were heavily dug in. The advancing Germans did not take cover behind trees or rocks. They charged straight into the fire. The Germans returned fire, but were mowed down by the platoon. After five hours, the last surviving Germans retreated. Dead Germans now littered the ridge. The American platoon had suffered only one casualty. A second wave of Germans stepped over the corpses of their fallen comrades and climbed up the hill half an huor later. The paltoon once again opens fire. The Germans were slaughtered as they ran head on into the platoon's position. A German paratrooper sneaked toward leiutenant Bauk's foxhole. A corporal manning a machine gun spotted him and killed him with a burst of machine gun fire. More Germans continiued to approach the American positions. Onee tossed a stick grenade at the platoon's positions. The same machine gunner that had killed Bauk's would-be killer fired another burst and killed the grenade thrower. The Germans fanned out and crawled towards the entrenched platoon. When they got within thirty yards of a foxhole, one German soldier aimed his rifle, which was loaded with a rifle grenade, and fired. The grenade struck a private in the jaw and knocked most of his teeth out but did not explode. The second wave was repelled, and German medics were allowed close to the defensive positions. One came within thirty yards of a foxhole and pretended to be treating the wounded, but was really talking into a field telephone to inform his comrades of the exact location of the defences. One soldier noticed this, and his partner killed the medic. After the medics left, the Germans launched a third assault, this time with mortars and machine guns. Once again, the Germans proved easy targets. However, the platoon began to run low on ammunition. The platoon also lost its field telephone, losing all communication with headquarters. Bauk sent two men to run for headquarters for permission to retreat. The Germans, meanwhile creeped around the dugouts. When they got close, they launched an assault. German soldiers sneaked behind Leuitenant Bauk's foxhole and fired into the hole at close range. A bullet struck Bauk in the calf, and his partner took six rounds to the face. Both survived. The Germans swept through the defenses, overrunning foxhole after foxhole. They then gathered their prisoners, lined them up, and prepared to kill them. But a German officer prevented it. The platoon became prisoners of war. =Aftermath=

Although defeated, the platoon played a major role in the battle of the bulge. They delayed the German advance for one day, and the 18 men had killed 500 German soldiers.