The Battle of Lanzerath Ridge

The opening volley of The Battle of the Bulge.

First Lt. Lyle Joseph Bouck, Jr. was commanding the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon attached to the 394th Infantry Regiment of the 99th division. It was the most decorated platoon for a single action in US Army history. 22 men, 18 of Bouck's platoon, and 4 artillery forward observers held up the German offensive for nearly 20 hours. They literally held off hundreds of German soldiers, giving allied forces time to respond to the German Offensive that would later be called the Battle of the Bulge.

On the morning of December 16, 1944 – the first day of the Battle of the Bulge – Bouck’s platoon was in a defensive position, manning observation posts along the right flank of the 99th Infantry Division. They came under heavy fire from the advancing German 6th Panzer Army, later engaging in a 10-hour firefight.

In what later became known as the Battle of Lanzerath Ridge, Bouck knew how important it was to defend the Allied position, given its location along a road to Losheim Gap. He rallied his men together, along with four Forward Artillery Observers from Battery C, Field Artillery, and throughout the firefight moved along their position, despite exposing himself to enemy fire.

This is the WW2 Tales video The 20 Hours 18 American Soldiers Stopped Germany's Entire SS Panzer Army

In 1969, John Eisenhower, son of the former president and himself a military historian of note, published the bitter woods, a comprehensive account of the Battle of the Bulge. He included a detailed chapter on Lanzerath, calling it one of the most remarkable small unit actions of the war, but full official recognition was still years away.

The video is 50 minutes long. I cannot embed the video here, but click thru.