Memorial

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This town, Peiper knew, could be his greatest obstacle: here the Ambleve met the Salm river. But once the highway bridges over the two rivers were crossed, he would have an almost unobstructed path to the Meuse. Just in front of an underpass which led into the outskirts of the town, tiny figures were laying mines on the road. He gave the order to attack.

German pioneers - engineers - recklessly ran ahead and cleared the mines. Then Peiper's tanks roared forward. As the first one reached the underpass, its turret exploded. The tanks swerved, stopped. Behind it piled up nineteen Panthers and Tigers. The fire had come from a 57 mm antitank gun which was there only because of an accident. That morning its half-track had broke down en route to Stavelot. The defenders of Trois Ponts, C Company of the 51st Engineer Battalion, had commandeered the gun, placing it near the underpass. As Peiper's tanks were heard rumbling in the near distance, the four-man gun crew was ordered to delay the onrushing Germans until the bridge over the Ambleve could be prepared for demolition.

For fifteen minutes the puny 57mm piece held off the German column which tried in vain to locate its exact position. Then there was a great explosion behind the defenders. The ground shook. Rocks and rubble rained down. Finally the smoke cleared. Where the highway bridge spanning the Ambleve had been was now a gaping hole. A few Americans had just won an important victory.

When Peiper heard the blast he guessed that one of the bridges had been blown up. Angrily he ordered his tanks to press the attack. Soon an 88 shell hit the base of the American gun. The entire crew was killed: McCollum, Hollenbeck, Buchanan and Higgins.