Germans tore huge holes in the defenses, and their troops
raced through, heading for the Meuse River.
American
troops reeled under the surprise onslaught; some frontline
units were virtually destroyed and others fled to the
In places, small American units, such as the 51st
rear.
Engineer Combat Battalion, held firm, but there appeared
to be no stopping the Germans.
The 51st was not supposed to be on the front line.
For two months before the surprise counterattack, the
battalion had been operating 30 sawmills throughout the
Ardennes area, producing lumber to construct winter
quarters for First united States Army troops.
When the
Germans poured into the forest, the 51st became engulfed
in the battle that swirled all around it.
Quickly, the
unit's mission changed, and it hurriedly established
roadblocks, mined and destroyed bridges, and did whatever
else it could along a 25-mile front to stall the German
armor and infantry thrusts until superior forces relieved
it.
When the Germans struck, the 51st Engineer Combat
Battalion was about 30 months old and had no experience in
The unit had been activated
countermobility operations.
at Camp Bowie, Texas, on 13 June 1942, as the first
battalion of the 51st Engineer Combat Regiment.
On 18
March 1943, the 51st Engineer Combat Regiment was
reorganized as the 1111th Engineer Combat Group under
the command of Colonel H. Wallis Anderson.
The first
battalion of the group became the 51st Engineer Combat
Battalion, with Captain Robert B. Yates in command.
At least winter was no stranger to the 51st.
The
battalion spent March of 1943 at Macomb Reservation, a
cold barren post near Plattsburg, New York.
There the
51st learned to build and dismantle tactical bridges.
They put a combination wooden trestle and H-10 steel
bridge over the Salmon River at night, then recovered the
bridge the next day. They also conducted a ponton bridge
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