prepared for demolition and defended by 40-mm. gun,
bazooka, one .50-caliber machine gun, and one .30-caliber
machine gun.
Highway N35: Marche-Aye-Humain-Rochefort blocked
9
l
enemy advance from southeast with debris at
to
intersection (300907); at (295936) with abatis and mines;
and at (279861) culvert prepared for demolition.
This block was
10. Roadblock on N4 at (430662).
reported complete at 2230, with one squad of Company A in
position defending it.
11
Contact was made with one squad of the 299th
l
Engineer Combat Battalion maintaining a roadblock on
Highway N28 at (392721). This roadblock and its defenses
were then tied in and coordinated with the plan of defense
for the intersection of Highways N4 and N28.
Much of the credit for coordinating the scattered
defenses between Hotton and Marche is due to Captain Karl
G.. Pedersen, the modest and diffident-looking CO of
When his roadblocks were established about
Company A.
0400 on 20 December, Captain Pedersen cleared with the CO
of the 158th Engineer Combat Battalion, which was about
two miles south of the junction of N4 and N28. The CO of
the 158th informed Captain Pedersen that there were 15
tanks and an unknown number of infantry approximately five
miles south of his position. About 1300 on 20 December,
the 158th displaced to the west on another mission,
leaving only scattered elements between Captain Pedersen's
roadblocks and the enemy's concentration of troops.
reinforced Captain
Although 50
Canadian
foresters
Pedersen's unit at 0400 on 21 December, these men were
also called away on another mission at 1510 the same day.
He was reinforced by an unknown major with a bazooka team,
an unknown chief warrant officer with a .50-caliber
machine gun, and one 40-mm. AA [antiaircraft] gun from the
440th AAA Battalion.61
During the days when these roadblocks were held, they
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