During the battle, the wiring on the demolition
charges on the bridge was shot out by enemy shell fire.
Lieutenants Jamison and Wright, without waiting for
orders, entered the shoulder-deep water and, under enemy
small arms fire, repaired the wiring.82
Throughout the morning and during the early after-
noon, the tank-infantry battle raged.
About 1400, the
enemy armor showed signs that it had had about enough and
started to withdraw, but the sniper small arms fire was
still hot on the northeast side of the bridge. The
situation was finally relieved at 1500 with the arrival of
a task force of the 3d Armored Division under command of
Brigadier General Maurice Rose. The relief force of the
84th Division then appeared on the scene from Marche.
Most of the elements of the 51st Battalion withdrew toward
Marche, having accomplished their mission of holding the
bridge. Half of a squad was left at the Hotton bridge to
blow it if necessary during the ensuing days.83
Captain
Hodges reports that there were frequent arguments between
the commands of the 3d Armored Division and the 84th
Division as to whether the bridge should be blown. In
lieu of an agreement between the generals involved, the
squad at the bridge took no action and refused to blow the
bridge.84
Despite the bitter fighting at Hotton on 21 December,
only two members of the 51st's force were casualties, both
Captain Hodges received a shell
from shell fragments.
fragment wound in his leg, while Private Ishmael was
wounded in the hand.
(These casualty figures do not
include casualties among the attached personnel who fought
with the 51st at Hotton. 85
)
The significance of the defense of the Hotton bridge,
which elements of the 51st carried on during the seven-
hour battle, is that the actions preserved a key link in
Allied supply lines to forward units, behind which the
84th Division was organizing and arriving at Marche.86
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