04x02 - Bunker Blitz

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: As an American private covers

the retreat of his fellow soldiers,

a blast from a German tank

throws him off his feet.

The expl*si*n destroys his machine g*n

and breaks his glasses.

He retrieves a r*fle and

continues to hold the line.

On June 6th, 1944 allied forces

finally land troops in Normandy.

To open the western front.

(speaking in native language)

NARRATOR: But n*zi fanatics

and diehards continue

to fight ferociously for survival.

(rapid g*nf*re)

D-Day was a battle.

They still need to win the w*r.

NARRATOR: January 9th, 1945.

The Alsace region, France.

American Private First-Class

Glenn Schmidt scrambles through

the snow clutching a

Browning automatic r*fle.

Germans ambushed his patrol outside

the French town of Hatten.

In the firefight, Schmidt’s B.A.R.

jammed and he’s shot twice.

One blast knocked off his helmet

and another bloodies his face.

He’s the sole survivor.

JOHN: The patrol Schmidt is

on is extraordinarily unlucky.

They're doing something

that's pretty routine,

and they just happen to be out

there when the Germans are about

to launch their attacks.

NARRATOR: With enemy

soldiers in pursuit,

Schmidt must get word

to a commanding officer.

JOHN: In this case, the information

you've gathered is firsthand information.

Schmitt is kind of lucky

to even get out of there

more or less unscathed

compared to many others.

NARRATOR: The Germans are in the midst of

the Battle of the Bulge.

PETER: As Wacht Am Rhein loses momentum,

Hitler decides to attack at

a weaker part of the front.

This would mean that the American and

the British attention

is drawn away from the northern battles.

NARRATOR: For this operation,

known as Nordwind,

Hitler appoints Heinrich Himmler,

Reichsfuhrer and head of the SS,

in his first military command.

PETER: As the w*r progresses,

Hitler trusts less and less people.

However, there's one exception, Himmler,

and he knows for sure that Himmler will

always be loyal to him.

NARRATOR: Himmler is eager to impress

and mark Hitler’s anniversary as Fuhrer.

PETER: Himmler's goal is to

recapture Strasbourg and present it to

Hitler as a gift for the

12th anniversary of the seizure

of power on the 30th of January.

NARRATOR: As the

capital of the Alsace region,

Strasbourg had been liberated in

late November by free French troops.

Himmler’s success

PETER: Would

mean a major blow for

the American French alliance.

NARRATOR: 25 miles

northeast of Strasbourg,

outside the village of Hatten,

Private Schmidt races

for the American line.

Suddenly the night erupts in white light.

Schmidt is struck.

His back burns and he rolls over

in the snow to cool the heat.

JOHN: He must have

been frightened out of his wits.

He's wounded in several places.

He's tattered and torn up.

NARRATOR: The new wounds are from

American phosphorus grenades

and mortars fired by U.S. defenders

into the Germans behind him.

Still smoldering, he stumbles toward the

safety of a bunker to join defenses there.

At Pillbox nine, Schmidt reaches a

section of the famous Maginot Line.

STEVEN: The

Maginot Line is a fortified line

that the French army

erected after World w*r I,

and it covered from

roughly the Swiss border

all the way up to the Belgian frontier.

NARRATOR: It contains massive

reinforced concrete bunkers.

STEVEN: Some of these bunkers

were essentially underground cities.

You'd have large personnel bunkers.

You'd have all sorts of

g*n herds that would pop up

on top of the bunkers.

You'd have tunnels that

would go between bunkers.

NARRATOR: The concrete could

be more than 11 feet thick.

So, they could be

bombarded by aircraft bombs,

by a*tillery, and yet the troops

within would still be protected.

NARRATOR: The problem was

when Germany invaded in 1940,

they just went around it.

STEVEN: So, the Germans never

got through the Maginot Line.

They instead avoided the

Maginot Line and went through

Belgium where the

Maginot Line did not exist.

NARRATOR: American forces now

occupy the bunkers which must

once again protect the French border

against German attackers from the east.

Oberstleutnant Karl Proll and his 35th

Panzergrenadier Regiment

spearhead the as*ault into Hatten.

PETER: Karl Proll is a former

NCO who commissioned later.

He gets promoted very quickly

due to his command performance

on the eastern front.

And he's the holder of some of the highest

German military decorations.

NARRATOR: From the woods,

the Panzergrenadiers cross

a large field toward the pillboxes.

PETER: The Germans believe

that the bunkers are unmanned,

but suddenly, they run

into a fierce resistance.

NARRATOR: The lead elements come

under fire from American mortar,

machine g*ns and a*tillery.

(rapid g*nf*re)

They suffer very heavy casualties in

the frontal attack.

The survivors retreat back to the trees.

PETER: Proll, who is a

veteran from the eastern front,

knows he must be flexible now and

change his tactics and pivot.

NARRATOR: Proll’s men and

tanks must find a path between

the American bunkers to

attack Hatten directly.

Pillbox nine is one of a

series of fortifications which

extend out up to a mile from

the eastern edge of Hatten.

From a command post in the village,

A Company commander

captain William Corson,

coordinates the defenses.

Pillbox five, come in.

NARRATOR: They’re connected through

telephone lines with radio back up.

Word trickles in from across the

front about the German attacks.

JOHN: Corson is doing what any

commander wants to do in this

kind of circumstance,

which is to gather as much

relevant information as he can.

And to do that, you have to stay in touch.

NARRATOR: His unit from

the 242nd Infantry Regiment,

of the 42nd Division, only

recently arrived in Europe.

American command sent

them to the Alsace to finish

their training in what

should’ve been a quiet sector.

JOHN: The 42nd Division has

these kind of strengths

and weaknesses in that respect.

The weakness is the inexperience,

the kind of lack of organization,

maybe the lack of confidence.

But I think the strength is the,

the newness of it might create a

level of enthusiasm for fighting

that may not be present in,

in more hard-bitten units.

NARRATOR: In response to the attacks,

headquarters staff of the 242nd prepare

improvised defenses in the village.

Personnel lay mines to prevent

German vehicles from passing through.

Their minefield

blocks the road in front of

the first battalion command post

just across from the church.

Above the minefield, soldiers

with bazookas take up position

in the church steeple.

They join an American a*tillery observer

who has been there all morning.

To direct fire

in support of the Pillboxes.

The a*tillery Observer,

besides maybe the Commander,

is arguably the most important person in

a, in a World w*r II fight.

The a*tillery Observer

is the person controlling

the most important firepower,

the deadliest firepower,

especially on the American side,

where the a*tillery is

just a fearsome weapon.

NARRATOR: Back at Pillbox nine,

Sergeant Alvin Cahoon,

of A Company, had

thrown back the first waves of

the German as*ault against

third Platoon’s position

MAN: Fire!

NARRATOR: With help from

a*tillery and mortar fire.

But to the south, he observes a

dangerous development.

German tanks and infantry break through

between Pillboxes four and five.

NARRATOR: As the German tanks roll up,

they have a chance to flank the bunkers,

and make a straight shot into Hatten.

But suddenly, American bazooka

rounds blast into their armor

from high in the village church.

JOHN: It’s the best

place to see any German units

that are on the move.

German commander

would certainly grasp that,

appreciate it, and would

fixate immediately on that

church steeple as the, as the

likely spot for an observer.

NARRATOR: The

Germans return fire,

and destroy the tower.

The shots eliminate the bazooka teams

and the U.S. a*tillery

observer posted there.

This means the Americans

can no longer count on

accurate a*tillery support.

The losses weaken their

defenses in the village.

Below the steeple, personnel at

the first Battalion Command Post

take up positions to

actively defend Hatten.

Private First-Class Vito Bertoldo is

one of the guards.

JOHN: He has bad eyesight,

which obviously can be an issue

and yet he wants to be there.

So, he had volunteered.

He had tried very hard

to get into the Army.

Initially, they turned him away.

Of course, as the w*r unfolds

the standards get a little lower

and they need more people,

so he gets in on that basis,

but he becomes a cook.

NARRATOR: Bertoldo wasn’t really

happy in this supporting role.

JOHN: Bertoldo has already

been something of a problem child

for his Mess Sergeant.

If you have a soldier

you perceive as a problem or

not that good, you’re going to

want to put him where you think

he’s going to do the least harm.

NARRATOR: After

arriving in Europe,

Bertoldo’s senior officer,

Captain William Corson,

transfers him to guard duty in Hatten.

JOHN: The transfer is

not a promotion at all.

It’s kind of a sidelining in a way.

NARRATOR: But for Bertoldo,

as a guard he’s one step closer

to fighting Germans.

JOHN: Bertoldo has been

bragging to his buddies

about how, you know, if he gets

a crack at the Germans, man,

what a hero he’s going to be.

There’s so many stories like that,

and the end of that story is

almost always this guy talked

a big game, but when the b*ll*ts flew,

he was, you know, in a ditch.

NARRATOR: The former cook

now sets up a machine g*n in

the doorway and waits.

As German rounds pepper

the Battalion Command Post

Sergeant!

NARRATOR: Enemy a*tillery knocks

out the communication system.

Before the attack,

Captain Corson had direct lines

to each of the Pillboxes.

Now he’s cut off.

The Commander always has to decide where

to place himself on the b*ttlefield.

So, where is it appropriate for him to be?

NARRATOR: Corson

leaves the command post.

He sets out to re-connect with his

forward troops in the Pillboxes.

As American a*tillery falters,

Oberstleutnant Karl Proll’s men

renew their attacks

on the northern bunkers.

(rapid g*nf*re)

Pillbox nine holds out,

but other U.S.

positions give way.

Further south

The Jagdtiger was

the largest, most powerful

armored vehicle of World w*r II.

The basic chassis was the same

as the Royal Tiger heavy tank,

except that instead of having a turret

with an 88-millimeter g*n,

it had a fixed superstructure

with even thicker armor and

an even more powerful 128-millimeter g*n.

NARRATOR: Used to

attack and k*ll enemy tanks,

the 128-millimeter g*n

weighs five and a half tons

and can penetrate seven and a half feet

of concrete at a range

of over half a mile.

STEVEN: During the

time of the fighting in Alsace,

the German troops started to run into

the old Maginot Line bunkers for defense.

Adolf Hitler heard

about this, and he said,

"Ah-ha, I have the ideal weapon.

Send some Jagdtigers down and

have these powerful Jagdtigers

blast away at the bunkers."

NARRATOR: As tanks and

Panzergrenadiers attack

along the line, the

American Pillboxes fall.

Captain William Corson

speeds toward Pillbox nine,

hoping to re-establish communications.

As he nears the bunker

(rapid g*nf*re)

The jeep comes under fire.

They bail out and find refuge

in an empty mortar position.

(rapid g*nf*re)

Corson decides to

make a run for the Pillbox.

JOHN: This

incident is a classic example of

something you see in ground combat.

Simple things become really difficult.

He gets pinned down; he

doesn’t know what’s going on.

The communications are spotty.

Now, the simplest things become

extraordinarily difficult and deadly.

NARRATOR: He leaves a

walkie-talkie with one of

his men at the jeep, to act

as a relay for messages back

to first Battalion in Hatten.

With the Americans at the Pillboxes in a

fight for their lives,

German tanks and Panzergrenadiers

press further into the village.

JOHN: This is supposed

to be in a rear area.

I mean, technically, okay?

So, here’s the first

thing that’s gone wrong,

all of a sudden, the Germans

are there at this command post,

a place where they

were never supposed to be.

(speaking in native language)

NARRATOR: Fortunately, the

makeshift minefield outside

the U.S. 242nd

Infantry Regiment,

first battalion command post

halts the German advance.

Oberstleutnant Karl Proll’s

Panzergrenadiers move out front

to clear the mines.

Private First-Class

Vito Bertoldo doesn’t have

a clear shot from the

command post doorway.

He decides to find a better angle.

They take the machine g*n into the

middle of the street and set it up.

MAN: Here!

NARRATOR: In full sight

of attacking enemy soldiers,

American Private First-Class Vito Bertoldo

opens fire with his machine g*n.

(rapid g*nf*re)

He targets the German panzer

units who attempt to clear

a minefield that blocks

the advance of their tanks.

Bertoldo forces their retreat.

He and his assistant pick up

the machine g*n to relocate.

Bertoldo, has been

trained like any other soldier,

that a, an effective

machine gunner displaces.

Because of course, a machine g*n is the

target for the enemy.

It's a deadly weapon.

NARRATOR: Outside Hatten,

Captain William Corson breaks

through the German fire

and arrives at Pillbox nine.

He finds Sergeant Alvin Cahoon and

other members of A Company,

of the 242nd Infantry Regiment.

But they’re low on ammunition and

have many wounded who need evacuation.

By this time, most of

the American defenses along

their sector of the

Maginot Line have crumbled,

but Pillbox nine in the

north continues to resist.

Corson relays the regimental orders;

to continue to hold at all costs.

We are requesting a*tillery support.

Copy.

NARRATOR: He also tries

to contact his relay man at

the jeep but can’t get through.

He decides to wait until dark and

then return to Hatten to get help.

If the Pillbox falls

and Hatten can be flanked from

the north, it makes the Alsace region

and its newly liberated

capital Strasbourg, vulnerable.

In the early part of operation Nordwind,

Supreme commander

Dwight D. Eisenhower

was ready to yield territory here,

including Strasbourg.

ALEXANDRA: Eisenhower is

really focused on attacking Germany from

the north and the

Alsace region is too far south

he doesn't consider it to be

particularly important and so

for Eisenhower it would

actually make more sense just

to simply withdraw from

that front all together,

and really put the focus

on the rush to Berlin.

NARRATOR: The proposal nearly causes a

mutiny amongst French forces.

ALEXANDRA: The Alsace region,

it's been going back and forth

between the French and

the Germans for centuries,

but what's so very important

about it in this period is that

the free French have liberated

Strasbourg and so of course it's

emotionally very, very

important and a potent symbol

for the French and they're damned if

they're going to give it up again.

NARRATOR: In Hatten,

German infantry and tanks

launch a fresh attack against the

first Battalion headquarters.

Under covering fire,

Panzergrenadier troops once again move

forward to clear the minefield.

Which anchors the

American defenses in the sector.

JOHN: The minefield is how

you're going to restrict German mobility,

it's how you're going to buy time.

And that's a big part

of the battle of Hatten,

is to, to buy time, to get reinforcements.

NARRATOR: And it

could be better.

JOHN: What you hope,

from the American standpoint,

is that a tank comes

in and blows off a mine,

blows a tread, is immobilized,

and now becomes a kind

of a nice roadblock there.

NARRATOR: In a house from which

they can monitor the approach to

the command post and the minefield,

Private First-Class Vito Bertoldo and

his assistant set up their machine g*n.

STEVEN: The gunner's assistant

does a number of things.

The most obvious is that he

helps feed the ammunition into

the machine g*n, but he has

a secondary role of defending

the machine g*n against

approaching enemy troops.

NARRATOR: They secure

the weapon to a table.

STEVEN: A light machine g*n

is usually mounted on a tripod.

It has little feet on the end

of it to dig into the ground.

So, by strapping it to the table,

he could keep the machine g*n stable

and therefore, fire more accurately.

(rapid g*nf*re)

NARRATOR: Bertoldo opens up

with his tabletop machine g*n.

Once more, his fierce fire forces

the German troops to pull back.

But this time, the enemy tank

pinpoints Bertoldo’s position.

And from 75 yards,

fires directly at his window.

MAN: Fire!

NARRATOR: The tank round

punches through the room.

As the dust settles,

Private First-Class Vito Bertoldo and

his assistant are thrown back,

but amazingly, remain unhurt.

JOHN: He gets a little lucky

because the tank is firing

an armor piercing round.

It's not pleasant when a shell

comes into your room like that.

Uh, the concussive effect is, is terrific.

But it's not as deadly

as it would be if it were

a high expl*sive round.

NARRATOR: Bertoldo

crawls back to the table.

The tank still sits

just beyond the minefield.

When he reaches the machine g*n,

he opens fire again.

JOHN: Firing a

machine g*n at a tank,

there's a level of insanity to that.

You are not going to penetrate the tank.

You're going to give away your position.

NARRATOR: A German Tank Commander emerges

from the hatch to get a better look.

Bertoldo grabs a r*fle.

At a range of 75 yards, he takes a shot

(g*nsh*t)

And kills the German officer.

Bertoldo continues his

defense of the minefield to

hold the German armor at bay.

JOHN: How the battle

is going to turn out,

that's really still up

in the air at this stage.

A lot’s going to depend on

what happens next with Bertoldo,

whether he's able to, to stop

any kind of German push deeper

into Hatten and whether there's

going to be any reinforcements

in a reasonable amount of time.

NARRATOR: Meanwhile

at Pillbox nine,

Captain William Corson waits for

dark to sneak back into Hatten.

He moves to an aperture to

observe the German as*ault and

gauge the status of the nearby Pillboxes.

He hopes when he gets back to the village,

with access to a radio,

he can call in a*tillery positions,

send ammunition,

and alleviate the pressure on the Pillbox.

Without warning, an a*tillery blast

hits the turret and sends Corson flying.

As the sun sets,

German Panzergrenadiers

close in on Pillbox nine.

As an elite infantry unit,

Oberstleutnant Karl Proll’s

troops fill the gaps between

tanks and other armor with their weapons

and respond quickly as the battle evolves.

PETER: Armor is rarely effective

in fighting directly against bunkers.

Much better, suited are armored infantry,

or Panzergrenadiers, because

when they fought dismounted,

they can recognize better the

weak spot in the defense system

and also protect tanks in the flanks.

NARRATOR: With

Captain Corson wounded,

Sergeant Alvin Cahoon

faces difficult choices.

The intensity of the

German fire increases.

With the men outside

running out of ammunition

and the wounded piling up,

Cahoon orders them to return to

the relative safety of the bunker.

JOHN: We tend to think

of these bunkers

and Pillboxes in World w*r II

as these incredible,

impervious fortifications.

But I think it's important to

kind of step back and remember,

there's just scared

groups of men in there.

And their view of the world is really

limited to the small apertures they got.

(thudding)

NARRATOR: In the darkness, Cahoon

and his men hear sounds around,

and on the roof of their bunker.

(thudding)

Trapped inside the Pillbox, they

listen as German engineers stuff

expl*sives down the ventilation tubes.

STEVEN: Between the time

they were built in the 1930s

and the time they saw

combat in 1945, in many cases,

the German army had come in and stripped

out a lot of the steel work

to be put into the Atlantic wall

along the Normandy coast.

And so, they suddenly

became vulnerable to attacks

from unusual directions.

On some of these bunkers, the ventilation

shafts could be an Achilles heel.

NARRATOR: Cahoon has

no way to fight back.

If the expl*sives detonate,

they won’t survive.

JOHN: He's run out of a*mo,

he's not in communication with

larger units that he knows

are going to come and help him.

He can't get his people out of there.

NARRATOR: He consults with

his Captain William Corson,

who’s injured, but alive.

JOHN: The Germans

are basically everywhere,

and he feels there's no purpose in,

you know, just dying there and

destroying the lives of his men.

And so, he decides to surrender.

NARRATOR: Corson agrees.

Cahoon shouts to the Germans on the roof.

The remains of A Company

file out of Pillbox nine with

their wounded comrades and commander.

As the last of the Maginot Line

defenders in the sector,

they’re captured as prisoners of w*r.

With the American resistance eliminated

outside of the village,

the Germans can

sweep into Hatten unopposed.

NARRATOR: On the

night of January 9th, 1945,

in northeastern France,

the new main line of

resistance for U.S. forces

in the region becomes

the village of Hatten itself.

After the fall of Pillbox nine,

command posts of

the first and second Battalions,

242nd Infantry Regiment,

still hold the line in

the eastern part of town.

But they need reinforcements.

JOHN: When the Germans

launched one of these local attacks,

the Americans then react

and then they come back

with more stuff,

more firepower, more people.

So, it's a

very uncomplicated, unambiguous.

Go back in, take the town and just sort of

reverse the situation.

NARRATOR: In the meantime,

first Battalion relocates its

command post away from the church to a

more secure position.

Private First-Class

Vito Bertoldo volunteers to

remain on guard duty through

the night to cover the move.

JOHN: Why does he do it?

I would doubt that he does

it because he has a death wish.

But I think that he’s ready to embrace

death if that’s what it takes.

And that is a really

amazing thing to consider.

NARRATOR: Just after dawn,

the Germans are first off

the mark and launch their own

attack before the Americans get started.

PETER: The Germans are eager

to push the Americans out of Hatten

and advance further towards Strasbourg.

It has got a very high symbolical value.

The capital of Alsace

should remain German,

this is the way the Nazis think.

(rapid g*nf*re)

NARRATOR: Arriving American reinforcements

block the German advance,

but can’t push far

enough into Hatten to relieve

Bertoldo and the command posts.

As the day wears on, Bertoldo remains in

his position in front of the minefield.

German troops try repeatedly

to clear the mines which block

the road and hold back the tanks.

Bertoldo uses bursts from his

machine g*n to drive them off.

(rapid g*nf*re)

The German soldiers

scatter and the tank backs away.

Bertoldo and his assistant gunner

reload and wait for the next as*ault.

JOHN: Bertoldo and his buddy are,

you know, chalking on the

wall or writing on the wall,

to keep track of the damage

they think they've inflicted.

If that helped pass the time,

if that helped keep the, the mind,

you know, all good, great.

NARRATOR: All of a sudden,

the lull is shattered,

and the room ripped apart.

A blast knocks Bertoldo down.

After the expl*si*n he crawls over to aid

his assistant gunner,

despite being injured himself.

JOHN: His buddy is

pretty badly wounded, and so,

he helps patch him

up and get him out of there,

all of which had to be very difficult.

NARRATOR: With his assistant out of harm’s

way and the dust clearing,

Bertoldo looks out and sees the

barrel of an enemy tank

which had crept up a side road.

Before he can act, the

tank bursts into flames.

An American bazooka

team on the second floor

scores a direct hit.

Blazing, the panzer kicks into reverse.

Bertoldo opens up with his machine g*n.

(rapid g*nf*re)

JOHN: There's

an anger side to what he does.

It's time to inflict damage

on the Germans because of what

they had done to his buddy.

The battle's just become

personal for Bertoldo.

NARRATOR: Holding them

responsible for the wounds

suffered by his assistant gunner,

Private First-Class Vito Bertoldo targets

the German soldiers

who flee the burning tank.

By 2300 hours on January 10th,

orders come down for the remains of the

242nd Infantry Regiment

to retreat from Hatten to the

safety of another village to the west.

The depleted battalions

have held out since the attack

started early the day before.

They come back in small groups.

They're, one person covering another,

filtering through the buildings,

going through the shadows.

Take it out with a grenade.

However you can escape,

you are going to do it.

MAN: Move! Move! Move!

NARRATOR: To add

to the confusion,

replacement units fight their

way forward at the same time.

(rapid g*nf*re)

Bertoldo, now without his assistant,

once more volunteers to provide covering

fire for the retreating troops.

JOHN: The looming question for anybody

who's covering withdrawal is,

you know, when the time comes,

am I myself going to be able to get away?

NARRATOR: In the dark,

German soldiers reach

the battalion command post and

advance beneath Bertoldo’s line of fire.

From this position, he doesn’t have a

shot with his machine g*n.

Instead, he reaches for

some phosphorus grenades.

Weapons containing the

element phosphorus are often

used to create

smokescreens for concealment.

When phosphorus comes into

contact with oxygen in the air,

it ignites spontaneously

and burns at temperatures over

1,400 degrees Fahrenheit

to create thick smoke.

Phosphorus grenades and

a*tillery rounds can also be

used as an incendiary

to set targets on fire.

Humans are often caught up in the flames.

JOHN: It's

a terrifying weapon too,

because it doesn't take

much to cause some damage.

The white phosphorous grenade

has a pretty decent radius of,

you know, 20 or so yards in

which the shards could come

and get on you and start to

burn through your skin.

NARRATOR: While water

puts the flames out,

phosphorus will

reignite when it evaporates.

(explosions)

Soldiers scatter from Bertoldo’s salvo.

The Germans must eliminate the

American opposition which still

holds up their advance.

And once more,

Bertoldo’s thrown from his feet.

JOHN: It's

possible that maybe there is,

on the German side, somebody directing the

fire of the tank to where he is.

Especially after the

white phosphorous grenades

have come into play, and this creates

perhaps more urgency to get the guy.

NARRATOR: A German tank

has locked on to his window.

JOHN: Concussion

again had to be terrific.

I don't know what it

meant on an auditory level,

but it couldn't have done anything

good for his ears and his hearing.

But of course, more immediate, for him,

is it destroys his glasses.

NARRATOR: And renders

his machine g*n inoperable.

Bertoldo refuses to concede.

He switches to a r*fle and continues

to target German soldiers in the street.

Bertoldo has

fought with everything he has.

He's used some nice, innovative thinking.

He's brought plenty

of courage to the table.

NARRATOR: Finally, after

defending the minefield for

two days, Bertoldo is

told to withdraw himself.

Bertoldo and members of

the 242nd Infantry Regiment,

prevent the Germans from

sweeping through Hatten.

The grueling battle continues in

the village for ten more days.

The delay thwarts the

march to recapture Strasbourg.

ALEXANDRA: Fighting throughout January

in 1945 is absolutely vicious.

There's bitter street to street,

house to house fighting.

And of course not only is

this terribly destructive for

the population, but also for the

infrastructure of these beautiful towns.

Some of them are completely destroyed.

NARRATOR: Himmler’s

plan ultimately fails,

and he can’t deliver Strasbourg

to the Fuhrer to commemorate

the 12th anniversary of the third Reich.

PETER: This doesn't hinder

Hitler from promoting Himmler

again to take over command of army

group Weichsel on the eastern front.

So, Himmler pursues his

military career despite the fact

that he has utterly

failed in his first job.

NARRATOR: Captain

William Corson,

Sergeant Alvin Cahoon, Private First-Class

Glenn Schmidt

and the other Americans captured at

Pillbox nine serve out the w*r

in prisoner of w*r camps.

First Battalion of the 242nd

earns a distinguished unit

citation for their

staunch defense of Hatten,

to acknowledge the casualties of

more than 500 men and officers,

nearly 70% of the

rookie battalion’s strength.

Oberstleutnant Karl Proll continues

the attack into Hatten until January 19th.

His first Battalion is also devastated,

with only 100 survivors.

He earns the Iron Cross with

oak leaves for the operation

and the citation reports he

repelled 35 American attacks.

They announce the honor

before the end of January.

PETER: There can

be various reasons for that.

First, one might be that his

performance was so outstanding

that it was clear cut that he must be

awarded with this higher decoration.

Or quite often, it’s the contrary.

The Germans just want to conceal, um,

an actual defeat, but award

someone with a higher medal

so that it looks like a heroic defeat.

NARRATOR: Private

First-Class Vito Bertoldo earns

the highest award; the

Congressional Medal of Honor

for his tenacity and bravery.

His commanding officer,

Captain William Corson learns of

the award from the newspapers,

when he returns stateside.

His ne’er-do-well cook had proved

himself a formidable soldier.

JOHN: It had to be a

bit of a head spinner.

"How did I, get

this guy so wrong?”

NARRATOR: Hitler’s operations;

Wacht am Rhein and Nordwind

continue into January of 1945,

but they don’t deal the decisive blow

Hitler had hoped for.

Instead they’re forced back to

the German border to prepare

and make the Allies pay heavily for

every advance onto German soil.

The w*r in Europe will still rage f

or another three and a half months.