The exploits of Kampfgruppe Hansen

The remainder of the Leibstandarte Division, led by Kampfgruppe Hansen, was making desperate efforts to catch up with Peiper, and this soon turned into a rescue mission when the commander of the division's panzer regiment found himself cut off by US reinforcements.

Hansen's advance had at first gone well, brushing aside a column of US reconnaissance troops near Recht on 18 December. Then it was ordered to push northwards towards Stavelot, but traffic chaos in the village prevented it moving until the morning of 19 December. Ten Tigers and Panzer IVs moved in on the village from the south, but their attack was literally stopped in its tracks when an American M-10 tank destroyer hit the lead King Tiger's side armour, penetrating the monster panzer and causing it to explode. Access to the bridge was blocked. Knittel's reconnaissance unit mounted its own attack on Stavelot from the west on that day, backed by two of Peiper's King Tigers. His men reached the centre of the village but they were too late to stop American engineers blowing the bridge.

The following day, Hansen's panzergrenadiers renewed their attack on Stavelot but they now were ordered to bypass the village from the south and use forest tracks to find a route through to Peiper.

The Waffen-SS are halted

The move westwards was more successful and soon Hansen had troops situated overlooking the Salm River. US paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division had now arrived in strength, and were starting to build up a strong line blocking the route through to Peiper. The rescue effort eventually proved futile, and all Hansen's men could do was hold open a bridgehead to receive their beleaguered colleagues. By the time Peiper's men had reached safety on Christmas Day, the Leibstandarte Division had shot its bolt. The destruction of Peiper's kampfgruppe had ripped the heart out of its offensive power.

Skorzeny's 150th Panzer Brigade fared little better than the other elements of I SS Panzer Corps. Only a handful of its sabotage teams were able to penetrate American lines, and none of them managed to seize the vital Meuse bridges. The psychological effect of their presence on the battlefield was far more important than their actual achievements.

The advance to St Vith

Four days into Operation Autumn Mist, it was becoming clear that I SS Panzer Corps was stalled. Peiper's kampfgruppe was stuck at La Gleize, and the Hitlerjugend was getting nowhere on the Elsenborn ridge. The rapid advance of Peiper created one opportunity for Dietrich. The US 7th Armored Division and parts of three other divisions were still holding out in the town of St Vith, and Bittrich's mission was to push his two panzer divisions to the north and south of the St Vith salient, trapping the American force, before continuing westwards to the Meuse. It looked good on a map, but Das Reich and Hohenstaufen's kampfgruppen had to contend with a road network that was hopelessly overloaded.

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