What Happened When American Bazooka Teams Stopped a Panzer Column at Noville
The Standoff Files1
257 views
On the morning of December 19, 1944, a small American force sat in the Belgian village of Noville, a few miles north of Bastogne, as the German 2nd Panzer Division pushed down the road toward them. Team Desobry, a combat team from the 10th Armored Division under Major William Desobry, was joined that afternoon by paratroopers of the 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
Outnumbered and surrounded on three sides, the defenders used Sherman tanks, tank destroyers, and bazooka teams fighting from buildings and hedgerows to stop repeated German armored attacks through fog and snow. The fighting lasted nearly two days, cost the lives of officers including Lt. Col. James LaPrade, and ended with a fighting withdrawal to Foy on December 20.
This video covers how the defense of Noville was organized, how American bazooka teams engaged German Panzers at close range, what it cost both sides, and how the delay helped buy time for the defense of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.
What Happened When American Bazooka Teams Stopped a Panzer Column at Noville
The Standoff Files1
257 views
On the morning of December 19, 1944, a small American force sat in the Belgian village of Noville, a few miles north of Bastogne, as the German 2nd Panzer Division pushed down the road toward them. Team Desobry, a combat team from the 10th Armored Division under Major William Desobry, was joined that afternoon by paratroopers of the 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
Outnumbered and surrounded on three sides, the defenders used Sherman tanks, tank destroyers, and bazooka teams fighting from buildings and hedgerows to stop repeated German armored attacks through fog and snow. The fighting lasted nearly two days, cost the lives of officers including Lt. Col. James LaPrade, and ended with a fighting withdrawal to Foy on December 20.
This video covers how the defense of Noville was organized, how American bazooka teams engaged German Panzers at close range, what it cost both sides, and how the delay helped buy time for the defense of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.