PEIPER ADVANCES WESTWARDS

Moving westwards, Kampfgruppe Peiper marched on the Belgian town of Stavelot early in the morning of 18 December 1944. Fierce resistance from the American units in this area blunted the attack, as did their destroying bridges and fuel dumps when forced to retreat. The advance from Eifel to Stavelot had taken 36 hours. In 1940, the Germans had done it in just nine hours. An attack on Stavelot had been anticipated. Although Malmedy seemed to be the prime German objective, the decision was made to reinforce Stavelot by sending in a company of the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion under the 526th’s Executive Officer, Major Paul J Solis, and a platoon of tank destroyers.