General George S Patton was ordered to swing his US 3rd Army through 90 degrees and drive north to strike at the southern flank of the 'bulge' driven into the Allied line. Manteuffel was forced to bypass Bastogne as he pressed on for the Meuse.Įisenhower, however, began to exert a firm grip on the battle. On a windswept plateau 30 miles to the southwest, the vital road hub of Bastogne was also denied to 5th Panzer Army by 101st Airborne Division, rushed up by truck from Rheims. In the centre, on 17 December, Manteuffel had arrived at St Vith, from which a valley road led to the River Meuse and Belgium, to find his path blocked by US 7th Armoured Division. On the northern shoulder of the German advance, US V Corps had blocked the drive by 6th SS Panzer Army. It took four days for the Americans to pull themselves together.
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