ON THIS DAY: Starting on the 30th of December, 1944, a 10-day battle raged between the German Panzer-Lehr division and the US 87th Infantry Division for control of the Pironpré crossroads.
The crossroads were in a strategic location, roughly 20km west of Bastogne, along the road from Morhet to Saint-Hubert, and such was the intensity of the fighting which took place here the crossroads earned the grim nickname of “The Bloody Crossroads”.
For the Germans, the defence of the crossroads was crucial to their counterattack in the Ardennes, and they dug in with 6 Panther tanks and infantry.
On the 1st of January, during terrible weather conditions, the Americans, with the 347th Regiment in the lead, launched an attack on the crossroads, but were forced to withdraw under intense returning fire from the Germans.
Over the next few days, the Americans advanced through the small hamlet of Bonnerue, but their attacks on the crossroads were unsuccessful. German opposition intensified at Bonnerue, which prevented the capture of Quatre-Bras, and American attacks towards the nearby village of Tillet were also repulsed, with the American soldiers suffering heavy losses from German Panther, mortar and machine gun fire.
The fighting at Pironpré eased on the 7th and 8th when the battalions of the 347th Regiment were relieved by those of the 345th. On the 9th of January, the Americans stepped up their attacks on the crossroads and started to make progress, and on the 10th, the Germans retreated. This enabled E Company from the 345th Regiment to finally capture the crossroads on the 11th of January.
When we visited Bastogne for the 80th Anniversary celebrations we drove through the Pironpré crossroads every day, and I noticed that a small memorial and info plaque describing the battle had been installed by the side of the road. But other than that, there was nothing else to remember the vicious fighting that took place here. The memorial itself isn’t even marked on Google Maps!
On a more positive note, the houses were largely rebuilt after the war, as you can see with the example of the house belonging to the Dermience family, in the photos above.
(This is a repost from Instagram from December 30th, 2024)