Purple Heart

LIGNEUVILLE, BELGIUM, 19 December 1944: Locked at the bottom of a steep slope leading down from the Baugnez road junction, the little town of Ligneuville— known as Engelsdorf by the Germans—was occupied by the 49th AAA Brigade HQ along with company kitchens, supply trucks and some troops and tanks of the 9th Armored Division doing repair work on tank tracks. Suddenly in the early afternoon, a tankdozer came racing down the hill at breakneck speed announcing imminent danger. As sounds of battle were heard coming from somewhere to the north, General E. J. Timberlake and his staff decided to leave at once.

The incredulous officer in charge of the 9th Armored supply column went up the hill to investigate and was captured while standing face to face with German tanks. The remnants of Peiper’s forward elements drove through the town without any problem and took their objective: the bridge across the Amblève. When Peiper's engineers began to check the bridge for demolition charges, American machine-gunners caused several casualties. While the tanks reduced this rather light opposition, a few other German vehicles entered the town, including Peiper in a halftrack. A Panther was suddenly hit and destroyed by a hidden Sherman on a side street. Two halftracks were also destroyed before the troublemaker was eventually knocked out. Peiper himself had to hide when the halftrack he was riding in entered the field of fire.

Contents:

Cover Wrap

4 scenarios NY#1-4: Cemetery Stand, A Town by Any Other Name, East of Trois-Ponts, Foggy Notions

2 map sheets