Hitler Sent His Escort Brigade to Finish St Vith | The Battle of The Bulge

Hitler's Escort Brigade had one job: smash through Rodt, seize the road to Vielsalm, and finish St Vith once and for all.

What they didn't expect was the cooks.

As the Führer-Begleit-Brigade rolled toward Rodt in the bitter cold of December 1944, the men standing in their way weren't frontline infantry. They were clerks, drivers, cooks — rear echelon troops who had no business fighting one of the most formidable units in the German Army. They held anyway.

James Holland and Al Murray walk the ground around Rodt to unpick one of the most extraordinary small-unit actions of the entire Ardennes Offensive — a desperate, improvised defence that bought precious hours for the men still fighting to keep the St Vith salient alive.But time was running out. By the 21st and 22nd of December, the city was falling. The Germans were closing the ring.Enter Montgomery. Enter the 82nd Airborne.

With the situation deteriorating by the hour, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery inserts himself into the battle — and the legendary 82nd Airborne Division arrives to anchor the defence. What follows is the story of how a collapsing salient is transformed into a fighting withdrawal that will shape the entire northern flank of the Battle of the Bulge.🎖️

Episode 9 of the WW2HQ Ardennes series.

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