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BATTLE OF THE BULGE DAY 3: DECEMBER 18, 1944
Battling Bastards of Bastogne
~2:15 AM, Major General Matthew Ridgway, unaware of the fighting in Ardennes, and sleeping in his HQ, is awakened by a call from Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges, commander of First Army.
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Hodges, calling from the town of Spa in Belgium, tells Ridgway that the Germans are smashing through the Ardennes & the XVIII Airborne Corps had been released from theater reserve and assigned to First Army to help push back the offensive.
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Until just recently, with the creation of the 18th Airborne Corps, there was no traditional "reserve" in the European Theater. Now, the 18th was the reserve.
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Ridgway sends the 101st and 82nd into the teeth of the ferocious German attack.
Here’s Jim Gavin, 82nd commander, who would push east to Werbomont, Belgium.
The 101st would drive into the wood chipper outside of Bastogne, Belgium.
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The 101st, in particular, was in no shape to go back into the fight.