At 0700 on 18 December, the Germans, who had been assembling forces all night, attacked Rocherath-Krinkelt out of the morning mist. The savage fighting continued nonstop all day with infantry and tank battles raging throughout both villages. At the individual level, there were numerous instances of heroic efforts by US officers and men in close combat. One tactical radio operator hid in a cellar and reported the activities of the Germans upstairs and outside for almost a full day. Subsequent news reporting of the battle noted that “in this single engagement (at Rocherath), 50 Germans were killed, and 25 American soldiers were rescued from enemy hands.” In the same action, a “machine gun crew was twice captured and twice escaped within 24 hours.” In another sector of the town, troops “fought with rifles, carbines and pistols, and seven men who had been captured by Germans overpowered sentries and escaped to rejoin the fight.” One battalion commander of the 38th, whose normal command consisted of three infantry companies and a heavy weapons company, was reported to have men from sixteen different companies fighting under his command. The fight in the Rocherath and Krinkelt was desperate. While there is no confirmation that the 7032nd Ordnance Company was in those towns, since none of the rear echelon units were specifically enumerated in the unit history, it is exceedingly likely the 702nd was present. It is equally likely that S/SGT Scott was one of the men who was captured and subsequently rescued in this 2-day battle.

There were rumors among the soldiers fighting at Rocherath and Krinkelt that the “SS had been murdering prisoners and bayoneting wounded.” It is not clear where those alleged events might have occurred, but later in the same day (17 December) after passing through Bülligen (4 kilometers southwest of the twin towns), troops in Kampfgruppe Peiper, massacred 84 US soldiers at Malmedy. Not explicitly reported at the time, but documented during the Malmedy investigation, was the report that 50 US soldiers had been murdered at Bülligen. The unit responsible for the murders at Bülligen was the same: Kampfgruppe Peiper. S/SGT Scott also sent home a clipping about the massacre of 84 US soldiers at Malmedy, Belgium. Both clippings may have been concurrently sent is a letter home to Vivian. Regardless, there is little doubt that S/SGT Scott had a close encounter with SS soldiers and might have barely escaped being murdered himself had fortune not looked favorably in his direction.
Prepared by RJCarr,11Nov 2019