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The ground had frozen solidly. Five inches of snow had fallen. A glazing of ice had formed on

the highways as the 315th loaded up to head north through a raging storm. All vehicular identifications

were painted over and shoulder patches were removed. TO insignias on helmets were covered with tape

and the 90th moved 50 miles, anonymously, through the storm.

Backtracking across the Moselle the troops again crossed at Cattenom. The scene was different

this time for the snow and ice had covered the wreckage and cars of that November assault. The

treadway bridge, protected by several anti-craft batteries, lay peacefully across the, now tame, Moselle.

Swinging to the north the battalion rolled through the muffled silence of the snowstorm. Into

Luxembourg at Eurange, on through Luxembourg city then west through Arlon, Belgium, then north

again the troops rolled in the near-zero weather.

On 9 January the 90th was in place, ready to assault the enemy east of Bastogne, and again it

found the weather definitely pro-nazi. On the icy grades, trucks skidded and plunged into ditches. Tanks

spun their tracks helplessly and high winds, sweeping down the valleys and across the ridges, drifted the

snow into cuts along the roads.

Bulldozers were used for snow plows and captured German V plows were mounted on the

bumpers of 4 ton trucks. [Figure 7-1] The engineers worked day and night spreading gravel on the ice

covered grades and curves and plowing off the drifts in a mighty effort to keep the roads open. Near

Herlange, hundreds of spruce and fir saplings were cut and piled to form snow fences at strategic points

As the infantry pushed on, snow covered mines became an ever increasing problem. Some were

American mines emplaced by troops which had been overrun by the sudden thrust. Others had been

hastily thrown in by both Americans and Germans during the see-saw battles which had ensued – now

they were all well buried under the snow and ice of winter in the Ardennes. In the sub-zero blizzard the

engineers searched and probed for mines as the 90th hurled the kraut back into "der Vaterland" and into

the Siegfried Line.

For the first time the 315th was clearing, from the roads, large numbers of blasted and burned

American tanks and vehicles. In the heart of the "bulge" the Sherman tanks and the tigers had slugged it

out. Many jeeps and weapon carriers had been overrun and burned and everywhere there was a mixture

of abandoned equipment – both American and German.

From a local factory the battalion procured a hundred pair of skis and set up a sled

manufacturing business. Platforms were built and runners attached to form carriages for the infantry to

use in hauling ammunition, rations and the wounded over the snow and ice covered hills.

Back into Luxembourg on 20 January, Company C and Company A built baileys over the Trione

near Asselborn and Sassel. On the 25th the C.O. of Company B was seriously wounded when his jeep

struck a snow covered box mine on a narrow trail between Sassel and Tois Verges near the Tois Verges

The infantry was rapidly pushing forward in this area of wandering international boundaries

where one had to carefully watch his map to tell whether he was in Luxembourg, Belgium or Germany.