Against.the.Odds.S02E06.The.Untold.Story.of.the.Battle.of.Mortain
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00:00Got daylight that morning, that's when all hell broke loose.
00:09We didn't know what was going on, except that we were surrounded.
00:14Pulling off the Germans at this point was the most critical point of the entire war.
00:23Platoon leader, he said, you hold that hill at all costs.
00:27And I came alert.
00:28Fire!
00:29Whoever controlled that hill was going to be the victor of the war.
00:38At a key moment in the war, they were in the decisive spot.
00:43None of them were ready to surrender.
00:46They were ready to fight as long as they could.
00:52Here's the National Guard unit saving the entire army.
01:23Fire!
01:37On June 7th, with the beachheads of Normandy and Omaha still contested,
01:42thousands of additional troops are being rushed in to reinforce the escalating battle.
01:48Among them are the young men of the 30th Division,
01:52a National Guard unit culled from the farms and rural towns of Tennessee and Kentucky,
01:58from which they derived their nickname, Old Hickory.
02:02The unit has predominantly been a training outfit, not a fighting unit,
02:06leaving the young men of the 30th with a chip on their shoulders
02:10and a desire to prove that Old Hickory is as good as any other unit in the army.
02:17Now, for the first time, Old Hickory will fight as a unit.
02:21Few could have imagined that their destiny lie in the small French town of Mortaine
02:26and a fight that would prove to be one of the most pivotal battles of World War II.
02:32After a stunning strategic victory on the beaches of Normandy,
02:36the Allies have run head-on into the dreaded French hedgerows,
02:40sturdy embankments and thick vegetation of 3 to 15 feet high trees and vines
02:46some 10 miles inland from the beaches.
02:51Amazingly, these hedgerows, which cover the countryside,
02:55provide a significant tactical advantage to the German forces,
02:59serving as a perfect defense for the Nazis as well as a formidable obstacle to the Allies.
03:09We did not know that the Germans were going to attack us.
03:14We didn't know about nothing about hedgerow fighting.
03:17We had to learn, but we learned fast.
03:23In order to get the tanks through there,
03:26we had to fabricate like a bulldozer on the front of these tanks
03:31and ram it into the hedgerow.
03:34And we had to do that for every single hedgerow.
03:37And that was a very difficult task.
03:40Every single hedgerow.
03:43And that was a very slow and tedious task.
03:49They'd fire from one hedgerow to the other right ahead of us.
03:52They laid out a heavy barrage of about 05 howitzers.
03:58It sounded like the shells was coming down your collar.
04:02No one gained more from the merciless hardships of hedgerows than Hitler.
04:10Initially, Adolf Hitler erred badly in judging the Allied intentions.
04:15He believed the Normandy landing would be followed by a greater invasion force
04:20seizing the Pas-de-Calais and pressing inland.
04:23He therefore refused to send enough armored forces to defeat Allied forces
04:29in Normandy, withholding the greater share of tanks and readiness
04:33to defeat what he believed was the real invasion site at Calais.
04:40By the 18th, the Allies have captured the key town of Saint-Lô.
04:45They have been unable to break out from the staunch German defenses
04:49that have dragged the brutal hedgerow fighting out for bitter weeks.
04:54But unknown to the Germans, the Americans are secretly unloading
04:58wholly fresh divisions for the organization of General George Patton's
05:02armor-heavy 3rd Army.
05:04It is part of a bold new plan that U.S. command believes
05:07will break the German defenses and lay open the French countryside.
05:12The Allies will attempt to break through the German lines
05:15with an unprecedented massive aerial bombardment.
05:19They will literally carpet-bomb and destroy their opponent's forces
05:23allowing American divisions, including the 30th,
05:26to break through enemy lines surprisingly quickly.
05:30The Germans will not be able to break through the German defenses
05:33without the help of the 3rd Army.
05:36The Allies will literally carpet-bomb and destroy their opponent's forces
05:39allowing American divisions, including the 30th,
05:43to break through enemy lines surprising the weakened Germans,
05:47flooding the French countryside with American forces.
05:51All the while, Patton's newly formed armored armada
05:55will speed south and smash its way deep into German-held territory
05:59in an effort to capture the ports of Brittany
06:03then turning to catch the fleeing German forces
06:06as they retreat from Normandy.
06:10The ferocity of the bold plan will shock both sides.
06:26Most of the Germans pulled back.
06:29They could hear the bombers too,
06:31because you could hear them hours before they got there.
06:34They knew what was coming.
06:40Unknown to the troops below,
06:43bad weather and poor visibility have already caused Air Force command
06:47to postpone the bombing.
06:50But in the chaos, some of the squadrons fail to get the message.
06:54The error will be costly.
07:00It was like in a movie.
07:06You see all these planes coming in, dropping bombs and strafing and everything,
07:10and we're out there clapping,
07:13and all of a sudden, they drop these bombs across the field where we were.
07:20And nothing you could do.
07:24Just saturated the whole area with 500-pound bombs.
07:34One salvo strikes the 120th Infantry Regiment,
07:38the unit expected to spearhead the 30th Division assault through German defenses.
07:43The 120th suffered 25 killed and 131 wounded.
07:49And there's body parts everywhere that had direct hits.
07:54You see the hands sticking up or foot sticking out,
07:58and dig them out. They got to breathe.
08:03I'd never in my life seen a lot of dead people,
08:07and it was traumatic.
08:19The next day, the weather's better, so they're going to bomb again.
08:26This time the bombing starts off beautifully.
08:29It's hitting right where they're supposed to. Everything's good.
08:39The problem was there was a wind blowing from the south that blew the smoke
08:43gradually north towards the American troops.
08:46And the later bombers that came through bombed into the smoke cloud,
08:49and so the 120th gets bombed again.
08:57And I was standing there looking at it. I was petrified.
09:00I didn't know what to do.
09:02And somebody hollered, hit the ditch.
09:05About the time all of us hit the ditch, these bombs hit the ground.
09:10And they exploded all around us.
09:17Two days in a row they bombed us.
09:20You lose so many friends.
09:23You call them your brothers.
09:26You can't stop, you know that. The war's not over.
09:29You got a lot of things to do yet.
09:32And just pray to God that you can survive.
09:36Tragically, this time there are 111 American soldiers killed
09:41and 490 wounded,
09:44with Old Hickory suffering the majority of losses.
09:48Despite the tragic accident,
09:50the bombers have dropped the vast majority of their bombs
09:53on the intended targets,
09:55wreaking hell on the German defenses.
09:58The men of Old Hickory bleed to death.
10:02The men of Old Hickory, bleeding and shaken,
10:05rise from their foxholes
10:07and push forward into the attack once again.
10:10The breakout is achieved,
10:12and with it, Hitler's initial efforts to push the Allies
10:15back into the sea have vanished.
10:18For now.
10:20The young men of Old Hickory,
10:22so desperate to prove themselves in battle,
10:25are now in pursuit of the victory.
10:31They are the fleeing German force.
10:37Hitler, seething at the news of the breakout,
10:40could never have imagined the coming firestorm
10:43that had been set in motion.
10:46Soon enough, he will hear of a group of young, feisty fighters
10:50known as Old Hickory,
10:52in possession of a small hill in the French town of Mortaine.
10:56Both will become a nightmare
10:58and force him into one of the most pivotal battles of the entire war.
11:05At its deadly center will be 150 men atop Hill 314,
11:10fighting an epic showdown of impossible odds
11:13against Hitler's mightiest army,
11:16a bloody clash that will forever impact the course of the war in Europe
11:20and mark the beginning of the end for Adolf Hitler.
11:29Part 2
11:36Good evening. The news from France tonight is good.
11:39Better than it has been at any time since D-Day.
11:42The Allied landing at D-Day was a major success,
11:45but beyond the beaches was an epic grind.
11:48Old Hickory, bloodied in the previous fighting,
11:51now joins the battle to push the shattered ranks
11:54of German defenders fleeing Normandy.
11:59From the capture of Saint-Lô and the breakthrough southeast of Caen
12:03may come the big drive that will carry the Allied armies to Paris.
12:12From now on, there will be many large-scale battles
12:15between the opposing armoured forces,
12:17but General Bernard MacDufferty and Karl Fritz
12:20may just have broken through German defenses in the Caen sector
12:25and fell to American and Allied forces.
12:30First to the Axis capitals is now in our hands.
12:36With the Allied success in Normandy
12:38and word that Patton's Third Army is racing towards Avrange
12:41in an effort to trap Hitler's forces fleeing from Normandy,
12:45Hitler must stop the bleeding.
12:48Trusting no one and ignoring the plans of his generals,
12:51Hitler reveals his own plan for a massive counteroffensive.
12:57He initiates Operation Lüttisch,
13:00marshalling a total of six panzer and panzergrenadier divisions,
13:04supported by hundreds of fighter aircraft and some 12,000 soldiers.
13:09He will smash through Allied lines in an effort to cut the coastal road,
13:13block Patton's supply line,
13:15and isolate his Third Army in order to destroy it.
13:20At the centre of the coming epic battle
13:23lay a small, little-known French town that would change everything,
13:27Mortaine.
13:31So begins one of the most critical cat-and-mouse races of World War II,
13:36as two of the greatest armies in history race to trap and destroy the other.
13:42Hitler states it will be the most decisive battle of the entire war
13:48He could hardly imagine anything or anyone stopping his mighty juggernaut.
14:00The young men who will soon be taking on Hitler's mighty force
14:04have been fighting non-stop for 49 days.
14:08The army arranges a three-day pass to allow the exhausted men to rest,
14:12relax, and reorganise their butchered ranks.
14:17We were looking forward to a week rest and recuperation.
14:21We had lost a lot of our troops, and we were exhausted by that time.
14:27This gave us an opportunity to have showers, get haircuts, write letters home.
14:33We received new clothing, better and more food at the time,
14:37and it gave us a chance to rest.
14:42The break from battle lifts morale among most of the soldiers,
14:47giving some a sense of confidence that the end of the war might be in sight.
14:52But for Old Hickory, there will be no relief.
14:58On August 5th, the men of Old Hickory are ordered to move 46 miles south
15:03to replace the 1st Division in and around the small town of Mortaine.
15:11Travelling by day, the journey takes almost nine hours to complete
15:16due to the happy French citizens who insist in greeting the troops at every opportunity,
15:21showering them with wine, flowers, and kisses.
15:27What they couldn't know at the time is that their small unit of 450 men
15:33are heading into an epic struggle against some 12,000 hardened Germans.
15:42By early afternoon, Old Hickory finally arrives in Mortaine.
15:50They quickly begin the standard changeover of command,
15:54taking control of the town from the 1st Division.
15:59The town of Mortaine itself is only of marginal interest to the new defenders,
16:04but the single feature of the town that makes it so important
16:08and dictated the struggle that is about to occur is Hill 314.
16:17From the top on a clear day, parts of three French provinces,
16:21Normandy, Brittany, and Maine, are seen.
16:24The all-important road hub by the sea,
16:27Avranches and the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel, are visible to the west.
16:31Also clearly in view are the two critical roads running east of the town.
16:38To the east and west of Hill 314,
16:41these views provide a critical strategic advantage
16:44to a defending artillery forward observer
16:47who could call down deadly artillery fire onto any oncoming invaders.
16:53Unknown to the Americans,
16:55both of these roads will be key to Hitler's counter-offensive plans.
17:00Unknown to Hitler is the small group of audacious fighters
17:05taking command of the hill.
17:13We moved up on the hill in the afternoon of August the 6th,
17:17which was a Sunday.
17:19It was a nice day, sunny.
17:29I talked to one of the guys in the 1st Division
17:32and I asked him, I said, what's going on?
17:35And he said, nothing, everything's quiet.
17:41Quiet and peaceful.
17:44And I thought, well, this could be a picnic up here.
17:49That's what he told me too.
17:56From the top of that hill,
17:58we had observation about 180 degrees
18:01that we could see out at 15 to 20 miles
18:04all of the road network area in front of us.
18:08Whoever controlled that hill was going to be the victor of the war.
18:14We dug in and they even sent us chow up there.
18:17We had chow, hot chow.
18:19And we thought we was in paradise.
18:23The peace and quiet of the French countryside is to be short-lived.
18:28In just a few short hours,
18:30Mortein will erupt into one of the most critical
18:33and bloody battles of World War II.
18:42General Hans Funk,
18:44commander of the German 47th Panzer Corps
18:47and Operation Lüttisch,
18:49is closing in on Mortein.
18:51Stressing the need for a stealthy approach,
18:54he aims to take the Americans by surprise.
18:59But with some 12,000 infantry and about 185 tanks,
19:04more than one-third being the highly maneuverable Mark V Panthers,
19:08they are anything but quiet.
19:29The men on Hill 314 can hear the sounds of distant guns
19:34and a slight hum of tanks.
19:36But that is nothing new in a war zone,
19:39so most of the men settle in for the night.
19:42They have no idea that higher command
19:45had just received intercepted messages
19:48warning of a massive attack on Mortein.
19:51Around 11 p.m., the field office phones begin to ring.
19:59So I was on guard duty that night.
20:03Captain came by, and I gave it to him.
20:07Although I was naive and only 19 years old,
20:11the first thing he said when he made the phone call
20:14to that platoon's leader, he said,
20:16You hold that hill at all costs.
20:19And I came alert.
20:22We were told that Hill 314
20:27that hill had to be held at all costs.
20:36At about 1 a.m., a North Carolinian Sergeant Robert Bondurant,
20:41a longtime member of the 120th Regiment since 1938,
20:45is stringing field telephone wire in the town.
20:49With a full moon, there is plenty of light,
20:53enough to also realize that Mortein is in trouble.
21:01Bondurant looks up and sees at the end of the street
21:04German soldiers, maybe 30 or more.
21:08The town is full of them.
21:12Quickly, Bondurant races to the battalion headquarters
21:15and spreads the word.
21:17The battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Eads Hardaway,
21:20immediately informs the regimental commander,
21:23Colonel David Burks, by phone.
21:25Burks is adamant.
21:27Hold the town at all costs.
21:31The Battle of Mortein is now underway.
21:39We'd pull back on the other side of the slope
21:41where we set up our mortars,
21:43and it got daylight that morning.
21:45That's when all hell broke loose.
21:49Unknown to higher command,
21:51Mortein has just become the epicenter of the war in Europe.
21:56The small French town and its critical hill
21:59are key to Hitler's plan to catch Patton at Avranches.
22:04But Hitler is not expecting to encounter
22:07150 National Guardsmen atop Hill 314
22:12who are willing to sacrifice everything
22:15to protect what is now
22:17the most important piece of real estate in all of France.
22:46In August of 1944, the Battle for France is on the line,
22:51and it is going badly for Adolf Hitler.
22:54Allied forces are making great strides
22:57as they continue to push his forces back from Normandy.
23:08He is also aware that General Patton,
23:10considered by Hitler to be America's greatest general,
23:13is racing his 3rd Army towards Avranches
23:16to trap his forces fleeing from Normandy.
23:19But Hitler believes he can turn the tables on Patton
23:23and simultaneously destroy the American front at Normandy.
23:31Hitler has launched Operation Lüttisch,
23:34a massive counteroffensive of four panzer divisions
23:37that will race to catch General Patton's 3rd Army at Avranches.
23:42Then turn to push the Americans at Normandy back into the sea.
23:47But the Nazis have met an unexpected delay
23:50in the small town of Mortain,
23:52where 150 stubborn soldiers of Old Hickory
23:55are calling down hell on the German forces.
24:04The small French town of Mortain is now the battleground
24:08upon which the entire war in Europe is now focused.
24:11450 soldiers of the 30th Division, known as Old Hickory,
24:15are defending both the town and the critical hill 314.
24:21With Mortain surrounded,
24:23forward observers stationed on the hill, like Bob Weiss,
24:27are now the only ones in contact with higher Allied command.
24:31With radio in hand and a clear view of the surrounding countryside,
24:35Weiss is key to the direction of artillery fire
24:38from surrounding units on to the German forces below.
24:45Already, Bob Weiss is proving
24:48why Hill 314 is so critical to both sides.
24:53All he has to do is stay alive.
25:04After three hours of intense battle,
25:07the overwhelming German forces take the town of Mortain
25:11from the small group of soldiers fighting to hold it.
25:17With Mortain in German hands,
25:19the 150 or so U.S. soldiers on the hill are completely cut off
25:24and surrounded by two German panzer divisions
25:27with some 12,000 elite Nazi soldiers.
25:31With German forces probing every part of the hill
25:34in search of an avenue of attack,
25:36the young men of Old Hickory must hold them back
25:40and protect their vital forward observers.
25:43We didn't know what was going on.
25:46We hadn't been told anything except that we were surrounded.
25:50We had no idea that that hill was as important as it was.
25:56This particular battle and holding off the Germans at this point
26:02was probably the most critical point of the entire war.
26:19Tank fire was hitting all the routers.
26:22Everything was just a mess.
26:25I lost my company.
26:27I couldn't find nobody.
26:29As far as I knew, I was the only one in the group.
26:32Overrun like that, you get all mixed up.
26:36We got to find a way out of here.
26:39They got us all.
26:41They're in here with us, and they're all around us.
26:45About the time that we thought we was going to give up,
26:51there's two British typoons shooting rockets,
26:55and they started firing on these Germans, and they pinned them down.
27:04The Lord was with us that day.
27:07None of them were ready to surrender.
27:12They were ready to fight as long as they could.
27:26As the battle for Hill 314 moves into its second day,
27:32the men, unprepared for an extended fight,
27:36begin running low on ammunition, food, and more importantly,
27:40batteries for radios of the forward observers
27:43that are keeping them all alive.
27:46The radios were losing power.
27:49The batteries were running out.
27:52The radios were losing power.
27:55The batteries were going dead.
27:59Artillery was the only people we had communication with.
28:03Battalion headquarters, battalion aid stations,
28:06everything had been overrun,
28:09and we didn't have any communication with regiment or anybody else.
28:15With the fight to hold Hill 314 already running dangerously low
28:19on life-saving supplies by the second day,
28:22the less than 150 young men have no idea
28:26that their sacrifice is already impacting the war in Europe.
28:30Old Hickory is keeping Hitler's forces locked in place,
28:34preventing him from stopping Patton's army.
28:37His critical three-day window is closing.
28:42Hitler believes his panzer divisions to be a superior fighting force
28:46and that their brute strength will defeat Patton's advancing army,
28:50but the Fuhrer is finding that it is not Patton's army
28:53but a stubborn group of 150 soldiers of Old Hickory
28:58that are denying the German leader his much-needed foothold.
29:02With the war in Europe hinging on the outcome of Mortain,
29:05an enraged Hitler will throw everything he's got at Hill 314.
29:16Part 2
29:34I kept hearing a voice that says,
29:38Help me. Help me.
29:43I couldn't tell where it was coming from.
29:46There's a lot of bodies out there, but I didn't know where it was.
29:50I didn't know what to do.
29:53I couldn't help that fellow, but I could hear his voice.
29:57And day and night, I could hear it night, too.
30:01And I needed to see him.
30:06I was settled on helping the wounded. I don't know why.
30:10I just got on, man. I couldn't turn it loose.
30:21The fate of the war in Europe has come down to a David versus Goliath struggle
30:26between 150 soldiers atop Hill 314 in Mortain
30:31against some 12,000 German soldiers attempting to take the hill.
30:37Without it, Hitler's massive counteroffensive
30:40attempting to reach Patton's 3rd Army
30:42and push the American forces back into the sea is not possible.
30:47At stake is the liberation of France in the entire European war effort.
30:57With batteries for the radios of forward observers running out,
31:00they are in jeopardy of losing the life-saving artillery fire
31:04they are directing onto the German forces from surrounding Allied units.
31:08Only one observer, Bob Weiss, is left to do the job.
31:16The batteries gave out on the radios.
31:19They had no way of getting replacements.
31:22And fortunately, Bob Weiss had extra batteries to operate his radio.
31:28And he became the only contact that the entire battalion had with the headquarters.
31:41They could survive without food for several days.
31:44But if those radio batteries ever died, they couldn't call in artillery support.
31:59Many of these men had to devise methods to survive up on that hill.
32:07They had absolutely nothing to eat.
32:10So they had to scrounge as best they could
32:13and find native foods that were available.
32:17And at the same time, they had to be fighting the Germans.
32:20The Germans were constantly attacking.
32:23Fearless. I call them fearless men.
32:26Not on what made them that way. I guess God did.
32:30If I didn't see a coward in my platoons, I think they was all brave men.
32:35They'd do anything for you, help you.
32:38You're lucky, too. I say you got to be lucky, not just trained for what you got to be lucky.
32:45Everybody's not lucky.
32:54Unknown to Old Hickory, their resolve holding Hill 314
32:59is providing American command with an incredible opportunity
33:03to unleash a devastating blow to Hitler's entire European war machine.
33:15Hitler, furious at the delays, removes the operations commander,
33:21Marshal Kluge, and orders Lieutenant General Heinrich Eberbach
33:25and his forces around Cannes to race towards Mortein
33:29with the sole intention of annihilating the men of Old Hickory
33:33to once and for all gain control of Hill 314.
33:44Within hours of General Eberbach attempting to build the force necessary
33:48to complete Hitler's new plan, General Omar Bradley,
33:53commander of all U.S. ground forces invading Germany,
33:56discovers Hitler's plan by way of decoded intercepts.
34:00Bradley stated that Hitler's throwing more troops into the fight
34:04was the greatest tactical blunder I've ever heard of.
34:08With Hitler concentrating so many armor forces to the west,
34:12he is leaving himself weak in the east.
34:15It was a weakness Bradley could exploit.
34:20Bradley will turn Patton loose to drive north
34:23while Montgomery's British forces drive south
34:26in an effort to catch Hitler's panzer group racing towards Mortein.
34:30It is a rare opportunity to overpower what could be
34:33the strongest German force in France.
34:36But key to the plan is Old Hickory's ability to continue
34:40to block the powerful panzer divisions in and around Mortein
34:44long enough for Patton and Montgomery to get in position.
34:49To assist the struggling Old Hickory at Mortein,
34:52Bradley rushes in the U.S. 35th Infantry Division,
34:56but they are quickly delayed by stiff German resistance.
35:00For now, the men on Hill 314 are still on their own.
35:14I thought we'd be there forever.
35:17Every day word would come to us that somebody was going to rescue us.
35:22They never showed up, and we got to the point
35:26we didn't believe we were going to be rescued.
35:31Once again, Old Hickory is at the center of colliding giants
35:36in a race for control of France.
35:39Hitler realizes that everything is coming down to Mortein.
35:43To salvage his fleeting opportunity to catch and destroy Patton
35:47and push the American front back into the sea,
35:50he will unleash a level of intensity not before seen
35:54on what is left of the exhausted, starving young men of Old Hickory.
36:14HEARTBEAT
36:25Now, here's this National Guard unit saving the entire army.
36:34One battalion had this load on their shoulders
36:40of protecting the First Army.
36:52For five days, less than 150 men of Old Hickory
36:57have held the critical Hill 314 against a force of some 12,000 German soldiers
37:03supported by close to 200 tanks.
37:10But they have no idea that a furious Hitler
37:14has diverted no less than four divisions to reinforce the battle
37:19and take Hill 314 from the handful of unyielding Old Hickory soldiers.
37:33Racing to trap Eberbach's Panzer Division
37:36is General Patton's Third Army and Montgomery's British forces.
37:43But all will be lost if the men atop Hill 314
37:47fail to hold off the German hordes long enough for them to get into place.
38:06HEARTBEAT
38:12Germans came up with a white flag up the hill where we were.
38:19Went up, talked to the captain.
38:22And like I say, being naive, I thought they wanted to surrender.
38:27They wanted us to surrender.
38:30And my captain, company commander, told them to go to hell.
38:35Said, we're not going to surrender until every bayonet
38:38and every round of ammunition is expended
38:41and every bayonet broken in your bastard bellies.
38:44That's what he told them.
38:47The men, even though they were seriously injured,
38:51they were shouting to Ralph not to accept any surrender from the Germans.
38:56Don't surrender, don't surrender.
39:06On August 11th, two hours after Hitler's planned assault
39:10by Panzer Group Eberbach was supposed to begin,
39:13news of the front begins to pour in.
39:16Hitler's ambitious plans for destroying American forces
39:20in and around Mortein was dissolving into inaction
39:24under the persistent stubbornness of old Hickory.
39:28The final straw was cast by General Eberbach himself,
39:32nervously reporting to Hitler that they have failed
39:35to rally enough tanks and men for the assault.
39:39With Allied air power so strong,
39:42they feared exposure and complete annihilation.
39:47Hitler finally sees the writing on the wall.
39:50His desire for an epic clash between the two great armies
39:54would not take place.
39:58Hitler is forced to withdraw his forces from Mortein.
40:04It has been defeated by a group of less than 150 young,
40:08brash American National Guardsmen who refuse to give up.
40:13They had won the Battle of Mortein
40:16in something far greater than a hill.
40:27We went down the hill, and we saw all the damage
40:31and destruction and everything that was in back of us.
40:35I mean, it was for miles in back of us.
40:41Coming off that hill, everything was destroyed
40:44for miles in back of us.
40:51Old Hickory had paid dearly for their incredible stand
40:55with 300 killed, wounded, or lost.
40:59Many of the missing were prisoners of the Germans
41:02and would not return home until 1945.
41:08By tying up powerful German divisions,
41:11Old Hickory's victory at Mortein had given the Allies
41:15an opportunity to liberate France and open the gateway
41:19that would lead them to Germany.
41:22But more importantly, they delivered personally
41:26a devastating defeat to Hitler,
41:28who had tried in vain to annihilate them.
41:32It would mark the beginning of his downfall.
41:38The citizen soldiers, guys that had not been in the Army that long,
41:42that were not professional soldiers,
41:44are put in the position where, just at a key moment in the war,
41:48they're in the decisive spot.
41:51And they get a chance to prove themselves,
41:54and they prove themselves as effective, efficient,
41:59as courageous as any troops in the war.
42:03This was a sort of a feather in our cap
42:08that we had fought against the,
42:12particularly the 1st SS Armored Division,
42:17which was the elite division of the German Army.
42:22And we defeated them.
42:28I'm not a hero by any means.
42:31I was there, that's the whole thing.
42:34But I've always been proud of the 3rd Division.
42:38It was a good group.
42:41I think they was all good men.
42:43I didn't see any bad ones in there.
42:45They did their duty, and they were like a brother.
42:54You lose one of them, it's like losing a brother.
43:00It never leaves your mind.
43:02I mean, it's always in your head.
43:04It's planted in your brain.
43:07You never forget it.
43:09A hill of no cowards, I call it.
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