In the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, 7th Armored Division and attached troops held for 5 days at St. Vith, Belgium, completely disrupting the German attackers' timetable for both penetration and the opening of supply lines. (St. Vith was the only railhead in the entire Bulge front that was reachable by rail from within Germany.)

Other German forces to the south of the defensive perimeter swept well to the west of 7th Armored Division's front lines at St. Vith. Many of these forces then attempted to penetrate the 7AD rear that stretched along the main road from Samrée (30 miles west of St. Vith -- and only 20 north of Bastogne) to Baraque de Fraiture to Joubiéval to Salmchateau (13 miles west of St. Vith).

The defense of Baraque de Fraiture (nicknamed "Parker's Crossroads" by some troops) is very well known. What is less known or not known at all in any published histories are the defenses of almost every crossoad along the main road that had a road coming into it from the south. This web page is a central big-picture page to bring together the various web pages about each piece of the picture -- each combat where the Germans attempted to penetrate the Samrée-Salmchateau road and cut off the 7th Armored Division and other troops far to the east.

These defenses were often by small groups of GIs separate from their headquarters and from the rest of their unit. In the case of Samrée and Baraque de Fraiture, it included more than just 7th Armored Division troops but still mostly isolated elements of a larger unit whose headquarters had no idea what these men were facing. But in other cases, the men were entirely from 7th Armored Division.

These web pages focus on the 7th Armored Division men. There may have been more combat locations along the road. Since these were, with the exception of Baraque de Fraiture, isolated from their headquarters, the information about them has come only in fragmentary records found long after World War II.

• Samrée (20 Dec)
• Berismenil Road Junction (20 Dec) - no web page yet
• Baraque de Fraiture (19-23 Dec)
• Joubiéval (20-21 Dec)

The only other account that I have seen that includes some of these lesser known events on their maps is the web site of The Battle of the Bulge Museum of La Roche on their "History of La Roche in the battle of the bulge" web page.

The Germans eventually succeeded in breaking through at Baraque de Fraiture and at Samrée, and ultimately the entire area came under German control. But overall, the line held long enough for most of the troops in the front lines at St. Vith to make it safely back and regroup. The story of the Battle of the Bulge as we know it could have been very different if the GIs had not held these various crossroads long enough. But they did hold them.

The Germans seem to have tried every road that continued north of the main road or easily connected to another road that went north from the main road. And they seem to have concentrated their forces at the road junctions that offered the highest quality roads going north from the main road, particularly at Baraque de Fraiture which had the only north-south main road.