242 Infantry Regiment (USA) battle for Hatten day 2
At daybreak the German tanks and infantry attacked from southeast of Hatten to gain the town and met an attack by men of the 242nd Infantry which stopped them cold. At 1030 the enemy tried another attack, this time from the north and northeast, with the intention of cutting the Hatten-Forced to withdraw to Haguenau, men of the 242d Infantry set up an anti-tank gun at the outskirts of the town.
A mortar shell explodes in an enemy position across the Moder in Haguenau, routing snipers of the I Oth SS Div.
Rittershoffen road. Once again they were repulsed, this time by the Second Battalion, 242nd Infantry, and the Second Battalion of the 315th Infantry, which had just been committed by the 79th Division.
Throughout the day the enemy continued to assault and throughout the day the First and Second Battalions of the 242nd Infantry stopped the attacks. At 1730 the Second Battalion of the 315th was ordered to relieve the battered First Battalion of the 242nd, but not until 0200 on January 11 was the relief accomplished.
These men had staged a magnificent defense, but it had cost them heavily. The battalion began the battle of Hatten with 33 officers and 748 enlisted men. Fifty-two hours later it had an effective strength of 11 officers and 253 enlisted men. All others were either killed, wounded or missing in action.
The Second Battalion of the regiment, now a veteran of two fierce battles, was relieved shortly after the First Battalion and withdrew to Rittershoffen to reorganize.
Once again the Rainbow infantrymen had stopped the Germans and the Germans had not thought it possible.
Months later the division captured a non-commissioned officer who was in the intelligence section of the German corps which opposed the Rainbow at Hatten.
"We were amazed the way your men fought," he said. "We always considered that you could defeat us only if you had a tremendous amount of tanks and armor. We believed that if we met you on equal terms we would have no difficulty.
"At Hatten, we had the armor and the artillery and the experienced men. Your men were inexperienced and lacked tank and artillery support. Our officers said it was the best infantry defense
they ever saw."
A German tank officer who fought at Hatten and was later captured by the division had similar
praise.
"I fought for three years on the Russian front and the fight at Hatten was the most fierce I was ever in," he said. "If you had had sufficient bazooka ammunition our tanks would have never been able to enter the town."
Now, however, the enemy had made two penetrations into our extended lines. Although each penetration had been contained, the Nazis continued to push. Up north the German army was being stopped and cut off. This, they reasoned, was the time when they might be able to smash through
the thinly-held southern defense. Reserves which had been intended to exploit the Bulge breakthrough could be rushed south if a hole was made. Some of them were already on their way.