Westwall - Remains Bunker Ormont

On February 27, 1945, the 87th US Infantry Division had finished preparing to break through the Westwall at Ormont. They were stationed on a 7 km front between Scheid and Kobscheid.
The Westwall here had 2 defense lines, the first consisting of dragon's teeth barricades with barbed wire at the foot of the hills and in the woods on the hills were bunkers that could deliver interlinked fire. In addition, there were minefields and at the intersections and the roads there were roadblocks.
After the 346th Infantry Regiment had gotten stuck on a roadblock where the L20 and the B265 now intersect on February 27, the 347th Infantry Regiment (3 Battalion, Company K and L) was ordered to clear the roadblock on February 28.
On the left side of the road was a minefield covered by a bunker and this bunker was captured. At the crossroads the attack axis turned to the left, with the 2 companies continuing on each side of the road through the woods, taking out bunkers but also leaving certain bunkers for the succeeding troops to conquer.
Just before they came out of the woods the soldiers encountered another roadblock that was cleared by company K, however the tanks and supporting units had to wait for the roadblock to be blown up by the engineers. When they came out of the woods there were still 2 bunkers on both sides of the road.
For breaking through the Westwall and the attack on Ormont, company K of the 347th infantry regiment received a Presidential Unit Citation.
At this location is the bunker that covered the entrance to Ormont when they came out of the woods and this was attacked by company K of the 374th Infantry regiment.
Due to the fact that there were still several bunkers covering the open terrain the Americans decided to have an artillery attack with a Time to Target carried out on Ormont.

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Source

• Text: Gio Theunissen
• Photos: Gio Theunissen