K ampfgruppe 901, consisting of Panzergrenadier-Lehr-Regiment 901, 6./ Panzer-Lehr-Regiment 130, III./ Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 130 and probably Sturmgeschützbrigade 243 was attached to the 26 th Volksgrenadier-Division for the battle of Bastogne effective 22 December 1944 to 6 January 1945. Its initial sector extended from a bridge across a stream southeast of Mont via Marvie and Remoifosse to a rural road from Salvacourt to Bastogne.
On 22 December Kampfgruppe 901 supported the 26th Volksgrenadier’s 39th Infanterie Regiment in its attack on Villeraux (Villeroux?) with an armoured group that advanced from the area south of Remoifosse to the Hazy woods. Assenois was cleared of American forces in the evening and Senonchamps captured, narrowing the ring around Bastogne. However, American forces of Patton’s 3rd Army were already exerting pressure from the south.
A reconnaissance patrol from the American 4th Armored Division of the American III Corps drove through the 5th Fallschirmjäger Divisionis screen of the westward advancing Panzer Lehr forces, setting several German vehicles on fire at an intersection three kilometres northwest of Remichampagne.
On 23 December, the 26th Volksgrenadier Division continued to attack. The attached Kampfgruppe 902 prepared for an evening assault on Marvie. During the day, American forces took Chaumont, to the south, endangering the 26th Volksgrenadier Division command post in Hompré. Generalmajor Kokott commandeered ‘four heavy tanks’, presumably Panthers of the II./ Panzer-Lehr-Regiment 130 en route from the workshop to the front, and put together a Kampfgruppe which succeeded in repulsing the American forces.
Somewhat delayed, Kampfgruppe 901’s attack northward on the Arlon–Bastogne highway took a large part of Marvie in extremely heavy fighting. The fighting continued throughout the night. The next day, both sides claimed that they were holding Marvie. In fact, the Americans still held houses in the northern fringe, the Germans the southern portion.
On 24 December Kampfgruppe 901 held the positions it had achieved, while securing the Bastogne–Arlon highway to the south with tanks, mines and other obstacles. 5th Panzerarmee informed the Generalmajor Kokott that, in addition to the 26th Volksgrenadier Division, he would have the use of the 15th Panzergrenadier-Division (which, in the event, turned out to be reduced to the use of merely one Kampfgruppe of about one-and-one half battalions of infantry and 20 tanks, the remainder being needed to help the 2nd Panzer Division at the ‘thin end’ of the wedge driving toward Dinant and the Meuse) to mount a major attack on Bastogne on 25 December.
On 25 December the action at Bastogne shifted to the northwest sector, with a major German attack between the Marche road and Champs. The attack got off to a promising start, as German tanks with infantry broke through the American lines in two locations, but the American lines closed tightly behind them, sealing off the penetration, the infantry separated from the tanks or swept from the tanks they were riding on by intense machine gun and rifle fire. All the German tanks were destroyed and the penetrating forces eliminated, with little information on their fate reaching German lines.
On 26 December, while Kampfgruppe 901 held its positions astride the Bastogne–Arlon highway, facing south, the American relief force linked up with the defenders of Bastogne. In the evening of 29 December, as command of the sector south of the Wiltz River passed to the XXXIX Panzer Korps, Kampfgruppe 901 was attached to the 167th Volksgrenadier Division. In an attempt to support a vain attack by the new Korps via Lutrebois to sever the newly opened supply route, the Panzer Lehr Panzer company was badly battered.
The American relief of Bastogne also cut the supply routes for the main body of Panzer Lehr Division 130, which had advanced toward Rochefort. Henceforth, logistical support for all German forces west of Bastogne was via a single road upon which Allied air concentrated its fury.
On 2 January the Americans attacked on a broad front in the Neffe area, entering Wardin, Neffe and Magéret, only to be forced back again by German counterattacks in a snowstorm on 3 January. Kampfgruppe 901’s sector then quieted down until, on 6 January, the Kampfgruppe, now mere remnants, a few officers, about 100 men and five Panzer IV, was ordered, after its relief, to return to its parent division. After two nights march, it rejoined Panzer Lehr Division 130 on 8 January.