At about 06.00 on 18 December, four halfti-acks of Company A, 526th Armored Infantry Battalion and two towed 3" anti-tank guns of Lieutenant Jack Doherty's 1st Platoon, Company A, 825th Tank Destroyer Battalion, crossed the Ambleve River bridge. Second Lieutenant James Evans positioned his 3rd Platoon, Company A, 526th Armored Infantry BattaUon just Southeast of the bridge. Sergeants Jonas Whaley and John G. Armstiong the two tankdestroyer commanders turned their halftracks sharp left upon crossing the bridge and found themselves up'a'dead-end strek They quickly'turned around and began moving uphiU on La rue du Vieux Chateau in the direction of the advancing German column, In the lead tank, SS-Rottenführer Eugen Zimmermann's gunner spotted Armstrong's halftrack and set it alight with his first shot killing some of its crew (Sergeant Armstrong and five other soldiers of Company A would die in this action). The survivors sought refuge in nearby houses or fled back across the river. The Germans then hit the 1st and 3rd Platoons of Company A, 526th Armored Infantry and Sergeant Jack Ellery commanding a machine gun squad was killed on the bridge. The surviving infantrymen withdrew across the bridge taking up positions in houses on the far bank. Corporal Hammons a survivor from Sergeant Whaley's halftrack sought refuge in a shed and later a basement potato bin before successfully wading the icy waters of the Ambleve and reaching friendly lines in nearby Malmedy.
Image taken outside no 13.

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