| Original caption: “This photo from a captured Nazi shows German troops rushing across a Belgian road blocked with vehicles and armor during the enemy attack against the American Army which began December 16, 1944. Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force announced December 23 that a German armored column had reached the area of Marche and cut the Marche-Hotton Road. Hotton is twenty-six miles due south of Liege on the river Our the and Marche, six miles southwest of Hotton is thirty-eight miles west of the Germany-Luxembourg border. More than 4,000 allied bombers and fighters blasted the Germans in and behind the battle area December 23. Major aerial battles developed as the Luftwaffe came up in strength and 178 Nazi planes were shot down, twenty-two more probably downed, twenty-nine damaged and nine destroyed on the ground. American ground forces cut into the lower flank of the German penetration due north of Luxembourg at Mersch.” SS-Kampfgruppe Hansen of 1st Schutzstaffel (SS) Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler (LSSAH). ambushed the 18th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 14th Cavalry Group on the road between Poteau and Recht in heavy fog. The Americans tried to turn around, but their vehicles stuck in the soft ground, so they abandoned them and pulled back to Poteau. In this view, SS Panzergrendiers from LSSAH cross a road outside Poteau in a staged photo for the Nazi German newsreels. There is a M5 3-inch (75 millimeter) gun, M3 half tracks and a Willys MB Jeep off the road in the background. The 1st LSSAH Panzergrendier carries an MP-40 submachine gun; the 2nd a Karabiner 98k Mauser rifle; and the 3rd a captured M1 carbine. 1st SS Panzergrenadier Regiment with 3 battalions of infantry, artillery, flak units. The most potent asset was a detachment of the Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 1, equipped with the Jagdpanzer IV L/70 (V). Jagdpanzer IVs were armed with a 75 millimeter (3 inch) 70 caliber main gun, far more powerful than the 37 millimeter (1.45 inch) cannon on the M8 Greyhounds on the 14th Cavalry Group’s vehicles. The Americans did have M5 antitank guns, but its heavy weight precluded setting it up in time to counter the Jagdpanzer IVs. The Americans could only break and run under fire for Poteau. Once there, they set up a perimeter and waited for the inevitable Nazi assault. Several of the 14th Cavalry Group vehicles were deliberately set on fire by advancing Germans for the benefit of an SS photo unit that was attached to the Abteilung. The very famous widely published photos of advancing Germans past wrecked and abandoned vehicles were shot by the same photo unit. Close observation of the photos will show that the German infantry is advancing in 2 different directions. SS-Unterscharführer Max Büschel (June 10, 1912 – June 1, 1945) joined the SS-Kriegsberichter-Kompanie on June 6, 1941. LSSAH’s longtime kriegsberichter (“war reporter”), he accompanied SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 1 LSSAH from Honsfeld to Born, Kaiserbaracke and Recht. Büschel took the famous photos of the ambush on the road between Recht and Poteau. After LSSAH surrendered to American forces in Austria in May 1945, Büschel managed to evade captivity and made his way back to his family in Berlin. He was shot when the Soviet occupational forces found out he was a member of 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii1984.jpg |
| Image Size | 286.99 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1878 x 1437 |
| Photographer | Max Büschel |
| Photographer Title | SS-Unterscharführer |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | December 16, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Ardennes |
| State or Province | Wallonia |
| Country | Belgium |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | 208-AA-202B-5 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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