The Kickoff Cottage
Christmas Day at Rolley
The chateau and grounds at Rolley (previously spelled Rolle) were the epicenter of the Christmas Day attack and attempt to capture Bastogne during the famous Battle of the Bulge.
By December 24th, 1944, German Colonel Heinz Kokott had determined this area was the best avenue to attack the American forces defending Bastogne. German armor and infantry forces had been unsuccessful in their probes around the American perimeter throughout December 21-23. The GIs of the 101st Airborne and other U.S. units had blunted every attempt by the Germans to force their way into Bastogne.
After his unit's arrival in the Bastogne area on December 19th, Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Chappuis and his 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment had wisely chosen the thick stone walls of Rolley Chateau as their headquarters. Paratroopers of his 1st Battalion were emplaced around the grounds, facing south and west, in coordination with the troopers of the 1/401st Glider Infantry Regiment, led by Lieutenant-Colonel Ray Allen, and M18 tank destroyers of the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
Christmas Eve found Madame Maus de Rolley, her children, and other locals partaking in a simple mass in the chapel inside the turret of the chateau. Many American soldiers joined the Belgians in a pensive celebration.
Meanwhile, Kokott, having received reinforcements from the 115th Panzergrenadier Regiment, led by Colonel Wolfgang Maucke, ordered a climactic attack on this portion of the perimeter for Christmas Day. Early in the dark and foggy morning, German artillery salvoes shook the ground around the nearby village of Champs, alerting Chappuis and his paratroopers of the impending attack.
Just a few hours after the struggle in Champs had started, a strong German armor and infantry column penetrated the 1/401st's lines roughly one kilometer southwest of the chateau. Fourteen or more German Panzer MkIV and StuG III tanks carrying white-cloaked German infantry were driving straight towards Rolley. M18 tank destroyers destroyed one or two of the vehicles, while U.S. paratroopers in the woods to the south dug in and opened fire on the panzergrenadiers riding on the tanks. Still, the German attack rumbled on. A desperate struggle took place as the column reached Allen's headquarters on the Champs-Hemroulle road.
Two M18 tank destroyers were positioned near the Dreve de Mande. As the German armor approached over the foggy field, they fired, but both were in turn, put out of action by a panzer's 75mm gun.
In the woods on the southern edge of the Rolley grounds, U.S. tank sergeant Tony D'Angelo and his M18 crew crept up to the edge of the tree line. D'Angelo's M18 and a second tank destroyer fired from this position into the flank of the German vehicles, destroying 3-4 of the MkIVs, while scores of German infantry were cut down by small arms from the paratroopers nearby.
With the German tanks closing on the Rolley chateau, Chappuis ordered every available man of his headquarters to grab a weapon and head to the intersection of the Dreve de Mande to fight off the attack. So desperate were the Americans that cooks, engineers, jeep drivers, and "walking wounded" charged down the Rolley lane to do battle with the German attackers.
One engineer by the name of Schuyler Jackson, a veteran of the 101st drop in Normandy, grabbed a bazooka from a stack of supplies along the road leading to the Chateau gate. He scrambled out to the intersection just as a panzer rolled by. Firing a rocket, he knocked the panzer out.
Jackson tried to knock out a second panzer, but the tank rolled on down the road into Champs (paratroopers there destroyed it later that morning). Chappuis continued to command his soldiers from inside the chateau, even when he was left with only one radio operator. By afternoon, at least six German tanks had been destroyed on the grounds in front of Rolle. Smoking hulks and the bodies of dead panzergrenadiers littered the snowy ground. The other German vehicles, trying to break into Bastogne via Savy, were destroyed outside the nearby village of Hemroulle. The Germans never made a concentrated attempt to take Bastogne again. The town had been saved.
Several days after this important battle, General George S. Patton and his 3rd Army arrived in Bastogne. On the patio of the Rolley chateau, Patton awarded Chappuis with the Distinguished Service Cross for his part in the Christmas Day battle. It is reported that Patton then spent the night in the chateau as a guest.
Rolley Chateau is still the strong fortress and home it has been for centuries, and today a monument to the American soldiers and Belgians who stood strong in those dark and desperate days of Christmas 1944.
Written by Don Cygan, author, No Silent Night: The Christmas Battle for Bastogne, NAL Caliber, NY, 2012
