They Dug In for the Night — And Attacked Before Sunrise

Описание: Why Captain Frank Peregory attacked a fortified German position in total darkness — and ignored direct orders to wait for daylight artillery support in the Hürtgen Forest in 1944.

This World War 2 story reveals how one infantry officer turned defensive foxholes into offensive launch positions and captured an objective that two previous daylight assaults had failed to take.

September 28, 1944. Captain Frank Peregory, King Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, crouched in a rain-soaked foxhole 400 yards from German bunkers on Hill 232. His battalion had ordered him to dig in for the night and prepare for an attack at 8:00 AM after artillery preparation.

Standard procedure.

But Peregory had watched the same plan fail earlier that day — at the cost of 17 dead and 26 wounded. German machine guns in concrete bunkers had stopped his company cold. Another daylight assault would be expected. Predictable. Costly.

So Peregory made a decision that violated both orders and doctrine.

Instead of waiting until morning, he let his exhausted men rest for nine hours… then woke them at 3:45 AM and launched a silent assault through the dark forest without artillery support.

What happened on Hill 232 before sunrise would later be studied as one of the clearest examples of tactical surprise in the Hürtgen Forest campaign.

King Company captured the German position in under 40 minutes — with fewer than half the casualties of the failed daylight attack.

The principles Peregory applied that night — using defensive positions as staging grounds for offensive action — would later be formalized in U.S. Army doctrine as defense transitioning to offense.

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⚠️ Disclaimer: This is entertainment storytelling based on WW2 events from internet sources. While we aim for engaging narratives, some details may be inaccurate. This is not an academic source. For verified history, consult professional historians and archives. Watch responsibly