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(View the map) A CP was set up, a perimeter defense established, and the platoons tied in by wire communications. By 0830, Hitdorf had been cleared of all enemy forces, 68 prisoners had been taken, and as the day got under way, the situation appeared to the paratroopers to be well in hand. However, this peace was short lived. At 0845, the Germans counter-attacked from the South in company strength and forced 504 forward outposts to withdraw to the village outskirts. Here they formed a line and permitted the enemy to approach within 50 yards of their positions. Upon command, 504 men loosed a barrage of rifle and machine gun fire that stopped the enemy in its tracks. Thirty-three prisoners were taken and the remainder of the attacking force was believed to be either killed or wounded; none were observed to leave the area. The enemy's second effort to dislodge the usurpers of Hitdorf was preceded by an extremely heavy concentration of heavy and medium artillery, which knocked out all wire communication and the artillery OP located in the village church tower. At 1530, the enemy smoked the south-eastern end of the town and attacked from the South and East with two tanks and a company of infantry. Artillery fire was called for from the 376, old 504 stand-bys, and immediately received. This accurate fire momentarily scattered the Germans; however, within 15 minutes they had regrouped and were again moving in on the town. The third platoon sent a runner requesting additional Panzerfausts; this was the last word heard from the third platoon. Having broken through the third platoon's positions, enemy tanks and infantry maneuvered into the town, while simultaneously, another force of 200 Germans overran the second platoon from the North. Out-gunned, out-numbered, A Company, less the third platoon with which all contact had been lost, fought its way through the surrounding enemy to the beach. Here the two platoons established a horseshoe defense, the open end of which faced the water. Regiment meanwhile, aware of A Company's precarious position, had alerted I Company and at 0130, two platoons crossed the river and landed in the area still held by A Company. The Germans again counterattacked, this time with a platoon of tanks and 200 infantry. The attack was repulsed and one of the tanks, thought to be a Mark IV, was knocked out with Gammon grenades by regimental demolitionists attached for the mission. I Company attacked and cleared the beachhead area, then withdrew across the river with their wounded and 13 more prisoners. A Company followed shortly afterward.
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