When the RCT was attached to the 30th Division, the 460th tied in with divisional artillery and fired 400 rounds in missions south and east of Malmedy. During the nine days in December, the 460th fired more than 30 TOTs. The fall of Manhay to the II SS Panzer Corps on Christmas Day sent shock waves throughout the Allied Command. From Manhay the Germans could continue north toward Liege or turn against the flank of the 3rd Armored and the 82nd Airborne. General Ridgeway was ordered to retake Manhay at all costs. The directive to recapture Manhay arrived in RCT Headquarters at 1400 on 26 December. The 517th was to attach one battalion to the 7th Armored Division for the mission. The 3rd Battalion (less Company G) under Lt. Col. Forest S. Paxton was given the assignment. One platoon of the 596th Engineers and a section of the regimental demolitions platoons was attached. The battalion would have to cross of terrain covered with snow and underbrush, in darkness, before reaching the line of departure. The attack would commence at 0215 after a 10-minute barrage by eight battalions of artillery. The attack proceeded as planned after 5,000 rounds were fired in four concentrations. By 0330 the last pocket of resistance was eliminated. A counterattack at 0400 was driven off. The 3rd Battalion suffered 36 casualties, including 16 killed. Early on New Year's Day, the RCT was attached to the 82nd Airborne and alerted to go on the attack. On 3 January, the RCT, acting as the left flank of the 82nd, attacked south along the Salm River. The 551st PIR, as an attached unit, fought through Basse-Bodeux, while the 2nd Battalion captured Trois-Ponts. The southerly attack continued to Mont-de-Fosse where advance elements were subjected to intense shelling. The 1st Battalion moved through ground already taken to seize Saint-Jacques and Bergeval. The 3rd Battalion continued its attack across the Salm River and moved to the east. On 9 January, they circled around the 551st and closed on the bank of the Salm at Petit-Halleux. That night, advance details of the 75th Infantry Division arrived to make arrangements for relieving the 82nd in the area. To get them off to a good start, 3/517 under direction of the 504th crossed the Salm and seized Grand Halleux. Colonel Graves received orders on 11 January that the RCT (less 2nd Battalion, attached to the 7th