The Germans launched their attack long before dawn to avoid the American ground attack aircraft that had filled the skies once the weather cleared. Volksgrenadiers were supported by the tanks that the repair shops had cobbled together for the SS Lifeguard. But cooperation between the two formations was not what it should have been, and the attack was beaten back. Shortly before noon the SS Lifeguard committed their own infantry fresh from the march to force the issue.

The German formations did not leave detailed accounts of this action, and American records are jumbled. The only certain thing is that Lutrebois fell to the SS Lifeguard sometime during the afternoon, but Assenois remained in American hands. US records state that communications and coordination were nearly nonexistent, so that most American units fought without knowledge of other units engaging the enemy in the same sector. The commander of the 167th Volksgrenadier Division, General Hans-Kurt Hocker, stated the "tree smasher" shells and "jabos" (American fighter-bombers) devastated his unit when they attempted to leave the forested hill southeast of Assenois (the hill on Board 9). In a refreshing bit of candor, the 35th Infantry Division's after action report stated that the 50-odd enemy tanks claimed destroyed by the participants were probably more than SS Lifeguard had fielded in the entire attack.