Christmas Badass Report: Pvt Paul Wiedorfer

On Christmas Day, an Army Private takes down 2 Nazi machinegun nests alone!….

It was Christmas Day 1944 in the heat of the Battle of the Bulge, when Private Paul Wiedorfer of the 80th Infantry Division performed acts of bravery for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor and became a Badass.

Under withering machinegun fire from German enemy gun nests, he charged across the snow covered field and single-handedly took down two Nazi machinegun emplacements, then took 24 prisoners! In one day he went from private to sergeant to platoon leader!

It was the second battle for Chaumont around Bastogne, Belgium, in the morning, when his company got pinned down by German fire in the forest. Three inches of snow had fallen, the platoon was stuck.

By mid-day, Pvt Wiedorfer realized his platoon was going to move anywhere unless the two German machineguns were stopped. So up he got and ran across the snowy field to within 10 yards of the first machinegun and tossed in a grenade, killing several Germans. Then he jumped into the hole and used the German gun to turn on the second nest, killing three more soldiers, and capturing 24y prisoners.

By that afternoon he was promoted to sergeant, and then just minutes later, after the platoon leader was wounded, he assumed command.

A Christmas Day he probably remembered for a long time, and why he is the Christmas Badass!